DASV Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 1
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel east of the Jordan River in the Arabah wilderness, across from Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Di-zahab.
2 It is an eleven day journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moses spoke to the Israelites, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him.
4 This happened after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5 Across the Jordan River in the land of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying,
6 "The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
7 Leave here, resume your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all neighboring regions, including the Jordan valley Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah western foothills, the southern Negev, and the coastal plain, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the Great River, that is the Euphrates.
8 Look, I have set the land before you, go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give them and their descendants after them.'
9 At that time I said to you, 'I am not able to carry you by myself alone.
10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and today you are as many as the stars of heaven.
11 The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
12 How can I bear your loads, problems and disputes all by myself?
13 Choose wise, understanding and well-known men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as leaders over you.'
14 You answered me, 'What you have proposed is good for us to do.'
15 So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and well-known men, and made them leaders over you, commanders of thousands, and commanders of hundreds, and commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens, and officials of your tribes.
16 I ordered your judges at that time, 'Hear the cases between your people, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a resident foreigner who is with him.
17 You must not show partiality in judgment; but hear the small and the great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone; for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'
18 I instructed you at that time about everything you should do.
19 Then we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the LORD our God commanded us, until finally we arrived at Kadesh-barnea.
20 Then I said to you, 'You have arrived at the hill country of the Amorites, that the LORD our God is giving to us.
21 See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession of it, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be discouraged.'
22 Then all of you approached me, and said, 'Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us advice on how to go up and the types of cities that we will come to.'
23 I thought the plan was a good idea, so I took twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe.
24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and explored it.
25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us. They brought back a report, and said, 'It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving to us.'
26 Yet you refused to go up, and rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
27 You complained in your tents, and said, 'It is because the LORD hates us that he brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, "The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large and fortified up to heaven. Moreover we have seen the Anakites there.'"
29 Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified of them.
30 The LORD your God is going before you, he will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your very own eyes,
31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, like a father carries his son, everywhere you went, until you came to this place.'
32 But even in spite of all this you did not believe the LORD your God,
33 who went ahead of you to find places for you to pitch your tents. He showed you what way to go by fire at night and by a cloud during the day.
34 When the LORD heard your words, he became angry, and made a solemn vow,
35 'Surely there is not one person of this evil generation who will see the good land I promised to give to your fathers,
36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give him and his descendants the land that he set his foot on, because he has wholly followed the LORD.'
37 The LORD was also angry with me because of you, saying, 'You will not go in there either.
38 Joshua the son of Nun, your assistant, will go in there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.
39 As for your little ones, who you claimed would be taken captive, and your children, who do not know good or evil, they will go in there, and I will give the land to them and they will possess it.
40 But as for you, turn back, and go back into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.'
41 Then you answered and confessed to me, 'We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up now and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us.' So each one of you strapped on his weapons of war thinking how easy it would be to go up into the hill country.
42 But the LORD said to me, 'Tell them, do not go up, or fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.'
43 So I told you, but you did not listen; but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the hill country.
44 But the Amorites, who live in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you like a swarm of bees. They beat you down from Seir, all the way to Hormah.
45 Then you returned and wept before the LORD. But the LORD would not listen to you, or pay any attention to you.
46 So you stayed at Kadesh a long time, indeed for the full time.
Deuteronomy 2
1 Then we turned around and went back to the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the LORD told me. For many days we skirted around Mount Seir.
2 Then the LORD spoke to me, saying,
3 'You have circled around this mountain long enough, turn to the north.
4 Tell the people, "You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you so be very careful.
5 Do not provoke them for I am not giving you any of their land, not even enough to leave a footprint on; because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.
6 You may purchase food from them for money so that you may eat, and you may also buy water from them for money so that you may drink.
7 For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your travels through this great wilderness. For these forty years the LORD your God has been with you, you have lacked nothing.'"
8 So we passed by our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the way of the Arabah that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber and passed by the road of the wilderness of Moab.
9 Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not harass Moab, or provoke them to war; for I am not giving you any of their land for a possession because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot for a possession.
10 (The Emites used to live there. They were a people great, numerous and tall as the Anakites.
11 Like the Anakites, these are also known as Rephaites, but the Moabites call them Emites.
12 The Horites used to live in Seir before, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them, and settled in their place just as Israel did to the land that the LORD gave them to possess.)
13 Now get up and cross over the Zered Valley.' So we crossed the Zered Valley.
14 Now the length of time we traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years; until all the generation of soldiers had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
15 Indeed, the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from the camp until they were all gone.
16 So it was when all the soldiers had perished from among the people,
17 that the LORD spoke to me, saying,
18 'Today you are to cross over at Ar, the border of Moab.
19 When you approach the descendants of Ammon, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you the land of the descendants of Ammon for a possession because I have given it to the descendants of Lot for a possession.'
20 (That also is considered a land of Rephaites. The Rephaites formerly lived there; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummites.
21 They were a people great, numerous and tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites so they dispossessed them and settled in their place.
22 He did exactly the same thing for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them so they dispossessed them, and settled in their place even to this day.
23 The Avvites who lived in villages in the region of Gaza, the Caphtorites who came from Caphtor [Crete], destroyed them and settled in their place.)
24 Get up, set out on your journey, and cross over the Arnon gorge. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
25 This day will I begin to put the dread and the fear of you into all the peoples that are under the whole heaven. When they will hear the report about you they will tremble and be in anguish because of you.'
26 Then I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with an offer of peace, saying,
27 'Let me pass through your land. I will travel only on the road, I will not turn aside either to the right or to the left.
28 You may sell us food for money, so we may eat; and give us water for money, so we may drink. Just allow us to pass through on foot,
29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross over the Jordan River into the land the LORD our God is giving us.'
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, so that he might deliver him to your hand, as he has done now.
31 Then the LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of his land.'
32 When Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz,
33 the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons and all his people.
34 At that time we took all his towns, and absolutely destroyed every town, including even the women and children. We left no survivors.
35 We did take the livestock as plunder for ourselves, along with the spoil of the towns we had captured.
36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon gorge, and from the town that is in the gorge, even to Gilead, there was not a citadel too high for us. The LORD our God gave them all to us.
37 But you did not approach the land of the descendants of Ammon; to the banks of Jabbok Valley, or the towns of the hill country, or anywhere the LORD our God had forbidden us.
Deuteronomy 3
1 When we turned and went up the road to Bashan, Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.
2 But the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him; for I have given him, all his people and his land, into your hand. You will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.'
3 So the LORD our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him down leaving no survivors.
4 At that time we captured all his towns; there was not a town that we did not take from them--sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5 All these towns were fortified with high walls, gates and bars; besides a great many unwalled villages.
6 We totally destroyed them, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, absolutely destroying every inhabited town, including the women and children.
7 We kept all the livestock and plunder from the towns as spoil for ourselves.
8 So at that time we took the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon gorge to Mount Hermon
9 (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, while the Amorites call it Senir),
10 all the towns of the plain, all Gilead and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11 (Og king of Bashan was the only one left of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron. Can it not still be found in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It was thirteen feet long and six feet wide, according to standard measurements.)
12 When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon gorge and half the hill-country of Gilead, with its towns.
13 The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The entire region of Argob, all Bashan which used to be called the land of Rephaites.
14 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh took the whole the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair [Towns of Jair], as it is called to this day.)
15 And I gave Gilead to Machir.
16 To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave from Gilead to the middle of the Arnon gorge, as its border, even to the Jabbok River, which is the boundary of the Ammonites.
17 The Arabah and the Jordan River were also its border, from sea of Chinnereth [Galilee] even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.
18 I commanded you at that time: 'The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your warriors must cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the Israelites.
19 But your wives, children and livestock (I realize that you have much livestock) may stay in your towns I have given you.
20 When the LORD gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they too possess the land that the LORD your God gives them on the other side of Jordan, then each of you may return to his possession I have given you.'
21 At that time I commanded Joshua, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms where you are headed.
22 Do not fear them, for the LORD your God will fight for you.'
23 At that time I pleaded with the LORD, saying,
24 'O sovereign LORD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or earth that can match your deeds and your mighty acts?
25 Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, the beautiful hill country and Lebanon.'
26 But the LORD was angry with me because of you, and would not listen to me. 'That's enough,' the LORD said to me, 'Never speak to me about this again.
27 Get up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west, north, south and east, and take it in with your eyes, for you may not cross the Jordan River.
28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will enable them to inherit the land that you will see.'
29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth-peor.
Deuteronomy 4
1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and regulations that I am teaching you. Do them so that you may live and go in and possess the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
2 Do not add to the word that I command you, and do not subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am telling you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor; how the LORD your God destroyed from your midst everyone who followed Baal of Peor.
