Property Boundaries

14 l“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

15 m“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness nrises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, obefore the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 pthen you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so qyou shall put away the evil from among you. 20 rAnd those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 sYour eye shall not pity: tlife shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see ahorses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be bafraid of them; for the Lord your God is cwith you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2 So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. 3 And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; 4 for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, dto fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

5 “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not ededicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. 7 fAnd what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

8 “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, g‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, 1lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ 9 And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, hthen proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, iyou shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, jthe livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and kyou shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 “But lof the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 lest mthey teach you to do according to all their 2abominations which they have done for their gods, and you nsin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. 3 And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a ayoke. 4 The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for bthe Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; cby their word every controversy and every 1assault shall be settled. 6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man dshall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 7 Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. 8 Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, eand do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. 9 So fyou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Female Captives

10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your gwife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall hshave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and imourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have jhumbled her.