Neofiti Deuteronomy

Moses Recalls Israel’s Journey

1 These are the words Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel, rebuking them while they were still across the Jordan. Moses said to them, “Wasn’t the Law given to you in the wilderness and on Mount Sinai, sons of Israel, and explained to you in the plains of Moab? How many signs the Lord performed for you, sons of Israel, when you stood beside the Sea of Reeds! The sea split before you and became twelve roads, a road for each tribe. Yet you provoked anger before him beside the sea and rebelled at the Sea of Reeds. On account of the spies you sent from the wilderness of Paran to explore the land of Canaan, ⟨he decreed that you would not enter the land of Israel⟩. On account of the manna, about which you said, ‘We are sick of this bread, which gives so little nourishment,’ ⟨he sent the serpents against you⟩. Your bodies fell at Hazeroth on account of the meat you craved. On account of the calf you made, the Lord declared through his Memra that he would wipe you out. But he remembered in your favor the covenant he made with your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the tent of meeting you made for his name, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant you brought inside it and covered with fine gold. Through his Memra he declared that he would forgive your sins. 2 Your journey from Mount Horeb by way of Mount Gebalene to Petra of Gaia was a journey of eleven days. You sinned and provoked anger before him, and you were held back and spent forty years on those journeys.” 3 At the end of forty years, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses told the sons of Israel everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. 4 This was after he had defeated ⟨Sihon⟩, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og, king of Batanea, who lived in Ashtaroth, in Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan, in the land of the Moabites, Moses began explaining the book of this Law. He said, 6 “The Lord our God spoke with us at Horeb: ‘You have stayed on this mountain long enough. 7 Turn and set out. Go up to the mountain of the Amorites and subdue all their villages in the plain, in the mountain country, in the lowlands, in the south, and along the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites and the mountain of the sanctuary, as far as the Great River, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have handed the inhabitants of the land over to you. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their sons after them.’

The Appointment of Judges

9 At that time I told you, ‘I cannot bear responsibility for you alone. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you. See how numerous and enduring you are today, as countless as the stars in the sky! 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as he promised you. 12 How can I bear your troubles, your burdens, and your disputes alone? 13 Choose wise, discerning, and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’ 14 You answered me, ‘What you have proposed is a fine thing to do.’ 15 I took the heads of your tribes, wise and discerning men, and appointed them as your leaders, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers for your tribes. 16 At that time I instructed your judges, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers and judge truthfully between a man and his brother, and the resident foreigner who lives with him. 17 Do not show favoritism in judgment. Hear the words of the lowly as well as the words of the great. Do not fear a king or ruler, for judgment is required before the Lord. Bring any matter too difficult for you to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 At that time I instructed you in everything you were to do.

The Spies and Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land

19 We left Horeb and traveled through all that vast and terrifying wilderness you saw, along the road to the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. We reached Petra of Gaia. 20 I told you, ‘You have reached the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God has given you. 21 See, the Lord your God has handed the land over to you. Go up and possess it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid or lose heart.’ 22 All of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead to explore the land for us and report back about the road we should take up and the cities we should enter.’ 23 The proposal seemed good to me, and I chose twelve men from you, one from each tribe. 24 They headed toward the mountain and reached the Valley of the Grape Cluster, and they explored it. 25 They took some of the land’s fruit in their hands and brought it down to us. They reported back, ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’ 26 But you refused to go up and rebelled against the decree of the Memra of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Memra of the Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites and wipe us out. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made us lose heart, saying, “The people are greater and more numerous than we are. Their cities are large and fortified up to the sky. We even saw the sons of Anak the giant there.”’ 29 I told you, ‘Do not be terrified or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God will lead you in the Glory of his Shekinah. He will win your battles for you, just as the Lord did for you in Egypt, as your own eyes saw, 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw the Lord your God carry you as a man carries his son, all along the road you traveled until you reached this place.’ 32 Yet in this matter you did not trust in the name of the Memra of the Lord your God, 33 who led you along the road to prepare a campsite for you, in the pillar of fire at night to show you the road to take, and in the pillar of cloud by day. 34 The Lord heard your words, became angry, and declared under oath, 35 ‘Not one of the men of this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give him and his sons the land he walked on, for he followed the Memra of the Lord wholeheartedly and spoke well.’ 37 Anger also came against me from before the Lord on your account. He said, ‘You will not enter it either. 38 Joshua son of Nun, who serves you, will enter it. Strengthen him, for he will put Israel in possession of it. 39 Your little ones, whom you said would be taken captive, and your sons, who today cannot distinguish good from evil, will enter it. I will give it to them, and they will possess it. 40 But you must turn back and travel into the wilderness by the road to the Sea of Reeds.’

The Failed Attack

41 You answered me, ‘We have offended before the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.’ Each of you put on his weapons of war, and you hurried to go up to the mountain. 42 The Lord told me, ‘Tell them: Do not go up and do not fight. The Glory of my Shekinah is not leading among you. Do not let yourselves be defeated before your enemies.’ 43 I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the decree of the Memra of the Lord and defiantly went up to the mountain. 44 The Amorites who lived on that mountain came out against you and chased you as hornets and bees chase. They crushed you in Gebalene until you were destroyed. 45 You returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not respond to your weeping or listen to your words. 46 You remained in Petra for many days, the days you stayed there.”

The Journey Past Esau’s Descendants

1 “We turned and traveled into the wilderness by the road to the Sea of Reeds, as the Memra of the Lord told me,” said Moses, “and we went around Mount Gebalene for many days. 2 The Lord told me,” said Moses, 3 “‘You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn north. 4 He instructed the people, ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Gebalene. They will fear you, and you must be very wary. 5 Do not attack them in battle. I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to set your foot on, for I have given Mount Gebalene to Esau as his inheritance. 6 You do not need to buy food from them with money, for manna comes down to you from heaven. Nor do you need to buy water, for the well of water goes up with you to the mountaintops and down to the deep valleys. 7 The Lord your God ⟨has blessed you in everything your hands have done⟩. Your journey through the vast wilderness has been revealed before him. For these forty years the Lord your God has helped you, and you have lacked nothing.’ 8 We passed by our brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Gebalene, away from the road through the plain, from Elath and the Fort of the Rooster. We turned and traveled along the road through the wilderness of Moab.

Passing Through Moab

9 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Do not harass the Moabites or wage war against them. I will not give you any of their land to possess, for I have given Lahayyath to the sons of Lot to possess.’ 10 The Umthanites lived there formerly, a great, numerous, and powerful people like the sons of Anak, the giants. 11 They too are counted as giants, like the sons of Anak, the giants, but the Moabites called them Umthanites. 12 The Horonites formerly lived in Gebalene. The sons of Esau drove them out, destroyed them, and settled in their place, as Israel did in the land of their settlement, which the Lord gave them. 13 ‘Now get up and cross the Zered River.’ We crossed the Zered River. 14 The time we traveled from Petra of Gaia until we crossed the Zered River was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of men fit for war had died out of the camp, as the Lord swore to them. 15 Plagues were also sent against them from before the Lord to wipe them out of the camp until they were gone.

Passing the Ammonites

16 When all the men fit for war had died from among the people, 17 The Lord spoke with me,” said Moses. “He said, 18 ‘Today you are to cross the border of the Moabites at Lahayyath. 19 You will approach the territory of the sons of the Ammonites. Do not harass them or attack them in battle. I will not give you any of the sons of the Ammonites’ land to possess, for I have given it to the sons of Lot to possess.’ 20 That too is counted as a land of giants. Giants lived there formerly, and the Ammonites called them Zamthanites, 21 a great, numerous, and powerful people like the sons of Anak, the giants. The Lord destroyed them before you; you drove them out and settled in their place. 22 He did the same for the sons of Esau who lived in Gebalene. They destroyed the Horonites before them, drove them out, and have lived in their place to this very day. 23 The Avvites lived in the villages as far as Gaza. The Cappadocians, who came from Cappadocia, destroyed them and settled in their place.

The Defeat of Sihon

24 ‘Get up, set out, and cross the Arnon River. See, I have handed Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession and attack them in battle. 25 Today I will begin to put dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole sky. When they hear reports of you, they will tremble and be terrified before you.’ 26 I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with a message of peace: 27 ‘Please let me pass through your land by the road. I will stay on the road and turn neither right nor left. 28 You may sell us food for money to eat and give us water for money to drink. We only want to pass through on foot; we need nothing. 29 The sons of Esau who live in Gebalene and the Moabites who live in Lahayyath have done this for us. Let us cross this Jordan to the land the Lord our God has given us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through his territory. The Lord your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn in order to hand him over to you, as he has done today. 31 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘See, I have begun to hand Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to inherit and possess his land.’ 32 Sihon and all his people came out against us at Jahaz to fight. 33 The Lord our God handed him over to us, and we killed him, ⟨his sons⟩, and all his people. 34 At that time we subdued all his cities and destroyed every fortified city, the women, and the little ones. We left no one alive. 35 We kept only the livestock and the wealth taken from the cities we had subdued. 36 From Lahayyath on the Arnon River and the city in the river valley as far as Gilead, no city escaped us. The Lord our God handed everything over to us. 37 But we did not approach the land of the sons of the Ammonites, any place near the Jabbok River, the cities in the hill country, or any place the Lord our God had forbidden us.”

The Defeat of Og

1 “We turned and went up the road to Batanea. Og king of Batanea came out against us with all his people to fight at Edrei. 2 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Do not fear him. I have handed him, all his people, and his land over to you. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ 3 The Lord our God also handed Og king of Batanea and all his people over to us. We killed him until he had no survivor left. 4 At that time we subdued all his cities. There was no city we failed to take from them: sixty cities, the whole territory of Trachonitis, the kingdom of Og in Batanea. 5 All these were fortified cities enclosed by high walls, with gates and bars, besides very many scattered towns. 6 We destroyed them as we had Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying all the fortified cities, the women, and the little ones. 7 We took all the livestock, all their wealth, and the cities for ourselves. 8 At that time we took the land from the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, from the Arnon River to the Mountain of Snow. 9 The Sidonians called the Mountain of Snow ‘the mountain that makes its fruit smell bad,’ and the Amorites called it Senir. 10 We took all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Batanea as far as Seleucia and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Batanea. 11 Only Og king of Batanea remained of the survivors of the giants. His bed was an iron bed. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the sons of the Ammonites? It is nine cubits long and four cubits wide, measured by the royal cubit.

The Land East of the Jordan

12 At that time we took possession of this land. From Lahayyath on the Arnon River, I gave half the mountain country of Gilead and its cities to the tribe of the sons of the Reubenites and the tribe of the sons of the Gadites. 13 I gave the rest of Gilead and all Batanea, Og’s kingdom, to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the whole territory of Trachonitis. All that region of Batanea is called the land of the giants. 14 Jair son of Manasseh took the whole territory of Trachonitis as far as the border of the Geshurites ⟨and Epicoerus⟩. He named them, the settlements of Batanea, after himself: ‘Jair’s Villages,’ as they are called to this day. 15 I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 To the tribe of the sons of the Reubenites and the tribe of the sons of the Gadites, I gave the land from Gilead to the river, as far as the Jabbok River, the border of the sons of the Ammonites, 17 and the plain, with the Jordan as its border, from the Sea of Gennesaret to the Sea of the Plain, the Salt Sea, below the slopes of Beth-Ramatha on the east. 18 At that time I instructed you, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All you warriors must cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the sons of Israel. 19 Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock will stay in the cities I have given you. I know you have much livestock. 20 Wait until the Lord gives your brothers rest as he has given you, and they too occupy the land the Lord your God has given you across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the inheritance I have given you.’ 21 At that time I instructed Joshua, ‘Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Memra of the Lord will do the same to every kingdom you enter. 22 Do not fear them, for the Lord your God wins your battles for you.’

Moses Is Not Permitted to Cross the Jordan

23 At that time I prayed and pleaded for mercy from before the Lord: 24 ‘Lord, I plead with you by the mercy before you. Lord, you have begun to show your servant your might and the power of your strong hand. What god is like you, whose Glory of the Shekinah dwells in heaven above and whose power is on the earth below, who can perform deeds like your good deeds and wonders like the works of your power? 25 Please let me cross over now and see the good land across the Jordan, that good mountain and the mountain of the sanctuary.’ 26 But the Lord became angry with me on your account and would not listen to my prayer. The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Enough! Never speak before me about this matter again. 27 Go up to the summit of the height. Look west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan. 28 Give Joshua his instructions, encourage him, and strengthen him. He will cross ahead of this people, and he will give them possession of the land you see.’ 29 We stayed in the valley, weeping over our faults and confessing our sins, for we had joined ourselves to the worshipers of the idol Peor.”