4 But you who remained faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today, everyone of you.
5 See, I have taught you statutes and regulations, even as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you would obey them in the land you are entering to possess.
6 Carefully observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes, and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."
7 For what other great nation is there that has a god so near them, as the LORD our God is whenever we call on him?
8 What other great nation is there that has statutes and regulations as righteous as this whole law, that I am presenting to you this day?
9 Only pay careful attention and watch yourselves closely, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen and they slip from your heart all the days of your life. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
10 Remember the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, "Assemble the people for me to have them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth, and they may teach their children."
11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain burned with fire to the high heaven, shrouded in thick dark clouds.
12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; only a voice was heard.
13 He declared to you his covenant, which he ordered you to keep, the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.
14 At that time the LORD commanded me teach you statutes and regulations, so that you might do them in the land you are about to enter and possess.
15 Be very careful, for you did not see any form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire.
16 So do not corrupt yourselves by making a craved idol in the form of any figure, that looks like a male or female form,
17 or like any beast that is on the earth, any winged bird that flies in the sky,
18 or anything that creeps on the ground, or any fish that is in the water below ground level.
19 When you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun, moon and stars, all the host of heaven, do not be enticed to worship and serve them. The LORD your God has given them to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt, to be his special people, his own inheritance, as you are today.
21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me because of you, and vowed that I should not go across the Jordan River and that I should not enter that good land the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
22 Instead, I must die here in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan River but you will cross over and possess that good land.
23 So be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God, that he made with you, and make a craved idol in the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you.
24 For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
25 When you have had children and grandchildren, and you have been in the land a long time, if you corrupt yourselves and make a carved idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, to provoke him to anger;
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will quickly be removed from the land you are crossing the Jordan River to possess. You will not live there long but will be utterly destroyed.
27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where the LORD will exile you.
28 There you will serve gods of wood and stone made by human hands that neither see, hear, eat or smell.
29 But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find him, when you search for him with all your heart and all your soul.
30 When you are in distress and all these things happen to you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God, and listen to his voice.
31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you, or forget the covenant which he promised your fathers.
32 Ask now of the days gone by, long before you, from the time God created human beings on the earth; ask from the one end of heaven to the other whether there has ever been anything as great as this, or has anything like it ever been heard of?
33 Has any people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have, and lived?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and terrifying acts, the way the LORD your God did for you in Egypt right before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, so that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.
36 From heaven he let you hear his voice, so that he might instruct you. On earth he let you see his great fire; and you heard his words coming out of the fire.
37 Because he loved your forefathers, he chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his presence by his great power
38 to drive out nations before you greater and stronger than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.
39 So today acknowledge and take it to heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other.
40 Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today so that it may go well with you, and your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land the LORD your God is giving you forever.'
41 Then Moses set apart three cities on the east side of the Jordan River
42 so that anyone who accidentally kills someone without malice and aforethought could flee to one of these cities and live.
43 These cities were: Bezer in the wilderness plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.
45 These are the laws, statutes and regulations that Moses spoke to the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt,
46 beyond the Jordan River, in the valley near Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of Egypt.
47 They took possession of his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were east of the Jordan River.
48 They took from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon gorge, even to Mount Sirion also called Hermon,
49 along with all the Arabah east of the Jordan River, even to the sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
Deuteronomy 5
1 Then Moses called all Israel together and said, 'Listen, Israel, to the statutes and regulations that I declaring to you today, so that you may learn and do them.
2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our forefathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.
4 The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the fire.
5 At that time I stood between you and the LORD, to declare to you the word of the LORD because you were afraid of the fire, and did not go up the mountain. He said,
6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 You must not have any other gods before me.
8 You must not make any carved idol in the form of anything in the heavens above or in the earth below, or that is in the water beneath.
9 You must not bow down to them, or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the sin of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me;
10 and showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11 You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
12 Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, just as the LORD your God commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work;
14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the LORD your God. On that day you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male or female servant, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or any foreigner who lives within your gates; that your male and female servants may rest as well as you do.
15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16 Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
17 You must not murder.
18 You must not commit adultery.
19 You must not steal.
20 You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
21 You must not covet your neighbor's wife, or crave your neighbor's house, his field, or his male or female servant, his ox, his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's.'"
22 These words the LORD proclaimed with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain out of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tables, and gave them to me.
23 When you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me.
24 You said, 'Look, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day God speak with a human being, and yet the person lives.
25 So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we will die.
26 For who is there from all living beings who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27 You go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say. Then you tell us all that the LORD our God says to you and we will listen and do it.'
28 The LORD heard your request, when you spoke to me and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the words this people have spoken to you and they are right in what they have said.
29 Oh that they would always have such a heart as this, to fear me and keep all my commands so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
30 Go tell them, "Return to your tents."
31 But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commands, statutes and regulations, you are to teach them, so that they may do them in the land I am giving them to possess.'
32 Be careful, therefore, to do what the LORD your God has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to left.
33 Walk in all the way the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are about to possess.
Deuteronomy 6
1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the regulations that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, so that you may do them in the land you are crossing over to possess,
2 so that you, your children and your grandchildren may fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you all the days of your life, and that your life may be long.
3 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may greatly multiply in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your forefathers, promised to you.
4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These words that I am commanding you this day, are to be on your heart.
7 Teach them repeatedly to your children, and talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as a sign on your hand and bind them on your forehead.
9 Write them on the door-posts of your house and on your gates.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he promised to your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, you did not build,
11 and houses full of all sorts of good things, you did not produce, and cisterns, you did not dig, vineyards and olive-trees, you did not plant. When you eat and are full
12 then be careful not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
13 Fear the LORD your God and serve him, and take oaths only in his name.
14 Do not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,
15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God and the anger of the LORD your God may be sparked against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
17 Make sure you keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his stipulations and his statutes that he has commanded you.
18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD so that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land that the LORD promised to your forefathers,
19 to drive out all your enemies before you, just as the LORD has said.
20 In the future when your child asks, 'What do the testimonies, statutes and the regulations the LORD our God has commanded you mean?'
21 Then you shall tell your child, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
22 The LORD demonstrated before our eyes great and devastating signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household.
23 He brought us out of there so that he might bring us in, to give us the land he promised to our forefathers.
24 The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as he has to this day.
25 It will be our righteousness, if we carefully do this entire commandment before the LORD our God, just as he has commanded us.'
Deuteronomy 7
1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, he will drive out many nations before you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you.
2 When the LORD your God delivers them over to you, and you defeat them, then totally destroy them. Do not make a covenant with them or show them mercy.
3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.
4 For they will turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the LORD will be sparked against you and he will quickly destroy you.
5 But this is how you are to deal with them: break down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols with fire.
6 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special people, above all peoples on the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more numerous than any other people, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 Rather it was because the LORD loved you and was keeping the oath he promised to your forefathers when the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
10 But he repays those who hate him to their face destroying them. He will not delay to repay those who hate him to their face.
11 Keep, therefore, the commands, statutes and regulations, that I command you to do today.
12 If you listen to these ordinances, and do them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant and steadfast love with you that he promised your forefathers.
13 He will love you, bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine and olive oil, the offspring of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, in the land that he promised to your forefathers to give you.
14 You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no barrenness among your men or women or even among your livestock.
15 The LORD will remove all sickness from you; and he will not let you suffer any of the terrible diseases you knew of in Egypt, but will inflict them on all who hate you.
16 You must destroy all the peoples that the LORD your God is delivering to you. Your eye must not pity them and you must not serve their gods for that will be a snare to you.
17 If you say in your heart, 'These nations are more than we are, how can I ever dispossess them?'
18 Do not be afraid of them. Remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,
19 the great judgments that you saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same thing to all the peoples you are afraid of.
20 Moreover the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.
21 Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
22 The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will not able to destroy them all at once otherwise the wild animals would overrun you.
23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will throw them into a great panic until they are destroyed.
24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will erase their name from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them.
25 Burn the carved images of their gods with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, or take it for yourself, lest you become snared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
26 Do not bring any detestable thing into your house or you will be set apart for destruction just like it is. Absolutely detest and utterly abhor it, for it is an object set apart for destruction.
Deuteronomy 8
1 This whole commandment that I command you today you must carefully do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD promised to your forefathers.
2 Remember all the way the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.
3 He humbled you by letting you endure hunger, and then fed you with manna, which was unknown to both you and your forefathers. He did this to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
4 The clothes you were wearing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.
5 Know in your heart, that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
6 So keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and fearing him.
7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, springs and underground waters seeping out into its valleys and hills;
8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey,
9 a land where you will eat bread without scarcity, where you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you can dig copper.
10 When you have eaten and are full, praise the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.
11 Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God, by not keeping his commands, regulations and statutes that I am commanding you today.
