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"Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder,
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in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshiped before. Even if what they promise comes true,
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do not pay any attention to them. The LORD your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the LORD with all your heart.
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Follow the LORD and honor him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him.
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But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the LORD, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the LORD has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil.
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"Even your brother or your son or your daughter or the wife you love or your closest friend may secretly encourage you to worship other gods, gods that you and your ancestors have never worshiped.
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Some of them may encourage you to worship the gods of the people who live near you or the gods of those who live far away.
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But do not let any of them persuade you; do not even listen to them. Show them no mercy or pity, and do not protect them.
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Kill them! Be the first to stone them, and then let everyone else stone them too.
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Stone them to death! They tried to lead you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.
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Then all the people of Israel will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing.
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"When you are living in the towns that the LORD your God gives you, you may hear
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that some worthless people of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshiped before.
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If you hear such a rumor, investigate it thoroughly; and if it is true that this evil thing did happen,
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then kill all the people in that town and all their livestock too. Destroy that town completely.
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Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to the LORD your God. It must be left in ruins forever and never again be rebuilt.
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Do not keep for yourselves anything that was condemned to destruction, and then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors,
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if you obey all his commands that I have given you today, and do what he requires.
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"You are the people of the LORD your God. So when you mourn for the dead, don't gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do.
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You belong to the LORD your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.
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"Do not eat anything that the LORD has declared unclean.
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You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats,
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deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes---
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any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud.
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But no animals may be eaten unless they have divided hoofs and also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs.
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Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs but do not chew the cud. Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies.
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"You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales,
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but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales may not be eaten; it must be considered unclean.
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"You may eat any clean bird.
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But these are the kinds of birds you are not to eat: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants; hoopoes; and bats.
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"All winged insects are unclean; do not eat them.
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You may eat any clean insect.
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"Do not eat any animal that dies a natural death. You may let the foreigners who live among you eat it, or you may sell it to other foreigners. But you belong to the LORD your God; you are his people. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.
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"Set aside a tithe---a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
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Then go to the one place where the LORD your God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor the LORD your God always.
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If the place of worship is too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe of the produce that the LORD has blessed you with, then do this:
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Sell your produce and take the money with you to the one place of worship.
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Spend it on whatever you want---beef, lamb, wine, beer---and there, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families are to eat and enjoy yourselves.
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"Do not neglect the Levites who live in your towns; they have no property of their own.
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At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns.
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This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
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"At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.
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This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; the LORD himself has declared the debt canceled.
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You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.
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"The LORD your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor
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if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.
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The LORD will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.
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"If in any of the towns in the land that the LORD your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them.
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Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need.
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Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.
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Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the LORD will bless you in everything you do.
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There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.
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"If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free.
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When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.
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Give to them generously from what the LORD has blessed you with---sheep, grain, and wine.
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Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.
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"But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay.
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Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way.
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Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
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"Set aside for the LORD your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep.
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Each year you and your family are to eat them in the LORD's presence at the one place of worship.
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But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the LORD your God.
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You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope.
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But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.
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From Paul, whose call to be an apostle did not come from human beings or by human means, but from Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from death.
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All the believers who are here join me in sending greetings to the churches of Galatia:
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May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
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In order to set us free from this present evil age, Christ gave himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father.
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To God be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
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I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are accepting another gospel.
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Actually, there is no "other gospel," but I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell!
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We have said it before, and now I say it again: if anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, may he be condemned to hell!
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Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God's approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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Let me tell you, my friends, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin.
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I did not receive it from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me.
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You have been told how I used to live when I was devoted to the Jewish religion, how I persecuted without mercy the church of God and did my best to destroy it.
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I was ahead of most other Jews of my age in my practice of the Jewish religion, and was much more devoted to the traditions of our ancestors.
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But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided
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to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice,
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nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus.
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It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks.
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I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord's brother.
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What I write is true. God knows that I am not lying!
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Afterward I went to places in Syria and Cilicia.
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At that time the members of the churches in Judea did not know me personally.
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They knew only what others were saying: "The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy!"
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And so they praised God because of me.
