1These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness to the west near the Red Sea between Paran Tophel and Laban and Aulon and Di-zahab; 2 over eleven days at Horeba by way of Mount Seir up to Kadesh-barnea. 3 And it happened that in the fortieth year in the eleventh month on the first of the month Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel in accord with all that the Lord commanded him concerning them. 4 After striking down Sihon, king of the Amorites who dwelled in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan who dwelled in Ashtaroth and in Edrei 5 on the other side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, 6 “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘Let it suffice for you to dwell on this mountain. 7 Turn and leave and go into the mountain country of the Amorites and to all the neighbors of the Arabah into the mountain and the plain and to the south and the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon as far as the great river the Euphrates. 8 Look! He has delivered over the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that I swore to your fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give to them and their seed after them.’ 9 And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I will not be able to bear you alone. 10 The Lord your God multiplied you and look, today you are like the stars of the heavens in abundance. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to you as you are a thousand times and may he bless you as he told you. 12 How will I alone be able to bear your suffering and your substance and your controversies? 13 Provide for yourselves wise and knowledgeable and prudent men by your tribes, and I will appoint them over you as your leaders.’ 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The word that you spoke to do is good.’ 15 So I took from you wise and knowledgeable and prudent men, and I appointed them to be leaders over you, leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds and leaders of tens and assistants to your judges. 16 And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the case between your brothers and judge justly between a man and his brother and his sojourner. 17 You should not know the face in judgment. You shall judge the small and the great alike. You shall surely not shrink back from the face of a person, for the judgment is God’s. But if the issue is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will hear you.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do. 19 “And after departing from Horeb we went through all that great and frightening wilderness that we saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we went as far as Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come as far as the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving over to you. 21 Look! The Lord our God has given over to you the land before your face. Go up and take possession in the way the Lord, the God of our fathers, said to you. Do not fear or be afraid.’ 22 And you all came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us and let them search out the land for us and let them report to us the news about the route through which we should go up into it and the cities into which we should enter into them.’ 23 And the idea was pleasing before me, so I took twelve men from you, one man per tribe. 24 And after turning about they went into the mountain and went as far as Cluster Ravine, and they surveyed it. 25 And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us and said, ‘The land is good that the Lord our God is giving over to us.’ 26 And you did not want to go up. And you disobeyed the word of the Lord our God. 27 And you were muttering in your tents and said, ‘It is because the Lord hates us that he led us out from the land of Egypt to give us over into the hands of the Amorites to utterly destroy us. 28 Where are we going?’ Our brothers disturbed your heart, saying, ‘There is a great and numerous nation, stronger than you, and great and walled cities as far as the heavens. But we also saw sons of the giants in that place.’ 29 And I said to you, ‘Do not be scared, nor be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God who is going ahead before your face, he will fight them with you according to all that he did for us in the land of Egypt. 31 And in the wilderness this is what you saw: By the way of the mountain of the Amorite, how the Lord your God nourished you as when someone nourishes his son, along all the way in which you went until you came to this place.’ 32 And in this matter you did not trust the Lord our God, 33 who proceeded ahead of you in the way to choose a place for you, guiding you by fire at night, showing you the way whereby you would go upon it, and in a cloud by day. 34 And the Lord heard the sound of your words and being provoked he swore, saying, 35 ‘If any one of these men will see this good land that I swore to your fathers! 36 Except for Caleb, son of Jephunneh; he will see it, and I will give to him the land upon which he walks and to his sons because he kept the commands of the Lord.’ 37 The Lord was angry even with me because of you, saying, ‘You will certainly not enter into that place, not even you! 38 Joshua, son of Nun, standing beside you, he shall enter that place. Strengthen him for he will take possession of it for Israel. 39 And every young child who does not know good or evil today, they shall enter that place, and I will give it to them, and they will inherit it. 40 And after you turn, march out to camp in the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’ 41 And you replied to me and said, ‘We have sinned in the presence of the Lord our God. Let us go up to fight according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.’ And you each took up your battle equipment and gathered together to go up into the mountain. 42 And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “You shall not go up and wage war, for I am not with you, and you shall not be annihilated before your enemies.”’ 43 And I spoke to you, but you did not listen to me. And you transgressed the word of the Lord and acted in defiance and went up into the mountain. 44 And the Amorites who lived in that mountain came out to meet you, and they pursued you like bees when they might do, and they wounded you from Seir as far as Hormah. 45 And after sitting down, you wept before the Lord our God, and the Lord did not listen to your voice and did not heed you. 46 And you remained at Kadesh many days, however many days you remained there.
2“And after turning, we departed into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, which is the direction the Lord told to me, and we circled Mount Seir for many days. 2 And the Lord spoke to me, 3 ‘It is sufficient for you to encircle this mountain. Therefore, turn around to the north. 4 And command the people saying, “You are about to pass through the borders of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir.a And they will be afraid of you and will be very cautious of you. 5 Do not engage with them in battle, for I will not give to you from their land, not even a foot’s step, because I have given Mount Seir to the sons of Esau as a portion. [1] 6 Buy provisions from them with silver, and you will eat and take water in moderation from them for silver, and you will drink.”’ 7 For the Lord our God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. Consider how you passed through that great and frightening wilderness. Look, for the forty years the Lord your God was with you, you were in need of nothing. 8 And we passed by your brothers, the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, along the way to Arabah from Elon and from Gasion Gaber. And when we turned, we went by the way of Moab. 9 “And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not act in enmity toward the Moabites and do not engage with them in battle, for I might not give a portion from their land to you since I have already given Seir to the sons of Lot as an inheritance.’ 10 Formerly the Emim dwelled in it, a great and mighty and strong people, like the Anakim. 11 Just as the Anakim, these also should be considered Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 And the Horim dwelled before in Seir, and the sons of Esau destroyed them and utterly annihilated themb and settled in the place of them, the way Israel did with the land of its inheritance that the Lord gave them. 13 So then stand up and depart! And go by the ravine of Zered. So we passed by the ravine of Zered. 14 And the days that we passed by from Kadesh-barnea until we passed by the ravine of Zered were thirty-eight years: until the whole generation of men, the warriors, perished, having died from the camp, as God swore to them. 15 And the hand of God was upon them to purge them from the midst of the camp until they perished. 16 “And it happened after all the men, the warriors, perished, having died from among the people, 17 that the Lord spoke to me saying, 18 ‘Today you will pass by the border of Moab at Seir, 19 and you will draw the sons of Ammon near. Do not act in enmity toward them and do not engage them in battle. For I will not give from the land of the sons of Ammon to you as a portion, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a portion. 20 And it is to be considered the land of the Rephaim, for the Rephaim formerly dwelled on it, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim, 21 a great and mighty people who were stronger than you, like the Anakim; and the Lord destroyed them before their face, and they took possession and settled in the place of them until this day. 22 Just as they did to the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, who in the same way destroyed the Horim before their face, and they took possession and settled in their place until this day. 23 And the Avvim who dwell in Hazeroth as far as Gaza, and the Caphtorim hailing from Caphtor, they wiped them out and settled in their place. 24 So then arise and depart and pass through the ravine of Arnon. Look, I am giving into your hand Sihon, the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession; engage him in battle. 25 On this day begin to give your trembling and your fear upon the face of all the nations under the heavens, who upon hearing your name will become troubled and have labor pain from your face.’ ” The Defeat of Sihon 26 “And I sent ambassadors from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with a peaceful message saying, 27 ‘I will pass through your land; I will pass by the road and will not turn to the right or to the left. 28 You will give me provisions for silver, and I will eat, and you will give me water, for silver, and I will drink. I will do nothing except that I will pass by on foot. 29 Just as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who dwell in Aroer, until I pass by the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving over to us.’ 30 And Sihon, king of Heshbon, did not want us to pass by him, because the Lord our God hardened his spirit and overpowered his heart that he might be given over into your hand as in this day. 31 And the Lord said to me, ‘Look, I have begun to give over before your face Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of his land.’ 32 And Sihon, king of Heshbon, came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And the Lord our God gave him over before our face, and he struck him and his sons and all his people. 34 And we overpowered all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed each city one after another; and we did not leave their women and their children alive, 35 but we plundered the livestock, and we took the spoils of the cities 36 from Aroer, which is along the edge of Wadi Arnon and the city that is in the ravine even as far as the mountain of Gilead. There was no city that escaped us; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands. 37 Only we did not draw near to the sons of Ammon, all the bordering territory of Wadi Jabbok and the cities in the hill country, as the Lord our God commanded us.
3“And turning we went up by the road leading into Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle in Edrei. 2 And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him over into your hands and all his people and all his land. And you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelled in Heshbon.’ 3 And the Lord our God gave him over into our hands, even Og, king of Bashan, and all his people. And we struck him until his seed did not remain. 4 And we conquered all his cities at that time. There was no city that we did not take from them, sixty cities in all the surrounding countries bordering Argob of Og, king in Bashan. 5 All the cities were strong, with high walls, gates and bars, except the very many cities of the Perizzites. 6 We utterly destroyed them as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and we utterly destroyed each city, one after another, even the women and the children 7 and all the livestock, and we plundered the spoils of the cities for ourselves. 8 And at that time we seized the land from the hands of two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan from the Wadi Arnon as far as Hermon. 9 The Sidonians called Hermon “Sirion,” and the Amorites called it “Senir.” 10 All cities of Misor and all of Gilead and all of Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og, king of Bashan, was left behind by the Rephaim. Look, his bed is a bed of iron. See now it is in the citadel of the sons of Ammon. Its length is nine forearms, and four forearms in breadth by the forearm of a man. 12 And they plundered that land at that time, from Aroer, which is on the edge of Wadi Arnon, and half of the hill country of Gilead, and its cities I gave over to Reuben and Gad. 13 And the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, Og’s kingdom, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, even all the area of Argob, all that land of Bashan; it shall be considered the land of the Rephaim. 14 And Jair, son of Manasseh, took all rest of Argob as far as the borders of Geshur and Maacath. He named it after his name: Bashan Havvoth-jair, as it is until this day. 15 And I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 And to Reuben and to Gad I had given from Gilead as far as Wadi Arnon, and as far as the Jabbok, the wadi as a boundary, for the sons of Ammon. 17 And the Arabah and Jordan as a boundary of Machanareth and as far as the sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, below Asedoth of Pisgah on the east. 18 “And I commanded you at that time saying, ‘The Lord our God gave this land to you as a portion. Move ahead, armed before the face of your brothers, the sons of Israel, each who is able. 19 Only your women and your young children and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock), let them reside in your cities that I gave to you, 20 until the Lord your God should give rest to your brothers as also to you, and they will also inherit this land that the Lord our God is giving them at the other side of the Jordan. And you will return, each to his inheritance that I gave you.’ 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all the great things the Lord our God did to these two kings; thus the Lord our God will do to all the kingdoms upon which you are about to pass over in that place. 22 You shall not be afraid, because the Lord our God, he fights for you.’ Moses Forbidden to Enter the Land 23 “And I entreated before the Lord at that time saying, 24 ‘Lord God, you began to show your attendant your strength and your might and your strong hand and your lofty arm. For what god is there in the heavens or on earth who will do as you did, and according to your strength? 25 Therefore, crossing over, I will see this good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, the good mountain, and Lebanon.’ 26 And the Lord disregarded me on your account, and he did not listen to me. And the Lord spoke to me, ‘It is sufficient for you! Do not continue to speak of this issue any longer. 27 Go up on top of Hewn Stone and look with your eyes down to the sea and to the north and to the southwest and to the east and see with your eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan. 28 And command Joshua and strengthen him and call him, because this one, he will cross before the face of this people, and he will take possession himself for them of the land that you have seen.’ 29 And we were dwelling in a wooded valley near the house of Peor.”