12 When you have eaten your fill and have built good houses and have lived in them,
13 and when your herds and flocks have increased, and your silver and gold has multiplied, along with everything else you have;
14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its poisonous snakes and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. He brought water out of a flint rock for you.
16 He fed you manna in the wilderness, which your forefathers had never known; so that he might humble and test you, and in the end to do you good.
17 He did this so you would not say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand have produced this wealth.'
18 Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he made by an oath to your forefathers, as it is to this day.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, I solemnly testify against you today that you will surely perish.
20 Just like the nations the LORD is destroying before you, so you too will perish; because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 9
1 Hear, O Israel, you are to pass over the Jordan River today, to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the sky.
2 The people are strong and tall, the sons of the Anakites, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'
3 Know therefore today, that the LORD your God is the one who goes over before you as a devouring fire, he will defeat and subdue them before you. So you will defeat and quickly drive them out, just as the LORD has promised to you.
4 Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'It was because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.' On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.
5 It is not because of your righteousness or because of the integrity of your heart, you are going in to possess their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, so that he may keep the promise that the LORD made to your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
6 Know therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess it because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people.
7 Remember, and do not forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you left the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
8 Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you, he was about to destroy you.
9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, I did not eat bread or drink water.
10 The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD spoke to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
11 At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12 The LORD said to me, 'Get up, go down quickly from here; for your people you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They are quickly turning aside from the way I commanded them and have made a metal idol for themselves.'
13 Furthermore, the LORD spoke to me, saying, 'I have seen this people, and they are certainly a stubborn people.
14 Leave me alone, so that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make from you a nation stronger and more numerous than they are.'
15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, while the mountain was burning with fire and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
16 When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God by making for yourselves a metal idol in the shape of a calf and that you had turned aside from the way that the LORD had commanded you.
17 So I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my hands, and smashed them into pieces before your eyes.
18 Then I fell down before the LORD, as before, for forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all your sin you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD provoking him to anger.
19 For I was afraid that in his anger and hot displeasure the LORD was going to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.
20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron, he wanted to destroy him but I prayed for Aaron at that same time.
21 I took your sinful thing, the calf you had made, and melted it down, grinding it as fine as dust. Then I threw its dust into the brook that flowed down the mountain.
22 Again at Taberah, Massah and Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked the LORD to wrath.
23 When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God, and did not trust him or obey his voice.
24 You have been rebellious against the LORD for as long as I have known you.
25 So I fell on my face before the LORD for forty days and forty nights because the LORD said he would destroy you.
26 I prayed to the LORD, and said, 'O sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people and your inheritance that you have redeemed by your greatness, and that you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not focus on the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness or their sin.
28 Otherwise the land you brought us out of may say, "It was because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land he promised to them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to slay them in the wilderness."
29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.'
Deuteronomy 10
1 At that time the LORD said to me, 'Carve out two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood.
2 I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you are to put them in the ark.'
3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and carved out two stone tablets like the first ones, and went up into the mountain with the two tablets in hand.
4 He wrote on the tablets the same words, the ten commandments, that the LORD spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.
5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made and they are still there just as the LORD commanded me.
6 (Now the Israelites journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priest's office.
7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams.
8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve him and to bless in his name, to this day.
9 This is the reason Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God spoke to him.)
10 I stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights. The LORD listened to me that time also and the LORD decided not destroy you.
11 Then the LORD said to me, 'Get up, go on your journey leading the people so that they may go in and possess the land that I promised their forefathers to give to them.
12 Now, then, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and soul,
13 to keep the command of the LORD, and his statutes, that I am commanding you this day for your good?
14 Look, the heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD your God, along with the earth and all that is in it.
15 Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your forefathers, and he chose you, their descendants, after them, over all other peoples as it is today.
16 Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, and stop being stubborn.
17 For the LORD your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty and awesome One, who is not biased and will not take a bribe.
18 He guarantees justice for the orphan and widow, and loves the resident foreigners, providing them food and clothes.
19 So love the resident foreigner; for you were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt.
20 Fear the LORD your God, serve him and hold on to him, and take oaths only in his name.
21 He is the only one worthy of your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, that your eyes have seen.
22 Your forefathers went down to Egypt with only seventy people, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Deuteronomy 11
1 Love the LORD your God, and always obey his requirements, statutes, regulations and commands.
2 Consider today that I am not talking to your children who have not experienced or seen the discipline of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and outstretched arm,
3 his signs, and his deeds, that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land,
4 and what he did to the Egyptian army, to their horses and chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day.
5 Your children did not see what he did for you in the wilderness, until you came to this place;
6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how in the midst of all Israel the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing that followed them.
7 But your own eyes have seen all the great deeds the LORD did.
8 Therefore obey all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land, you are crossing over to possess,
9 and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD promised to give to your forefathers and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it with your foot like a vegetable garden.
11 But the land, you are crossing over to possess, is a land of hills and valleys, that drinks rain from heaven,
12 a land the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.
13 If you will carefully obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 then he promises, 'I will give rain on your land in its season, the autumn former rains and the spring latter rains, that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.
15 I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be full.'
16 Be careful or your heart may be deceived turning aside and serving other gods, and worshiping them.
17 Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will not produce its fruit; and you will quickly perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.
18 Therefore retain these words of mine in your heart and soul. Tie them for a sign on your hand, and bind them as a reminder on your forehead.
19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you get up.
20 Write them on the door-posts of your house and on your gates,
21 that the days of you and your children may be multiplied, in the land that the LORD promised to give to your forefathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
22 For if you carefully obey all these commands that I am commanding you, to love the LORD your God, by walking in all his ways, and loyally holding onto him;
23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you are.
24 Everywhere you set the sole of your foot will be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, from the River, the Euphrates River, all the way to the west, the Mediterranean Sea.
25 No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will put the fear and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, just as he has promised you.
26 Look, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, if you obey the commands of the LORD your God, that I am commanding you today;
28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commands of the LORD your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, by pursuing other gods, that you have not known.
29 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you must set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal.
30 Are not these two mountains beyond the Jordan River, in the west by the way of the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, near Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh?
31 For you are about to pass over the Jordan River to go in to possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and live there
32 be sure to carefully obey all the statutes and regulations that I am setting before you today.
Deuteronomy 12
1 These are the statutes and the regulations that you must carefully obey in the land that the LORD, the God of your forefathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth.
2 You must completely destroy all the places where the nations that you are dispossessing have served their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills and under every green tree.
3 Break down their altars, dash in pieces their pillars, burn their Asherah poles, and cut down the carved idols of their gods; and eliminate their names from that place.
4 You must not worship the LORD your God the way they do.
5 But seek the place that the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes for his dwelling place, to put his name there, that is the place you are to go to.
6 Bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the special offerings, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings and the firstborn of your herds and your flocks.
7 You and your household must eat there before the LORD your God, and rejoice there in all your undertakings by which the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 You are not to do all the things that we are doing here today, with everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.
9 For you have not yet entered the rest and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
10 But when you cross over the Jordan River, and settle in the land that the LORD your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies who surround you so that you live in safety,
11 then bring everything I have commanded you to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to dwell, your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special offerings, and all your choice vow offerings that you have vowed to the LORD.
12 Rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who lives within your gates, because he has no portion or inheritance with you.
13 Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any place that you see,
14 but in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, it is there you are to offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates whenever you want, according to the blessing that the LORD your God has given you; those who are unclean and clean may eat it, just like you would a gazelle or deer.
16 But do not eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, or any of your vow offerings that you vowed, freewill offerings or special offerings.
18 But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you, your son, your daughter, male and female servants, and the Levite who lives within your gates. Rejoice there before the LORD your God in everything you undertake to do.
19 Be careful that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you, and you say, 'I want to eat some meat,' because of your appetite for meat; you may eat meat whenever you want.
21 If the place that the LORD your God chooses to put his name, is too far for you, then you may slaughter from your herds or your flocks what the LORD has given you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you wish just as I have commanded you.
22 You may eat it like you would a gazelle or a deer, both those who are unclean and clean may eat it.
23 But be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life; and you must not eat the life with the meat.
24 Do not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.
25 Do not eat it; that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
26 But your holy things and your vow offerings, you must take, and go to the place that the LORD will choose.
27 You are to offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.
28 Be careful to obey all these words that I am commanding you, that it may go well with you, and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
29 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations before you, where you are going to dispossess them, and when you have dispossessed them and live in their land,
30 be careful that you are not trapped into following them, after they are destroyed before you. Do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same thing.'
31 You must not worship the LORD your God in that way. For they have done for their gods every detestable thing that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters with fire to their gods.