Moses Urges Israel to Obey

1 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and judicial rulings I am teaching you to obey, so that you may live and enter and possess the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you. 2 Do not add anything to what I now command you, and do not take anything away from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes see everything the Memra of the Lord did to the worshipers of the idol Peor. ⟨Every person who went astray after the idol Peor⟩ the Lord your God destroyed from among you. 4 But you held fast to the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, and all of you are alive and enduring today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and judicial rulings as the Lord my God commanded ⟨me⟩, for you to obey in the land you are entering to possess. 6 Keep them and obey them. This is your wisdom, understanding, and discernment in the sight of the nations. They will hear all these statutes and say, ‘What a wise and discerning people this great nation is!’ 7 What nation or kingdom has a god as near to it as the Memra of the Lord our God is to us? Whenever we pray before him, he answers us. 8 And what nation or kingdom has righteous statutes and judicial rulings like all the decrees of this Law I set before you today? 9 Only take care and guard yourselves well, so that you do not forget what your eyes have seen or let it leave your hearts as long as you live. Teach it to your sons and your sons’ sons. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God on Mount Horeb, when the Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Gather the people to me. I will let them hear my commandments, so that they may learn to fear before him as long as they live and endure on the earth, and teach them to their sons.’ 11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire up to the heights of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick mist. 12 The Lord spoke with us from within the flames of fire. You heard his voice speaking but saw no form, only the voice of his Memra. 13 He declared his covenant to you, which I commanded you to perform, the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 The Memra of the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judicial rulings, for you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess.

The Commandment Not to Worship Idols

15 Guard yourselves well, for you saw no form on the day the Lord spoke with you at Mount Horeb from within the flames of fire. 16 Do not corrupt your deeds and make yourselves ⟨an idol or image⟩, any form of male or female, 17 any form of an animal on the earth, any form of a bird that flies swiftly through the air of the sky, 18 any form of something that crawls on the ground, or any form of a fish in the waters beneath the earth. 19 Do not lift your eyes to the sky, see the sun, the moon, the ordered stars, all the army of heaven, ⟨turn aside⟩, bow down to them, and worship before them. The Lord your God has allotted them to all the peoples under the whole sky. 20 But the Memra of the Lord set you apart and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people belonging to the name of the Lord, as you are today. 21 Anger came against me before the Lord on account of your words. He swore an oath that I would not cross the Jordan or enter the ⟨good⟩ land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 I am to die in this land. I will not cross the Jordan, but you will cross and possess this good land. 23 Take care that you do not forget the covenant of the Memra of the Lord your God that he established with you, and make yourselves ⟨idols and images⟩, any form the Memra of the Lord your God has forbidden. 24 The Lord your God is a fire that consumes fire, a jealous God who avenges in jealousy. 25 When you have sons and grandsons and have grown old in the land, if you corrupt your deeds, make yourselves ⟨an idol or image⟩ or any form, and do what is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God, provoking anger before him, 26 I testify against you today before heaven and earth: you will quickly perish from the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it; you will be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the nations, and only a few of you will remain among the nations where the Lord exiles you. 28 There you will worship idols made by human hands, idols of wood and idols of stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29 From there you will pray before the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these troubles find you at the very end of days, you will return before the Lord your God and listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord. 31 The Lord your God is a gracious and merciful God. He will not abandon you, destroy you, or forget the covenant he swore to your fathers.

Israel Hears the Lord and Is Redeemed

32 Ask about the ancient days before your time, from the day the Lord God created the first Adam upon the earth. Ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything like this great event ever happened or been heard of? 33 What nation or kingdom has heard the voice of the living God speaking from within the flames of fire, as you heard it, and remained alive? 34 Or consider the miracles the Lord performed when he went in to choose a nation for himself from within another nation, with miracles, signs, wonders, battles, a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and great manifestations, everything the Lord your God did for you in Egypt that your own eyes saw. 35 You have been taught to know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides him. 36 From heaven he made you hear the voice of his Memra to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words spoken from within the flames of fire. 37 He loved your fathers and graciously chose their sons after them. He redeemed you and brought you out of Egypt redeemed, with his strength and great power, 38 driving out before you nations more numerous and stronger than you, to bring you in and give you their land to possess, as he is doing today. 39 Know today and take it to heart: the Lord is God, whose Glory of the Shekinah dwells in heaven above and whose power is upon the earth below. There is no other God besides him. 40 Keep his statutes and the commandments of the Law that I command you today, so that it may go well with you and your sons after you, and so that you may live long on the land the Lord your God gives you forever.”

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

41 Then Moses set apart ⟨three⟩ cities of refuge across the Jordan toward the sunrise. 42 A person who killed his neighbor suddenly, without intending it or having hated him before, could flee there. By fleeing to one of these cities, he could save his life. 43 They were Bezer in the wilderness, in the land of the plain, for the tribe of the house of the Reubenites; Geram in Gilead, for the tribe of the house of the Gadites; and Dabrah in Batanea, for the tribe of the sons of Manasseh.

The Introduction to Moses’ Teaching

44 This is the decree of the Law Moses set before the people, the sons of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies, statutes, and judicial rulings Moses told the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt as redeemed people, 46 across the Jordan, in the valley near the idols of Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. Moses and the sons of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt as redeemed people. 47 They possessed his land and the land of Og king of Batanea, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan toward the sunrise, 48 from Lahayyath on the bank of the Arnon River to Mount Sion, which is the Mountain of Snow, 49 and the whole plain across the Jordan to the east, as far as the Salt Sea below the summit of the height.

The Covenant at Horeb

1 Moses called all Israel and told them, “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and judicial rulings I speak in your hearing today. Learn them and take care to obey them. 2 The Lord our God established a covenant with us on Mount Horeb. 3 The Lord did not establish this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are here alive and enduring today. 4 The Lord spoke with you, speech to speech, on the mountain from within the flames of fire. 5 I was then standing between the Memra of the Lord and you, to tell you the Lord’s words, for you were afraid of the flames of fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:

The Ten Commandments

6 The first utterance that came from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be his name, was like shooting stars, like lightning, and like fiery torches, ⟨a fiery torch⟩ to the right and a fiery torch to the left. It flew swiftly through the air of heaven, returned, and circled Israel’s camps. It returned again and was engraved on the covenant tablets. It cried out, ‘My people, sons of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who redeemed you and brought you out of Egypt as redeemed people, out of the house of enslaved servants.’ 7 The second utterance that came from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be his name, was like shooting stars, like lightning, and like fiery torches, ⟨a fiery torch⟩ to the right and a fiery torch to the left. It flew swiftly through the air of heaven, returned, and circled the camps of the sons of Israel. It returned again and was engraved on the covenant tablets. It cried out, ‘My people, sons of Israel, you must have no idols besides me. 8 Do not make yourselves ⟨an idol or image⟩, any form of what is in heaven above or on the earth below ⟨or in the waters beneath the earth⟩. 9 Do not bow down to them or worship before them. I am the Lord your God, a jealous God who takes vengeance in jealousy, remembering the sins of wicked fathers against rebellious sons to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, when they complete their sin before me. 10 But I keep grace and goodness for thousands of generations of the righteous who love me and keep the commandments of my Law.’ 11 ‘My people, sons of Israel, none of you may take the name of the Lord your God in vain. On the day of the great judgment, the Lord will not acquit anyone who takes the holy name of the Lord in vain.’ 12 ‘My people, sons of Israel, observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Work for six days and do all your labor. 14 But the seventh day is rest and relaxation before the Lord your God. Do no work, neither you nor your sons, your daughters, your male slaves, your female slaves, your oxen, your donkeys, any of your livestock, or the resident foreigners in your cities, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were enslaved servants in Egypt. The Lord your God redeemed you and brought you out of there as redeemed people with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. For this reason the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.’ 16 ‘My people, sons of Israel, each of you must honor his father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that you may live long and so that it may go well with you on the land the Lord your God gives you.’ 17 ‘My people, sons of Israel, do not be murderers, companions of murderers, or partners with murderers. Let no murderous people be seen in Israel’s congregation, so that your sons do not rise after you and learn to be murderous people too. For the sins of murderers bring the sword upon the world.’ ‘My people, sons of Israel, do not be adulterers, companions of adulterers, or partners with adulterers. ⟨Let no adulterous people be seen in Israel’s congregation⟩, so that your sons do not rise after you and learn to be adulterous people too. For the sins of adulterers bring pestilence upon the world.’ ‘My people, sons of Israel, do not be thieves, companions of thieves, or partners with thieves. Let no thieving people be seen in Israel’s congregation, so that your sons do not rise after you and learn to be thieving people too. For the sins of thieves bring famine upon the world.’ ‘My people, sons of Israel, do not be false witnesses, companions of false witnesses, or partners with false witnesses. Let no people of false witnesses be formed, so that your sons do not rise after you ⟨and learn too⟩ to give false testimony. For the sins of false witnesses bring wild beasts against human beings.’ 18 ‘My people, sons of Israel, do not be covetous, companions of the covetous, or partners with the covetous, so that your sons do not rise after you and learn to be covetous people too. None of you may covet his neighbor’s wife or covet his neighbor’s house, field, male slave, female slave, ox, donkey, or anything belonging to his neighbor. For the sins of the covetous make clouds rise without rain falling, bring scarcity upon the world, and bring kingdoms against human beings to covet their possessions and take them.’

The People Ask Moses to Speak

19 The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly on the mountain, from within the flames ⟨of fire⟩, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice that did not cease. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me,” said Moses. 20 “When you heard the voice of the Memra from within the darkness, while the mountain burned with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your wise men approached me. 21 You said, ‘See, the Memra of the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his power, and we have heard the voice of his Memra from within the flames of fire. Today we have seen that the Memra of the Lord can speak with a human being who remains alive. 22 But why should we die now? This great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Memra of the Lord our God again, we will die. 23 What human being has heard the voice of the Memra of the living God speaking from within the flames of fire as we have and remained alive? 24 You approach and hear everything the Lord our God says. Then tell us everything the Lord your God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’ 25 The Memra of the Lord heard your words when you spoke with me. The Memra of the Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘I have heard this people’s words that they spoke with you. They have done well; everything they said is pleasing and fitting. 26 If only they had ⟨this⟩ wholehearted mind, to fear before me and keep all the commandments of my Law always, so that it may go well with them and their sons forever! 27 Go, Moses, in my name, and tell them: Return in peace to your tents. 28 But you must stand here before me. I will tell you all the commandments, statutes, and judicial rulings you are to read to them, for them to obey in the land I give you to possess.’ 29 Take care to do as the Lord your God commanded you. Turn neither right nor left. 30 Follow the whole road the Lord your God commanded you, so that you may live, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply and live long in the land you possess.”

Obeying the Commandments

1 “These are the commandment, statutes, and judicial rulings the Lord your God commanded me to teach you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess. 2 Fear the Memra of the Lord your God, and keep all his statutes and the commandments of his Law that I command you, your sons, and your sons’ sons, every day of your lives, so that you may live long. 3 Listen, Israel, and take care to obey, so that it may go well with you and you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you: a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and sweet and delicious as honey.

Jacob’s Sons Declare the Lord Is One

4 When the appointed time came for our father Jacob to depart in peace from this world, he gathered the twelve tribes and stood them around his golden bed. Our father Jacob said to them, ‘From Abraham, my grandfather, came the blemished Ishmael and all the sons of Keturah. From Isaac, my father, came my blemished brother Esau. Do you perhaps worship the idols Abraham’s father worshiped? Do you perhaps worship the idols Laban, my mother’s brother, worshiped? Or do you worship the God of Jacob, your father?’ The twelve tribes of Jacob answered together wholeheartedly, ‘Listen to us, Israel our father: the Lord our God is one Lord. Blessed be his name forever and ever.’ 5 Love the teaching of the Law of the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your wealth. 6 Keep these words I teach you today always upon your hearts. 7 Repeat them to your sons. Meditate on them when you sit inside your houses, walk along the road, lie down, and get up. 8 Bind them as a sign upon your arms, and let them be tefillin upon your foreheads. 9 Write them inside mezuzahs and fix them upon the doors of your houses and at the boundaries of your cities.

Remembering the Lord in the Promised Land

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, with great and fine cities you did not build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you did not build, wells you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees you did not plant, and you eat your fill, 12 take care that you do not forget the teaching of the Law of the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt redeemed, out of the house of enslaved servants. 13 You must ⟨fear⟩ the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord your God ⟨and worship before him. In the name of his Memra you must⟩ take oaths and swear ⟨truthfully⟩. 14 Do not follow other idols, the idols of the ⟨nations⟩ around you. 15 Your God, the Glory of whose Shekinah is among you, is a jealous and avenging God. Do not let the Lord your God become angry with you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 Do not test the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord your God, as you tested before him at the Testing. 17 Diligently keep the commandments of the Law of the Lord your God, and the testimonies and statutes he commanded you. 18 Do what is pleasing and fitting before the Lord, so that it may go well with you and you may enter and possess the good land the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Teaching the Next Generation

20 When your sons ask you in the future, ‘What are these testimonies, statutes, and judicial rulings the Lord our God commanded you?’, 21 tell your sons, ‘We were slaves in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt. ⟨The Lord⟩ redeemed us and brought us out of Egypt as redeemed people with a strong hand. 22 The Memra of the Lord performed great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all the people of his household before our own eyes. 23 He brought us out of there as redeemed people to bring us in and give us the land he swore to our fathers. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and fear before the Lord our God, for our lasting good, to keep us alive as he has today. 25 It will count as righteousness for us if we take care to obey all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he commanded us.’”

