The Skeptics Annotated Bible (196 page)

11
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:

(25.11)
“When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:”

12
Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.

(25.12)
“Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.”

13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.

14 Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.

15 But
thou shalt have a perfect and just weight
, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(25.15)
“Thou shalt have a perfect and just weight.”
Be honest when you deal with others. Don’t cheat.

16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

(25.17-19) God tells the Israelites to “remember what Amalek did unto thee” and to “blot out the rembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” A few hundred years later God orders Saul to kill of the Amalekites “both man and woman, infant and suckling.” (1 Sam 15.2-3)

17
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt
;

(25.17)
“Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;”

18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.

19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that
thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

(25.19)
“Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”

26
And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;

2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.

4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.

5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:

7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

12
When thou hast
made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast
given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;

(26.12)
“When thou hast … given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled.”
Take care of those who need help.

13 Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:

14
I have not
eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor
given ought thereof for the dead
: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

(26.14)
“I have not … given ought thereof for the dead.”
Don’t offer food to dead people.

15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

(27.15)
“Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman … And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.”
106 Is is OK to make images?