32 You must be careful to do everything I command you, do not add to or subtract anything from it.
Deuteronomy 13
1 If a prophet or a dreamer arises among you, and he proclaims to you a miraculous sign or wonder,
2 and the sign or wonder takes place, and he says to you, 'Let us follow other gods,--gods you have not known,--and let us serve them.'
3 Do not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the LORD your God is testing you, to see whether you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Follow the LORD your God and fear him. Keep his commandments and obey his voice, serve him and loyally hold onto him.
5 But that prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has encouraged rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. He has tried to lead you astray from the way that the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. This is how you are to put away the evil from your midst.
6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or you beloved wife, or your closest friend, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' that you or your fathers have not known,
7 any of the gods of the peoples that are around you, whether they are near to you or far away, from the one end of the earth to the other,
8 do not give in to him or listen to him. Have no sympathy for him and do not spare or cover for him.
9 But you must surely put him to death. Your own hand must strike the first blow to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.
10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
11 Then all Israel will hear, and fear, and never again do this type of wickedness among you.
12 If you hear in one of your cities that the LORD your God is giving you to live in
13 that some scoundrels from among you have gone out and led astray the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' whom you have not known,
14 then inquire, search and make a thorough investigation. If the charge is true that such a detestable act has been done among you,
15 then you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, absolutely destroying it. All who are in it and its cattle must be put to sword.
16 Then gather all of its spoil into the middle of its public square and burn all the spoil and the city with fire to the LORD your God. It will remain a ruin forever. It must never be rebuilt.
17 Do not take any of the things devoted to destruction; so that the LORD may turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you and show you compassion, and multiply you as he promised to your forefathers,
18 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 14
1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Do no cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald for the dead.
2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own special possession, above all peoples on the face of the earth.
3 Do not eat any detestable thing.
4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.
6 You may eat any animal that both splits the hoof, divided in two, and also chews the cud.
7 However you may not eat those that either chew the cud or that have split hooves: the camel, the hare and the rock badger; because they chew the cud but do not split the hoof, so they are unclean to you.
8 The pig is unclean to you because it splits the hoof but does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat and do not touch their carcasses.
9 These marine animals you may eat: whatever has fins and scales.
10 Whatever does not have both fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean to you.
11 You may eat all clean birds.
12 But these are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
13 the red and black kite, and any kind of falcon,
14 ravens of any kind,
15 the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and hawks of any kind,
16 the little and great owl, and the white owl,
17 the desert owl, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,
18 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
19 All flying insects that crawl on the ground are unclean to you; they may not be eaten.
20 You may eat all clean birds.
21 Do not eat of anything that dies naturally. You may give it to the resident foreigner who is within your gates and he may eat it. You may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
22 You are to tithe all the crops from your seed that comes from the field annually.
23 You are to eat it before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose to make his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks; so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
24 If, when the LORD your God blesses you, the place that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you so that you are not able to bring it there,
25 then you may convert it into money, with the money secure in hand, and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose.
26 Then you may spend the money on whatever you wish, for oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink or for whatever your appetite wants. You and your household must eat it there before the LORD your God and rejoice.
27 Do not neglect the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
28 At the end of every three years bring out all the tithe of your produce for that year, and store it up within your towns.
29 Then the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, who are within your gates, may come, eat and be satisfied so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work your hands undertake to do.
Deuteronomy 15
1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
2 This is the manner of the cancellation: every creditor must cancel the loans he has lent to his neighbor. He must not force repayment of it from his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed.
3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your brother owes you must release.
4 There should be no poor among you, for the LORD will certainly bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess,
5 if only you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.
6 For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow, and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you should not harden your heart or be tightfisted against your poor brother.
8 Instead you should generously open your hand to him, lending him enough to meet his need, whatever it may be.
9 Beware that you do not entertain a wicked thought in your heart, 'The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near;' and so view your poor brother grudgingly, and give him nothing; and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be found guilty of sin.
10 Give generously to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, since the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything that your hand endeavors to do.
11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land, therefore, I command you, 'Generously open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor in your land.'
12 If your fellow Hebrew whether a man or a woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you must set him free.
13 When you set him free, do not let him go out empty-handed.
14 Provide for him generously out of your flock and out of your threshing floor and your winepress; as the LORD your God has blessed you, so you should give to him.
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you, that is why I am commanding you to do this today.
16 But if he says to you, 'I do not want to leave you,' because he loves you and your family, since he is well off with you,
17 then you shall take an awl, and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will be your servant forever. Do the same thing to your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship, when you release him for he has been worth double a hired hand for he has served you six years; and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 Every firstborn male that is born to your herds and flocks you must consecrate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herds, or shear the firstborn of your flocks.
20 You and your household must eat it annually before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD will choose.
21 But if it has any defect, being lame or blind, or any defect whatever, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22 But you may eat it within your gates, both those who are unclean and clean may eat it just as you would a gazelle or a deer.
23 Only you must not eat its blood, instead pour it out on the ground like water.
Deuteronomy 16
1 Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt at night.
2 Sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock or the herd, in the place that the LORD will choose to make his name dwell there.
3 Do not eat it with leavened bread. For seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste; so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4 No yeast should be seen anywhere in your land for seven days. None of the meat that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day should remain overnight until the next morning.
5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you.
6 But you must sacrifice the Passover only at the place that the LORD your God will choose to make his name to dwell, in the evening at sunset, on the anniversary of when you came out of Egypt.
7 You must roast and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose. The next morning you may return to your tents.
8 Eat unleavened bread for six days and then on the seventh day will be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, on it you must not do any work.
9 Count off seven weeks from the time you began to use the sickle to harvest the standing grain.
10 Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God by contributing a freewill offering from your hand. You shall give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you.
11 Rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, the Levite who lives in your towns, the foreigner, orphans and the widows who live among you, in the place that the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell.
12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.
13 Keep the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days, after you have harvested the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press.
14 Rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans and the widows who live in your towns.
15 Celebrate the feast for seven days to the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose; because the LORD your God will bless you in all your productivity, and in all the work of your hands, and you should be absolutely joyful.
16 Three times in a year all your males must appear before the LORD your God in the place he will choose: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one is to appear before the LORD empty-handed.
17 Each of you must give as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.
18 Appoint judges and officers in all your towns, the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes; and they must judge the people fairly.
19 You must not pervert justice. You must not show favoritism or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and corrupts the words of the righteous.
20 Pursue only what is just, so that you may live, and inherit the land the LORD your God is giving you.
21 Do not plant any kind of tree as an Asherah pole beside the altar of the LORD your God, that you build for yourself.
22 Do not set up a sacred pillar, for the LORD your God hates them.
Deuteronomy 17
1 You must not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or sheep, that has a defect or anything wrong with it, for that would be detestable to the LORD your God.
2 If there is found in your midst, within any of your towns the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman, who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant,
3 by serving other gods, and worshiping them or the sun, moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden,
4 and it is reported to you and you hear about it, then investigate it thoroughly. If, in fact, it is true, and it is proved that such a detestable thing has been done in Israel,
5 then bring the man or woman who has done this evil thing, to your town gates and stone that man or woman to death.
6 It must be by the testimony of two or three witnesses, that the death sentence is to be executed. By the testimony of only one witness a person must not be put to death.
7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you must put away the evil from your midst.
8 If a case arises that is too hard for you to judge, between murder and manslaughter, between two legal claims, or between different types of assault, any case of controversy too difficult to resolve within your towns, then get up and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose,
9 and come to the Levitical priests, and to the judge who is in office in those days, consult with them and they will render a verdict.
10 You must do according to the rendering of their decision which they announce to you from the place that the LORD will choose, and you must carefully do everything they instruct you to do.
11 You must carry out the sentence according to the verdict of the law that they have instructed you, and according to the sentence they have rendered. You are not allowed to deviate from the sentence they have given you to the right or to the left.
12 Anyone who presumptuously ignores the verdict of the priest who stands ministering before the LORD your God, or to the judge, that person must die. This is how you are to purge the evil from Israel.
13 Then all the people will hear and fear and not be so presumptuous again.
14 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it, and live there, then you will say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me.'
15 You may certainly set him king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. The king over you must be from among your brothers; you may not appoint a foreigner over you who is not one of your fellow Israelites.
16 Moreover he must not accumulate horses for himself, or send the people back to Egypt in order to acquire more horses; for the LORD has said to you, 'You must never go back that way again.'
17 He must not multiply wives for himself, or his heart will be turned away. He must not acquire great amounts of silver and gold for himself.
18 When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must write a copy of this law on a scroll, approved by the Levitical priests.
19 It must stay by him, and he is to read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully obeying all the words of this law and these statutes, and by doing them,
20 that his heart not exalt itself above his brothers or turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may have a long reign over Israel.