Israel and the Nations of Canaan

1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives many nations out before you, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2 and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you defeat them, destroy them completely. Make no covenant with them and show them no pity. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons. 4 They would lead your sons away from following my Memra, to worship before other ⟨idols⟩. The Lord’s anger would grow strong against you, and he would quickly destroy you. 5 Deal with them in this way: tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their Asherahs, and burn ⟨the images of⟩ their idols.

A People Chosen by the Lord

6 You are a people of holy ones before the Lord your God. The Lord your God graciously chose you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be, for his name, a beloved people like a treasured possession. 7 It was not for your great numbers that ⟨the Lord chose⟩ you from all the nations and the Lord took delight in you, for you are a people smaller than all the nations. 8 It was for the love with which the Lord loves you and for his keeping the oath he swore to your fathers. He brought you out with a strong hand as redeemed people and redeemed you from the house of enslaved servants, from the hands of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love for a thousand generations of the righteous who love him and keep the commandments of his Law. 10 He pays those who hate him the reward for their good deeds in this world, to take vengeance on them in the world to come. He does not delay the good reward of those who hate him. While they are still in this world, he rewards the small commandments they have fulfilled. 11 Keep the commandments, statutes, and judicial rulings I command you today, and obey them.

The Blessings of Obedience

12 As you listen to these judicial rulings, keep them, and obey them, the Lord your God will keep for you the covenants and acts of steadfast love he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit born from your wombs, the fruit of your land, your work, your wine, your oil, your herds of cattle, and your flocks of sheep, upon the land he swore to your fathers to give them. 14 You will be blessed above all the nations. No male or female among you or among your livestock will be barren. 15 The Lord will remove every sickness from you. He will put none of the afflictions of Egypt that you know upon you, but will put them upon everyone who hates you. 16 You will consume all the possessions of the nations the Lord your God gives you. Show them no pity. Do not worship before their idols, for they would be a trap for you. 17 If you think to yourselves, ‘These nations are more numerous than we are. How can I destroy them?’, 18 do not fear them. Remember well the vengeance the Lord your God took on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, 19 and the great miracles your eyes saw, the signs, mighty wonders, strong hand, and uplifted arm with which the Lord your God brought you out redeemed. The Lord your God will do the same to all the nations you fear. 20 The Lord your God will also send the plague of hornets among them, until those who remain and hide from you are destroyed. 21 Do not lose heart before them. The Lord your God, the Glory of whose Shekinah leads among you, is a great and fearsome God. 22 The Lord your God will drive these nations out before you little by little. You cannot destroy them quickly, or wild beasts would multiply against you. 23 The Lord your God will hand them over to you. You will throw them into utter confusion until he destroys them. 24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will erase their name from under heaven. No king or ruler will stand before you until he destroys them. 25 Burn ⟨the images of⟩ their idols. Do not covet or take for yourselves the silver and gold covering them, so that they do not trap you, for it is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God. 26 Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your houses and become abhorrent like them. Detest them utterly and abhor them utterly, for they are abhorrent.”

Remembering the Wilderness

1 “Take care to obey all the commandments I command you today, that you may live, multiply, and enter and possess the land the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 Remember the whole road the Lord your God led you along for these forty years in the wilderness, to make you suffer and ⟨test you⟩, to know what was in the thoughts of your hearts, whether you would keep the commandments of his Law or not. 3 He made you suffer, let you go hungry, and fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers knew, to teach you that ⟨a human being does not live on bread alone, but⟩ lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the decree of the Memra of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out upon you, and your feet did not go without shoes for these forty years. 5 Understand in your hearts that the Lord your God disciplines you as a man disciplines his son. 6 Keep the commandments of the Law of the Lord your God, following his ways and fearing before him.

Remembering the Lord in a Prosperous Land

7 The Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a place of streams of water, springs, and deep waters flowing out in valleys and mountains, 8 a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land whose olives yield oil and whose dates are sweet as honey, 9 a land where you will not eat bread in poverty or lack anything, a land whose stones are strong and bright as iron and whose hills are mined for copper. 10 You will eat your fill and bless the Memra of the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Take care that you do not forget the teaching of the Law of the Lord, neglecting his commandments, judicial rulings, and statutes that I command you today. 12 When you eat your fill, build fine houses and live in them, 13 your herds and flocks multiply, your silver and gold increase, and everything you own increases, 14 do not let your hearts grow hard and forget the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of enslaved servants. 15 He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness, the home of fiery serpents and scorpions, a parched land without water. He brought water out of the flinty rock for you. 16 He fed you manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, to make you suffer and test you, to do you good at the end of days. 17 If you think to yourselves, ‘Our might and the strength of our hands gained these possessions for us,’ 18 remember the Memra of the Lord your God. He gives you the power to acquire possessions, to fulfill the covenant he swore to your fathers, as he is doing today. 19 If you forget the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, follow other idols, worship before them, and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will be destroyed. 20 As with the nations the Memra of the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed, for you would not listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God.”

Israel’s Victory Does Not Come from Its Righteousness

1 “Listen now, Israel. You are crossing the Jordan ⟨today⟩ to enter and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified up to the heights of heaven, 2 a great and powerful people, the sons of Anak, the giants. You know them and have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak, the giants?’ 3 Know today that the Lord your God, the Glory of whose Shekinah leads before you as a consuming fire, will destroy them and subdue them before ⟨you⟩. You will dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as the Lord told you. 4 When the Memra of the Lord your God destroys them before you, do not think to yourselves, ‘For our merits his Memra has brought us in to possess this land.’ It is for the sins of these nations that the Memra of the Lord drives them out before you. 5 You are not entering to possess their land for your merits or the uprightness of your hearts. The Lord your God drives these nations out before you for their sins, and to fulfill the word the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Know that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess for ⟨your⟩ merits. You are a people too stiff-necked to receive instruction.

The Golden Calf and Moses’ Intercession

7 Remember, and do not forget, how you angered the Memra of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you came out of Egypt as redeemed people until you entered this place, you were rebellious before the Lord. 8 At Horeb you provoked anger before the Lord. The Lord became angry with you and intended to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord established with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no food and drank no water. 10 The Lord gave me,” said Moses, “the two stone tablets, written by the finger of the Power from before the Lord. Written upon them were all the words the Memra of the Lord spoke with you on the mountain from within the flames of fire, on the day the congregation assembled. 11 At the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me,” said Moses, “the two stone tablets, the covenant tablets. 12 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Get up and go down quickly from here. Your people, whom you brought out of Egypt as redeemed people, have corrupted their deeds. They have quickly turned from the road I commanded them and made themselves a cast-metal image.’ 13 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘This people’s stubbornness is revealed before me. See, they are a people too stiff-necked to receive instruction. 14 Stop pleading for mercy before me on their behalf, and I will destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. There is power before me to make you a nation greater, stronger, and more numerous than they are.’ 15 I turned and came down the mountain while the mountain burned with fire, with the two covenant tablets placed in my two hands. 16 I looked and saw that you had become guilty before the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a cast-metal calf and quickly turned from the road the Memra of the Lord commanded you. 17 I grasped the two tablets, threw them from my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 I fell down in prayer and pleaded for mercy from before ⟨the Lord⟩ as before. For forty days and forty nights I ate no food and drank no water, on account of all the sins you committed, doing what is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord and provoking anger before him. 19 I feared the anger and destructive fury with which the Memra of the Lord was angry with you, intending to destroy you. But the Lord listened to my prayer again this time,” said Moses. 20 “The Memra of the Lord was so angry ⟨with Aaron⟩ that he intended to destroy him. At that time I prayed and pleaded for mercy for Aaron too. 21 I took your sins, the idols you made, and burned them in the fire. I ground it very fine until it became dust, and threw its dust into the ⟨river⟩ that came down the mountain. 22 At the Place of Burning, the Testing, and the Graves of the Request, you provoked anger before the Lord. 23 When the Memra of the Lord sent you from Petra of Gaia, saying, ‘Go in and possess the land I have given you,’ you rebelled against the decree of the Memra of the Lord your God. You did not trust in the holy name of the Memra of the Lord or listen to the voice of his Memra. 24 You have been rebellious before the Lord since the day I knew you. 25 I fell down in prayer and pleaded for mercy from before the Lord during those forty days and forty nights I prayed, for the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed and pleaded before the Lord, saying, ‘I appeal to the mercy before you, Lord God. Do not let your people and inheritance be destroyed, whom you redeemed by your strength and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. 27 In your good mercies, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at this people’s stubbornness, their sins, or their offenses. 28 Do not let the inhabitants of the land you redeemed us and brought us out of say, “There was no power before the Lord to bring them into the land he promised them. He hated them and ⟨brought them out⟩ to kill them in the wilderness.” 29 ⟨They⟩ are your people and inheritance, whom you redeemed and brought out by your great power and your uplifted arm.’”

The New Tablets and the Ark

1 “At that time the Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones. Come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of the covenant. 2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke. Put them in the ark.’ 3 I made an ark of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first ones. I went up the mountain with the two stone tablets in my hands. 4 He wrote on the tablets the same first inscription, the ten commandments the Memra of the Lord spoke with you on the mountain from within the flames of fire, on the day the congregation assembled. He gave them to me,” said Moses. 5 “I turned and came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I made. They are there, as the Memra of the Lord commanded him. 6 The sons of Israel traveled from the Wells of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried there. His son Eleazar served in the high priesthood after him. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. 8 At that time the Lord set apart the sons of the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, stand before the Lord to minister before him, and bless in the holy name of his Memra, as they do to this day. 9 For this reason the tribe of Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord’s offerings are his inheritance, as the Lord your God told you. 10 I stayed on the mountain as I did before, forty days and forty nights. The Memra of the Lord listened to my prayer,” said Moses, “that time too, and there was no will before the Lord to destroy you. 11 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Get up, go, and travel before the Lord. Enter and possess the land I swore to their fathers to give them.’

What the Lord Requires of Israel

12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear before the Lord your God, follow all the ways that are right before him, love the teaching of the Law, and serve before the Lord your God with all your hearts and all your souls, 13 keeping the Lord’s commandments and his statutes that I command you today for your good? 14 See, heaven, the heaven of heavens, the earth, and everything in it belong to the Lord your God. 15 The Memra of the Lord took delight only in your fathers, loving them. He chose their sons after them, you, from all the nations, as he has today. 16 Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts’ foolishness, and do not stiffen your stubborn necks anymore. 17 The Lord your God is the God ⟨above all gods and the Lord above all lords⟩, the great, mighty, and fearsome God, who shows no favoritism in judgment and accepts no bribe of money. 18 He carries out justice for orphans and widows and loves the resident foreigner, giving him food and a cloak. 19 Love the resident foreigner, for you were resident foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear before the Lord your God and pray before him. Hold fast to the teaching of his Law, and take oaths and swear by his holy name. 21 He is your praise and your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome deeds your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt as seventy people. Now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”

Remembering the Lord’s Deeds

1 “Love the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, and always keep his instructions, statutes, judicial rulings, and commandments. 2 You must know today—you, not your sons who neither knew nor saw—the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, his strength, his mighty hand, and his uplifted arm, 3 and the miraculous wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land, 4 and what he did to the Egyptian armies, their horses, and their chariots, how he made the waters of the Sea of Reeds overflow them when they pursued you. The Memra of the Lord destroyed them to this day. 5 Remember what he did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, the people of their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among the people of the sons of Israel. 7 Your own eyes saw all the great deeds the Lord performed.

Obedience and the Gift of the Land

8 Keep all the commandments I command you today, so that you may grow strong and enter and possess the land you are crossing over to possess, 9 and so that you may live long on the land the Lord your God swore to give your fathers and their sons, a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and sweet and delicious as honey. 10 The land you are entering to possess is unlike Egypt, where you came from, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your feet like a vegetable garden. 11 The land you are crossing over to possess is a land of mountains and valleys. It drinks water from rain falling from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God seeks. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, watching it from the year’s beginning to its end. 13 If you listen diligently to the commandments of the Law I command you today, loving the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God and serving before him with all your hearts and all your souls, 14 I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the late rain. You will gather your grain, wine, and oil. 15 I will give grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. 16 Take care that your hearts do not go astray and you do not turn aside, worship before other idols, and bow down to them. 17 The Lord would become angry with you and shut the heavens, so that no rain falls and the land yields none of its produce. You would quickly perish from the good land the Memra of the Lord gives you.

Teaching and Remembering the Commandments

18 Keep these words always upon your hearts and your souls. Bind them as a sign upon your arms, and let them be tefillin upon your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your sons and meditate on them when you sit inside your houses, walk along the road, lie down, and get up. 20 Write them on mezuzahs and ⟨fix⟩ them upon the doors of your houses and at the boundaries of your cities, 21 so that your days and your sons’ days may be many upon ⟨the land⟩ the Memra of the Lord swore to your fathers to give you, as long as heaven remains above the earth. 22 If you diligently keep all this commandment I command you to obey, loving the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, following all the ways that are right before him, and holding fast to the teaching of his Law, 23 The Memra of the Lord will drive all these nations out before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 24 Every place the soles of your feet tread will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness and the mountain of the sanctuary, from the Great River, the Euphrates, to the Western Sea. 25 No king or ruler will stand against you. The Lord your God will put dread and fear of you upon all the land you tread, as he told you.