4“And now, Israel, hear the ordinances and the judgments that I am teaching you to do today in order that you may live and become numerous and, after entering, take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to the word that I am commanding you and do not subtract from it. Keep the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today. 3 Your eyes have seen all that the Lord our God did to Baal of Peor, that every person who went after Baal of Peor, the Lord your God destroyed him from us. 4 But you who kept close to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 Look! I have shown you the ordinances and judgments just as the Lord commanded me, to do so in the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it. 6 And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and understanding before all nations; all who may hear all these ordinances will say, ‘Look, this great nation is a wise and prudent people.’ 7 For what other great nation is there to which a god belongs to it near to them like the Lord our God in all when we invoke him? 8 And what other great nation to which ordinances and righteous judgments belongs to it according to all this law that I am delivering to you today? 9 Take heed of yourself and guard your life very much; do not forget all the things that your eyes have seen and do not put them away from your heart all the days of your life; but you will instruct your sons and the sons of your sons, 10 the day when you stood before the Lord our God at Horeb, the day of the assembly, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me and let them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the land, and you shall teach their sons.’ 11 And you came and stood below the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire as far as the heavens: gloom, darkness, storm, and a great noise. 12 And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire the sound of words, which you heard—but you saw no image, except a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to do, the ten words, and he wrote them upon two tablets of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you ordinances and judgments, for you to do them in the land in which you are entering there to take possession of it. 15 And watch yourselves very much, because you did not see the image on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb on the mountain from the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act lawlessly and make for yourselves a carved idol or any image in the likeness of a male or female, 17 in the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, in the likeness of any winged bird that flies under the heavens, 18 in the likeness of any reptile that creeps on the earth, in the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19 And do not look up into the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars, or even any ornaments of the heavens, lest you be led astray to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God portioned them out to all the nations below the heavens. 20 But God took you and led us out from the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be his fortunate people, as in this day. 21 And the Lord was angry with me because of the things said by you, and he swore that I would not pass over this Jordan and that I would not enter into the land that the Lord your God is giving over to you as a portion. 22 For I am about to die in this land, and I am not crossing over the Jordan, but you are crossing over and will take possession of this good land. 23 Pay attention, each of you! Do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he arranged with you, and make for yourselves a carved image of anything that the Lord your God has appointed. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25 “But if you have sons and sons of your sons and they dwell a long time upon the land and act lawlessly and make a carved image of anything and do evil before the Lord your God to provoke him, 26 I call to witness against you today the heavens and the earth, that you will be destroyed by destruction from the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession. You will not prolong your days upon it; rather you will be wiped out with destruction. 27 And the Lord will scatter you in all the nations, and you will be few in number among the nations in which the Lord will lead you into that place. 28 And you will serve other gods there, the works of human hands, of wood and stone that will not see or hear or eat or smell. 29 And you will seek the Lord our God in that place, and you will find him whenever you seek him with your whole heart and with your whole soul in your oppression. 30 And all these words will find you in the last days, and you will turn to the Lord your God, and you will hear his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not forsake you or destroy you; he will not forget the covenant of your fathers that he swore to them. 32 Ask about earlier days that were before you, from the day that God created humankind on the earth and on the end of the heavens as far as the end of the heavens, whether a thing this great has existed, whether a thing such as this has been heard of; 33 whether a nation has heard the voice of a living God speaking from the midst of fire, the way you have heard and lived, 34 whether a God ever tried to go in to take for himself a people from the midst of a nation, by trial and by signs and by wonders and by battle and with a strong hand and with a mighty arm and with great sights according to all that our God did in Egypt before you to see, 35 so that you might know that the Lord your God, he is God, and there is none beside only him. 36 Out of the heavens his voice was heard, to teach you; and on earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire. 37 Because he loved your fathers and he chose you, their seed after them, and he himself led you out of Egypt by his great strength, 38 and to destroy great nations and stronger nations than you before your face, to lead you to give over to you their land to take possession, just as you have today. 39 And you will know today and will bear in mind that the Lord your God, this is God in the heavens above and on earth beneath and none exists besides only him. 40 And keep his ordinances and his commands that I am commanding you today, in order that it may go well with you and your sons with you, in order that you may be longlived on the land that the Lord your God is giving over to you all the days.” Cities of Refuge 41 At that time Moses designated three cities on the other side of the Jordan toward the east,a 42 for the murderer to flee there who might have killed a neighbor without knowing it, and he did not hate him before yesterday nor the day before, and he will flee for protection to one of these cities, and he will live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the land of the plain of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead of Gadites, and Golan in Bashan of Manasseh. Introduction to the Law 44 This is the law that Moses set before the sons of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies and the ordinances and the judgments that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel when they came out from the land of Egypt, 46 on the other side of the Jordan in the ravine near the house of Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwells in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel struck down when they came out from the land of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan toward the east 48 from Aroer, which is on the bank of Wadi Arnon, and to Mount Sirion, which is Hermon, 49 all the Arabah on the other side of the Jordan to the east from Asedoth, hewn from the rock.
5And Moses called to all Israel and spoke to them, “Hear O Israel, the ordinances and the judgments that I am speaking in your ears on this day, and you shall learn them and shall keep and do them. 2 The Lord your God established with you a covenant at Horeb. 3 The Lord did not establish this covenant with your fathers, but with you, all you who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire. 5 And I stood between the Lord and you at that time to report to you the words of the Lord, since you were afraid from the face of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain, saying, 6 ‘I am the Lord your God who led you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 7 “‘You shall not have other gods before my face. 8 “‘You shall not make for yourself an image nor any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or of anything that is on the earth below or of anything that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them or serve them. For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God recompensing the sins of fathers upon the children on the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but doing mercy to the thousands who love me and who keep my commands. 11 “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not cleanse those who take his name in vain. 12 “‘Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, the way the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall work and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on it, you and your sons and your daughter, your servant and your female servant, your bull and your draft animal, and any of your livestock, the sojourner who lives near with you; for in six days the Lord made both the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, that your servant and your female servant might rest, just as you also. 15 And you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God led you out from that place with a strong hand and with a mighty arm; on account of this, the Lord your God appointed you; therefore keep the Sabbath day and sanctify it. 16 “‘Honor your father and your mother the way the Lord your God commanded, that it may go well with you and that you may be a long time on the land that the Lord your God is giving over to you. 17 a“‘You shall not commit adultery. 18 “‘You shall not murder. 19 “‘You shall not steal. 20 “‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor with false testimony. 21 “‘You shall not desire your neighbor’s wife; you shall not desire your neighbor’s house nor his field nor his servant nor his female servant nor his bull nor his draft animal nor any of his livestock nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ ” The Intercession of Moses 22 “These words the Lord spoke to all the gathering of you at the mountain from the midst of the fire, gloom, darkness, storm—a great voice, and he did not add. And he wrote them on two tablets and gave them to me. 23 And it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the fire and the mountain burned with fire and you came to me, all the leaders of your tribes and your council of elders, 24 and you said, ‘Look! The Lord our God showed his glory, and we heard his voice from the midst of the fire. On this day we saw that God will speak to a human, and he will live. 25 And now let us not die, because this great fire will destroy us if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, and we will die. 26 For what flesh that heard the voice of the living God, speaking from the midst of the fire as we have, will also live? 27 You approach and hear all that the Lord our God says, and you will tell to us all that the Lord our God shall say to you, and we will hear and do it.’ 28 And the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I heard the sound of this people’s words, all that they said to you; all that they spoke is right. 29 Who will give them such a heart to be in them that they would fear me and keep my commands all the days, in order that it may go well with them and their sons forever? 30 Go say to them, “Return you to your houses.” 31 But you stand here with me, and I will tell to you the commands and the ordinances and the judgments that you may teach them. And let them do them in the land that I am giving to them as a portion.’ 32 And you will be mindful to do the way the Lord your God commanded you; you will turn neither to the right nor to the left, 33 according to all the way that the Lord your God commanded you to go in it; in order that he may give rest to you, and it may go well with you, and you may have long days on the land that you will inherit.
6“And these are the commands and the ordinances and the judgments that our God commanded you to teach to do so in the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it; 2 so that you might fear the Lord your God, keep all his ordinances and his commands that I command you today, you and your sons and the sons of your sons all the days of your life that you may live long. 3 And hear, O Israel, and be mindful to do them, that it may go well with you and that you might increase very much just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke, to give over to you a land flowing with milk and honey. [2] 4 “And these are the ordinances and the judgments that the Lord commanded the sons of Israel when they came out from the land of Egypt: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 And you will love the Lord your God from your whole mind and from your whole soul and from your whole strength. 6 And these words that I am commanding you today shall be in your heart and in your soul. 7 And you will impress upon your sons and speak on them when sitting in the house and when walking on the road and when lying down and when rising up. 8 And you will fasten them as a sign upon your hand, and it will be a permanent thing before your eyes. 9 And you will write them upon the doorposts of your houses and the gates of your towns. Exhortation to Remember God 10 “‘And it will be when the Lord your God leads you into the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give over to you great and beautiful cities that you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things that you did not fill, quarried wells that you did not dig, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. And when you eat and become full, 12 regard yourself—lest you forget the Lord your God who led you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 13 You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him, and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. 14 Do not walk after other gods from the peoples that surround you, 15 because the Lord your God who is with you is a jealous God. Lest the Lord your God become angry in anger with you and utterly destroy you from the face of the land. 16 “‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God the way you tempted him in the temptation. 17 You shall, by guarding, guard the commands of the Lord your God, the testimonies and the ordinances that he commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is pleasing and good before the Lord your God, in order that it may go well with you, and you may enter and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 to chase away all your enemies before your face, just as the Lord said. 20 “‘And it shall be, when your son asks you at a future time saying, “What are the testimonies and the ordinances and the judgments that the Lord our God commanded you?” 21 And you shall say to your son, “We were household slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, and the Lord led us out from that place with a strong hand and with a mighty arm. 22 And the Lord gave great and terrible signs and wonders in Egypt, in the presence of Pharaoh and in his house before us. 23 And he led us out from that place to give to us this land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these ordinances, to fear the Lord our God that it may go well with us all the days that we live, as it is even today. 25 And he will have mercy on us if we are mindful to do all these commands before the Lord our God just as the Lord commanded us.”’
7“‘But if the Lord your God leads you into the land into which you are entering there to take possession, and he removes great nations from your face: the Hittite and Amorite and Girgashite and Canaanite and Perizzite and Hivite and Jebusite, seven nations mightier and stronger than you, 2 and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you strike them, you will destroy them by destruction. You shall not arrange a covenant with them nor show mercy upon them. 3 Nor shall you marry with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son. 4 For he will turn your son away from me, and he will serve other gods. And the Lord will become angry with wrath toward you and will destroy you quickly. 5 But thus you shall do to them: Take down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their groves and burn up their carved gods with fire. 6 For you shall be a holy people to the Lord your God. And the Lord your God chose you so that you would be a special people for him compared to all the nations that are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more numerous than all the nations that the Lord chose you and selected you, for you were small compared to all the nations. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you, and he was keeping an oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord led out you with a strong hand, and he redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 9 And you shall know today that the Lord your God, he is God, a faithful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those that love him and who keep his commands to the thousandth generation, 10 and recompensing those who hate him to their face, to utterly destroy them. And he will not delay those who hate him; he will recompense them to their face. 11 And you shall keep his commands and his ordinances and his judgments that I am commanding you to do today. Blessings of Obedience 12 “‘And it shall be when you hear these ordinances, and you keep and do them, the Lord your God also will guard you carefully for the covenant and the mercy that he swore to your fathers. 13 And the Lord will love you and bless you and multiply you and bless the offspring of your belly and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your olive oil, your herd of cattle and your flocks of sheep on the land, as the Lord swore to your fathers to give to you. 14 You shall be blessed among all the nations; there is no one sterile or barren in you or in your livestock. 15 And the Lord will remove from you all the disease and all the bad sicknesses of Egypt that you have seen and that you knew; he will not put them on you, and he will put them on all those who hate you. 16 And you shall eat all the spoils of the peoples that the Lord your God is giving over to you. Your eye shall not spare them, and you shall not serve their gods, for this is a stumbling block to you. 17 “‘But if you say in your mind that “This nation is greater than me. How will we be able to destroy them?” 18 You shall not fear them. In remembrance remember all that the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and the lofty arm as the Lord your God led you out; so the Lord our God will do to all the nations that you are afraid of their face. 20 And the Lord your God will send a swarm of wasps into them until they are destroyed, even the ones left behind and the ones hiding from you. 21 You shall not flee in fear from their face, for the Lord your God is with you, a great and mighty God. 22 And the Lord your God will consume these nations from your face little by little; you will not be able to destroy them quickly, lest the land become a wilderness, and the wild beasts become too numerous for you. 23 And the Lord your God will deliver them into your hands and will utterly destroy them with great destruction until he has utterly destroyed them. 24 And he will deliver their kings into your hands, and he will destroy their name from that place; none will withstand against your face until he has utterly destroyed them. 25 You shall burn their carved gods in a fire; you shall not desire silver and gold from them; you shall not take them for yourself, lest you stumble on account of it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abomination into your house, or you will be an anathema like it. With offense you shall take offense and with an abomination you shall be abhorred, for it is an anathema.