Deuteronomy 18
1 The Levitical priests, indeed, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no allotment or inheritance with the rest of Israel. They will eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, that is their inheritance.
2 They will have no inheritance among their brothers. The LORD is their inheritance, just as he told them.
3 This will be the priests' part from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it is an ox or sheep, they are to give the priest the shoulder, the two jowls and the stomach.
4 Give him the firstfruits of your grain, your new wine and your olive oil, and the first of the wool from your sheep.
5 For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons, forever.
6 If a Levite moves from one of your towns from anywhere in Israel where he has been living, and sincerely wants to come to the place the LORD will choose,
7 then he may minister in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow Levites do, who stand there before the LORD.
8 He should have equal portions to eat, besides that which he receives from the sale of his family's possessions.
9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, you must not learn to do the detestable practices of those nations.
10 There must not be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, one who is a fortune-teller, practices witchcraft, interprets omens, or is a sorcerer,
11 one who casts spells, who conjurers up spirits, who practices the occult or who consults the dead.
12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. It is because of these abominations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you.
13 Be blameless before the LORD your God.
14 For these nations that you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and fortune-telling. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do such things.
15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers; you need to listen to him.
16 This is what you requested from the LORD your God at Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Do not make us hear the voice of the LORD our God again or have us see this great fire anymore, lest we die.'
17 The LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have said.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their countrymen, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
19 Whoever refuses to listen to my words that he will speak in my name, I myself will hold him responsible.
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, that I have not commanded him to speak, or who will speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet must die.'
21 If you wonder in your heart, 'How can we tell when a word has not been spoken by the LORD?'
22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the prophecy does not take place or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not fear him.
Deuteronomy 19
1 When the LORD your God has cut off the nations, whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them, and settled in their towns and in their houses,
2 set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
3 Prepare roads to them and divide into three regions the land the LORD your God is causing you to inherit, so that anyone who kills another person may flee there.
4 This is the law for the one who kills someone, who flees there in order to live, whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, without hating him beforehand.
5 For example, suppose a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, and the ax head slips off the handle, and strikes his neighbor so that he dies; he may flee to one of these cities and live.
6 Otherwise the avenger of blood may pursue the killer, while he is hot with anger and overtake him because the way was too far, and kill him even though he was not worthy of death, because he had not hated him beforehand.
7 Therefore I am commanding you, 'You must set apart three cities for yourself.'
8 If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your forefathers, and gives you all the land he promised to give them;
9 you must keep this entire commandment that I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God, and walk constantly in his ways, then you should add three cities more besides these three.
10 This should be done so that innocent blood is not shed in the midst of the land the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and then you would be guilty of bloodshed.
11 But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him, and murders him, and then flees to one of these cities,
12 then the elders of victim's town must send and bring the culprit back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.
13 Your eye must not pity him, but you must purge innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
14 Do not remove your neighbor's property marker, set up by former generations when you receive your inheritance in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
15 A single witness is not enough to convict a person of a crime or wrong in any offense he has committed. It will take testimony from two or three witnesses to legally establish a case.
16 If a malicious witness comes forward against someone to accuse them of wrongdoing,
17 then both parties of the dispute must stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days,
18 and the judges will make a thorough investigation. If it turns out that the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,
19 then you must do to the accuser just as he was attempting to do to his brother. In this way you must purge the evil from your midst.
20 Then the rest of the people will hear and fear, and will not commit any such evil in your midst.
21 You must not show pity. It shall be life for a life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, and foot for a foot.
Deuteronomy 20
1 When you go to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
2 When you draw near for battle, the priest will approach and speak to the troops.
3 He will say to them, 'Listen, Israel, you are drawing near today to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart. Do not fear, tremble or be terrified because of them.
4 For the LORD your God is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.'
5 Then the officers will speak to the troops, saying, 'Is there anyone who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in the battle and someone else dedicates it.
6 Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard, and has not enjoyed its fruit? He may go home, lest he die in the battle and someone else enjoys its fruit.
7 Is there anyone who is engaged to a woman, and has not married her? Let him go home lest he die in the battle and someone else marry her.'
8 The officers will speak further to the troops, and say, 'Is there anyone who is fearful or fainthearted? Let him go home, lest his comrades heart also melt in fear like his own.'
9 When the officers have made an end of speaking to the troops, they are to appoint commanders to lead the troops.
10 When you approach a city to fight against it, offer it terms of peace.
11 If it accepts your terms for peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people who are found in it will serve you in forced labor.
12 But if it refuses to make peace with you, but makes war against you, then lay seige to it.
13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, kill all its males with the sword.
14 But the women and children, livestock and everything else in the city, all its plunder you may take as spoil for yourself. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you.
15 This is what you will do to all the towns that are far away from you, which do not belong to the towns of these nearby nations.
16 But in the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you are not to leave anything alive that breathes.
17 You shall totally destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites just as the LORD your God commanded you,
18 so that they will not teach you to do all their detestable practices they have done in worship of their gods, resulting in your sinning against the LORD your God.
19 When you besiege a city for a long time, making war in an attempt to capture it, do not destroy its trees by swinging an ax against them; for you may eat from them and you must not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human beings that you should besiege them?
20 You may destroy and chop down only trees that you know do not produce food. You may use them to build siege works against the town that makes war with you, until it falls.
Deuteronomy 21
1 If someone is found murdered lying in a field in the land the LORD
your God is giving you to possess, and no one knows who killed him,
2 then your elders and judges shall come out and measure the
distance to the towns nearest the body.
3 The elders of the town nearest the body, must take a heifer from
the herd, that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke,
4 and the elders of that town must bring down the heifer to a valley
with running water, that is neither plowed or planted. There in the valley
they must break the heifer's neck.
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, must step forward, for the
LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him, and to pronounce blessings in
the name of the LORD; and by to their decision every legal dispute and assault
will be settled.
6 Then all the elders of that town nearest the body, must wash their
hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 and they must declare, 'Our hands have not shed this person's blood,
nor did our eyes see it happen.
8 Forgive, O LORD, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed. Do not
let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.' Then
they will be absolved of the guilt of this person's blood.
9 In this way you will purge innocent blood from your midst, when you
do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your
God hands them over to you and you take them captive,
11 if you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are
attracted to her and want to take her to be your wife,
12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she must shave
her head, trim her nails,
13 and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she
has remained in your house, and grieved for her father and her mother a full
month, you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she will be your wife.
14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go free.
You may not sell her for money, you may not treat her as a slave, since you have
humiliated her.
15 If a man has
two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and both the one loved and the
one disliked have borne him sons, and if the firstborn son is from the one who
is disliked,
16 then in the day he divides his inheritance, he may not make the
son of the loved wife the firstborn before the son of the disliked wife, who is
the actual firstborn.
17 But he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the disliked
wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for that son is the
beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
18 If someone has
a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or his
mother, and though they discipline him, still will not listen to them,
19 then his father and his mother must grab hold of him and bring
him to the elders at the gate of his town.
20 They must declare to the elders of his town, 'This son of ours is
stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a
drunkard.'
21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. In this
way you shall purge evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear and fear.
22 If someone has
committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him
on a tree,
23 his body must not remain all night on the tree, but be certain to
bury him that same day, for anyone hanged on a tree is cursed by God. You must
not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 22
1 If you see your neighbor's ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore
it, but bring it back to its owner.
2 If the owner does not live near you, or if you do not know who the owner is, then you should bring it to your home, and it will stay with you until the owner comes searching for it, then you must return it to him.
3 Do the same for his donkey, his clothes or anything else your neighbor has lost and you have found. Do not refuse to help.
4 If you see your neighbor's donkey or ox fallen along the way, do not ignore it but help it get it back on its feet.
5 A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear woman's clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.
6 If you come across a bird's nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.
7 Let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may go well with you, and you may live long.
8 When you build a new house, make a protective wall around your roof, so that your house will not be responsible for bloodshed if someone falls off the roof.
9 Do not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have planted as well as the produce of the vineyard.
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 Do not wear clothes made with wool and linen woven together.
12 Make fringes on the four corners of the cloak with which you cover yourself.
13 If a man marries a woman, and after sleeping with her dislikes her,
14 and accuses her of misconduct, and slanders her reputation by saying, 'I took this woman, but when I slept with her, I discovered she was not a virgin.'
15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must supply the proof of her virginity to the elders of the town at the gate.
16 Then the young woman's father will say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter in marriage to this man but he dislikes her.
17 Now, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, "I discovered your daughter was not a virgin," but here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.' Then they must spread out the cloth before the town elders.
18 Then the town elders must take and punish him.
19 They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman's father, because he has given a virgin in Israel a bad name. She will remain his wife and he must never divorce her as long as he lives.