The Blessing and the Curse

26 See, today I set before you the order of blessings and curses: 27 blessings if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, 28 and curses if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, ⟨turn aside from the good road⟩ I command you today, ⟨and follow⟩ other ⟨idols⟩ you have not known. 29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, put the blessings upon Mount Gerizim and the curses upon Mount Ebal. 30 Aren’t they across the Jordan, west of the road toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the plain opposite Gilgal, near the Plains of the Vision? 31 You are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess the land the Lord your God gives you. You will possess it and live in it. 32 Take care to obey all the statutes and judicial rulings I set before you today.”

Destroying Places of Idol Worship

1 “These are the statutes and judicial rulings you must take care to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, for as long as you live and endure upon the land. 2 Completely destroy every place where the nations you are about to destroy worshiped their idols, ⟨on⟩ the high mountains, on the hills, and under every flourishing tree. 3 Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their idols, cut down ⟨the images of⟩ their idols, and erase their name from that place. 4 Do not act this way before the Lord your God.

The Place Chosen for Worship

5 Seek the land the Lord your God will graciously choose from all your tribes, to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell there as his sanctuary. Enter in fear. 6 Bring there your burnt offerings, your sacred sacrifices, your tithes, the offerings you set apart with your hands, your vowed offerings, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 Eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice in everything you have gained, you and the people of your households, whom the Lord your God has blessed. 8 Do not do everything we are doing here today, each man doing what seems pleasing and fitting in his own eyes. 9 You have not yet reached the rest and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. He will give you rest from all your enemies around you, and you will live in safety. 11 Then bring everything I command you to the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell: your burnt offerings, your sacred sacrifices, your tithes, the offerings you set apart with your hands, and the best of the offerings you have vowed to the name of the Lord. 12 Rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites in your cities, for they have no share or inheritance with you in the division of the land. 13 Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any place you happen to find. 14 Offer your burnt offerings in the place the Memra of the Lord graciously chooses in one of your tribes, and do everything I command you there.

Slaughtering Animals and Avoiding Blood

15 But you may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire in any of your cities, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you. Those who are unclean for holy things and those who are clean for holy things may both eat it, as they eat gazelle and deer meat. 16 Only do not eat the blood. Pour it upon the ground like water. 17 You are not permitted to eat in your cities the second tithe of your grain, wine, and oil, the firstborn of your herds and flocks, any of the offerings ⟨you have vowed⟩, your voluntary offerings, or the offerings you set apart with your hands. 18 Eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites in your cities. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you have gained. 19 Take care that you do not abandon the Levites for as long as you live in your land. 20 When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he told ⟨you⟩, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat,’ desiring to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as you desire. 21 If the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell is too far from you, you may slaughter from your herds and flocks that the Lord has given you, as I commanded you. You may eat in your cities as much as you desire. 22 Eat it as gazelle and deer meat is eaten. Those who are unclean for holy things and those who are clean for holy things may both eat it. 23 Only be firm about not eating the blood, for the blood is the life. Do not eat the life with the meat. 24 Do not eat it. Pour it upon the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your sons after you, if you do what is pleasing and fitting before the Lord. 26 But take your holy things and your vowed offerings and bring them to the place the Lord graciously chooses. 27 Offer your burnt offerings, flesh and blood, upon the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacred sacrifices must be poured upon the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Keep and obey all these words I command you, so that it may go well with you and your sons after you forever, if you do what is pleasing and fitting before the Lord your God.

Rejecting the Nations’ Worship

29 When the Lord your God destroys the nations you are entering to drive out before you, and you dispossess them ⟨and live⟩ in their land, 30 take care that you are not trapped into following them after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their idols, saying, ‘How did these nations worship their idols? I will do the same.’ 31 Do not act this way before the Lord your God. Everything abhorrent before the Lord, everything he hates and detests, they have done for their idols. They even burn their sons and daughters in fire for their idols.”

Obeying the Commandments Without Alteration

1 “Take care to do everything I command you. Add nothing to it and take nothing away from it.

False Prophets

2 If a false prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or wonder, 3 and the sign or wonder he told you about happens, and he says, ‘Let us follow other idols you have not known and worship before them,’ 4 do not listen to the words of that false prophet or that dreamer of dreams. The Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God with all your hearts and all your souls. 5 Follow the Memra of the Lord your God, fear before him, keep his commandments, listen to the voice of his Memra, serve before him wholeheartedly, and hold fast to the teaching of his Law. 6 That false prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death, for he spoke lying words before the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt redeemed and redeemed you from the house of enslaved servants, ⟨leading you astray⟩ from the road the Lord your God commanded you to follow. Remove evildoers from among you.

Relatives Who Urge Idol Worship

7 If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or daughter, the wife you hold close, or your companion and friend, as dear to you as your own life, secretly leads you astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other idols,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 8 some of the idols of the peoples around you, near to you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other, 9 do not agree with him or listen to his words. Show him no pity, have no compassion on him, and do not conceal him. 10 You must put him to death. Your hands must be the first to take hold of him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people. 11 Stone him to death, for he sought ⟨to lead you astray⟩ from following the Memra of the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt redeemed, out of the house of enslaved servants. 12 All Israel will hear and be afraid and never again do such an evil deed among you.

A City That Turns to Idols

13 If you hear it said in one of your cities the Lord your God gives you to live in, 14 ‘Men of evil schemes have gone out from among you and led their city’s inhabitants astray, saying, “Let us go and worship before other idols you have not known,”’ 15 investigate, inquire, and ask diligently. If the matter is true and established, and this abhorrent deed has been done among you, 16 put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Destroy it, everything in it, and its livestock with the sword. 17 Gather all its looted possessions into the center of the open square, and burn the city and all its looted possessions completely with fire before the Lord your God. It must remain desolate forever and never be rebuilt. 18 Let ⟨nothing⟩ devoted to destruction cling to your hands, so that the Memra of the Lord may turn from his fierce anger, show you mercy, have compassion on you, and multiply you as he swore to your fathers, 19 when you listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments I command you today and doing what is pleasing and fitting before the Lord your God.”

A Holy People

1 “You are beloved before the Lord your God. Do not form factions for foreign worship, and do not put a mark on your foreheads for a dead person. 2 You are a holy people before the Lord your God. The Lord your God graciously chose you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be, for his name, a beloved people like a treasured possession.

Clean and Unclean Food

3 My people, sons of Israel, do not eat anything abhorrent. 4 These are the animals you may eat: cattle, lambs from the sheep, and kids from the goats, 5 deer, gazelles, fallow deer, wild goats, antelopes, wild oxen, and buffalo. 6 You may eat any animal with a divided hoof, a hoof split in two, that chews the cud. 7 But among those that chew the cud or have divided hooves, do not eat the camel, the hare, or the rabbit. They chew the cud but do not have split hooves. They are unclean for you. 8 The pig has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud. It is unclean for you. Do not eat their meat or approach their carcasses. 9 Of all that live in the water, you may eat anything with fins and scales; ⟨you may eat these⟩. 10 ⟨But do not eat anything without fins and scales⟩. It is unclean for you. 11 My people, sons of Israel, you may eat every clean bird. 12 These are the birds you must not eat: the eagle, the osprey, and the sea eagle, 13 bat bayta, the vulture, and the kite of every kind, 14 every sort of raven of every kind, 15 and the ostrich, the falcon, the gull, and the hawk of every kind, 16 and the owl, the ibis, and the barn owl, 17 and the pelican, the bee-eater, and the cormorant, 18 and the white kite and black kite of every kind, the mountain hen, and the bat. 19 Every winged insect is unclean for you. Do not eat them. 20 My people, sons of Israel, you may eat every clean bird. 21 Do not eat any animal that dies on its own. You may give it to the residents from the sons of the nations in your cities to eat, or sell it to the sons of the nations, for you are a people of holy ones before the Lord your God. My people, sons of Israel, do not cook or eat meat and milk mixed together, so that my anger does not grow strong and I do not cook your bundled grain, wheat and straw mixed together.

Tithes

22 My people, sons of Israel, give a tithe of all the produce of the seed you take out and sow in the field and gather as each year’s harvest. 23 Eat before the Lord your God, in the place he graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell, the second tithe of your grain, wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, so that you may learn to fear before the Lord your God always. 24 If the road is too long for you and you cannot carry the second tithe, for the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell is too far from you, when the Lord your God blesses you, 25 redeem the second tithe with money, tie up the money in your hand, and go to the place the Lord your God graciously chooses. 26 Use the money to buy whatever you desire: cattle, sheep, new wine or old wine, anything you wish for. Eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, my people, you and the people of your households. 27 Do not abandon the Levites in your cities, for they have no share or inheritance with you in the division of the land. 28 At the end of three full years, bring out the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the poor people’s tithe, and store it in your cities. 29 The Levites will come, for ⟨they have no⟩ share or inheritance with you in the division of the land, and the resident foreigners, orphans, and widows in your cities. They will eat their fill, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work your hands do.”

The Release of Debts

1 “My people, sons of Israel, at the end of seven full years, grant a release. 2 This is the judicial ruling for the release: every creditor must release his claim for what he lent his neighbor. He must not press his neighbor or his brother for payment, for a release has been proclaimed before the Lord. 3 You may press a gentile for payment, but release whatever claim you have against your Hebrew brother. 4 If you keep the commandments of my Law, in return ⟨there will be no poor among you⟩. The Memra of the Lord will bless you in the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, 5 if you diligently listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God and take care to obey all this commandment I command you today. 6 The Lord your God has blessed you as he told you. You will lend to many nations, but you, my people, will not need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule you.

Helping the Poor

7 If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers in any of your cities in the land the Lord your God gives you, do not harden your hearts or close your hands against your poor brother. 8 Open your hands freely to him and provide him with enough to meet what he lacks. 9 Take care that no sinful thought comes into your malicious hearts, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is near,’ and you look unkindly on your poor brother and give him nothing, and he does not cry out against you before the Lord, so that guilt does not fall upon you. 10 Give to him freely, and do not resent giving to him. On account of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and every task you undertake. 11 If the sons of Israel keep the teaching of the Law and obey the commandments, there will be no poor among them in the land. For this reason I command you today: open your hands freely to your brothers, your poor, and your needy in your land.

Releasing Hebrew Slaves

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or your sister, a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he must serve you for six years. In the seventh year ⟨send⟩ him away from you free. 13 When you send him away free, do not send him empty-handed. 14 Provide generously for him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Give to him from what the Lord your God has blessed you with. 15 Remember that you were slaves in bondage in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. For this reason I command you ⟨this⟩ today. 16 If he tells you, ‘I will not leave you to be free,’ for he loves you and the people of your household and it is good for him to work in your service, 17 Take an awl and put it through his ear into the courthouse door. He will be your slave in bondage again forever. Do the same for your Hebrew female slave. 18 Do not resent sending him away free. He has served you for six full years at double a hired worker’s wages. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Firstborn Animals

19 Sanctify every firstborn male born among your herds and flocks to the name of the Lord your God. My people, sons of Israel, do not work the firstborn of your herds or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 20 You and the people of your households must eat it before the Lord your God, year by year, in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses. 21 If it has a defect, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, do not offer it before the Lord your God. 22 Eat it in your cities. Those who are unclean for holy things and those who are clean may both eat it, as they eat gazelle and deer meat. 23 Only do not eat the blood. Pour it upon the ground like water.”

Passover

1 “Observe the month of Abib and keep Passover before the Lord your God. In the month of Abib, the Lord your God redeemed you and brought you out of Egypt by night and performed signs and mighty deeds for you by day. 2 Sacrifice the Passover offering before the Lord your God, from the flock and herd, in the place the Lord graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell. 3 Eat no leavened bread with it. For seven days eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came out of Egypt as redeemed people in haste, so that you may remember the day you came out of Egypt as redeemed people for as long as you live. 4 No leaven may be seen anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat you sacrifice on the night of the first day of the Passover feast may remain until morning. 5 My people, sons of Israel, you are not permitted to sacrifice the Passover offering in any of your cities the Lord your God gives you. 6 Sacrifice the Passover offering in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt as redeemed people. 7 Boil it and eat it in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses. Go back to your tents early in the morning. 8 Eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day hold a joyful assembly before the Lord your God. Do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

9 My people, sons of Israel, count seven full weeks. Begin counting seven full weeks when you first put the harvest sickle to the standing grain for the sheaf of the wave offering. 10 Keep the Feast of Weeks, which is Atzeret, before the Lord your God. Give in proportion to what you have gained, as the Lord your God has blessed you. 11 Rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you, in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell. 12 Remember that you were slaves in bondage in Egypt, and keep and obey these statutes.

