The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 5: Deuteronomy

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16:16. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened
bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. No one
shall appear with his hands empty before the Lord:

16:17. But every one shall offer according to what he hath, according to
the blessing of the Lord his God, which he shall give him.

16:18. Thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all thy gates, which
the Lord thy God shall give thee, in all thy tribes: that they may judge
the people with just judgment,

16:19. And not go aside to either part. Thou shalt not accept person nor
gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and change the words of the
just.

16:20. Thou shalt follow justly after that which is just: that thou
mayst live and possess the land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

16:21. Thou shalt plant no grove, nor any tree near the altar of the
Lord thy God:

16:22. Neither shalt thou make nor set up to thyself a statue: which
things the Lord thy God hateth.

Deuteronomy Chapter 17

Victims must be without blemish. Idolaters are to be slain.
Controversies are to be decided by the high priest and council, whose
sentence must be obeyed under pain of death. The duty of a king, who is
to receive the law of God at the priest's hands.

17:1. Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox,
wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to
the Lord thy God.

17:2. When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which
the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight
of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant,

17:3. So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and
the moon, and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded:

The host of heaven... That is, the stars.

17:4. And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired
diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is
committed in Israel:

17:5. Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed
that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be
stoned.

17:6. By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be
slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against
him.

17:7. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him,
and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take
away the evil out of the midst of thee.

17:8. If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful
matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and
leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do
vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall
choose.

If thou perceive, etc... Here we see what authority God was pleased to
give to the church guides of the Old Testament, in deciding, without
appeal, all controversies relating to the law; promising that they
should not err therein; and surely he has not done less for the church
guides of the New Testament.

17:9. And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to
the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and
they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.

17:10. And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the
place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,

17:11. According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence:
neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.

17:12. But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of
the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the
decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the
evil from Israel:

17:13. And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards
swell with pride.

17:14. When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will
give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me,
as all nations have that are round about:

17:15. Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the
number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation
king, that is not thy brother.

17:16. And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to
himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the
number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to
return no more the same way.

17:17. He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor
immense sums of silver and gold.

17:18. But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall
copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the
copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe,

17:19. And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of
his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words
and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;

17:20. And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren,
nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign
a long time over Israel.

Deuteronomy Chapter 18

The Lord is the inheritance of the priests and Levites. Heathenish
abominations are to be avoided. The great PROPHET CHRIST is promised.
False prophets must be slain.

18:1. The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall
have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they shall
eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and his oblations,

18:2. And they shall receive nothing else of the possession of their
brethren: for the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he hath said to
them.

18:3. This shall be the priest's due from the people, and from them that
offer victims: whether they sacrifice an ox, or a sheep, they shall give
to the priest the shoulder and the breast:

18:4. The firstfruits also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and a part of
the wool from the shearing of their sheep.

18:5. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him of all thy tribes, to stand
and to minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.

18:6. If a Levite go out of any one of the cities throughout all Israel,
in which he dwelleth, and have a longing mind to come to the place which
the Lord shall choose,

18:7. He shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his
brethren the Levites do, that shall stand at that time before the Lord.

18:8. He shall receive the same portion of food that the rest do:
besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his
fathers.

18:9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give
thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those
nations.

18:10. Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate
his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that
consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there
be any wizard,

18:11. Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or
fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead.

18:12. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these
abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.

18:13. Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God.

18:14. These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to
soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord
thy God.

18:15. The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation
and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear:

18:16. As thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the assembly
was gathered together, and saidst: Let me not hear any more the voice of
the Lord my God, neither let me see any more this exceeding great fire,
lest I die.

18:17. And the Lord said to me: They have spoken all things well.

18:18. I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren
like to thee: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak
to them all that I shall command him.

18:19. And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my
name, I will be the revenger.

18:20. But the prophet, who being corrupted with pride, shall speak in
my name things that I did not command him to say, or in the name of
strange gods, shall be slain.

18:21. And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word
that the Lord hath not spoken?

18:22. Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet
foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pass: that
thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the
pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him.

Deuteronomy Chapter 19

The cities of refuge. Wilful murder, and false witnesses must be
punished.

19:1. When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations, whose land he
will deliver to thee, and thou shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in the
cities and houses thereof:

19:2. Thou shalt separate to thee three cities in the midst of the land,
which the Lord will give thee in possession,

19:3. Paving diligently the way: and thou shalt divide the whole
province of thy land equally into three parts: that he who is forced to
flee for manslaughter, may have near at hand whither to escape.