20 But if the accusation is true, and there is no proof of her virginity,
21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her town will stone her to death because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by prostituting herself in her father's house. In this manner you will purge evil from your midst.
22 If a man is caught sleeping with another man's wife, then both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. In this manner you will purge evil from Israel.
23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets her in the town, and sleeps with her,
24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that town and you must stone them to death; the young woman, because she did not cry out, being in the town, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife. In this manner you will purge evil from your midst.
25 But if the man meets a young woman who is engaged in an open field, and the man forces her and rapes her; then only the man who violated her shall die.
26 Do nothing to the young woman. She has not committed any sin worthy of death. This case is like when a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.
27 Since he found her in an open field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 If a man finds a virgin, that is not engaged, and seizes her and rapes her and they are discovered,
29 then the man who violated her must give the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver and she will be his wife, because he has violated her he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
30 A man must not marry his father's wife and so dishonor his father.
Deuteronomy 23
1 No one whose testicles are emasculated or his penis cut off may enter into the assembly of the LORD.
2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter into the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants may enter into the assembly of the LORD.
3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants may enter into the assembly of LORD,
4 because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam the son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
5 But the LORD your God refused to listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.
6 Do not seek their welfare or their prosperity all your days.
7 Do not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not detest an Egyptian because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
8 The children of the third generation that are born to them may enter into the assembly of the LORD.
9 When you are encamped against your enemies, keep yourself from anything impure.
10 If anyone among you is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp, he must not just come back into the camp.
11 When evening comes, he must bathe himself in water and then, at sunset he may come back into the camp.
12 You shall designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself.
13 You should have a spade among your utensils and when you relieve yourself outside the camp you must dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement.
14 For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you, and to defeat you enemies before you. Therefore your camp is holy, so he should not see anything indecent among you, and turn away from you.
15 Do not hand over an escaped slave to his master who has found refuge with you.
16 Let him live with you, in the your midst in any place he chooses, in any of your towns he likes. Do not oppress him.
17 None of the daughters of Israel is allowed to be a temple prostitute, neither should any men of the sons of Israel be a temple prostitute.
18 You may not bring the fee of a prostitute, or the wage of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God for the completion of a vow, for both of these are detestable to the LORD your God.
19 You must not charge interest on a loan to a fellow Israelite, whether a loan of money, food, or anything that may be lent with interest.
20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but may not charge interest to your fellow Israelite, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your endeavors in the land you are about to enter to possess.
21 When you vow a vow to the LORD your God, you must not delay in fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it from you and you will be guilty of sin.
22 But if you refrain from taking a vow, you will not be guilty.
23 Whatever your lips have promised you must carefully do, just as you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.
24 When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes as much as you want; but you must not put any in your basket.
25 When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears of grain with your hand, but you must not swing a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain.
Deuteronomy 24
1 If a man marries a woman, and she does not please him because he has found something offensive in her, then he may write her a certificate of divorce, and put it in her hand and evict her from his house.
2 When she leaves his house, she may go and become another man's wife.
3 If her second husband dislikes her, and writes her a certificate of divorce, and puts it in her hand and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies,
4 her first husband, who divorced her, may not take her again to marry her, since she is defiled, for that is detestable to the LORD. You should not bring guilt on the land the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
5 A man recently married should not be drafted into the army, or charged with any official duty. He shall be free to stay at home for one year, and be happy with his wife whom he has married.
6 No one should take the lower or the upper millstone as security for a loan; for that is taking a person's livelihood as security.
7 If anyone is caught kidnapping his fellow Israelite, and he treats him as a slave, or sells him, then the kidnapper must die. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.
8 Be careful of defiling skin disease, and follow closely all the Levitical priests instruct you, just as I commanded them, so you should do.
9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam, on the way as you came out of Egypt.
10 When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, do not go into his house to get what he is putting up as security.
11 Stand outside, and the man to whom the loan was made will bring the pledge out to you.
12 If he is a poor person, do not sleep in his coat which he pledged as security.
13 Return the coat he pledged to him before the sun sets, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. It shall be your righteous deed before the LORD your God.
14 Do not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner living in your land within your gates.
15 Pay him his wages each day before sunset; for he is poor, and his life depends on it. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
16 Fathers should not be put to death for the crimes of the children, neither should children be put to death for the crimes of the fathers. Each one should be put to death for his own sin.
17 Do not pervert justice due to the foreigner, the orphan, or take a widow's garment as security for a loan.
18 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.
19 When you harvest your field and forget some grain in the field, do not go back to get it. It shall be left for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Then the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20 When you beat your olive tree harvesting olives, do not go back over the branches again. Some should be left for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.
21 When you gather grapes from your vineyard, do not glean it again after you have harvested it. Some should be left for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.
22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am commanding you to do this.
Deuteronomy 25
1 If there is a dispute between two people and they bring it to court, the judges should decide the case. They are to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.
2 If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall have him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes his wickedness deserves.
3 The judge may sentence him to forty lashes, but no more. If more lashes than these are given, then your brother would be degraded in your sight.
4 Do not muzzle the ox when it treads the grain.
5 If brothers live together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the dead man's wife must not marry someone outside the family. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
6 The first son she bears will carry on the name of his deceased brother, so that his name is not blotted out from Israel.
7 If the man does not want to take his deceased brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go to the town gate to the elders, and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me.'
8 Then the elders of his town will summon him and speak to him. If he still persists and says, 'I do not want to marry her,'
9 then his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and remove his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face. Then she will answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's family line.'
10 So his family name will be called in Israel, 'The family of him who has his shoe pulled off.'
11 If two men get into a fight, and the wife of the one gets involved to rescue her husband from the hand of his attacker, and she reaches out and grabs him by the testicles,
12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall not pity her.
13 Do not have in your merchant bag different weights, one heavy and another light.
14 Do not have in your house different measures, one large and another small.
15 You must have an accurate and honest weight and an accurate and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
16 For anyone who does such things, all who act dishonestly, are detestable to the LORD your God.
17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,
18 how they attacked you on the way when you were exhausted and weary, and struck down your stragglers who lagged behind. He did not fear God.
19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you in the land the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, that you must blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget it!
Deuteronomy 26
1 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live there,
2 you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you harvest from your land the LORD your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.
3 You shall come to the priest in office at that time, and say to him, 'I declare this day to the LORD your God, that I have come into the land the LORD promised our forefathers to give us.'
4 Then the priest will take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5 Then you must affirm before the LORD your God, 'My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt and lived there, his family was few in number, but became a great, mighty and numerous nation.
6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us and imposed hard labor on us.
7 So we cried to the LORD, the God of our forefathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, toil and oppression.
8 Then the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying deeds and with signs and wonders.
9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 So now, I have brought the first produce of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.' Then you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before him.
11 You will rejoice in all the good the LORD your God has given you and your house. Rejoice also with the Levite and the foreigner who lives in your midst.
12 When you have finished paying all the tithe of your crops in the third year, which is the special year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that they may eat within your town and be satisfied.
13 Then you shall declare in the presence of the LORD your God, 'I have taken the sacred offering out of my house, and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, according to every commandment you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten any of your commandments.
14 I have not eaten any of it while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done everything you have commanded me.
15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground you have given us, as you promised to our forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.'
16 This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and regulations, you must observe and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17 You have declared this day that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments and his ordinances and obey his voice.
18 The LORD has declared today that you are his own treasured people, just as he has promised you, so that you should keep all his commandments.
19 Then he will lift you high above all the other nations he has made. Then you will receive praise, fame and honor. You will be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as he has promised."
Deuteronomy 27
1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, "Keep all the commandments I am giving you today.
2 When you cross over the Jordan River to the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster.
3 Write on them all the words of this law, once you have crossed over; so that you may enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your forefathers has promised you.
4 When you have crossed over the Jordan River, set up these stones about which I am commanding you today on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.
5 Build an altar there to the LORD your God, an altar of rough stones. Do not use an iron tool to shape them.
6 Build the altar of the LORD your God of uncut stones, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.
7 Sacrifice peace offerings on it and eat them there, rejoicing before the LORD your God.
8 Write very clearly on the stones all the words of this law."
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be quiet and listen, O Israel, today you have become the people of the LORD your God.
10 Therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, and do his commandments and his statutes I am commanding you today."
11 Then Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12 "When you have crossed over the Jordan River, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.
13 These tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
14 And the Levites shall declare to all the people of Israel with a loud voice,
15 'Cursed is anyone who makes a carved or a metal image, a detestable thing to the LORD, the work of a craftsman's hands, and sets it up in secret.' Then all the people shall respond and say, 'Amen.'