The Festival of Booths

13 Keep the Feast of Booths for seven days when you gather the grain from your threshing floor and the wine from your winepress. 14 Rejoice, my people, at your feasts, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, and the widows in your cities. 15 Celebrate for seven days before the Lord your God in the place the Lord graciously chooses. The Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and every work of your hands, and you, my people, will rejoice. 16 Three times each year all your males must appear before the Lord of all worlds, the Lord your God, in the place he graciously chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, ⟨at the Feast of Weeks⟩, and at the Feast of Booths. My people, sons of Israel, you are not permitted to appear before the Lord your God without any commandment fulfilled. 17 Each man must give in proportion to what he has gained, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

Judges and Justice

18 Appoint judges and officers in all your cities the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes. They must judge the people truthfully. 19 Do not turn aside from the right course in judgment or show favoritism in judgment. Accept no bribe of money, for a bribe blinds the eyes of those who accept it and confounds the words of the innocent in judgment. 20 Pursue truth, truth alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God gives you.

Forbidden Objects of Worship

21 Do not plant an Asherah, any tree, beside the altar of the Lord your God that you make for yourselves. 22 Do not set up a pillar, which is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God.”

Unacceptable Sacrifices

1 “Do not offer before the Lord your God an ox or lamb that has a defect or anything wrong with it, for they are detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God.

Judging Idol Worship

2 If a man or woman is found among you in one of your cities the Lord your God gives you, doing what is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God and transgressing his covenant, 3 going to worship before other idols and bowing down to them, to the sun, the moon, or the whole army of heaven, which I did not command, 4 and you hear a report of it, investigate diligently. If the matter is true and established, and this abhorrent deed has been done in Israel, 5 bring that man or woman who did this evil deed into your cities, and stone that man or woman to death. 6 A person sentenced to death may be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He must not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The witnesses’ hands must be the first stretched out against him to kill him, and afterward the hands of all the people. Remove those evildoers from among you.

Difficult Cases

8 If a case is too difficult for you, a judgment between the blood of virginity and the blood of homicide, between civil cases and capital cases, or between the affliction of leprosy and the affliction of scurf, matters of dispute in your cities, get up and go to the place the Lord your God graciously chooses. 9 Come to the priests, the Levites, and the judges appointed in those days. Inquire, and they will tell you the judgment. 10 Act according to what they tell you from that place the Memra of the Lord your God graciously chooses. Take care to do everything they teach you. 11 Act according to the decree of the Law they teach you and the judicial rulings they tell you. Turn neither right nor left from what they tell you. 12 The man who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen to the priest who stands ready to serve there before the Lord your God or to the judge, must be put to death. Remove evildoers from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid and will not act arrogantly again.

Restrictions on the King

14 When you enter the land the Lord your God gives you, possess it, live in it, and say, ‘I will appoint a king over us like all the nations around us,’ 15 you may appoint a king over you ⟨…⟩. You are not permitted to set over yourselves a gentile man who is not one of your brothers, a son of Israel. 16 However, he must not accumulate horses or make the people return to Egypt to acquire more horses for himself. The Lord told you through his Memra, ‘You must never again return by this road.’ 17 He must not take many wives for himself, so that they do not turn his heart aside. He must not amass large amounts of silver and gold for himself. 18 When he sits upon his royal throne, he must write for himself the stipulation of this Law in a book before ⟨the priests and Levites⟩. 19 ⟨It must remain with him, and he must read it every day of his life, so that he may learn to fear before⟩ the Lord his God, keeping all these words and these statutes and obeying them, 20 not hardening his heart against his brothers or turning aside from the commandments of the Law to the right or left, so that he and his sons may rule long over his kingdom among the people of the sons of Israel.”

The Priests’ and Levites’ Portions

1 “The priests, the Levites, all the sons of the tribe of Levi, will have no share or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord’s offerings and his inheritance. 2 He will have no inheritance among his brothers. The Lord’s offerings are his inheritance, as he told them. 3 This is the judicial ruling for the priests from ⟨the people, from those⟩ who sacrifice an ox or lamb: they must give the priest the shoulder, the lower cheeks, and the stomach. 4 Give them the first of your grain, wine, and oil, and the first fleece of your flocks. 5 The Lord your God graciously chose them from all your tribes to stand and serve in the holy name of the Memra of the Lord, he and his sons forever. 6 If a Levite comes from one of your cities anywhere in Israel, from the place where he has settled, he may come whenever he desires to the place the Lord graciously chooses. 7 He may minister in the name of the Memra of the Lord his God, like all his brother Levites who stand and serve there before the Lord. 8 They must eat equal portions, besides the surplus of his offerings that their fathers gave them as an inheritance.

Forbidden Divination

9 When you enter the land the Lord your God gives you, do not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those places. 10 Let no man be found among you who passes his son or daughter through fire, practices divination, dims eyes, observes omens, or practices sorcery, 11 casts evil charms, consults ghosts, raises spirits of the dead, or seeks instruction from the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord. For these abhorrent practices the Lord your God drives them out before you. 13 My people, sons of Israel, be perfect in good deeds with the Lord your God. 14 These nations you are about to destroy listen to those who dim eyes and practice divination. But the Lord your God has not permitted you, my people, sons of Israel, to be like them.

A Prophet Like Moses

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. Listen to his words. 16 This is in keeping with everything you asked from before the Lord your God at Mount Horeb on the day the congregation assembled, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Memra of the Lord our God again or see this great fire again, so that I do not die.’ 17 The Lord told me,” said Moses, “‘Everything they said is pleasing and fitting. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put his words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If a man does not listen to his words that he speaks in the name of my Memra, I, through my Memra, will take vengeance on him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak in the name of my Memra a word I did not command him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other idols, must be put to death.’ 21 If you think to yourselves, ‘How can we know the word the Memra of the Lord has not spoken?’, 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Memra of the Lord and the word does not happen or come true, it is a word he did not speak. That prophet spoke presumptuously. Do not fear him.”

Cities of Refuge

1 “When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and live in their land and their houses, 2 set apart three cities of refuge within the land the Lord your God gives you to possess. 3 Make the road straight and divide the territory of the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance into three parts. They will serve as places where anyone who kills unintentionally may flee. 4 This is the procedure for someone who kills and flees there to save his life: he killed his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him before. 5 For example, he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, his hand grips the ax to cut the wood, and the iron slips from the handle, strikes his neighbor, and kills him. He may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6 Otherwise the blood avenger might pursue the killer in the heat of anger, overtake him because the road is long, kill him, and become guilty of taking his life, although the judicial ruling for killing did not apply to him, for he had not hated his neighbor before. 7 Therefore I command you to set apart three cities of refuge. 8 If the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land he promised to give your fathers, 9 provided you take care to keep all this commandment I command you today, loving the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God and always following the ways that are right before him, add three more cities of refuge to these three cities. 10 Do not let innocent blood be shed within the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and do not let the guilt of shedding innocent blood fall upon you. 11 But if a man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, attacks and kills him, becomes guilty of taking his life, and flees to one of these cities, 12 the city’s wise men must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the blood avenger to kill him. 13 Show him no pity. Remove those who shed innocent blood from Israel, and it will go well with you.

Boundary Markers

14 Do not encroach on your neighbor’s boundary, which the ancestors established, in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God gives you to possess.

Witnesses and False Testimony

15 One witness must not establish a case against a man for any guilt or offense, whatever offense he has committed. A charge must be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 16 If a false witness rises against a man to give false testimony against him, 17 the two men who have the dispute must stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges appointed in those days. 18 The judges must investigate carefully. If the witness is false and has given false testimony against his brother, 19 do to him as he intended to do to his brother. Remove evildoers from among you. 20 Those who remain will hear and be afraid and never again do such an evil deed among you. 21 Show no pity: a life as payment for a life, an eye as payment for an eye, a tooth as payment for a tooth, ⟨a hand as payment for a hand⟩, a foot as payment for a foot.”

Instructions for War

1 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses, their chariots, and a people more numerous than you, do not fear them. The Lord your God, who redeemed you and brought you out of Egypt, is with you. 2 When you approach the battle, the priest must come forward and speak to the people. 3 He must tell them, ‘Listen now, Israel. Today you approach battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, be afraid, be terrified, or become disheartened before them. 4 The Lord your God leads among you in the Glory of his Shekinah, to arrange your battle lines against your enemies and save you.’ 5 The officers must tell the people, ‘Who has built a new house and not finished it? Let him go home, so that he does not die in battle and leave another man to finish it. 6 Who has planted a vineyard and not redeemed its fruit? Let him go home, so that he does not die in battle and leave another man to redeem it. 7 Who has become engaged to a woman and not yet taken her as his wife? Let him go home, so that he does not die in battle and leave another man to take her.’ 8 The officers must speak further to the people: ‘Who is afraid on account of his sins and fainthearted on account of his deeds? Let him go home, so that he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt and grow faint like his own.’ 9 When the officers finish speaking to the people, they must appoint army commanders at the head of the people.

Offering Peace to a City

10 When you approach a city to arrange battle lines against it, proclaim words of peace to it. 11 If it answers you with peace and lets you in, all the people found inside it must pay tribute to you and work in your service. 12 If it does not make peace with you but arranges battle lines against you, surround it. 13 When the Lord your God hands it over to you, put all its males to the sword. 14 But take the women, little ones, livestock, everything in the city, and ⟨all its wealth⟩ as captured goods for yourselves. Consume the goods taken from your enemies that the Lord your God gives ⟨you⟩. 15 Do this to all the cities very far from you that are not cities of these nations. 16 But in the cities of these peoples the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, leave nothing that breathes alive. 17 Destroy completely the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, as the Lord your God commanded you, 18 so that they do not teach you to imitate all their abhorrent practices in worshiping their idols, so that you do not sin before the Lord your God.

Trees During a Siege

19 When you surround a city for many days, arranging battle lines against it to subdue it, do not destroy its trees by passing any kind of iron over them. You may eat from them, but do not cut them down. The trees in the open country are not like human beings, able to flee from you in their time of distress. 20 You may destroy and cut down only a tree you know bears no fruit, to build siege works against the city fighting you until you subdue it.”

An Unsolved Killing

1 “If a person who was killed is found in the land the Lord your God gives you to possess, killed and thrown into the open country, and no one knows who killed him, 2 your wise men and judges must go out and measure the distance to the cities around the person who was killed. 3 The wise men of the city nearest to the person who was killed must take a heifer that has never been worked or carried the burden of a yoke. 4 The wise men of that city must bring the heifer down to an untilled valley, where no work or sowing has been done, and kill the heifer there in the valley. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, must approach, for the Lord your God graciously chose them to minister before him and bless in the holy name of the Memra of the Lord. Every judgment and every wound must be decided by their word. 6 All the wise men of that city nearest to the person who was killed must wash their hands over the heifer killed in the valley. 7 They must declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see it.’ 8 The priests must say, ‘Lord, accept atonement for your people Israel, whom you redeemed. Do not place the guilt of shedding innocent blood among your people Israel. Let this blood be atoned for them.’ 9 Remove ⟨innocent blood from among you when you do⟩ what is pleasing and fitting before the Lord.

Marriage to a Captive Woman

10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, the Lord your God hands them over to you, and you take captives from them, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, desire her, and take her as your wife, 12 bring her inside your house. She must shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She must take off the clothes of her captivity, stay inside your house, and mourn her father and mother for a full month. Afterward you may have intercourse with her, join yourself to her in marriage, and take her as your wife. 14 If you no longer desire her, send her away free. Do not sell her for money or trade her, for you have given up your power over her.

The Firstborn Son’s Inheritance

15 If a man has two wives, one loved and one hated, and both the loved and hated wife bear him sons, and his firstborn son belongs to the hated wife, 16 when he gives his possessions to his sons as an inheritance, he is not permitted to give preference to the loved wife’s son over the hated wife’s son, the firstborn. 17 He must bring the firstborn, the hated wife’s son, near, ⟨giving him⟩ a double share of everything he has, for he is the beginning of his sorrow. The firstborn’s rights belong to him.

The Rebellious Son

18 If a man has a rebellious and stubborn son who will not obey his father or mother, and they discipline him but he will not listen to them, 19 his father and mother must take hold of him, bring him to his city’s wise men and the courthouse door, 20 and tell his city’s wise men, ‘This son of ours is rebellious and stubborn. He will not obey us. He is a glutton for meat and a drunkard on wine.’ 21 All the people of his city must stone him to death. Remove evildoers from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

A Body Hung on a Tree

22 If a man commits a crime punishable by a death sentence, is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 do not leave his body on the tree overnight. Bury him that same day, for everyone who is hanged is cursed before the Lord. Do not defile the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

Returning Lost Property

1 “If you see your brother’s ox or lamb straying, do not turn your eyes away from them. Take them back to your brother. 2 If your brother is not near you or you do not know him, bring it into your house and keep it with you until your brother looks for it. Return it to him. 3 Do the same for a donkey, for his clothing, and for anything he loses that you find. You are not permitted to turn your eyes away from it. 4 If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not turn your eyes away from them. Put aside whatever you hold in your heart against him, and help him unload and load it.