8“‘All the commands that I commanded you today you shall be mindful to do, in order that you may live and become numerous and, entering in, take possession of the land that the Lord your God swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way that the Lord your God led you in the wilderness that he might afflict you and test you and to discern in your heart whether you will keep his commands or not. [3] 3 And he afflicted you and weakened you by hunger and fed you manna, which your fathers did not see, in order to declare to you that a man 1 shall not live on only bread, but a man shall live on every word going out through the mouth of God. 4 Your garments were not made old from you, your shoes did not wear out from you, your feet did not become calloused— behold, for forty years! 5 And you shall know in your heart that as a man 1 might teach his son, in this way the Lord your God will teach you. 6 And you shall keep the commands of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him. 7 For the Lord your God is leading you into a good and vast land where torrents of water and bottomless springs go out through the plains and through the mountains, 8 a land of wheat and of barley, vines, fig trees, streams, a land of olive trees, of oil, and of honey, 9 a land upon which you will eat your bread with no poverty, and you will not lack anything on it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of its mountains you will mine copper. 10 And you will eat and be filled, and the Lord God will bless you on the good land that he gave to you. 11 Be mindful of yourself lest you forget the Lord your God, not keeping his commands and the judgments and his ordinances that I am commanding you today. 12 Lest after eating and becoming full and building a good house and dwelling in them, 13 and your cattle increases and your sheep increase, your silver and gold increase, and all that you have is being multiplied for you, 14 you might become exalted in heart and forget the Lord your God who led out you of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery; 15 the one who led you through that great and fearful wilderness, where there was biting snake and scorpion and thirst, where there was no water; the one who brought out for you running water from a hard rock; 16 the one who fed you manna in the wilderness that your fathers had not known in order that he might afflict you and test you, and you might do well on your last days. 17 You shall not say in your heart, “My strength and the might of my hand made me this great power.” 18 And you will remember the Lord your God, because he gives to you the strength to make power and that he might make the covenant stand that the Lord swore to your fathers, as today. 19 And it will be, if in forgetting you forget the Lord your God and you go after other gods and you serve them, I call to witness against you today that you will be destroyed by destruction. 20 Just as even the remaining nations that the Lord utterly destroyed before your face, thus you will be utterly destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
9“‘Hear, O Israel, today you are about to pass over this Jordan to go into and dispossess nations greater and much stronger than you, great cities and walled as far as the heavens, 2 a great people and mighty and tall, the sons of Anakim whom you know and you have heard say, “Who can stand against the face of the sons of Anak?” 3 And you shall know today that the Lord your God, he is proceeding before your face, he is a consuming fire, he will utterly destroy them, and he will turn them away from your face, and he will utterly destroy them just as the Lord said to you. 4 Do not speak in your heart when the Lord your God destroys these nations from your face, saying, “Because of my righteousness the Lord led me to take possession of this good land.” 5 It is not because of your righteousness nor because of the holiness of your heart that you were permitted to enter to take possession of their land; rather, it is because of the ungodliness of these nations that the Lord utterly destroyed them from your face and that he might make his covenant stand that he swore to your fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 6 And you shall know today that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to inherit, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, do not forget that you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness from that day you came out of Egypt and you came into this place; you have continually been disobedient to the Lord. 8 And at Horeb you provoked the Lord, and he became angry with you to destroy you, 9 upon my going up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord established with you. And I dwelled in the mountain for forty days and for forty nights; I did not eat bread, and I did not drink water. 10 And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God, and on them he wrote all the words that the Lord spoke to you at the mountain, the day of assembly. 11 And it was, throughout the forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 And the Lord said to me, “Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people that you led out of the land of Egypt acted lawlessly; they turned quickly from the way that you commanded them, and they made for themselves a molten image.” 13 And the Lord spoke to me, “I have spoken to you once and twice saying, ‘See this people and, look, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 And now, allow me to destroy them and wipe out their name from underneath the heavens, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier and more numerous than this.’ ” 15 And turning I went down from the mountain. And the mountain burned with fire up to the heavens, and the two tablets were in my two hands. 16 And upon seeing that you sinned before the Lord your God and you made to you for yourselves a molten image and you transgressed from the way that the Lord commanded you, 17 and seizing the two tablets, I threw them from my two hands and broke them before you. 18 And I entreated before the Lord again as also the first; forty days and forty nights I ate no bread, and I drank no water because of all your sins that you sinned, by doing evil before the Lord God, to provoke him. 19 And I was afraid because of the anger and the wrath, because the Lord was provoked against you to destroy you; but the Lord listened to me also at that time. 20 And against Aaron he was made angry to destroy him, and I also prayed concerning Aaron at that time. 21 And your sin that you made, the calf, I took it and burned it with fire and broke it, grinding it very much, until it became fine, and it became like a powder; and I threw the powder into the wadi running down from the mountain. 22 And at “The Burning” and at “The Temptation” and at “The Tombs of Longing” you were provoking the Lord. 23 And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, “Go up and take possession of the land that I am giving you”; and you disobeyed the words of the Lord your God, and you did not trust him, and you did not listen to his voice. 24 You were disobedient toward the Lord from the day that he knew you. 25 And I entreated before the Lord—all of forty days and forty nights I entreated—for the Lord said he would utterly destroy you. 26 And I prayed to God and said, “Lord, King of the gods, do not utterly destroy your people and your portion that you redeemed, whom you brought out from the land of Egypt by your great strength and by your strong hand and by your mighty arm. 27 Remember Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom you swore according to yourself. Do not look upon the hardness of this people and the profane acts and their sins, 28 lest those dwelling in the land from which you brought us from that place speak, saying, ‘Because the Lord is not able to lead them into the land that he said to them and because he hates them, he brought them out in the wilderness to kill them.’ 29 And these are your people and your portion whom you led out of the land of Egypt by your great strength and by your strong hand and by your mighty arm.”’
10“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two flat stones like the first ones, and come up to me into the mountain and make for yourself a wooden ark. 2 And you shall write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them into the ark.’ 3 And I made a chest of wood not subject to decay, and I hewed the tablets of stone as the former ones, and I went up into the mountain and the two tablets were in my hands. 4 And he wrote on the tablets according to the writing of the former, the ten words that the Lord spoke to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire, and the Lord gave them to me. 5 And turning I went down from the mountain, and I put the tablets into the ark that I made, and they are in that place just as the Lord commanded me. 6 And the sons of Israel departed from Beeroth of the sons of Moserah. There Aaron died, and he was buried in that place. And Eleazar his son became a priest in the place of him. 7 From there they departed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, land of wadis of water. 8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand in the presence of the Lord, to minister and to pray in his name, until this day. 9 On account of this, the Levites do not have a share and allotment among their brothers; the Lord himself is his allotment, as he said. 10 And I stood in the mountain for forty days and for forty nights, and the Lord heard me also at that time, and the Lord desired not to destroy you utterly. 11 And the Lord said to me, ‘Go, depart before this people, and let them enter and take possession of the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.’ Fear the Lord 12 “And now, O Israel, what has the Lord your God asked from you except to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul, 13 to keep the commands of the Lord, your God, and his ordinances that I am commanding you today that it may go well with you? 14 Look, the heavens are the Lord your God’s—and the heaven of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it. 15 But the Lord chose your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed with them—you, from all the nations as at this day. 16 And you shall circumcise your hardness of heart, and you shall not harden your neck. 17 For the Lord your God, he is God of the gods, and the Lord of lords, the great and mighty and fearful God, who does not marvel at a face, nor take a gift, 18 doing justice to the sojourner and the orphan and the widow; and he loves the sojourner, to give him food and a cloak. 19 And you shall love the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God, and you shall serve him, and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. 21 This is your boast, and this is your God, who did in you these great and glorious things, which your eyes saw. 22 With seventy people your fathers went down into Egypt, but now the Lord your God made you as the stars of the heavens in number.
11“And you shall love the Lord your God and keep his commandments and his ordinances and his judgments all the days. 2 And you shall know today that it is not your children that neither knew nor saw the discipline of the Lord your God and his magnificence and the strong hand and the mighty arm, 3 and his signs and his wonders that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all his land, 4 and all that he did to the army of the Egyptians, their chariots and their horses and their strength as he flooded the water of the Red Sea against their face while they pursued you from your back, and the Lord destroyed them, as it is today; 5 and all that he did for us in the wilderness until you came into this place, 6 and all that he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, whom the earth opened its mouth to swallow them and their houses and their tents and all of their belongings with them in the midst of all Israel; 7 for your eyes have seen all the works of the Lord that he did for you today. 8 And you shall keep all his commands that I am commanding you today, in order that you may live and become numerous. And upon entering you shall take possession of the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession of it, 9 so that you may live long upon the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their seed with them, the land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land into which you are entering there to inherit, it is not like the land in Egypt is, the place you are leaving, when they sow seed and water it with their feet, like a garden of vegetables. 11 But the land into which you are entering there to inherit it is a hilly and flat land; it will drink water from the rain of the heavens, 12 a land that the Lord your God looks upon it always; the eyes of the Lord your God are on it from the beginning of the year and until the end of the year. 13 “But if in listening, you hear all the commands that I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve him from your whole heart and from your whole soul, 14 he will also give rain for your land, from the early season and late. And you will gather in your grain and your wine and your olive oil; 15 he will also give fodder in your fields for your livestock. 16 Both in eating and becoming satisfied, be mindful of yourself, lest your heart enlarge, and you transgress, and you serve other gods and worship them, 17 and the Lord be angry with anger against you, and he may enclose the heavens, and there will be no rain, and the earth will not give its fruit, and you will be destroyed quickly from the good land that the Lord gave to you. 18 And you shall put these words in your heart and in your soul, and you shall fasten them as a sign upon your hand, and they will be a permanent thing before your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your young children, to talk about them when you are seated in your house and when you are traveling on the road and when you are sleeping and when you are rising up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and the gates of your towns, 21 so that your days may be long, and the days of your sons on the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them just as the days of the heavens on the earth. 22 And it shall be if in hearing you obey all these commands that I am commanding you today, to do them, to love the Lord our God and to walk in all his ways to cleave to him, 23 the Lord also will drive out all these nations from your face, and you will dispossess nations greater and much stronger than you. 24 Each place where you tread the track of your foot, it will be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, and from the great river, and as far as the sea that is on the west shall be your borders. 25 No one will be able to stand against your face. The Lord your God will put the trembling of you and the fear of you upon the face of all the land on which you go upon it, the way he proclaimed to you. 26 “Look, I am giving before you today the blessing and the curse. 27 The blessing, if you hear the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse if you do not hear the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today and you stray from the ways that I commanded you, having gone to serve other gods whom you know not. 29 And it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land into which you are passing into there to take possession of it, and you shall give blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Look, are these not on the other side of the Jordan, past the way of the setting sun in the land of Canaan, the area that lies on the west, near Gilgal, near the high tree? 31 For you are crossing over the Jordan, entering to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a portion, all the days, and dwell in it. 32 And you shall be mindful to do all his commands and these judgments that I am giving before you today.