19:4. This shall be the law of the slayer that fleeth, whose life is to
be saved: He that killeth his neighbor ignorantly, and who is proved to
have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before:

19:5. But to have gone with him to the wood to hew wood, and in cutting
down the tree the axe slipped out of his hand, and the iron slipping
from the handle struck his friend, and killed him: he shall flee to one
of the cities aforesaid, and live:

19:6. Lest perhaps the next kinsman of him whose blood was shed, pushed
on by his grief should pursue, and apprehend him, if the way be too
long, and take away the life of him who is not guilty of death, because
he is proved to have had no hatred before against him that was slain.

19:7. Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal
distance one from another.

19:8. And when the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he
swore to the fathers, and shall give thee all the land that he promised
them,

19:9. (Yet so, if thou keep his commandments, and do the things which I
command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy God, and walk in his
ways at all times) thou shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt
double the number of the three cities aforesaid:

19:10. That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land
which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of
blood.

19:11. But if any man hating his neighbour, lie in wait for his life,
and rise and strike him, and he die, and he flee to one of the cities
aforesaid,

19:12. The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out of the
place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the kinsman of
him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.

19:13. Thou shalt not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of
innocent blood out of Israel, that it may be well with thee.

19:14. Thou shalt not take nor remove thy neighbour's landmark, which
thy predecessors have set in thy possession, which the Lord thy God will
give thee in the land that thou shalt receive to possess.

19:15. One witness shall not rise up against any man, whatsoever the sin
or wickedness be: but in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
shall stand.

19:16. If a lying witness stand against a man, accusing him of
transgression,

19:17. Both of them, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before
the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges that shall be in
those days.

19:18. And when after most diligent inquisition, they shall find that
the false witness hath told a lie against his brother:

19:19. They shall render to him as he meant to do to his brother, and
thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee:

19:20. That others hearing may fear, and may not dare to do such things.

19:21. Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for
eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy Chapter 20

Laws relating to war.

20:1. If thou go out to war against thy enemies, and see horsemen and
chariots, and the numbers of the enemy's army greater than thine, thou
shalt not fear them: because the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought
thee out of the land of Egypt.

20:2. And when the battle is now at hand, the priest shall stand before
the army, and shall speak to the people in this manner:

20:3. Hear, O Israel, you join battle this day against your enemies, let
not your heart be dismayed, be not afraid, do not give back, fear ye
them not:

20:4. Because the Lord your God is in the midst of you, and will fight
for you against your enemies, to deliver you from danger.

20:5. And the captains shall proclaim through every band in the hearing
of the army: What man is there, that hath built a new house, and hath
not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man dedicate it.

20:6. What man is there, that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not as
yet made it to be common, whereof all men may eat? let him go, and
return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man execute
his office.

20:7. What man is there, that hath espoused a wife, and not taken her?
let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another
man take her.

20:8. After these things are declared they shall add the rest, and shall
speak to the people: What man is there that is fearful, and faint
hearted? let him go, and return to his house, lest he make the hearts of
his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear.

20:9. And when the captains of the army shall hold their peace, and have
made an end of speaking, every man shall prepare their bands to fight.

20:10. If at any time thou come to fight against a city, thou shalt
first offer it peace.

20:11. If they receive it, and open the gates to thee, all the people
that are therein, shall be saved, and shall serve thee paying tribute.

20:12. But if they will not make peace, and shall begin war against
thee, thou shalt besiege it.

20:13. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, thou
shalt slay all that are therein of the male sex, with the edge of the
sword,

20:14. Excepting women and children, cattle and other things, that are
in the city. And thou shalt divide all the prey to the army, and thou
shalt eat the spoils of thy enemies, which the Lord thy God shall give
thee.

20:15. So shalt thou do to all cities that are at a great distance from
thee, and are not of these cities which thou shalt receive in
possession.

20:16. But of those cities that shall be given thee, thou shalt suffer
none at all to live:

20:17. But shalt kill them with the edge of the sword, to wit, the
Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the
Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

20:18. Lest they teach you to do all the abominations which they have
done to their gods: and you should sin against the Lord your God.

20:19. When thou hast besieged a city a long time, and hath compassed it
with bulwarks, to take it, thou shalt not cut down the trees that may be
eaten of, neither shalt thou spoil the country round about with axes:
for it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of
them that fight against thee.

20:20. But if there be any trees that are not fruitful, but wild, and
fit for other uses, cut them down, and make engines, until thou take the
city, which fighteth against thee.