16 'Cursed is anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
17 'Cursed is anyone who removes his neighbor's boundary marker.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
18 'Cursed is anyone who misleads the blind on the road.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
19 'Cursed is anyone who perverts justice due to the foreigner, orphan or widow.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
20 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with his father's wife, because he has exposed his father's nakedness.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
21 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any type of beast.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
22 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
23 'Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
24 'Cursed is anyone who kills his neighbor in secret.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
25 'Cursed is anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
26 'Cursed is anyone who refuses to do the words of this law.' Then all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
Deuteronomy 28
1 If you completely obey the voice of the
LORD your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today,
then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you obey
the voice of the LORD your God.
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.
4 Your children will be blessed, along with the produce of your ground, the offspring of your beasts, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.
5 Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will come out against you from one direction, and will flee from you in seven directions.
8 The LORD will order a blessing on your barns and all your hand endeavors to do. He will bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, just as he has promised you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 All the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they will fear you.
11 The LORD will give you abundant prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, in the land the LORD promised your forefathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open to you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give the rain for your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow.
13 The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never on the bottom, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, that I am giving you today, to observe and to do them.
14 Do not turn away from any of the words that I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.
15 If you refuse to obey the voice of the LORD your God by carefully keeping all his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you.
16 Cursed you will be in the town and cursed you will be in the field.
17 Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock.
19 Cursed you will be when you come in, and cursed you will be when you go out.
20 The LORD will send on you a curse, confusion and rebuke, in all that your hand endeavors to do until you are destroyed and perish quickly because of the evil of your deeds by which you have forsaken me.
21 The LORD will make deadly diseases cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land you are entering to possess.
22 The LORD will afflict you with a wasting disease, fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and with the sword, blight and mildew. These will pursue you until you perish.
23 The sky over your head will be bronze and the earth under you will be iron.
24 The LORD will make the rain of your land powder, and dust will pour down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will go out from one direction against them, and will flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26 Your dead body will be food for all birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and there will be no one to scare them away.
27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors, scabs and itch, from which you cannot be cured.
28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and with confusion of heart,
29 and you will grope around at noonday as the blind grope in darkness. You will not prosper in your endeavors and you will be oppressed and robbed continually, but there will be no one to rescue you.
30 You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her, you will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
31 Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be seized right in front of you, but will never be returned to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have none to rescue you.
32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you watch, and your eyes will fail searching for them all day long and you will be powerless to do anything about it.
33 The produce of your land and all your labors, will be eaten by a nation you do not even know; and you will be oppressed and crushed continually.
34 You will be driven insane by what your eyes will see.
35 The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that are incurable, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 The LORD will deport you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will worship other gods made of wood and stone.
37 You will become an object of horror, a proverb and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will exile you.
38 You will carry much seed into the field, but will harvest little; for the locust will consume it.
39 You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes; for the worm will eat them.
40 You will have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives will drop before being ripe.
41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not stay yours; for they will go off into captivity.
42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground, the locust will take over.
43 The foreigner who is in your midst will rise above you higher and higher; but you will descend lower and lower.
44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45 Then all these curses will come on, pursue and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he has given you.
46 These curses will be a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever,
47 because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and with glad of hearts with the abundance of all things you received.
48 Therefore you will serve your enemies that the LORD will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness and need of everything. He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose tongue you do not understand;
50 a fierce-faced nation that shows no respect to the old or favor to the young.
51 They will consume the offspring of your cattle and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed. They will not leave you any grain, new wine, or olive oil, calves of your cattle or lambs of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52 They will besiege you in all your towns, until the high and fortified walls you trusted in are knocked down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your town gates throughout all your land the LORD your God is giving you.
53 You will eat the fruit of your own womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you during the siege and the terrible distress of your enemies' attack.
54 The man among you who is gentle and sensitive will turn against his own brother and the wife he loves and children who survive.
55 He will not give to any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because there is nothing left for him to eat, because of the distress of the siege by which your enemy will confine you in all your towns.
56 The most tender and delicate woman among you, who would never think of setting the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, her eye will begrudge food to her beloved husband, and to her son and daughter,
57 and she will secretly eat the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and she shall eat her own children whom she bore because there is nothing else to eat, because of the siege by which your enemy will confine you in your towns.
58 If you do not obey all the words of this law that are written in this scroll, and you do not fear this glorious and fearful name, the LORD your God,
59 then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring severe and long lasting afflictions, and grievous long lasting sicknesses.
60 He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt that you were so afraid of, and they will cling to you.
61 The LORD will also bring on you every sickness and plague not written in the scroll of this law, until you are destroyed.
62 Although you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you will be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
63 Just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do good for you, and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice in bringing ruin on you and destroying you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone that neither you or your fathers have known.
65 Among those nations you will find no ease or resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes and a despairing soul.
66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; and you will be afraid night and day with no assurance that your life will survive.
67 In the morning you will say, 'If only it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'If only it were morning!' because of the fear of your heart and for the sights your eyes will see.
68 Then the LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by a way I told you, that you would never see again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
Deuteronomy 29
1 These are the words of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them at Horeb.
2 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land.
3 Your own eyes saw the great tests, those signs and great wonders.
4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see or ears to hear.
5 I have led you through the wilderness for forty years. Your clothes did not wear out nor did the sandals on your feet.
6 You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
7 When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan, came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.
8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of the Manasseh.
9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may prosper in all you do.
10 You are standing this day, all of you, before the LORD your God--the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers along with all the men of Israel,
11 your children, your wives, and the foreigner who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who chops your wood to one who draws your water;
12 so that thou may enter into the covenant the LORD your God promised by an oath, which the LORD your God is making with you today;
13 in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and swore to your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
14 It is not with you alone I am making this covenant by oath,
15 whoever is standing here with us today before the LORD our God, but also with those who are not here with us today.
16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you traveled.
17 You have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood, stone, silver and gold, that were among them.
18 Beware that there is not among you man, woman, clan or tribe, whose heart is turning away today from the LORD your God, to serve the gods of those nations. Beware that there is not among you a root producing poison and bitter fruit.
19 When he hears the warning of this oath,
that he will bless himself, thinking in his heart, 'I will be safe even though
I walk in the stubbornness of my heart." This will destroy both the watered
and parched land alike.
20 The LORD will not pardon him, but the anger of the LORD and his
jealousy will burn against that person. All the curses written in this scroll
will fall upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.
21 Then the LORD will single him out for disaster out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.
22 The next generation, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, will ask when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses by which the LORD has afflicted it,
23 and the whole land burned with sulfur and salt, that cannot be planted, sprout or even produce any grass, like the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, that the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath.
24 All the nations will ask, "Why has the LORD done this to this land? What caused the outburst of this great anger?"
25 Then people will answer, "Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their forefathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
26 They went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they did not know that he had not allowed them to worship.
27 Therefore the anger of the LORD was sparked against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this scroll.
28 The LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath and great indignation. He exiled them into another land, as it is this day."
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 30
1 When you have experienced all these things, the blessings and the curses I have set before you, and you recall them when you are living among all the nations where the LORD your God has exiled you,
2 if you and your children return to the LORD your God, and obey his voice according to all that I am commanding you today, with all your heart and soul,
3 then the LORD your God will reverse your captivity and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4 Even if you are exiled to the most distant lands under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back.
5 The LORD your God will bring you back into the land your forefathers possessed and you will possess it, and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your forefathers.
6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and persecute you.
8 Then you will return again and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments I am giving you today.
9 The LORD your God will make all the undertakings of your hand prosperous, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will once again delight in prospering you, as he delighted in your forefathers,
10 if only you obey the voice of the LORD your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.
11 For this commandment I am giving you today, it is not too difficult for you nor is it out of reach.
12 It is not up in heaven, so that you need to ask, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it back to us so we can hear and do it?'
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, 'Who will cross the sea for us and bring it back to us so we can hear and do it?'
14 No, the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it.
15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and disaster.
16 What I am commanding you today is to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, statutes and regulations, so that you may live and multiply, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,
18 I declare to you today, that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your life in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live
20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding tightly to him; for he is your life and length of days, so that you may dwell in the land the LORD promised to give your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 31
1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.
2 He said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old today and I can no longer go out and come in. The LORD has told me, 'You shall not cross over this Jordan River.'
3 The LORD your God, he will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross over before you, just as the LORD has spoken.
4 The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land when he destroyed them.
5 The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you will do to them according to the whole commandment I am giving to you.
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be afraid of them, for it is the LORD your God who is going with you. He will not fail or abandon you."
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land the LORD promised to their forefathers to give them. You will enable them to inherit it.
8 The LORD himself is going before you; he will be with you, he will not fail or abandon you. Do not fear or be discouraged."
9 Then Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the Levitical priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
10 Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time of the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles,
11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12 Assemble the people--men, women and children, along with the foreigners who live in your towns--so that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and carefully do all the words of this law.