12“And these are the commands and the judgments that you shall be mindful to do in the land in which the Lord, the God of our fathers, is giving you as a portion, all the days that you live on the land. 2 With destruction you shall destroy all the places in which they serve their gods, in that place that you are taking possession of it, on the high mountains and on the dunes and under the leafy trees. 3 And you shall destroy their altars and break their pillars, and you shall cut down their sacred groves and burn their carved gods with fire, and you shall destroy their name from that place. 4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God. 5 But to the place that the Lord your God may choose in one of your cities, to name that his name be invoked in that place, also seek him there. [4] 6 And you shall bring your whole burnt offerings and your voluntary offerings, the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep. 7 And you shall eat in that place before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all you put your hands upon, you and your houses, as the Lord your God blessed you. 8 You shall not do all that we are doing here today, each one what is pleasing before him, 9 for you have not come until now into the resting place and into the inheritance that the Lord our God is giving to you. 10 And you shall cross the Jordan and settle on the land that the Lord our God is giving as an inheritance to you, and he will give rest to you from all your surrounding enemies, and you will dwell with safety. 11 And it shall be that to the place wherever the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there, you shall bring all that I commanded you today: your whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and the firstfruits of your hands and all your choicest gifts—all that you might vow to God. [5] 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your servants and your female slaves and the Levites at your town gates, because they do not have a portion nor an allotment with you. 13 Be mindful of yourself, lest you bring your whole burnt offerings in any place where you might look. 14 But in the place that the Lord your God may choose it in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your whole burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you today. 15 But in all your desire, you shall offer and eat meat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he gave to you in every city; the unclean in you and the clean, on it they shall eat it as of a gazelle or a deer. 16 Only the blood you shall not eat on the land. You shall pour it like water. 17 In your cities you shall not be able to eat the tithe of your grain and of your wine and of your oil, the firstborn of your cattle and any votive offerings that you may have vowed and your agreements and the first fruits your hands. 18 But before the Lord your God you shall eat it in the place that the Lord your God may choose it, you and your son and your daughter, your servant and your female servant and the sojourner in your cities; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God on all things where you put on your hand. 19 Be mindful of yourself, lest you forsake the Levite at any time that you live on the land. 20 “But if the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he said to you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ if your soul desires to eat meat with all the longing of your soul, you may eat meat. 21 But if the place be kept off afar for you that the Lord your God may choose where his name is to be invoked, and you shall offer from your cattle and from your sheep that God may give, the way I commanded you, you also shall eat in your cities according to the longing of your soul. 22 As you were eating the gazelle and the deer, so you shall eat it, the unclean in you and the clean among you, so you shall eat. 23 Be mindful especially not to eat blood, because its blood is its life; the life shall not be eaten with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it in order that it may go well with you and your sons with you, if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. 26 But your sacred things that are from you and your votive offerings, taking them you shall come to the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there. 27 And you shall make your whole burnt offerings, but the meat you may eat. 28 You shall keep and obey and do all the things that I am commanding you in order that it may go well with you and your sons forever, if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. 29 “But if the Lord your God utterly destroys the nations into which you are entering there to take possession of their land from your face, and you dispossess it and you dwell in their land, 30 be mindful of yourself, lest you seek out to follow after them after they have been utterly destroyed from your face saying, ‘How do these nations act toward their gods? I will do so also.’ 31 You shall not do so to your God, for they are abominations to the Lord that he hates, what they have done with their gods. For they have burned up their sons and their daughters with fire for their gods. 32 a “All the words that I am commanding to you this day you shall be mindful to do. You shall not add to them or take away from them.
13“But if a prophet or one who dreams a dream arises in you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes that they speak to you, saying, ‘Let us go and let us serve other gods that you have not known,’ 3 you shall not listen to the messages of that prophet or that one who dreams dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know if you love your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul. 4 You shall go after the Lord your God, and this you shall fear, and you shall obey his voice, and you shall be joined to him. 5 And that prophet or that one who dreams a dream shall die, for he spoke in order to lead you astray from the Lord your God who led you out from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from slavery, to thrust you out from the way that the Lord your God commanded you to go in it; and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves. 6 “But if your brother from your father or from your mother or your son or your daughter or the woman in your bosom or the one loved as yourself secretly calls to you saying, ‘Let us go and let us serve other gods,’ whom you have not known, you and your fathers, 7 from the gods of the nations around you, those near you or those far away from you, from the outermost of the land as far as the outermost of the land, 8 you shall not consent to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not be sparing on him; you shall not long for him or protect him. 9 You shall report, reporting concerning him. Your hands shall be on him first to kill him, and the hands of all the people shall be on him afterwards. 10 And you shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, because he sought to remove you from the Lord your God who led you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel hearing will be frightened, and they will not proceed further to do according to this evil thing in you. 12 “But if you hear in one of your cities that the Lord your God gives you for you to dwell there, saying, 13 ‘Unlawful men have gone out from you, and they have removed all the inhabitants of the their land, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known,”’ 14 and you shall ask and seek very much, and look, truly and clearly, the thing—this abomination—has happened in you, 15 you shall destroy, destroying all the inhabitants in this land by the slaughter of the sword; with an anathema you shall devote them to destruction, and all those in it. 16 And all its spoils you shall gather together into its streets, and set the city on fire with fire, and all its spoils completely before the Lord your God, and it will be uninhabitable forever, not to be rebuilt again. 17 And nothing from the anathema shall be stuck in your hand, so that the Lord may turn back from the wrath of his anger and give you compassion and show mercy to you; and he will multiply you the way he swore to your fathers, 18 if you hear the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commands that I am commanding you today to do what is pleasing and good before the Lord your God.
14“You are sons of the Lord your God; you shall not place baldness in the middle of your eyes for the dead. 2 For you shall be a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord your God chose you to be to him a special people from all the nations on the face of the earth. 3 “You shall not eat any abomination. 4 These are the livestock that you may eat: a calf from the cattle and a lamb from the sheep and a he-goat from the goats, 5 a deer and a gazelle and a white-tailed antelope and a giraffe. 6 Any livestock with a split hoof, and those livestock that split the hoof into two hooves, and brings up the cud, these you may eat. 7 And these you shall not eat, from the ones who bring up the cud and from the ones dividing the hoof and the ones who split the hoof: the camel and hare and rabbit; because they bring up the cud, and they do not split the hoof, these are unclean to you. 8 And the pig because this one splits the hoof and splits the hoof of its hoof, and this one does not chew the cud—this one is unclean to you; from their flesh you shall not eat; their carcasses you shall not touch. 9 “And these you may eat from all in the water: all that are in it with fins and scales you may eat. 10 And all that do not have fins and scales on them, you shall not eat; they are unclean to you. 11 “You shall eat every clean bird. 12 And these you shall not eat from them: the eagle and the griffin and the osprey, 13 and the vulture and the kite, and those like it, 14 aand the sparrow and the little owl and the seagull, 15 and the heron and the swan and the ibis, 16 and the swooping bird and the hawk and those like it, and the hoopoe and the horned owl, 17 and the pelican and the plover and those like it, and the water hen and the bat. 18 All the creeping things that can fly are unclean to you; you shall not eat from them. 19 You may eat any clean winged creature. 20 “You shall not eat any carcass; it shall be given to the sojourner in your cities, and he will eat it; or you may give it to a stranger, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in its mother’s milk. Tithes 21 “You shall tithe a tenth of all the produce of your seed, the produce of your field, year by year. 22 And you shall eat it in the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there; you shall bring the tithes of your grain and of your wine and of your olive oil, the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all the days. 23 But if the journey is too far for you, and you are not able to bring them because the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there is far from you, for the Lord your God will bless you, 24 you also may give them in silver; and you shall take the silver in your hands and go to the place that the Lord your God chose, 25 and you shall give silver for anything that your soul desires, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God. And you and your son shall be rejoicing, 26 and the Levites in your cities, for they do not have a portion nor an allotment with you. 27 After three years you shall bring all the tithe of your produce; in that year you shall place it in your cities, 28 and the Levites shall come, for he does not have a portion nor an allotment with you, and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow in your cities; and they shall eat and be filled that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you may do.
15“Through seven years you shall make remission. 2 And thus is the command of the remission, you shall forgive all a person’s debt that the neighbor owes you, and you shall not take from your brother. For it has been called the remission to the Lord your God. 3 You shall take from the stranger all that you have from him; for your brother you shall make a remission of your debt. 4 For there will be no one in want among you, because with blessing the Lord your God will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as a portion for you to inherit it. 5 But if by hearing you hear the voice of the Lord your God, to keep and to do all these commands that I am commanding you today, 6 because the Lord your God blessed you, the way he said to you, you also will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you. 7 “But if there is among you need of your brothers in one of your cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, you shall not harden your heart nor clench your hand from your brother who is in want. 8 Opening, you shall open your hands to him; you shall loan a loan to him, as much as he is in need, according to his need. 9 Be mindful of yourself, lest a hidden word is in your heart, a transgression of the law, saying, ‘The seventh year is near, the year of remission,’ and your eye is wicked to your brother who is in need, and you will not give to him, and he will himself cry against you to the Lord, and it will be in you a great sin. 10 Giving, you shall give to him; you shall lend a loan to him, as much as he is in need, just as he is in need; and it shall not grieve your heart when you give to him, for on account of this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all works and in all that you put your hand on. 11 For the one in want may not come to an end from the earth; because of this, I command you to do this thing, saying, ‘Opening, you shall open your hands to your brother who is poor and in need on your land.’ 12 “But if your brother or sister is sold to you, a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh you shall release him free from you. 13 But when you release him free from you, you shall not send him away empty handed. 14 You shall provide provisions for him from your sheep and from your grain and from your wine; just as the Lord your God blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 And you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from that place. Because of this I am commanding you to do this thing. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he has loved you and your house, because it is well for him with you, 17 you also shall take the awl and pierce his ear to the door, and he will be your household slave forever, and in like manner you shall do to your female servant. 18 It shall not be difficult before you when you release them free from you, for the annual wage of a hired servant he was a slave to you for six years, and the Lord your God blessed you in all that you did. 19 “All the firstborn that are born among your cattle and among your sheep, you shall dedicate the males to the Lord your God; you shall not work with your firstborn calf, and you shall not shear your firstborn sheep. 20 You shall eat it in the presence of the Lord year by year in the place that the Lord your God may choose, you and your household. 21 And if there is a blemish in it, if it is lame or blind or has a severe defect, you shall not offer it to the Lord your God. 22 In your cities you shall eat it. The unclean in you and the clean alike you shall eat, like a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only blood you shall not eat; you shall pour it on the land like water.
16“Observe the new month and do the Passover for the Lord your God, because in the new month you came out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover to the Lord your God, sheep and cattle in the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there. 3 You shall not eat leaven with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread of oppression with it. For in haste you came out of Egypt, so that you may remember the days of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 Leaven shall not be seen with you in all your borders for seven days, and from the meat that you sacrificed in the evening on the first day nothing shall sleep to the morning. 5 You shall not be able to offer the Passover in any of your cities that the Lord your God has given you; 6 rather into the place that the Lord your God may choose to have his name invoked, in that place you shall offer the Passover in the evening to the setting of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place where the Lord your God may choose it, and you shall return in the morning and go into your houses. [6] 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, but the seventh day, the final day, there shall be a festival to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work in it; you shall only do that which is necessary for life. 9 Seven weeks you shall count for yourself when you have begun your sickle upon the harvest; you shall begin to count seven weeks. The Feast of Weeks 10 “And you shall make a feast of weeks to the Lord your God, as your hand is able, all that he may give the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice before your God, and your son and your daughter, your servant and your female servant and the Levites and sojourner and the orphan and the widow who dwells among you, in the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked in that place. 12 And you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt. And you shall be mindful and do these commands. The Feast of Tents 13 “You shall make a feast of tents for yourself for seven days when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall be cheerful in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your servant and your female servant and the Levites and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow that are in your cities. 15 You shall celebrate for seven days to the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God may choose it. But if the Lord your God blesses you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, you also shall be rejoicing. 16 Three times of the year, each of your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord may choose it, in the feast of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks and in the feast of tent-making. You shall not appear before the Lord your God empty-handed, 17 each according to the strength of your hands, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he gave to you. Appointing Judges 18 “You shall make for yourself judges and assistants in your cities that the Lord your God has given to you, by tribe, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgments. 19 They shall not know the face of those being judged; they shall not take a gift, for gifts blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the words of the righteous. 20 You shall pursue righteousness righteously, in order that you may live and upon entering take possession of the land that the Lord your God has given to you.” Groves and Pillars and Improper Worship 21 “You shall not plant a grove for yourself; any tree beside the altar of your God you shall not make for yourself. 22 You shall not erect a pillar for yourself, which the Lord your God hated.
17“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a calf or sheep that has a flaw or any bad thing in it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 2 “But if in one of your cities that the Lord your God has given to you there is found a man or woman who will do evil before the Lord your God, to transgress his covenant, 3 and going they serve other gods and worship them, the sun or the moon or any from the host of the heavens that I did not assign, [7] 4 and it is reported to you and you seek it out very much and, look, the thing has taken place, truly this abomination has taken place in Israel; 5 you shall even lift up this man or this woman and stone them with stones, and they will die. 6 On two witnesses or on three witnesses one who is to die shall die; he shall not die on one witness. 7 And the hand of the witnesses shall be on them first to put them to death, and the hand of the people shall be on them last, and you shall remove the evil from yourselves. Legal Disputes 8 “But if a thing is impossible for you in judgment, between a case of bloodshed and bloodshed, and between a case of judgment and judgment, and between a physical dispute and a physical dispute, and between a controversy and a controversy, or an issue of judgment in your cities, and having arisen you shall go up into the place that the Lord your God may choose there; 9 you also shall go to the judge who may be in those days, and upon investigating, he will declare to you a judgment. 10 And you shall do according to the thing that they may declare to you from the place that the Lord your God may choose, and you shall be mindful to do all that is legislated to you. 11 You shall do according to the law and according to the judgment that they may speak to you; you shall not turn from the thing that was reported to you, to the right or to the left. 12 And the person, whoever may act in arrogance so as to disobey the priest who is present to minister upon the name of the Lord your God, or the judge who is residing in those days, this person also shall die, and you shall remove the evil one from Israel. 13 And all the people upon hearing will be terrified, and he will not act impiously again. Appointing of Rulers 14 “But if you enter into the land that the Lord your God has given to you, and you take possession of it and dwell on it, and you say, ‘I will appoint over myself a ruler, just like the rest of the nations around me,’ 15 by appointing you shall appoint a ruler over yourself that the Lord God may select him; you shall appoint over yourself a ruler from your brothers. You cannot appoint over yourself a person who is a stranger, for he is not your brother. 16 Because he shall not multiply for himself cavalry, lest he return the people to Egypt, that he may not multiply cavalry for himself. But the Lord said, ‘You shall not add to return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not multiply for himself women, nor shall turn away his heart, and he shall not multiply very much silver and gold for himself. 18 And when you are seated on the seat of your government, he also shall write for himself this second law into a book from the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him; and he shall know it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord your God and to keep all these commands and these ordinances to do them, 20 so that his heart may not be exalted from his brothers, so that he may not deviate from the commands to the right or to the left, that he will be long-lived in his rule, he and his sons with the sons of Israel.