Deuteronomy Chapter 21

The expiation of a secret murder. The marrying a captive. The eldest son
must not be deprived of his birthright for hatred of his mother. A
stubborn son is to be stoned to death. When one is hanged on a gibbet,
he must be taken down the same day and buried.

21:1. When there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will
give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty
of the murder,

21:2. Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the
place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about:

21:3. And the ancients of that city which they shall perceive to be
nearer than the rest, shall take a heifer of the herd, that hath not
drawn in the yoke, nor ploughed the ground,

21:4. And they shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never
was ploughed, nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the
heifer:

21:5. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God
hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by
their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or
unclean should be judged.

21:6. And the ancients of that city shall come to the person slain, and
shall wash their hands over the heifer that was killed in the valley,

21:7. And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes
see it.

21:8. Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord,
and lay not innocent blood to their charge, in the midst of thy people
Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them:

21:9. And thou shalt be free from the innocent's blood, that was shed,
when thou shalt have done what the Lord hath commanded thee.

21:10. If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God
deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives,

21:11. And seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and
lovest her, and wilt have her to wife,

21:12. Thou shalt bring her into thy house: and she shall shave her
hair, and pare her nails,

21:13. And shall put off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall
remain in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother one month: and
after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she
shall be thy wife.

21:14. But if afterwards she please thee not, thou shalt let her go
free, but thou mayst not sell her for money nor oppress her by might
because thou hast humbled her.

21:15. If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and
they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the
firstborn,

21:16. And he meaneth to divide his substance among his sons: he may not
make the son of the beloved the firstborn, and prefer him before the son
of the hated.

21:17. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn,
and shall give him a double portion of all he hath: for this is the
first of his children, and to him are due the first birthrights.

21:18. If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the
commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth
obedience:

21:19. They shall take him and bring him to the ancients of the city,
and to the gate of judgment,

21:20. And shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn,
he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling,
and to debauchery and banquetings:

21:21. The people of the city shall stone him: and he shall die, that
you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel
hearing it may be afraid.

21:22. When a man hath committed a crime for which he is to be punished
with death, and being condemned to die is hanged on a gibbet:

21:23. His body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the
same day: for he is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree: and thou
shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in
possession.

Deuteronomy Chapter 22

Humanity towards neighbours. Neither sex may use the apparel of the
other. Cruelty to be avoided even to birds. Battlements about the roof
of a house. Things of divers kinds not to be mixed. The punishment of
him that slandereth his wife, as also of adultery and rape.

22:1. Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox, or his
sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother.

22:2. And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt
bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother
seek them, and receive them.

22:3. Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment,
and with every thing that is thy brother's, which is lost: if thou find
it, neglect it not as pertaining to another.

22:4. If thou see thy brother's ass or his ox to be fallen down in the
way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.

22:5. A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a
man use woman's apparel: for he that doth these things is abominable
before God.

22:6. If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird's nest in a tree,
or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs:
thou shalt not take her with her young:

Thou shalt not take, etc. This was to shew them to exercise a certain
mercy even to irrational creatures; and by that means to train them up
to a horror of cruelty; and to the exercise of humanity and mutual
charity one to another.

22:7. But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught:
that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.

22:8. When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to
the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be
guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong.

Battlement... This precaution was necessary, because all their houses
had flat tops, and it was usual to walk and to converse together upon
them.

22:9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the
seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified
together.

22:10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

22:11. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen
together.

22:12. Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy
cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.

22:13. If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her,

22:14. And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very
ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I
found her not a virgin:

22:15. Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them
the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the
gate:

22:16. And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to
wife: and because he hateth her,

22:17. He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found
not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my
daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the
ancients of the city:

22:18. And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,

22:19. Condemning him besides in a hundred sicles of silver, which he
shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very ill
name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put
her away all the days of his life.

22:20. But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not
found in the damsel:

22:21. They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and
the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because
she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her
father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of
thee.

22:22. If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that
is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away
the evil out of Israel.

22:23. If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one
find her in the city, and lie with her,

22:24. Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they
shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the
city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou
shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

22:25. But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and
taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die:

22:26. The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death:
for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so
also did the damsel suffer:

22:27. She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to
help her.

22:28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and
taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment:

22:29. He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty
sicles of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled
her: he may not put her away all the days of his life.

22:30. No man shall take his father's wife, nor remove his covering.

Deuteronomy Chapter 23

Who may and who may not enter into the church: uncleanness to be
avoided: other precepts concerning fugitives, fornication, usury, vows,
and eating other men's grapes and corn.

23:1. An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard cut
off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

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