Clothing and Other Everyday Commandments

5 A woman must not wear a man’s armor, and a man must not put on a woman’s clothing. Anyone who does these things is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God. 6 If you happen upon a bird’s nest on the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young birds or eggs and their mother sitting on them, do not take the mother with the young. 7 Let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may go well with you in this world and your days may be long in the world to come. 8 When you build a new house, make a protective wall around your roof. Do not bring the guilt of shedding innocent blood into your house by letting someone fall from it, as he was destined to do. 9 Do not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, so that you do not destroy the produce of the seed you sow and the vineyard’s yield. 10 My people, sons of Israel, do not plow with an ox and a donkey tied together. 11 Do not wear a mixed fabric of wool and linen woven together. 12 Make borders on the four corners of the cloaks you wrap around yourselves.

Marriage and Sexual Offenses

13 If a man takes a wife, joins himself to her in marriage, and then hates her, 14 accuses her of misconduct, gives her a bad name, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find the evidence of virginity,’ 15 her father and mother must take and bring the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the city’s wise men at the courthouse gate. 16 The young woman’s father must tell the wise men, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he hates her. 17 Now he accuses her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find evidence of virginity in your daughter.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They must spread the cloak before the city’s wise men. 18 The wise men of that city must take the man and beat him. 19 They must fine him one hundred selas of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for he gave a bad name to a virgin, a daughter of Israel. She must remain his wife. He is not permitted to leave her for as long as he lives. 20 But if the matter is true and the evidence of the young woman’s virginity is not found, 21 bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the city’s people must stone her to death. She did this abhorrent deed in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. Remove evildoers from among you. 22 If a man is found having intercourse with another man’s wife, both must die, the man who had intercourse with the woman and the woman. Remove evildoers from Israel. 23 If a young woman, a virgin engaged to a man, is found by another man in the city and he has intercourse with her, 24 bring them both to that city’s gate and stone them to death, the young woman for not crying out in the city, and the man for violating his neighbor’s wife. Remove evildoers from among you. 25 But if the man finds the engaged young woman in the open country, seizes her, and has intercourse with her, ⟨put to death⟩ only ⟨the man who had intercourse with her⟩. 26 Do nothing evil to the young woman. She is not subject to legal proceedings for a capital sentence. This deed is like a man attacking his neighbor, killing him, and becoming guilty of taking his life. 27 He found her in the open country. The engaged young woman cried out, but no one was there to rescue her. 28 If a man finds a virgin who is not engaged, seizes her, and has intercourse with her, and both are discovered, 29 the man who had intercourse with her must give the young woman’s father fifty selas of silver. She must be his wife, for he degraded her. He is not permitted to leave her for as long as he lives.”

Forbidden Marriage

1 “A man must not take his father’s wife or expose his father’s nakedness.

Admission to the Assembly

2 A man whose male organ has been cut off or who has been castrated must not enter the assembly of the Lord’s congregation. 3 No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord’s congregation. Even the tenth generation will not be counted in their favor in the assembly of the Lord’s congregation. 4 No Ammonites or Moabites ⟨may enter⟩ the assembly of the Lord’s congregation. Even the tenth generation will never be counted in their favor in the assembly of the Lord’s congregation, 5 for they did not come to meet you with bread and water on the road when you were redeemed and brought out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor, the ⟨interpreter⟩ of dreams from Aram-Naharaim, against you to curse you. 6 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam’s curses. The Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, for the Lord your God loves you. 7 Never seek their peace or prosperity for as long as you live, forever. 8 Do not detest the Edomites, for they are your brothers. Do not detest the Egyptians, for you lived in their land. 9 Of the sons born to them, the third generation may be counted for them in the assembly of the Lord’s congregation.

Keeping the Camp Clean

10 When you go out to camp against your enemies, guard yourselves from every evil thing. 11 If a man among you is unclean from a discharge during the night, he must go outside the camp and not come inside it. 12 ⟨Toward evening he must bathe in water, and at sunset he may enter the camp⟩. 13 Have a designated place outside the camp and go out there. 14 Have pegs fixed among your weapons. When you sit down outside, dig a hole with it, then turn and cover your excrement. 15 The Lord your God leads through your camp in the Glory of his Shekinah, to save you and hand your enemies over to you. Your camps must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and the Glory of his Shekinah may not turn back from you.

An Escaped Slave

16 Do not hand over to his master a slave who escapes to you from his master. 17 Let him live with you, among you, in whatever place he chooses, in one of your cities that pleases him. Do not oppress him.

Prostitution and Forbidden Payments

18 There must be no female prostitute among the daughters of Israel and no male prostitute among the sons of Israel. 19 Do not bring the earnings of prostitution or the payment for a dog into the sanctuary of the Lord your God ⟨for any vow, for⟩ both ⟨are detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God⟩.

Interest and Vows

20 Do not lend to your brother at interest, a loan of wealth, a loan of money, or a loan of anything lent at interest. 21 You may lend to a gentile at interest, but you are not permitted to lend to your brother at interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in every undertaking in the land you are entering to possess. 22 When you expressly dedicate something by a vow before the Lord your God, do not delay paying it. The Lord your God will require it of you, so that guilt may not fall upon you. 23 If you refrain from making a vow, no guilt will fall upon you. 24 Take care to perform what your lips expressly promised, the voluntary offering you vowed before the Lord your God, which you spoke with your mouth.

Eating in a Neighbor’s Field

25 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard as a tenant farmer, you may eat as many grapes as you need until you are satisfied, but you cannot put any in your containers. 26 When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain as a tenant farmer, you may pluck the ears with your hands, but do not pass the harvest sickle over your neighbor’s standing grain.”

Divorce and Remarriage

1 “If a man takes a wife, provides her dowry, and joins himself to her in marriage, but she finds no favor or grace before him because he has found something indecent in her, and he writes her a letter of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 and she leaves his house and marries another man, 3 and the other man hates her, writes her a letter of divorce, puts it in her hand, and drives her out of his house, or that other man who took her as his wife dies, 4 her former husband who sent her away is not permitted to take her as his wife again after she has been defiled by another man. It is abhorrent before the Lord. Do not bring guilt on the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

Marriage, Loans, and Livelihoods

5 When a man marries for the first time, he must not go out to the army in battle, so that nothing evil happens to him. He may remain free at home for one year and bring joy to the wife he has taken. 6 My people, sons of Israel, do not bind bridegrooms and brides by spells, and do not take millstones as collateral. Anyone who does this is guilty of destroying lives. 7 If a man is found who has kidnapped one of his brothers from the sons of ⟨Israel⟩, trades him, and sells him, that thief must be put to death. Remove evildoers from among you. 8 Take care concerning the affliction of leprosy, faithfully keeping and doing everything the priests and Levites teach you. Take care to do as he commanded you. 9 My people, sons of Israel, remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the road when you were redeemed and brought out of Egypt. 10 When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to take his collateral. 11 Stand outside, and the man to whom you lend must bring the collateral outside to you. 12 If he is poor, do not sleep in the garment he gave as collateral. 13 Return his collateral to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his clothing and pray for you. You will have merit before the Lord your God.

Paying Workers

14 Do not withhold the wages of a poor and needy worker, whether one of your brothers or one of the resident foreigners in your land, in your cities. 15 Pay his wages each day before sunset. He is poor, and for the wages of his work he has entrusted his life to you. Take care that he does not cry out against you before the Lord, so that guilt does not follow you. 16 Fathers must not die for their sons’ sins, and sons must not die for their fathers’ sins. Each man must die for his own sins.

Protecting Foreigners, Orphans, and Widows

17 Do not pervert the judgment due to resident foreigners or orphans, or take a widow’s clothing as collateral. 18 Remember that you were enslaved servants in Egypt, and ⟨the Lord your God⟩ redeemed you ⟨from there. For this reason I command you⟩ to do this thing. 19 When you reap your harvest in your fields and forget a sheaf in the open country, do not go back to get it. It must be for the resident foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, do not consume the gleanings left behind. They must be for the resident foreigners, orphans, ⟨and widows⟩. 21 When you gather grapes from your vineyards, do not dispose of the gleanings left behind. They must be for the resident foreigners, orphans, and widows. 22 Remember that you were enslaved servants in Egypt. For this reason I command you to do this.”

Flogging and Its Limits

1 “If men have a dispute and come before the judges for judgment, the judges must judge them, declare the innocent innocent, and declare guilty the one who deserves it. 2 If the guilty man is liable to punishment by flogging, the judge must make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with a number of strokes proportionate to his guilt. 3 Give him forty strokes, no more. Do not keep beating him beyond that with a greater beating and degrade your brother before you.

The Working Ox

4 My people, sons of Israel, do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.

Marriage to a Brother’s Widow

5 If brothers live together and one dies without a son, the dead man’s wife must not marry a stranger outside the family. Her husband’s brother must join himself to her in marriage, take her as his wife, and perform a brother-in-law’s duty toward her. 6 The firstborn son she bears must ⟨carry on⟩ the dead brother’s name, so that his name is not erased from Israel. 7 If the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, she must go to the courthouse gate, to the wise men, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not perform a brother-in-law’s duty toward me.’ 8 The city’s wise men must call him and speak with him. If he stands and says, ‘I do not wish to marry her,’ 9 his brother’s wife must approach him before the wise men, pull his sandal off his foot, spit before him, and declare, ‘This is what must be done to the man who refused to build up his brother’s house.’ 10 Its name in Israel will be ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed, who neglected the commandment of a brother-in-law’s duty.’ 11 If men fight and one man’s wife approaches to rescue her husband from the man beating him, stretches out her hand, and seizes him by his private parts, 12 cut off her hand. Show no pity.

Honest Weights and Measures

13 Do not keep a large weight and a small weight in your bags, a large weight for receiving and a small weight for giving. 14 Do not keep a large measure and a small measure in your houses, a large measure for receiving and a small measure for giving. 15 Keep full and true weights, full and true measures, so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you. 16 Anyone who does such things, anyone who acts falsely, is detestable and abhorrent before the Lord your God.

Remembering Amalek

17 My people, sons of Israel, remember what the house of Amalek did to you on the road when you were redeemed and brought out of Egypt. 18 They came upon you on the road and killed everyone among you whose heart doubted my Memra. The cloud cast him out, and the house of Amalek killed him. You, my people, sons of Israel, were tired and weary, and the house of Amalek did not fear before the Lord. 19 When the Lord your God gives you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, erase the memories of Amalek from under heaven. My people, sons of Israel, do not forget. Remember.”

The First Fruits Offering

1 “When you enter the land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, possess it, and live in it, 2 Take some of the firstfruits of all the produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God gives you. Put them in a basket and go to the place the Lord your God graciously chooses to make the Glory of his Shekinah dwell. 3 Come to the priest appointed as high priest in those days and tell him, ‘We give thanks and praise today before the Lord your God, for we have entered the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 The priest must take the basket of firstfruits from your hands and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Declare before the Lord your God, ‘Laban the Aramean sought to destroy our father Jacob from the beginning, but you rescued him from his hand. He went down to Egypt and stayed there with a few people. He was blessed and became a great, strong, and numerous nation there. 6 The Egyptians treated us harshly, afflicted us, and imposed harsh slavery on us. 7 We prayed before the Lord, the God of our fathers. The voice of our prayer was heard before the Lord, and our affliction, slavery, and oppression were revealed before him. 8 The Lord redeemed us and brought us out of Egypt as redeemed people, with a strong hand, an uplifted arm, great visions, signs, and wonders. 9 He brought us into this land and gave us this land, a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and delicious as honey. 10 Now we have brought the firstfruits of all the produce of the land you, Lord, gave us.’ Place them before the Lord your God ⟨and worship before the Lord your God⟩. 11 Rejoice in all the good the Lord your God has given you and the people of your households, you, the Levites, and the resident foreigners among you.

The Third-Year Tithe

12 When you finish giving all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of tithing for the poor, give the first tithe to the Levites and the poor people’s tithe to the resident foreigners, ⟨orphans⟩, and widows. They will eat their fill in your cities. 13 Tell the Lord your God, ‘We have set apart the holy things from our houses. We have given the first tithe to the Levites and the poor people’s tithe to the resident foreigners, orphans, and widows, according to all your commandments you commanded us. We have not transgressed any of your commandments or forgotten one of them. 14 We have eaten none of it while mourning, set aside none of it while unclean, and given none of it as a coffin or shroud for a dead person’s body. We have listened to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God. We have done everything you commanded us. 15 Look carefully, in your good mercies, from the dwelling of the Glory of your Shekinah, from heaven. Bless your people Israel and the land you gave us, as you swore to our fathers, a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and sweet as honey.’

The Covenant and the Commandments

16 Today the Lord your God commands you to obey these statutes and judicial rulings. Keep and obey them with all your heart and all your soul. 17 Today you have made the Memra of the Lord king over you, to be your Redeemer God, following the ways that are right before him, keeping his statutes, commandments, and judicial rulings, and listening to the voice of his Memra. 18 Today the Memra of the Lord has made you kings, to be for the name a beloved people like a treasured possession, as he told you, and to keep all his commandments, 19 and to set you high and exalted above all the nations he created, for glory, praise, and majesty, and to be for his name a people of holy ones before the Lord your God, as he said.”