18“There will not be, for the priests, the Levites, the entire tribe of Levi, a portion or an allotment in Israel. The offerings of the Lord are their allotment; they shall eat them, 2 but there shall not be an allotment for them among their brothers; the Lord himself is their allotment, as he said to them. 3 And this is the judgment for the priests, the portions from the people from those offering sacrifices, whether a calf or a sheep; and he shall give the priest the arm and the flesh of the jaw and the fourth stomach of ruminating animals. 4 And the first fruits of your grain and of your wine and of your olive oil, and the first fruits of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give to them. [8] 5 For the Lord chose him from all your tribes to stand before the Lord God to minister and bless in his name, he and his sons among the sons of Israel. 6 “But if a Levite comes from one of the cities of all the sons of Israel, where he dwells as his soul desires, into the place that he may choose, 7 he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his brothers, the Levites who stand there before the Lord your God. 8 He shall eat a divided portion, besides the sale according to paternal lineage. Avoid the Abominations of Other Nations 9 “But if you enter into the land that the Lord your God has given to you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found in you one who purifies his son and his daughter with fire, one who divines divinations, one who looks for an omen, and one who augurs with sorcery; 11 one who casts an enchantment, a ventriloquist,a and a soothsayer, one who consults the dead. 12 For all who do these are an abomination to the Lord your God; for on account of these abominations, the Lord will utterly destroy them from you. 13 You shall be perfect before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations whom you are dispossessing, these will hear omens and oracles, and the Lord your God has not given you to do so. Another Prophet like Moses 15 “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you from your brothers like me; you shall listen to him. 16 According to all that you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb the day of the assembly, saying, ‘We will not continue to hear the voice of the Lord your God, and we will not see this great fire again, lest we die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘All that they said to you is right. 18 I will raise a prophet for them from their brothers like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them just what I command him. 19 And whichever person does not hear whatever that prophet speaks in my name, I will exact vengeance from him. 20 But the prophet who acts impiously to speak in my name a word that I did not command him to speak, and who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 But if you say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word that the Lord did not speak?’ 22 Whatever that prophet may speak in the name of the Lord and does not come to be and does not come to pass, this is the word that the Lord did not speak. In impiety the prophet spoke this; you shall not hold yourselves off him.
19“But if the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land God is giving to you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land that the Lord your God is giving you. 3 Calculate for yourself the distance, and divide the borders of your land into three that the Lord your God divided among you, and it shall be a place of refuge there for every murderer. 4 But this is the command for the murderer who may flee there and live: Whoever may strike his neighbor without knowing it, and this one did not hate him before yesterday and the third day; 5 and whoever may go with the neighbor into the forest to gather firewood, and his hand is knocked when striking an axe on the wood, and the axe head falls off from the wood and by chance the neighbor dies, this one will flee for protection to one of these cities, and he will live; 6 lest the kinsman of blood chase after the one who killed, because he is hot with anger in his heart, and he seizes him, if the way be too long, and he strikes his life, and to this one there is no judgment of death, for he did not hate him before yesterday nor the third day. 7 Because of this I am commanding you this thing, saying, ‘Three cities you shall separate for yourself.’ 8 But if the Lord your God extends your borders, the way he swore to your fathers, and the Lord gives you all the land that he said to give your fathers, 9 if you hear and do all these commands that I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God to walk in all his ways all the days, you shall also add for yourself still three cities to these three; 10 and innocent blood shall not be shed in the land, which the Lord your God is giving you as a portion, and there shall not be in you one guilty of bloodshed. 11 But if there is a person among you who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and he rises against him and he strikes his life, and he dies, he may also flee into one of these cities, 12 and the council of elders of the city shall send for him and take him from that place, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the kinsmen of blood, and he shall die. 13 Your eye shall not be sparing on him, and you shall cleanse the innocent blood from Israel, and it will be well with you. Property Boundaries 14 “You shall not shift the borders of the neighbor, which your fathers set in inheritance, that you were made heir in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a portion. Witnesses 15 “One witness shall not stand to be a witness against a person as regards any injustice and as regards any offence and according to any sin that he may have sinned; on the mouth of two witnesses and upon the mouth of three witnesses any word shall stand. 16 But if an unjust witness is set against a person, accusing him of impiety, 17 and the two people who are the ones in contradiction shall discern before the Lord and before the priests and before the judges, who may be in those days; 18 and the judges shall examine diligently, and look, an unjust witness witnessed unjustly, he stood against his brother, 19 you shall also do to him the way he acted wickedly to do against his brother, and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves. 20 And those remaining will hear, and they will be afraid, and they will not continue any longer to do according to this evil thing in you. 21 Your eye shall not be sparing on him; life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
20“But if you go out into battle against your enemies, and you see cavalry and riders and a people greater than you, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who made you go up from the land of Egypt. 2 And it will be when you draw near for battle, and, approaching, the priest will speak to the people. 3 And he will say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel. Go today into the battle against your enemies. Let not your heart be faint; do not be frightened or broken to pieces or turn from their face. 4 For the Lord your God is proceeding with you to fight with you against your enemies to preserve you.’ 5 And the scribes shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the person who built a new house and did not consecrate it? He may go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another person will consecrate it. 6 And who is the person who planted a vineyard and has not gained enjoyment from it? May he go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another person will gain enjoyment from it. 7 And who is the person who has become engaged to a woman and not taken her? May he go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another person will take her.’ 8 And the scribes shall continue to speak to the people and say, ‘Who is the person who is terrified and cowardly in heart? May he go and return to his house, so that he will not frighten the heart of his brother like his own.’ 9 And it shall be when the scribes cease to speak to the people, they also shall appoint rulers of the army as leaders for the people. 10 “But if you come to a city to make war against them and to summon them with peace, 11 if they answer you peacefully and open to you, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary to you and subject to you. 12 But if they do not listen to you, and they make war with you, you shall besiege it 13 until the Lord your God gives it to you into your hands, and you shall strike all its males with slaughter by the sword, 14 except the women and the baggage. And whatever may be there in the city, and all the spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat all the plunder of your enemies, which the Lord your God is giving you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, those not being from the cities of these nations 16 that the Lord your God is giving you to take possession of their land: you shall not take captive any who breathe. 17 But with an anathema you shall devote them to destruction, the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, the way the Lord your God commanded you, 18 lest they teach you to do all their abominations that they do for their gods, and you sin before the Lord your God. 19 “But if you encamp near one city for many days to make war against it to seize it, you shall not utterly destroy its trees by putting iron on them; rather you shall eat from it, but you shall not cut it down. The tree in the field is not a person, is it, to enter from your face into the bulwark? 20 But a tree that you know does not have edible fruit, this you shall destroy and cut down and build a bulwark against the city, whoever is making war with you, until it is delivered.
21“But if you find a wounded person in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to take possession, who has fallen in the plain and they do not know who struck them, 2 your council of elders and your judges shall come and measure out to the cities around the wounded person. 3 And it shall be the city that is nearest to the wounded person; and the council of elders of that city shall take a heifer from the cattle, which has not been worked and which has not drawn a yoke, 4 and the council of elders of that city shall bring the heifer down into a rugged ravine, which has not been worked or sowed, and they shall hamstring the heifer in the ravine. 5 And the priests and the Levites shall come because the Lord God chose them to stand beside him and to bless in his name; and on their mouth shall be every controversy and every dispute. 6 And all the council of elders of that city who came near the wounded person shall wash their hands on the head of the heifer that was hamstrung in the ravine. 7 And in reply they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen. 8 You shall be merciful to your people Israel, whom you redeemed, O Lord, so that there will not be innocent blood in your people Israel.’ And the blood will be propitiated for them. 9 But you shall remove the innocent blood from yourselves if you do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God. Marrying Captive Women 10 “But if when you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you shall plunder their spoil, 11 and you see among the plunder a woman beautiful in appearance, and you think deeply of her, and you take her for yourself as a wife, 12 you shall also bring her inside your house and shave her head and trim her nails; 13 and you shall remove the garment of captivity from her, and she shall dwell in your house and mourn her father and mother the days of a month, and after this you shall go into her, and you shall live with her, and she will be your wife. 14 And if it is that you do not desire her, you may release her free, and you shall not sell her for silver by a sale. You shall not break faith with her, because you humbled her. Right of the Firstborn 15 “But if a man has two wives, one of them who is loved and one of them who is hated, and the one who is loved and the one who is hated father for him, and the firstborn son is of the one who is hated; 16 it shall be also that on whatever day he divides his possessions among his sons, he shall not be able to treat as firstborn the son of the one who is loved, overlooking the son of the one who is hated as the firstborn. 17 Rather, he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the one who is hated, to give him double from all that is found to him, since he is the beginning of his children, and to this one is due the rights of the firstborn. A Rebellious Son 18 “But if someone has a disobedient and rebellious son who does not listen to his father’s voice and his mother’s voice, and they discipline him, and he does not listen to them, 19 after also laying hold of him, his father and his mother shall bring him on to the council of elders of his city and on the gates of the place. 20 And they shall say to the men of his city, ‘Our son, he is disobedient and quarrelsome; he does not listen to our voice; he is a glutton; he is a drunk.’ 21 And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves, and those remaining will hear, and they will be afraid. Burial for the Executed 22 “But if there is a sin in someone, there shall be a judgment of death, and he shall die, and you shall hang him on a tree. 23 His body shall not sleep upon the tree; rather, with a funeral you shall bury him in that day, for all who hang on a tree are cursed by God. And you shall not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a portion.
22“Do not, seeing your brother’s calf or his sheep who has wandered into the road, do not overlook them; turning back you shall return them to your brother and return them. 2 But if your brother is not near to you, or you do not know him, you shall gather it inside into your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks them, and you shall return it. 3 So you shall do for his donkey, and so you shall do according to anything lost of your brother’s; all that may be lost from him and you find, you shall not be able to overlook it. 4 “You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his calf who has fallen by the road; do not overlook them; raising you will raise them up with him. 5 “There shall not be the clothes of a man on a woman, nor shall a man put on a feminine garment, for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord your God. 6 “But if you encounter a nest of birds before your face in the road or on any tree or on the earth, with young birds or eggs, and the mother is warming on the young birds or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young ones. 7 You shall send away the mother by a sending, but you shall take the young ones for yourself, so that it may go well with you, and you may be long-lived. 8 “If you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof. And you shall not cause manslaughter in your house if a faller falls from it. 9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with vines bearing fruit twice a year so that the produce and the seed are not sanctified, whatever you sow with the produce of your vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with a calf and a donkey together. 11 You shall not put on mingled wool and linen together. 12 “You shall make twisted braids for yourself on the four edges of your cloak that you throw around yourself. Sexual Relations and Purity 13 “But if someone takes a woman and lives with her and he hates her, 14 and he places a falsely accusing word against her and brings her an evil name, and he says, ‘I have taken this woman, and when I entered her, I did not find signs of her virginity.’ 15 And having taken them, the father and mother of the girl shall bring signs of the girl’s virginity to the council of elders on the gates of the town. 16 And the girl’s father shall say to the council of elders, ‘I have given this, my daughter, to this man as a wife, and he hated her. 17 Now this one has placed false words against her, saying, “I did not find signs of virginity in your daughter.” And these are the signs of virginity of my daughter.’ And he shall spread out the garment before the council of elders of the city. 18 And the council of elders of that city shall take that man and discipline him. 19 And they shall fine him a hundred silver coins, and they shall give them to the young woman’s father, because he brought an evil name upon a young Israelite woman, and she shall be his wife; he is not able to divorce her for all time. 20 But if this word is true, and he has not found signs of the young woman’s virginity, 21 they also shall bring the young woman on the door of her father’s house, and they shall stone her with stones, and she shall die; for she did folly among the sons of Israel, to fornicate while in her father’s house. And you shall remove the evil one from yourselves. 22 “But if you find a man who slept with a woman who was married to a man, you shall kill both the man who slept with the woman and the woman. And you shall remove the evil one from Israel. 23 “But if there is a girl, a virgin who is engaged to a person, and a person finding her in the city sleeps with her, 24 you shall bring both on the gates of their city, and you shall stone with stones, and they shall die—the young woman because she did not shout in the city, and the person because he abased his neighbor’s woman. And you shall remove the evil one from yourselves. 25 “But if in the open country a person finds a girl who is engaged, and by overpowering he sleeps with her, you shall kill only the one who slept with her, 26 and it is not a sin worthy of death to the young woman. It is as if some person rose against his neighbor and murdered his soul, so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the field, the young woman who is engaged cried aloud, and there was no one to help her. 28 “But if someone finds the girl, the virgin, who has not been betrothed, and by overpowering he sleeps with her, and it is discovered, 29 the man who slept with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he abased her; he shall not be able to divorce her for all time. 30 a“A man shall not take his father’s wife, and he shall not uncover the covering of his father.