13 Then their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land you are crossing over the Jordan River to possess."
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "The days are approaching when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.
15 The LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the Tent.
16 Then the LORD said to Moses, "You are about to sleep with your forefathers; then this people will begin to prostitute themselves with foreign gods of the land where they are going. They will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
17 Then my anger will be sparked against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. Many disasters and troubles will overcome them, so that they will say in that day, 'Are not these troubles happening to us because our God is not among us?'
18 I will surely hide my face in that day for all the wickedness they have done by turning to other gods.
19 Now therefore write this song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.
20 For after I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey I promised to their forefathers, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them. They will despise me and break my covenant.
21 When many disasters and troubles overcome them, this song will testify against them as a witness; because it must never be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants. I know their inclinations they have in mind already today, before I have even brought them into the land I promised them."
22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the Israelites.
23 Then the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, "Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them, and I will be with you."
24 When Moses finished writing the words of this law in a scroll to the end,
25 Moses commanded the Levites, who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
26 "Take this scroll of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.
27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. While I am still alive and right here with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD; so how much more after my death?
28 Assemble to me all the elders and officers of your tribes, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29 For I realize that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way I have commanded you. Disaster will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger by what your hands have made."
30 So Moses recited in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until it was finished.
Deuteronomy 32
1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak,
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 Let my teaching fall like the rain,
let my speech descend like the dew,
like a gentle rain on tender grass,
and like the showers on young plants.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD,
ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect;
all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does nothing wrong,
Just and upright is he.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him,
they are no longer his children,
it is their sin;
they are a perverse and twisted generation.
6 Is this how you repay the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is not he your father who created you?
Has he not made you, and established you?
7 Remember the days of old,
consider the years of former generations,
ask your father, and he will inform you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
When he divided humankind,
he set the boundaries for the peoples,
according to the number of the sons of God.
9 For the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob is his special inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling wasteland,
he protectively surrounded him and cared for him,
he guarded him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up her nest,
that hovers over her young,
it spreads out its wings and swoops them up,
it carries them aloft on its pinions.
12 The LORD alone led him,
no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride over the heights of the earth,
and he ate the produce of the field,
he nourished him with honey out of the rocky cliffs,
olive oil out of the flinty rock,
14 Curds from the herd,
and milk from the flock,
the fat of lambs and goats,
rams of Bashan,
the finest of the wheat
and from the juice of the grape you drank wine.
15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked,
you became fat, plump and stuffed.
Then he forsook God who made him,
and abandoned the Rock of his salvation.
16 They moved him to jealousy with foreign gods,
with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, which are no God,
to gods that they had never known,
to new gods recently developed,
which your fathers never feared.
18 You ignored the Rock that bore you,
and forgot God who gave you birth.
19 The LORD saw this and despised them,
because he was provoked by his sons and daughters.
20 And he said, 'I will hide my face from them,
then I will see what their end will be.
For they are a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
21 They made me jealous with what was no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their worthless idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people,
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire has been sparked by my anger,
and burns to the depths of the grave,
and devours the earth with its produce,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap disasters on them.
I will shoot my arrows at them.
24 I will waste them with hunger,
and devour by plague and bitter pestilence.
I will send against them the teeth of beasts,
with the poison of things that crawl in the dust.
25 Outside the sword will leave them childless,
inside their homes terror will reign over
both the young man and young woman,
the nursing child and elderly with gray hair.
26 I said, 'I want to scatter them afar,'
blotting out the remembrance of them from human memory.
27 But I feared the provocation of their enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, 'Our hand is exalted,
the LORD has not done all this.'
28 For they are a nation without sense,
and there is no understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise, then they would understood this,
then they would consider their final fate.
30 How can one man chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
the LORD had given them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock,
as even our enemies acknowledge.
32 For their vine is from the vine stock of Sodom,
and from the fields of Gomorrah,
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the poison of serpents,
and the deadly venom of cobras.
34 "Is this not stored up with me,
sealed up among my treasures?
35 Vengeance is mine and I will repay them,
at the time when their foot slips.
For the day of their disaster is near,
and their impending doom will come on them suddenly."
36 For the LORD will judge his people,
and
change his mind concerning his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
and there is no one left, slave or free.
37 Then he will ask, "Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you,
let them be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he,
there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and say, 'As I live forever,
41 I will sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand will take hold of it for judgment;
I will render vengeance on my adversaries,
and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword will devour flesh,
with the blood of the slain and captives,
the chief leaders of the enemy.'
43 Rejoice with him, O heavens,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants,
and will render vengeance on his adversaries,
and will make atonement for his land and his people."
44 Then Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua, the son of Nun.
45 When Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, "Take to heart to all the words that I am proclaiming to you today. Command your children to carefully do all the words of this law.
47 For these are not just empty words for you, they are your life. By this word you will prolong your days in the land you are crossing over the Jordan River to possess."
48 Then the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,
49 "Get up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and view the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites for a possession.
50 You will die on the mountain you are climbing, and will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
51 It is because you both rebelled against me in the midst of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. You did not treat me as holy in the midst of the Israelites.
52 For you will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land I am giving the Israelites."
Deuteronomy 33
1 This is the blessing Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the Israelites before his death.
2 He said, "The LORD came from Sinai,
and dawned upon us from Seir.
He shined forth from Mount Paran,
and he came with ten thousand holy ones.
with flaming fire at his right hand.
3 Yes, he loved the people,
all his holy ones were in his hands.
They sat down at your feet,
each one receiving your words.
4 Moses gave us a law,
an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
5 The LORD was king in Jeshurun [Israel],
when the leaders of the people gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die,
let his people not be few.
7 This is the blessing concerning Judah. He said,
'Listen, O LORD, to the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend for them,
and help him against his adversaries.'
8 Concerning Levi he said,
'Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one,
with whom you contended at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah.
9 Who said of his father and mother,
"I have no regard for them,"
he ignored his own brothers,
and did not acknowledge his own children.
For they have observed your word,
and kept your covenant.
10 They will teach Jacob your regulations,
and Israel your law.
They will put incense before you,
and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O LORD, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands,
strike the loins of those who attack him,
and those who hate him,
so that they never rise again.'
12 Concerning Benjamin he said,
'The beloved of the LORD will dwell in safety beside him.
He shields him all day long,
and he rests between his shoulders.'
13 Concerning Joseph he said,
'May the LORD bless his land,
with the precious gift of dew from heaven,
and with the watery deep that crouches beneath,
14 and with the precious fruits produced by the sun,
and with the precious produce of the moon,
15 with the chief crops of the ancient mountains,
and with abundance of the everlasting hills,
16 and with the precious gifts of the earth and its fullness,
and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush.
May these blessings grace the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the head of him who was prince among his brothers.
17 Like a firstborn bull is his majesty,
and his horns are the horns of the wild ox,
with them he will gore all peoples,
driving them to the ends of the earth.
Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and the thousands of Manasseh.'
18 Concerning Zebulun he said,
'Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They will summon the peoples to the mountain,
there they will offer right sacrifices,
for they will draw abundance from the seas,
and hidden treasures from the sand.'
20 Concerning Gad he said,
'Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad.
He lives like a lion,
tearing at the arm or head.
21 He chose the best part for himself,
for there the leader's portion was reserved,
he came with the leaders of the people,
he executed the justice of the LORD,
and his regulations with Israel.'
22 Concerning Dan he said,
'Dan is a lion's cub,
that leaps out from Bashan.'
23 Concerning Naphtali he said,
'O Naphtali, overflowing with favor,
and full of the blessing of the LORD,
may you possess the west and the south.'
24 Concerning Asher he said,
'Most blessed be Asher above other sons,
may he be favored by his brothers,
and let him dip his foot in olive oil.
25 Your gate bars will be iron and bronze,
and as your days are long, so may your strength be.
26 There is no one like God, O Jeshurun [Israel],
Who rides upon the heavens to help you,
and through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are his everlasting arms.
He drives out the enemy before you,
and says, 'Destroy.'
28 So Israel will live in safety,
the fountain of Jacob safely alone.
In a land of grain and new wine,
Yes, its heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel,
Who
is like you?
You are a people saved by the LORD,
your protective shield,
and your awesome sword!
Your enemies will cower before you,
and you will trample on their backs."
Deuteronomy 34
1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. The LORD showed him the whole land, from Gilead to Dan,
2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah to the western Mediterranean Sea,
3 and the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
4 Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have allowed you to see it with your eyes, but you may not go over there."
5 So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said.
6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyes were unimpaired and his strength had not waned.
8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. The Israelites listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
10 There has never since arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
11 who did all the signs and the wonders the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh, all his servants and all his land,
12 with mighty power and awesome deeds that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.