Stones Inscribed with the Law

1 Moses and Israel’s wise men commanded the people, “Keep all the commandments I command you today. 2 On the day you cross the Jordan to the land the Lord your God gives you, set up large stones and plaster them with lime. 3 Write all the words of this Law on them when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God gives you, a land producing fruit, pure as milk and sweet as honey, as the Lord your God told you. 4 When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones I command you about today on Mount Ebal, and plaster them with lime. 5 Build an altar before the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not pass an iron tool over them. 6 Build the altar of the Lord your God with precious stones, whole and without defect, and arrange burnt offerings upon it before the Lord your God. 7 Sacrifice sacred sacrifices, eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 Write all the words of this Law upon the stones, written, engraved, and clearly explained, to be read and translated into seventy languages.”⁠a

The Covenant Declaration

9 Moses and the Levitical priests spoke with all Israel: “Pay attention and listen, Israel. Today you have been appointed a people before the Lord your God. 10 Listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, and obey his commandments and his statutes that I command you today.”

Blessings and Curses on the Mountains

11 Moses commanded the people that day, 12 “When you cross the Jordan, these must stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 These must stand on Mount Ebal for the curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 The Levites must declare to all the people, the sons of Israel, in a loud voice: 15 Six tribes went up Mount Gerizim, and six tribes went up Mount Ebal, with the priests and the ark in the middle and all Israel on either side. Those blessing turned toward Mount Gerizim and said, ‘Blessed is the man who makes no ⟨figure or image⟩ or any likeness, something detestable and abhorrent before the Lord, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and does not set it in a hidden place.’ Those cursing turned toward Mount Ebal and said, ‘Cursed is the man who makes a ⟨figure or image⟩ or any likeness, something detestable and abhorrent before the Lord, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and sets it in a hidden place.’ All the people answer together, ‘Amen.’ 16 ‘Cursed is the man who despises the honor of his father and mother.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 17 ‘Cursed is the man who encroaches on another man’s boundary.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 18 ‘Cursed is the man who misleads a blind person on the road.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 19 ‘Cursed is the man who perverts justice for a resident foreigner, an orphan, or a widow.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 20 ‘Cursed is the man who has intercourse with his father’s wife, for he exposes his father’s nakedness.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 21 ‘Cursed is the man who has intercourse with any animal.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 22 ‘Cursed is the man who has intercourse with his sister, the daughter of his father or his mother.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 23 ‘Cursed is the man who has intercourse with his mother-in-law.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 24 ⟨‘Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’⟩ 25 ‘Cursed is the man who takes a bribe to kill someone innocent of blood.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’ 26 ‘Cursed is the man who does not fulfill the words of this Law by doing them.’ All the people must say, ‘Amen.’”

Blessings for Obedience

1 “If you listen diligently to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, taking care to obey all his commandments I command you today, the Lord your God will set ⟨you⟩ high and exalted above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God. 3 My people, sons of Israel, you will be blessed in everything you have in your cities, ⟨and blessed, my people, sons of Israel, in everything you have in the open country⟩. 4 My people, sons of Israel, you will be blessed in the fruit born from your wombs, the fruit of your land, and the young of your animals, your herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. 5 My people, sons of Israel, you will be blessed in the baskets of your firstfruits and the ovens of your batches of bread. 6 My people, sons of Israel, you will be blessed ⟨when you enter your school⟩, and blessed, ⟨my people, sons of Israel⟩, when you leave your synagogues. 7 The Lord will hand your enemies who rise to harm you over to you with broken necks. They will come against you by one road to fight, but flee before you by seven roads. 8 The Lord will command the order of blessings upon you. They will come upon your storehouses and all your undertakings. He will bless you in the land the Lord your God gives you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to his name, as he swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and follow the ways that are right before him. 10 All the nations of the earth will see that the holy name of the Lord has been called upon you, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord your God will give you abundant prosperity in the fruit born from your wombs, the young of your livestock, and the fruit of your land, upon the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open his good treasury, heaven, to give your land rain in its season and bless all the work of your hands. You will put many nations in your debt, but you, my people, will be in no one’s debt. 13 The Lord will make you kings, not commoners. You will be set ⟨only⟩ high above and not placed down below, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today to keep and do. 14 ⟨Do not⟩ turn right or left from any of the words I command you today, following other idols to worship before them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 But if you do not listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, carefully keeping all his commandments and statutes I command you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. 16 You will be cursed in everything you have in your cities and everything you have in the open country. 17 You will be cursed in the baskets of your firstfruits and the ovens of your batches of bread. 18 You will be cursed in the fruit born from your wombs, the fruit of your land, your herds of cattle, and your flocks of sheep. 19 You will be cursed when you enter your synagogues and when you leave your synagogues. 20 The Lord will send against you curses, bewilderment, and threats in every undertaking of your hands, until you are wiped out and quickly destroyed for your evil deeds, for you abandoned the teaching of my Law. 21 ⟨The Lord will send⟩ plague against you until it wipes you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, ⟨fever, inflammation, troubled thoughts of the heart, and the sword⟩, with blight and mildew. They will pursue you until they destroy you. 23 The heavens above you will be hard as bronze, letting no dew or rain fall for you. The earth beneath you will be bright as iron, letting no grass or vegetation grow for you. 24 ⟨The Lord⟩ will turn your land’s rain into powder and dust falling from heaven upon you until it destroys you. 25 The Lord will hand you over defeated before your enemies. You will go out by one road to fight them and flee before them by seven roads. You will be an object of disgust to every kingdom of the earth. 26 Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, with no one to drive them away. 27 The Lord will strike you with the Egyptians’ sores, hemorrhoids, scabs, and itching that cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with foolishness, blindness, and dullness of heart. 29 You will grope at noon as a blind man gropes in darkness, and your ways will not prosper. You will always be oppressed and robbed, with no one to save you. 30 You will become engaged to a woman, and another man will take her. You will build houses and not live in them, plant vineyards and not redeem their fruit. 31 Your cattle will be slaughtered before you, but you will not be permitted to eat them. Your donkeys will be stolen from before you and not returned. Your sheep will be handed to your enemies, and you will have no good deeds before the Lord your God to rescue you from your enemies’ hands. 32 Your sons and daughters will be handed to another nation. Your eyes will see them and waste away longing for them every day, and God will not be at hand to redeem you. 33 A people you have not known will eat the fruit of your land and all your labor. You will always be oppressed and crushed. 34 What your eyes see will drive you mad. 35 ⟨The Lord⟩ will strike your knees and legs with severe sores that cannot be healed, from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head. 36 The Lord will exile you and the kings you appoint over you to a nation neither you nor your fathers knew. There you will worship other idols, idols of wood and idols of stone. 37 You will become a desolation, a proverb, and a byword among all the nations where the Lord exiles you. 38 You will take much seed into the field and sow it, but gather little, for locusts will eat it. 39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, for worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory, but not anoint yourselves with oil, for he will make your olive trees shed their blossoms. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 42 Oppressors will destroy all your trees and the fruit of your land. Locusts will destroy them. 43 The resident foreigners among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be kings, and you will be commoners. 45 All these curses will come upon you, pursue you, and overtake you until you are destroyed, for you did not listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and statutes he commanded you. 46 They will be signs and wonders for you and your sons forever. 47 You did not serve before the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart when you had everything in abundance. 48 You will serve before the enemies the Lord sends against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and need of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your necks until they destroy you. 49 The Lord will raise a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, as swift as a flying eagle, a nation whose language you cannot understand, 50 an insolent nation that neither respects the old nor pities the young. 51 It will devour the young of your livestock and the fruit of your land until you are destroyed. It will leave you no grain, wine, oil, herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep until it finishes you. 52 They will besiege you in all your cities until they conquer the high, fortified walls you trusted in throughout your land, in all your cities in the land the Lord your God gave you. 53 You will eat the fruit born from your wombs, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God gave you, in the affliction and distress with which your enemies oppress you. 54 The most delicate man among you, raised in luxury, will look unkindly on his brother, his beloved wife from his youth, and the sons who remain with him. 55 He will give none of them any of the flesh of his sons that he eats, for he has nothing left, in the affliction and distress with which your enemies oppress you in all your cities. 56 The most delicate woman among you, raised in luxury, who would not set the sole of her foot on the ground in her delicacy and luxury, will look unkindly on her beloved husband, her son, and her daughter, 57 and on the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the sons she bears. She will eat them secretly, lacking everything, in the affliction and distress with which your enemies oppress you in your cities. 58 If you do not take care to obey all the words of this Law written in this book of the Law, fearing before this glorious and fearsome name, before the Lord your God, 59 the Lord will make your afflictions and your sons’ afflictions extraordinary, terrible and lasting afflictions, terrible and lasting diseases. 60 He will bring all the Egyptians’ afflictions you feared upon you again, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also send against you every disease and affliction not written in this book of the Law until they destroy you. 62 You will remain a people few in number instead of being as numerous as the stars of heaven, for you did not listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God. 63 As there was pleasure before the Lord in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will be delighted to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. 64 The Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other idols neither you nor your fathers knew, idols of wood and idols of stone. 65 Among those nations you will find no ease, no rest for the soles of your feet. The Lord will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a weary soul. 66 Your lives will hang in uncertainty before you. You will be afraid night and day and have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “If only evening had come!” In the evening you will say, “If only morning had come!” This will come from the fear in your hearts and what your eyes see. 68 The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in Liburnian ships and in boats, on the journey I told you about when I said, “You will not return to see it again.” There you will be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.” 69 These are the words of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to establish with the sons of Israel in Moab, besides the covenant he established with them at Mount Horeb.

Remembering the Lord’s Deeds

1 Moses called all Israel and told them, “You have seen everything the Lord did before your eyes in Egypt to Pharaoh, all his rulers, and all his land, 2 The great miracles your eyes saw, the signs and these great wonders. 3 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear. 4 I led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes did not wear out upon you, and your shoes did not wear out upon your feet. 5 You ate no bread and drank neither new wine nor old wine, so that you might know I am the Lord your God. 6 You came to this place, and Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Batanea came out to fight us. We killed them. 7 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the tribe of the house of Reuben, the tribe of the house of the Gadites, and half the tribe of the house of the Manassites. 8 Keep the words of this covenant and obey them, so that you may prosper in everything you do.

The Covenant in Moab

9 All of you stand ready today before the Lord your God, your heads of tribes, your wise men, your officers, all the people of the sons of Israel, 10 your little ones, your wives, and the resident foreigners in your camps, from those who cut your wood to those who draw your water, 11 To enter the covenant of the Lord your God and his oath that the Lord your God establishes with you today, 12 so that he may establish you today as a people of holy ones for the name of the Lord, and be your Redeemer God, as he ⟨told you and as he⟩ swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 13 I do not establish this covenant and this oath now with you alone. 14 All the generations that arose before us from ancient times until now stand here with us today before the Lord our God. All the generations to arise after us stand here with us today.

The Consequences of Abandoning the Covenant

15 You know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the nations you passed through. 16 You saw their abhorrent things and their idols, idols of wood and stone, ⟨and their idols of silver and gold⟩, which they kept near them inside their houses for fear that they would be stolen. 17 Let no man, woman, family, or tribe among you turn their heart today from following the Memra of the Lord your God to worship before the idols of these ⟨peoples⟩. Let no man among you brood over sin in his heart, for he is like a root fixed in the ground. Sin’s beginning is sweet as honey, but its end is bitter as the wormwood of death. 18 When he hears the words of this curse, he may reassure himself in his thoughts, saying, “I will have peace, for I follow my heart’s uprightness,” adding unintentional sins to intentional sins. 19 There will be no pleasure before the Lord in granting him forgiveness and release. The Lord’s anger and jealousy will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book of the Law will cling to him, and the Lord will erase his name ⟨from under heaven⟩. 20 The Lord will set him apart for harm from all Israel’s tribes, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the Law. 21 The later generation, your sons who arise after you, and the gentile who comes from a distant land, will speak when they see the afflictions of this land and the evils the Lord sends against it, 22 The whole land will be sulfur and salt, a burned wasteland, neither sown nor sprouting, with no kind of ⟨vegetation⟩ growing on it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Memra of the Lord overthrew in his anger and fury. 23 ⟨All the nations⟩ will say, “Why has the Memra of the Lord done this to this land? How his great anger has burned!” 24 They will say, “They abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he established with them when he redeemed them and brought them out of Egypt. 25 They went ⟨to worship⟩ before other idols and bowed down to them, idols they had not known and that were not allotted to them. 26 The Lord became angry with this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book of the Law. 27 The Lord uprooted them from their land in fierce anger, fury, and great rage, and threw them into another land, as he has today.” 28 Secret things are revealed before the Lord our God. What is revealed belongs to us and our sons forever, to obey all the words of this Law.”