23“Neither a eunuch nor one who has been castrated shall enter into the assembly of the Lord. 3 Neither Ammonite nor Moabite shall enter into the assembly of the Lord; even as far as the tenth generation, he shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, until forever, 4 because they did not meet you with food and water in the road in your going out from Egypt, and because they hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Paddan-aram against you to curse you. 5 And the Lord your God was not willing to hear Balaam, and the Lord your God changed the curses into blessings, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 You shall not address peaceful tidings to them and benefits to them all your days, forever. 7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land. 8 If sons are born to them, the third generation shall enter into the assembly of the Lord. 9 “But if you go out to encamp against your enemies, you also shall guard against any evil thing. 10 If there is among you a man who is not clean from his discharge at night, he also shall go out to the camp. 11 And it shall be toward the evening, he shall wash his body with water, and at the setting of the sun he shall enter into the camp. 13 And there shall be a peg for you on your belt, and it shall be when you take your position outside and dig with it and bringing it you shall cover your shame. 14 For the Lord your God walks about in your camp to deliver you and to give your enemy over before your face, and your camp shall be holy, and no shameful thing shall be seen among you, and he shall turn back from you. 15 “You shall not give over a servant to the master who has been added to you because of his master. 16 He shall dwell with you, in you he shall dwell, wherever pleases him; you shall not oppress him. 17 “There shall be no prostitute from the daughters of Israel, and there shall be none who prostitutes from the sons of Israel. There shall not be a sorceress from the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be one initiated from the sons of Israel. 18 “You shall not bring the profit of a prostitute nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God to any votive offering, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God, even both of them. 19 “You shall not exact interest from your brother, interest for silver and interest for food and interest for anything that you may lend out with interest. [9] 20 “You shall exact interest from a stranger, but from your brother you shall not exact interest, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all your works on the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it. 21 “But if you vow a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not take a long time to give it; for when required, the Lord your God will require it from you, and there will be a sin in you. 22 But if you do not wish to vow, it shall not be a sin in you. 23 That which goes out through your lips you shall keep, and you shall do the way you vowed a gift to God, which you said with your mouth. 24 a“But if you go into your neighbor’s harvest, and you gather corn with your hands, you also shall not cast a sickle against your neighbor’s harvest. 25 “But if you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you shall eat grapes, as much as fills your soul, but you shall not put any into a pail.
24“But if someone takes a wife and he lives with her, and it happens that she does not find favor before him because he found in her a shameful thing, then he shall write her a document of divorce, and he shall give it into her hands, and he shall dismiss her from his house. 2 And if upon departing she becomes another man’s, 3 and the last man hates her, he also shall write her a document of divorce, and he shall give it into her hands, and he shall dismiss her from his house; and if the last man who took her for himself as a wife dies, 4 the former man who dismissed her shall not be able to turn back and take her for himself as a wife after she has been defiled, for it is an abomination before the Lord your God, and you shall not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as a portion. 5 “But if someone has taken a wife recently, he shall not go into battle, and no deed shall be imposed upon him. He shall be innocent in his house for one year; he shall enjoy his wife, whom he took. Further Miscellaneous Laws 6 “You shall not take in pledge a millstone nor the upper millstone, for this person is taking a soul in pledge. 7 “But if a person is caught stealing a soul from his brothers of the sons of Israel, and after oppressing him, he is sold, that thief shall die; and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves. 8 “Watch yourself in a leprous infection; you shall be mindful to do very much according to all the law that the priests, the Levites, are declaring to you; the way I am commanding you, you shall be mindful to do. 9 Remember all that the Lord your God did to Miriam in the road when you were going out of Egypt. 10 “If there is a debt with your neighbor, whatever kind of debt, you also shall enter into his house to take in pledge his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the person of whom your loan is with him shall bring you the pledge outside. 12 But if the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the pledge. 13 In return you shall give back his pledge to the sunset of the sun, and he shall sleep in his cloak, and he will bless you, and there shall be to you mercy before the Lord your God. 14 “You shall not wrongfully withhold the wages of a poor and needy person from your brothers or from the sojourner in your cities. 15 You shall give his wages daily; the sun shall not set on him, for he is poor and in it he has hope, and he shall cry out against you to the Lord, and there will be a sin in you. 16 “A father shall not die for children, and sons shall not die for a father; each shall die for their own sin. 17 “You shall not distort the justice of a sojourner and an orphan and a widow, 18 because you were a household slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from that place. Because of this I am commanding you to do this thing. 19 “But if you reap a harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in your field, you shall not return to take it; it shall be for the sojourner and the orphan and the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 But if you should harvest olives, do not turn back to glean behind you: It shall be for the sojourner and the orphan and the widow, and you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt. Because of this I am commanding you to do this thing. 21 But if you gather in from your vineyard, you shall not reharvest it after you; it shall be for the sojourner and the orphan and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt. Because of this I am commanding you to do this thing.
25“But if there is a controversy between people and they enter into judgment and they vindicate the righteous one and they charge the impious one, 2 it shall be also if the one who acted impiously is worthy of blows, you shall seat him before them. 3 And they shall whip him forty times; they shall not add to the number. But if they should continue whipping much beyond these blows, your brother will be disgraced before you. 4 “You shall not muzzle a threshing ox. A Brother’s Marriage Duty 5 “But if brothers dwell together and one of them dies but he does not have seed, the wife of the one deceased shall not be outside, lest a man come near. The brother of her husband shall go into her, and he shall take her for himself as a wife, and he shall live with her. 6 And it shall be that the child that she might give birth to shall be appointed from the name of the deceased, and you shall not remove his name from Israel. 7 But if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then the woman shall go up to the gates of the town to the council of elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother does not wish to establish his brother’s name in Israel. My husband’s brother is unwilling.’ 8 And the council of elders of his city shall summon him, and they shall address him, and standing he may say, ‘I do not wish to take her.’ 9 And his brother’s wife having entered before the council of elders, and she shall untie his sandal, the one from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and answering she shall say, ‘So shall they do to the person who will not build the house of his brother in Israel.’ 10 And his name will be called in Israel ‘house of the one with an untied sandal.’ ” Further Miscellaneous Laws 11 “But if people should fight together, a person with his brother, and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from the hand of the one beating him and stretching out her hand seizes his testicles,a 12 you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not be sparing upon her. 13 “You shall not have in the pouch a weight and a weight, great or small. 14 In your house there shall not be a measure and a measure, great or small. 15 You shall have a true and right weight so that you may be long-lived on the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as a portion. 17 “Remember all that Amalek did to you in the way of your going out from the land of Egypt, 18 how he stood against you in the way and struck your rear guard, those who were weary behind you, but you were hungry and grew weary, and he did not fear God. 19 And it shall be when the Lord your God gives you rest from all your enemies around you in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you to inherit, you shall wipe out the name of Amalek from under the heavens, and you shall certainly not forget to do it.
26“And it shall be when you enter into the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and you should take possession of it and settle on it, 2 you also shall take from the first fruits of the fruit of your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it into a basket and go into the place that the Lord your God may choose his name to be invoked there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who shall be serving in those days, and you shall say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord my God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of your hands and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 And answering him, you shall say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My fathers left Aram and went down into Egypt and sojourned there few in number, and in that place they became a great nation and mighty multitude. 6 And the Egyptians afflicted us and abased us and placed hard work upon us, 7 and we cried out to the Lord our God, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our humiliation and our distress. 8 And the Lord led out us of Egypt, he with his great strength and with a strong hand and mighty arm and with great sights and with signs and with wonders. 9 And he led us into this place, and he gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now look, I have brought the first fruits of the produce of the land that the Lord gave to me, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ And you shall bow down before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good things that the Lord your God gave you and your house—and the Levites and the sojourner with you. 12 “But if you finished tithing all the tithes of your produce in the third year, you shall give a second tithe to the Levites and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow, and they shall eat in your cities and shall be joyful. [10] 13 And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have cleansed the sacred things from my house and gave them to the Levites and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow, according to all the commands that you commanded me. I have not transgressed your command and have not forgotten, 14 and I have not eaten in my grief from them. I have offered no impure thing as a burnt offering from them; I have not given to the dead from them. I heard the voice of the Lord our God; I listened just as you commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy house, from the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the land that you gave them, as you swore to our fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.’ Moses’ Concluding Exhortation 16 “In this day the Lord your God commanded you to do all the ordinances and judgments; and you shall be mindful, and you shall do them from your whole heart and from your whole soul. 17 Today you have chosen God to be your God and to walk in all his ways and to keep the ordinances and judgments and to listen to his voice. 18 And the Lord has selected you today to be a special people to him, just as he said to keep his commands; 19 and you are to be over all the nations, as he made you renowned and a boast and glorious; you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he spoke.
27And Moses and the council of elders of Israel commanded, “Keep all these commands that I am commanding you today. 2 And it shall be that on the day you pass over the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, you also shall set up for yourself great stones, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on these stones all the words of this law when you pass over the Jordan, when you enter into the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, the way the Lord, the God of your fathers, said to you. 4 And it shall be when you pass over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones that I am commanding you today in Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stone; you shall not put upon it an iron tool. 6 You shall build the altar to the Lord your God of whole stones, and you shall offer on it whole burnt offerings to the Lord your God, 7 and you shall offer there an offering of deliverance; and you shall eat and be filled, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all of this law very clearly. 9 And Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel saying, “Be silent and hear, O Israel. In this day you have become a people to the Lord your God. 10 And you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and you shall do all his commands and his ordinances that I am commanding you today.” Curses from Mount Ebal 11 And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying, 12 “These shall stand to bless the people in Mount Gerizim when you pass over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on the curse in Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad and Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 “And answering, the Levites shall say to all Israelites in a great voice, 15 ‘Cursed be the person who will make a carved and cast image—an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of craftsmen—and he shall put it in a secret place.’ And answering the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 16 “‘Cursed be the one who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 17 “‘Cursed be the one who shifts the borders of his neighbor.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 18 “‘Cursed be the one who misleads the blind in the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 19 “‘Cursed be whoever may bend the justice of a sojourner and an orphan and a widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 20 “‘Cursed be the one who sleeps with the wife of his father, for he uncovered the covering of his father.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 21 “‘Cursed be the one who sleeps with any livestock.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 22 “‘Cursed be the one who sleeps with a sister of his father or mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 23 “‘Cursed be the one who sleeps with his daughter-inlaw.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ ‘Cursed be the one who sleeps with his wife’s sister.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 24 “‘Cursed be the one who strikes his neighbor with treachery.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 25 “‘Cursed be whoever may take a gift to strike a life of innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’ 26 “‘Cursed be any person who does not stand fast in all the words of this law to do them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘May it be.’
