Be careful ¹  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ²  they prostitute themselves ³  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ⁴  you will eat from his sacrifice;

and you then take ¹  his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.

“Tell the Israelites, ‘When a person sins by straying unintentionally ¹  from any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, and violates any ²  one of them ³  –

You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. ¹  You must not withhold ²  the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning.

“‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ²  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ³  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Each Sabbath day ¹  Aaron ²  must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion ³  is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant.

“‘If any person ¹  sins unintentionally, then he must bring a yearling female goat for a purification offering.

Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord!

Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, ¹  and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols ²  on your forehead.

You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, ¹ 

If a homicide victim ¹  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ²  and no one knows who killed ³  him,

If a man is caught having sexual relations with ¹  a married woman ²  both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge ³  evil from Israel.

Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. ¹ 

But I will certainly ¹  hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they ²  will have done by turning to other gods.

When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation. ¹ 

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Libnah,

They assigned them Shechem (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer,

from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan, along with the grazing areas of each – a total of three cities.

The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord. ¹ 

Now ¹  obey ²  the Lord and worship ³  him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates ⁶  and in Egypt and worship ⁷  the Lord.