28“And it shall be if in listening you should hear the voice of the Lord your God to keep and to do all these commands that I am commanding you today, and the Lord your God shall set you above all the nations of the land. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and shall find you, if with hearing you hear the voice of the Lord your God: 3 Blessed be you in the city and blessed be you in the country. 4 Blessed be the offspring of your belly, the herd of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep. 5 Blessed be your storehouses and your surpluses. 6 Blessed be you in your going in, and blessed be you in your going out. 7 May the Lord your God deliver your enemies who stand against you, when they have been annihilated before your face. They shall come out to you one way, and they shall flee from your face by seven ways. 8 May the Lord send upon you the blessing in your storehouses and upon all that you may put your hand on the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 May the Lord establish you for himself as a holy people, the way he swore to your fathers, if you should hear the voice of the Lord your God and walk in all his ways. 10 And all the nations of the land shall see you, for the name of the Lord has been invoked to you, and they shall fear you. 11 And the Lord your God will multiply you in good things, in the offspring of your belly, and on the produce of your land, and on the offspring of your livestock, on the land that the Lord of your fathers swore to give to you. 12 May the Lord open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give rain for your land in season, to bless all the work of your hands. You also shall lend to nations mightier than you, but you shall not borrow. 13 May the Lord your God appoint you to the head and not to the tail; and at that time you shall be above and you shall not be below, if you hear the voice of the Lord your God that I am commanding you to keep today. 14 You shall not deviate from all of the commands that I am commanding you today, to the right nor the left, to go after other gods to serve them. Curses for Disobedience 15 “And it shall be if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all his commands that I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come against you and lay hold of you: 16 Cursed be you in the city and cursed be you in the country. 17 Cursed be your storehouses and your surpluses. 18 Cursed be the offspring of your belly, and the produce of your land, the herd of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep. 19 Cursed be you in your going out, and cursed be you in your going in. 20 May the Lord send upon you poverty and famine and destruction upon all that you may put your hand until he utterly destroys you and until he swiftly destroys you, on account of your evil practices, because you forsook me. 21 May the Lord cause death to cling to you until it destroys you from the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it. 22 May the Lord strike you with distress and fever and shivering and irritation and blight and mildew; they also shall pursue you until they destroy you. 23 And the heavens above your head shall be to you copper and the earth below you iron. 24 May the Lord your God give rain to your land as powder and dust from the heavens; it shall come down until it wipes you out and until it destroys you with speed. 25 May the Lord give you visitation before your enemies; by one road you shall come out to them, and by seven roads you shall flee from their face, and you shall be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your corpses shall be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, and there will not be those frightening them. 27 May the Lord strike you with a festering Egyptian wound in the seat and a malignant mange and an itch so that you are not able to be healed. 28 May the Lord strike you with a frenzy of blindness and confusion of mind; 29 you also shall be groping about at midday as a certain blind man gropes about in the darkness—and he will not help you on the road, and you shall be at that time wronged and plundered every day, and there will be no helper. 30 You shall take a wife, and another man will have her; you shall build a house, and you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you will not gather it. 31 Your calf shall be slaughtered before you, and you shall not eat from it; your donkey shall be seized from you, and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, 32 and your eyes being infected will look for them; your hand shall not be strong. 33 A nation whom you do not know shall eat the produce of your land and all the results of your labor, and you shall be wronged and broken all the days. 34 And you shall be mad because of the sight that your eyes have seen. 35 May the Lord strike you with a bad festering wound on the knee and on the lower leg, so that you are not able to be healed from the soles of your feet to your head. 36 May the Lord lead you away and your rulers, whomever you should appoint over yourself, to a nation that you and your fathers do not know, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And in that place you shall be a riddle and a taunt and a tale in all the nations into which the Lord leads you there. 38 You shall carry much seed into the field, and you will gather little because the locust will devour them. 39 You shall plant a vineyard and make wine; you will not drink nor be delighted from it because the worm will devour them. 40 You shall have olive trees in all your borders, and you will not anoint with olive oil because your olive tree will shed its olives. 41 You shall have sons and daughters, and they will be no more, for they will depart in captivity. 42 The blight shall destroy all your wood and the produce of your land. 43 The sojourner who is among you shall go up up, but you shall be brought down down. 44 He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He shall be the head, but you will be the tail. 45 And all these curses shall come against you and shall pursue you and shall lay hold of you until he utterly destroys you and until he destroys you, for you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commands and ordinances that he commanded you. 46 And there shall be signs and wonders in you in your seed until forever, 47 because you did not serve the Lord your God with merriment and a good mind on account of the abundance of all things. 48 And you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord sent against you in hunger and in all abandonment, and he will place an iron yoke on your neck until he utterly destroys you. 49 The Lord shall bring against you a nation from afar, from the edge of the earth, like a swoop of an eagle, a nation whose voice you will not hear, 50 a people bold in face, which will not marvel at the face of an elderly woman and will not show mercy to the young. 51 And it will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land, so as not to leave behind for you grain, wine, olive oil, the herds of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep, until it destroys you. 52 And it shall wipe you out in your cities until they pull down the high and strong walls, upon which you have relied in all your land; and it will oppress you in your cities that he gave to you. 53 And you will eat the offspring of your belly, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters that he gave to you, you will eat them in your distress and in your oppression that your enemy will afflict you with. 54 The tender one who is among you and the very delicate one will begrudge with his eye his brother and the wife in his bosom and the remaining young children who were left behind, 55 so as to give one of them from the flesh of his young children whom he may be devouring, because there was nothing left behind for him in your distress and in your oppression with which your enemies afflicted you in all your cities. 56 And the tender one in you and the delicate one who with her foot has not attempted to take a step on the earth because of luxury, will disparage with her eye her husband who is in her bosom and her son and daughter, 57 even her afterbirth that comes out through her thighs and the young child whom she might bear; for she will devour them secretly because of the lack of all things, in your distress and in your oppression with which your enemy afflicted you in your cities. 58 If you should not listen to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this honorable and wonderful name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord shall make extraordinary your plagues and the plagues of your seed—great and astonishing plagues, and bad and lasting plagues. 60 And he shall return all the grief of Egypt, the bad things that you were afraid of before their face, and they shall cling to you. 61 And every sickness and every plague that has not been written in this book of the law the Lord shall bring against you until he utterly destroys you. 62 And those remaining shall be few in number—because you were like the stars of the heavens in abundance—because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And it shall be that the way the Lord delighted on you to do well for you, so shall the Lord be delighted against you to destroy you utterly, and you shall be removed quickly from the land into which you entered there to take possession of it. 64 And the Lord your God shall scatter you abroad into all the nations, from the end of the earth as far as the end of the earth, and you shall serve in that place other gods of wood and stones, whom you and your fathers did not know. 65 But also in these nations he shall not give rest to you nor shall there be rest for the sole of your foot, and the Lord shall give you there another disobedient heart and failing eyes and a melted soul. 66 And your life shall be hanging before your eyes, and you shall be afraid day and night, and you shall not have trust in your life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘O that it would be evening,’ and in the evening you shall say, ‘O that it would be morning,’ because of the fear in your heart, with which you shall be afraid and because of the sights that your eyes shall see. 68 And the Lord shall return you to Egypt in ships in the way that I said. He shall no longer continue to see it. And you shall be sold there to your enemies for servants and female slaves, and there shall be no purchaser.”
29aThese are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to establish with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that was established with them at Horeb. Renewal of the Covenant 2 And Moses called all the sons of Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt before you, to Pharaoh and his attendants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders. 4 And the Lord God did not give you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear until this day. 5 And he led you in the wilderness; for forty years your garments did not wear out, and your sandals did not wear out from your feet. 6 You did not eat food, you did not drink wine and strong drink, in order that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And you came as far as this place, and Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to meet you in battle, and we struck them. 8 And we took their land and gave it in a portion to Reuben and Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 9 And you shall be mindful to do all the words of this covenant in order that you may understand all that you shall do. 10 “All of you shall stand today before the Lord your God, the chiefs of your tribes and your council of elders and your judges and your minor officials, every man of Israel, 11 your women and your offspring and the sojourner in the midst of your camp, from your woodcutter even until your water carrier, 12 to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and in his curses, that the Lord your God arranged with you today, 13 in order that he may set you up for himself into a people; and he will be your God the way he said to you and the way he swore to your fathers Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 14 And not only with you am I arranging this covenant and this curse, 15 but also with those who are with us here today before the Lord your God and with those who are not here today with you. 16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt as we passed in the midst of the nations when you passed. 17 And you saw their abominations and their images, wood and stone, silver and gold that was from them. 18 Is there no one among you, man or woman or family or tribe, whose mind has turned from the Lord your God to go forth serving the gods of those nations? Is there no one among you who is a root growing upwards in gall and bitterness? 19 And it shall be if he hears the words of this curse and utters in his heart saying, ‘May holiness come to me, for in the error of my heart I shall walk’—lest the sinner should destroy the innocent. 20 God will not wish to be merciful on him; rather the anger of the Lord and his zeal will burn out then in that person, and all the curses of this covenant that are written in this book will cling unto him, and the Lord shall wipe out his name from under the heavens. 21 And the Lord will set him apart for evil from all sons of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that have been written in the book of this law. 22 And the next generation will say, ‘Your sons who will arise after you and the stranger who may come from a far off land, they also will see the plagues of that land and its diseases, which the Lord sent against it, 23 sulfur and burning salt; all its land shall not be sown nor shall it grow up nor shall any vegetation go up on it—as Sodom was overturned and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overturned in wrath and anger.’ 24 And all the nations will say, ‘On what account did the Lord do such a thing to this land? What is this great wrath of anger?’ 25 And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, that he arranged with their fathers when he led them out from the land of Egypt.’ 26 And having gone they served other gods whom they did not know nor did he distribute to them. 27 And the Lord was angry with wrath against that land, to bring against it according to all the curses that have been written in the book of this law. 28 And the Lord removed them from their land in wrath and anger and very great irritation, and he drove them out into a different land as it is now. 29 The hidden things are the Lord your God’s, but the revealed things belong to you and to your children forever, to do all the words of this law.
30“And it shall be when all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I gave before your face, and you take them into your heart in all the nations where the Lord may scatter you there, 2 you also shall return unto the Lord your God, and you shall listen to his voice, according to all that I am commanding you today from the whole of your heart and from the whole of your soul. 3 And the Lord shall heal your sins, and he will show mercy to you, and he will gather you again from all the nations into which the Lord scattered you there. 4 If your dispersion should be from one end of the heavens as far as the other end of the heavens, from that place the Lord your God will gather you and from that place the Lord your God will take you. 5 And your God will lead you from that place into the land that your fathers inherited, and you shall take possession of it; and he will make you well, and he will make you numerous beyond your fathers. 6 And the Lord will cleanse your heart and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God from the whole of your heart and from the whole of your soul, in order that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will give these curses against your enemies and against those who hate you, who pursued you. 8 And you shall turn unto the Lord and listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do his commands that I am commanding you today. 9 And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands, in the offspring of your belly, and in the produce of your land, and in the offspring of your livestock. For the Lord your God will turn to delight in you for good things, as he delighted in your fathers. 10 If you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commands and his ordinances and his judgments that have been written in the book of this law; if you turn to the Lord your God from the whole of your heart and from the whole of your soul. The Choice of Life or Death 11 “Because this command that I am commanding you today is not excessive nor far from you. 12 It is not in the heavens above, saying, ‘Who will go up for us into the heavens and take it for us and upon hearing it, we will do it?’ 13 Nor is it across the sea, saying, ‘Who will go over for us to the other side of the sea and take it for us and make it audible to us, and we will do it?’ 14 The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart and in your hands to do it. 15 “Look, I have given before your face today life and death, good and evil. 16 If you listen to the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his ordinances and his judgments, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in all the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it. 17 And if your heart turns away and you do not listen, and in wandering you worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall be destroyed with destruction, and you shall not be long-lived on the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession of it. 19 I call to witness against you today both the heavens and earth. I have given life and death before your face, the blessing and the curse; you should choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed, 20 to love the Lord your God, to listen to his voice and to be close to him. For this is life for you and the length of your days, for you to dwell on the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give to them.”
31And Moses finished speaking all these words to all the sons of Israel, [11] 2 and he said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today. I will not be able any longer to go in and to go out. And the Lord spoke to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God is proceeding before your face; this one will utterly destroy these nations from before your face, and you shall dispossess them; and Joshua is going before your face, just as the Lord said. 4 And the Lord your God shall do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorites kings who were on the other side of the Jordan, and to their land, as he utterly destroyed them. 5 And the Lord delivered them to you, and you shall do to them as I commanded you. 6 Act like a man and be strong; do not fear or be afraid or be terrified of their face, for the Lord your God, the one going with you even among you, he will neither will leave you or forsake you.” 7 And Moses called Joshua and said to him before all Israel, “Act like a man and be strong, for you will go before the face of this people into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give them, and you will take possession with them. 8 And the Lord who is proceeding with you, he will not leave you or forsake you; do not fear or be afraid.” The Reading of the Law 9 And Moses wrote the words of this law into a book, and he gave it to the priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the elders of the sons of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them in that day saying, “After seven years at the time of the year of remission, in the feast of tent making, 11 in the coming together of all Israel to appear before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord may choose, you shall read aloud this law before all Israel into their ears, 12 having assembled the people, the men and the women and the offspring and the sojourner in your cities, in order that you may hear and in order that you may learn to fear the Lord your God. And they shall listen to do all the words of this law. 13 And their sons, who have not known, will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God all the days that they live on the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession of it.” 14 And the Lord said to Moses, “Look, the days of your death have drawn near; call Joshua and stand beside the door of the tent of the testimony, and I will command him.” And Moses and Joshua went into the tent of the testimony, and they stood beside the door of the tent of the testimony. 15 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and he stood beside the door of the tent of the testimony, and the pillar of cloud stood beside the door of the tent. 16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, “Look, you are falling asleep with your fathers, and this people having arisen will prostitute after foreign gods of the land into which this people are entering. And they will forsake me, and they will break my covenant that I arranged with them. 17 And I shall indeed become angry in wrath at them in that day, and I will leave them and turn my face from them; and it will be food, and many evil things and oppression will find it. And it will say in that day, ‘Because the Lord my God is not with me, these evil things found me.’ 18 But I, in turning back, shall turn my face from them in that day, on account of all of the wickedness that they did, for they turned back to foreign gods. 19 And write the words of this song and teach it to the sons of Israel and put it in their mouth, in order that this song may be to me a witness among the sons of Israel, toward their face. 20 For I will bring them into the good land that I swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; and they shall eat, and having been filled, they shall be satisfied; and they will turn unto foreign gods, and they will provoke me and break my covenant. 21 And this song will confront their face as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their seed. For I know their evil, all that they are doing here today before my leading them into the good land that I swore to their fathers.” 22 And Moses wrote this song in that day and taught it to the sons of Israel. 23 And Joshua commanded, and he said, “Be courageous and strong! For you shall lead the sons of Israel into the land that the Lord swore to them, and he shall be with you.” 24 But when Moses finished writing all the words of this law into a book, until the end, 25 he also commanded the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord saying, 26 “Having taken the book of this law, put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and it shall be there with you as a testimony. 27 For I know your rebelliousness and your stiff neck. For while I am still living with you today, you are rebellious toward God. How will you not also be so finally at my death? 28 Assemble to me your chiefs and your judges and your minor officials so that I may speak into their ears all these words and call to witness against them both the heavens and earth. 29 For I know that finally at my death, you will act lawlessly with lawlessness, and you will turn from the way that I commanded you. There will be wickedness at the end of days, because you will do evil deeds before the Lord, to provoke him by the works of your hands.” The Song of Moses 30 And Moses spoke into the ears of all the assembly the words of this song until the end:
32“Give heed, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth listen to the words from my mouth. 2 Let my hymn be expected like rain, and let my words come down like dew, like a rainstorm upon the grass and like a snowstorm upon the grass. 3 For I called on the name of the Lord. Give greatness to our God! 4 God, his works are true, and all his ways justice. God is trustworthy, and there is no injustice; righteous and holy is the Lord. 5 Disgraced children who are not his have sinned— a rebellious and perverted generation. 6 Do you repay the Lord in this way with these things, foolish and unwise people? Did not he, this one, your father, acquire you and make you? 7 Remember days of old; consider years of generations upon generations; ask your father, and he will say it to you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High distributed nations as he scattered the sons of Adam, he set up boundaries for the nations according to the number of the angels of God. [12] 9 And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel an allotment of his inheritance. 10 He supplied them in the desert, in the thirst of burning heat; in a dry land he surrounded them and disciplined them, and he guarded them as the pupil of his eye. 11 Like an eagle protects his nest, he also longed for his young; spreading his wings he received them and took them up on his back. 12 The Lord alone was carrying them; there was no foreign god with them. 13 He made them go up on the strength of the land; he nursed them with the produce of the field; they suckled honey from a rock and olive oil from a solid rock, 14 butter of a cow, and milk of a sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of the sons of bulls and of he-goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and to drink wine, the blood of grapes. 15 And Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat; he grew thick; he became large. And he forsook the God who made him, and he drew away from God his Savior. 16 They provoked me to foreign things; with their abominations they provoked me. 17 They sacrificed to demons and not to God, to gods whom they had not known. New recent ones have come whom their fathers had not known. [13] 18 You forsook God who bore you and forgot God who nourished you. 19 And the Lord saw, and he was jealous, and he was provoked on account of his anger against his sons and daughters. 20 And he said, ‘I will turn my face from them and show what will happen to them in the end of days. For they are a perverse generation, sons who do not have trust in them. 21 They made me jealous against what is not God; they irritated me with their idols, and I will make them jealous against what is not a nation; I will provoke them to wrath against a foolish nation. 22 For a fire was kindled out of my anger; it will burn as far as Hades beneath; it will devour their land and produce; it will burn the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will gather evil ones to them, and I will cause my arrows to fight with them. 24 When they are being wasted away by hunger and the eating of birds and incurable tetanus, I will send the teeth of wild animals to them with wrath of those crawling on earth. 25 A dagger from without will make them childless, and from the innermost room fear; a young man together with a young woman, one who is nursing with someone who had become an old person. 26 I said, “I will scatter them, and I will cease the remembrance of them from humanity.” 27 If it were not because of my anger at the enemies, in order that they might not live a long time, in order that more enemies might not join in attacking, lest they say, “Our hand is mighty, and it was not the Lord who did any of these things.” 28 They are a people lacking counsel, and knowledge is not in them. 29 They do not have understanding to consider these things; let them receive them for the coming time. 30 How will he pursue one thousand and move away two myriads, unless God sold them and the Lord delivered them? 31 For our God is not like their gods, but our enemies are senseless. 32 For their vine is out of a vine of Sodom, and their vine twig is out of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of bile, a cluster of bitterness to them; 33 their wine is the wrath of dragons and the wrath of incurable asps. 34 Look, have these things not been collected for me and been sealed in my treasuries? 35 In a day of vengeance I will repay, when their foot slips, for the day of destruction to them is near, and their lot is presently prepared for you.’ [14] 36 For the Lord will judge his people, and he will relent on his slaves. For he saw them exhausted and failing, in misery and weakened. 37 And the Lord said, ‘Where are their gods upon whom they have relied on them, 38 whose fat of their sacrifices you were eating, and drinking the wine of their drink offerings? Let them arise and assist you and become your protectors. 39 See, see that I am, and there is no god except me. I will kill and make alive, I will strike and heal, and there is none who will deliver from my hands. 40 For I will lift my hand into the heavens, and I will swear by my right hand, and I will say, “I will live for eternity.” 41 For I will sharpen my dagger like lightning, and my hand will cleave to judgment, and I will recompense my enemies with vengeance, and those who hate I will repay. 42 I will make my arrows drunk from bloodshed of the wounded and of the captives, from the head of the rulers of the enemies. 43 Delight, O heavens, with him and worship him, you sons of God. Delight, O nations, with his people and prevail with him, all you angels of God. For he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will avenge and he will repay the enemies with vengeance, and he will repay those who hate, and the Lord will cleanse out the land of his people.’ ” [15] 44 And Moses wrote this song on that day, and he taught it to the sons of Israel. And Moses entered and spoke all the words of this law into the ears of the people, he and Joshua of Nun. 45 And Moses finished speaking to all Israel, 46 and he said to them, “Give heed with your heart to all these words that I am calling to witness against you today, which you shall command your sons to keep and to do all the words of this law. 47 For this is not an empty word to you, because this is your life, and on account of this word you shall live long on the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession.” Moses’ Death on Mount Nebo Foretold 48 And the Lord spoke to Moses in this day, saying, 49 “Go up into the mountain Abarim, this mountain Nebo that is in the land of Canaan down from the face of Jericho, and you shall see the land of Canaan, which I am giving the sons of Israel. 50 And you shall die in the mountain into which you are going up there, and you shall be added to your people, the way Aaron your brother died at Mount Hor and he was added to his people. 51 Because you both disobeyed my word among the sons of Israel, on the water of controversy of Meribathkadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you both did not sanctify me among the sons of Israel. 52 You may see the land in front, and you shall not enter there.”
33And this is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, blessed the sons of Israel before his death. 2 And he said: “The Lord came from Sinai and displayed himself to us from Seir and made haste from Mount Paran together with myriads from Kadesh; from his right, angels were with him. [16] 3 And he spared his people, and all those who have been sanctified beneath your hands, even these who are beneath you, and it received of his words 4 a law, which Moses commanded you, an inheritance of the congregations of Jacob. [17] 5 And he shall be a ruler with the beloved one; rulers of people have been gathered with the tribes of Israel. 6 Let Reuben live and not die; he also shall be many in number.” 7 And he said this of Judah: “May you listen, O Lord, to the voice of Judah, and may you visit unto his people; and his hands will distinguish for him, and you will be a help from enemies.” 8 And to Levi he said: “Give Levi his symbol of clarity and his symbol of truth to the holy man, whom they led in temptation; they reviled him on the water of controversy. 9 He who said to his father and mother, ‘I have not seen you,’ and he did not know his brothers, and he disowned his sons; he kept your teachings, and he observed your covenant. 10 They shall show your ordinances to Jacob and your law to Israel. They shall put incense in your anger always upon your altar. 11 Bless his strength, O Lord, and accept the work of his hands; destroy the loins of enemies who rise up against him, and those who hate him may they not stand.” 12 And to Benjamin he said: “Beloved by the Lord, he shall encamp in security, and God shall shade him all the days; and may he give rest betweena his shoulders.” 13 And to Joseph he said: “His land is upon the blessing of the Lord, from the seasons of the heavens and of dew and from bottomless springs below, 14 and according to a season of produce of the sun’s turning, and from the conjunctions of months, 15 from the top of mountains of beginning and from the top of everlasting hills, 16 and according to a season of the land’s fullness. And the things acceptable to the one who appeared in the bush, may they come upon the head of Joseph and on the head of the one who was honored above brothers. [18] 17 A firstborn of a bull, his beauty. His horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall gore nations, as far as on the end of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.” 18 And to Zebulun he said: “Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar in his tents. 19 They shall utterly destroy nations, and you shall invoke there and offer a sacrifice of righteousness; for the riches of the sea will suckle you, and the trading post of those living by the sea.” 20 And to Gad he said: “Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad. Like a lion he will have rest, having broken arm and ruler. 21 And he shall see his first fruits, for in that place the land of rulers was divided, collected with leaders of people. The Lord did righteousness and his justice with Israel.” 22 And to Dan he said: “Dan is a cub of a lion, and he shall leap out from Bashan.” 23 And to Naphtali he said: “Naphtali is full of acceptable things, and may he be filled with a blessing from the Lord — may he take possession of the sea and the southwest.” 24 And to Asher he said: “Blessed with children is Asher, and he shall be acceptable to his brothers; he shall immerse his foot in olive oil. 25 His sandal shall be iron and copper; like your days, so shall be your strength. 26 There is none like the God of the beloved, who goes upon the heavens as your helper, and the glorious one of the firmament. 27 And the rule of God will cover you, and under the strength of the everlasting arms, he will drive out the enemy from your face saying, ‘May you be destroyed!’ 28 And Israel shall encamp in security alone on the land of Jacob, on grain and wine; and the heavens are clouded over with dew upon you. 29 Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? Your helper will shield, and the dagger will be your boast. And your enemies will lie to you, and you will tread upon their neck.”
34And Moses went up from Araboth of Moab on Mount Nebo, on the top of Pisgah, which is against the face of Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan 2 and all the land of Naphtali and all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all the land of Judah as far as the last sea, 3 and the wilderness and the country around Jericho, city of date palms, as far as Zoar. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land that I swore to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob saying, ‘I will give it to your seed. And I have shown it to your eyes, and you shall not enter there.’ ” 5 And Moses, a household slave of the Lord, died in the land of Moab, on account of the word of the Lord. 6 And they buried him at Ai near the house of Peor. And no one knows his grave until this day. 7 And Moses was one hundred and twenty years at his death; his eyes were not dim or ruined. 8 And the sons of Israel wept for Moses at Araboth of Moab, on the Jordan, down from Jericho, for thirty days, and the days of grief of weeping for Moses came to an end. [19] 9 And Joshua son of Nun was filled with a spirit of understanding, for Moses put his hands on him, and the sons of Israel listened to him, and they did as the Lord commanded Moses. 10 And no prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 with all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and his attendants and to all his land, 12 the great wonders and the mighty hand that Moses did before all Israel.