Repentance and Return

1 “When all these things come upon you, the order of blessings and their opposites I set before you, and you repent in your hearts among all the nations where the Lord your God placed you, 2 and return ⟨to⟩ the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, and you and your sons listen to the voice of his Memra, according to everything I now command you, with all your hearts and all your souls, 3 the Memra of the Lord your God will accept your repentance and have compassion on you. He will bring you back and gather you from all the nations where the Lord your God scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are at the ends of heaven, the Lord your God will gather you from there and take you from there. 5 The Lord your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed. You will possess it, and he will make you prosper and become more numerous than your fathers. 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and your descendants’ hearts, so that you may love the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God with all your hearts and all your souls, to give you life. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses upon your enemies, those who hate you and have persecuted you. 8 You will return, listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, and obey all the commandments I now command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you prosper greatly in every work of your hands, the fruit born from your wombs, the young of your livestock, and the fruit of your land, with many good things. The Lord will again delight in doing you good, as he delighted in your fathers, 10 if you listen to the voice of the Memra of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and statutes written in this book of the Law, and return before the Lord your God with all your hearts and all your souls.

The Commandment Is Within Reach

11 This commandment I command you today is not hidden from you or far away. 12 The Law is not in heaven, so that someone should say, “If only we had someone like Moses the prophet to go up to heaven and bring it to us, to let us hear the commandments and obey them!” 13 Nor is the Law beyond the Great Sea, so that someone should say, “If only we had someone like Jonah the prophet to descend into the depths of the Great Sea and bring it up to us, to let us hear the commandments and obey them!” 14 The word is very near you, in the words of your mouths and in your hearts, to obey it.

Choosing Life

15 See, today I set before you the order of life and good, the order of death and their opposites. 16 ⟨If you keep⟩ what I now command you today, loving the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, following the ways that are right before him, and keeping his commandments, statutes, and judicial rulings, you will live and multiply. The Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your hearts turn aside, you do not listen, and you become separated, bowing down before other idols and worshiping before them, 18 I tell you today that you will come to an end. You will not live long upon the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you. I have given you the road of life and the road of death, blessings and curses. Choose the road of life, so that you and your sons’ descendants may live, 20 loving the teaching of the Law of the Lord your God, listening to the voice of his Memra, and holding fast to him. This is your life and length of days upon the land the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua Will Lead Israel

1 Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He told them, “Today I am one hundred twenty years old. I can no longer go out and come in, and the Memra of the Lord told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God, the Glory of whose Shekinah leads before you, will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the Lord said. 4 The Memra of the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and their land, destroying them. 5 The Lord will hand them over to you. Do to them according to all the commandments I commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or shaken before them. The Lord your God, the Glory of whose Shekinah leads before you, will not leave you alone or abandon you.” 7 Moses called Joshua and told him before all Israel, “Be strong and courageous. You will bring this people into the land the Lord swore ⟨to give⟩ their fathers, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. 8 The Memra of the Lord, the Glory of whose Shekinah leads before you, will help you. He will not leave you alone or abandon you.”

Reading the Law to the People

9 Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of the tribe of Levi, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenants, and to Israel’s wise men. 10 Moses commanded them, “At the end of seven full years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place the Lord your God graciously chooses, read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people, the men, women, little ones, and resident foreigners in your land, so that they may hear, learn, fear before the Lord your God, and take care to obey all the words of this Law. 13 Their sons who have not known it must hear and learn to fear before the Lord your God for as long as you live and endure upon the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Moses and Joshua at the Tent

14 The Lord told Moses, “The days of your life are approaching for you to depart in peace from this world. Call Joshua and present yourselves ready in the tent of meeting, and I will give him his instructions.” Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 The Memra of the Lord was revealed in the tent in the pillar of cloud. The pillar of cloud stood at the door of the tent of meeting. 16 The Lord told Moses, “You are about to depart in peace with your fathers. This people will rise and go astray after the foreign idols among them in the land they are entering. They will abandon him and break my covenant I established with them. 17 I will become angry with them that day, abandon them, and turn the face of my favor away from them. They will become food, and many evils and afflictions will overtake them. That day they will say, ‘Haven’t these evils overtaken us because the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord does not dwell among us?’ 18 I, through my Memra, will hide the face of my favor that day on account of all the evil they did, going astray after other idols.

The Song as a Witness

19 Now write this song of praise and teach it to the sons of Israel. Place it in their mouths, so that this song of praise may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel. 20 I will bring them into the land I swore to their fathers, a land producing good fruit, pure as milk and sweet and delicious as honey. They will eat their fill and be joyful, go astray after other idols and worship before them, provoke anger before me, abandon me, and break my covenant. 21 When many evils and afflictions overtake them, this song of praise will answer before me as a witness, for it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their sons’ descendants. The evil plan they are devising today is revealed before me, before I bring them into the land I swore to give.” 22 Moses wrote this song of praise that day and taught it to the sons of Israel. 23 He gave Joshua son of Nun his instructions, saying, “Be strong and courageous. You will bring the sons of Israel into the land I swore to them, and I, through my Memra, will help you.”

The Law Is Placed Beside the Ark

24 When Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book, until he had completed them, 25 Moses commanded the Levites carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant, 26 “Take this book of the Law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness for you. 27 I know your grumbling and your stubborn necks. Even while I am alive with you today, you refuse to follow the Memra of the Lord. How much more after my death! 28 Gather to me all the wise men of your tribes, your judges and officers. I will speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them. 29 I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the road I commanded you. Evil will overtake you at the very end of days, for you will do what is not pleasing and fitting before the Lord, provoking him to anger by the work of your hands.” 30 Moses spoke the words of this song in the hearing of Israel’s whole assembly until he had completed them.

The Song of Moses

1 When the appointed time came for Moses the prophet to be gathered in peace from this world, Moses thought to himself, “How terrible for me! I am being gathered from this world, and I have not called witnesses against the sons of the Lord. If I call mortal human beings as witnesses against them, people who die and drink the cup of death, those people will die and their decrees will become void. Instead, I will call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. They never die or drink the cup of death, though they will eventually wear out in the world to come.” This is what Isaiah the prophet explained when he said, “Raise your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth below, because the heavens will dissolve like smoke and the earth will be consumed like a garment.” But the Lord will create new heavens and a new earth. Two prophets arose to testify against Israel: Moses the prophet and Isaiah the prophet. Because Moses was near the heavens and far from the earth, he told the heavens, “Pay attention,” and the earth, “Listen.” But Isaiah the prophet, who arose after him, was near the earth and far from the heavens, so he told the earth, “Pay attention,” and the heavens, “Listen.” Both arose to testify against Israel because they feared the Holy Name. That is why Moses, the prophet of the Lord, stood up, took courage, and said, “Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak; listen, earth, to the words of my mouth. 2 May my teaching be as welcome to the sons of Israel as rain, and may the words of my mouth be received upon them like dew, like winds blowing over sprouting grass and drops of late rain coming down to refresh the earth’s plants in the month of Nisan.” 3 Moses the prophet said to the wicked, “Woe to the wicked who mention the Holy Name in blasphemy!” Indeed, none of the ministering angels can mention the Holy Name until they—Israel—have said, “Holy, holy, holy,” three times. From them Moses learned not to mention the Holy Name until he had sanctified his mouth with twenty-one words containing eighty-five letters. This is what he explained when he said, “Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain, my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain upon fresh grass and showers upon plants. For the Name.” Therefore Moses the prophet said, “I will pray in the Holy Name; and you, my people, sons of Israel, give glory, praise, and exaltation to your God.” 4 Moses the prophet said, “I saw the Lord, the Master of all worlds, divide the day into four parts: three hours studying the Law, three hours sitting in judgment, three hours joining men and women in marriage, raising up and bringing down, and three hours sustaining the whole world. He is just, and there is no falsehood before him, for all his ways are judgments and truth. God is faithful, with no wrongdoing before him; he is just and true in judgment. 5 His beloved sons have acted corruptly before him. They have not harmed him; the defect is their own, for among them is a deceitful, perverse generation, a generation that has changed its behavior. The order of the world’s judgments has likewise changed against it. 6 Is this not what you seek from before the Lord, foolish, unwise nation? Is he not your Father, who acquired you, created you, and perfected you? 7 Remember the days of long ago; consider the years of every generation. Ask your fathers, who are greater than you in the Law, and they will tell you; ask your wise men, and they will explain to you. 8 When the Most High God gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided the languages of humankind, he established the nations’ boundaries according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 9 For the Lord’s portion was his people, the sons of Israel; Jacob was his allotted inheritance. 10 He met them living in a desert land, amid the wilderness’s cries of lamentation. He led them through the wilderness for forty years, brought manna down from the heavens for them, brought the well up from the abyss for them, and brought quails from the sea for them. He settled them around the Glory of his Shekinah, taught them the Ten Commandments, and watched over them, guarding them as the eyelid guards the pupil of the eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, he spread his wings, took them up, and carried them on his powerful wings. 12 The Lord said through his Memra, ‘The people, the sons of Israel, will live alone, with no worshipers of foreign gods among them.’ 13 He settled them on the land’s heights and fed them with the produce of royal delicacies. He gave them honey to suck from rock and anointed them with oil from flinty rock. 14 He gave them the fat of cattle, the milk of sheep, the finest fattened animals, rams from Batanea and goats, and the richest wheat. Moses the prophet said, ‘If the people, the sons of Israel, study the Law and keep its commandments, a single cluster of grapes will yield a kor of wine for them.’ 15 The house of Israel ate and kicked; they grew rich and shameless, fought, prospered, and acquired possessions. They forgot the Memra of God who created them and rejected the fear of the Strong One who redeemed them in their time of distress. 16 They aroused his jealousy with their abominations and angered him with their idols. 17 They offered sacrifices before the idols of demons, which have no substance, idols they had not known, newly made ones that had only recently appeared, which your fathers had not concerned themselves with. 18 You abandoned the Strong One who created you and forgot the Memra of God who perfected you and made you with your many hollow parts. 19 It was revealed before the Lord, and he became angry at the provocation of the people, the sons of Israel, who were as dear to him as sons and daughters. 20 He said, ‘I will turn my favorable face away from them and see what their final end will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons without faithfulness. 21 They made me jealous with what is no god and angered me with their abominations. I will make them jealous with what is no people; I will anger them with a disgraceful people. 22 For fire has gone out from before me and burns down to the depths of Sheol. It consumes the earth and its produce and sets the foundations of the mountains ablaze. 23 Through my Memra I have decided to bring disasters upon them; I will send against them the arrows of the plagues of my punishment. 24 They will be swollen with hunger, consumed by locusts, and possessed by evil spirits. I will send against them the teeth of the four kingdoms, which are like wild beasts, with the venom of great snakes and creatures that crawl in the dust. 25 Outside, the sword will consume them; in their bedrooms, the terror of death. Young men and young women, nursing infants and children, and old men alike will perish. 26 I would have said through my Memra that I would wipe them out, erasing their memory from humankind, 27 but the enemy’s provocation was too much. I remembered the covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so their enemies would not prevail over them and say, “Our own hands have avenged us; this was not done from before the Lord.” 28 For they are a nation perishing through evil plans, without understanding. 29 If the people of the sons of Israel were wise, they would study the Law and understand what their end will be. 30 When the people, the sons of Israel, studied the Law and kept its commandments, one of them would chase a thousand and two would make ten thousand flee. But because they sinned and angered the Strong One, he abandoned them, and the Memra of the Lord handed them over to their enemies. 31 For the nations’ source of security is not our source of security. Because we sinned and angered him, our enemies became our judges. 32 For this people’s deeds are like the deeds of Sodom, and their thoughts are like the thoughts of Sodom and the thoughts of Gomorrah. Their deeds are evil, and they are repaid accordingly. 33 This people’s anger is like the venom of great snakes when they drink, and their fury is like the heads of cruel adders. 34 Is not the cup of punishment mixed and prepared for the wicked, ready and sealed in my treasuries for the great Day of Judgment? 35 Vengeance is mine, and I will repay when the feet of the righteous falter. For the day of the wicked’s destruction is near; the fire of Gehenna is prepared for them, and their punishment in the world to come is approaching quickly.’ 36 For the Lord will judge the case of his people, the sons of Israel, in his good mercies, and will regret the humiliation of his righteous servants. For it is revealed before him that the righteous have exhausted their strength and are forsaken and abandoned, without anyone to help or support them. 37 He said, ‘The nations will say, “Where is the God of Israel, the Strong One in whom they trusted, 38 before whom they offered the fat of their sacrifices and offerings, and before whom they poured out wine libations? Let him rise and redeem them; let him be a shield over them!” 39 See now that I, I through my Memra, am he, and there is no other god besides me. I put the living to death in this world and bring the dead to life in the world to come. I strike and I heal, and no one can rescue from my hands. 40 For I have raised my hands to heaven in an oath: I live and endure through my Memra forever. 41 When I sharpen my flashing sword and my right hand takes hold of judgment and truth, I will take revenge on those who hate him and repay the enemies of my people for their evil. 42 I will make my arrows drunk with their blood, and my sword will consume their flesh: the blood of my people who were killed and those taken captive, from the heads of their warriors, the generals of my people’s enemies.’ 43 Acclaim him, nations! Praise him, his people, the house of Israel! For he avenges the humiliation and blood of his righteous servants and takes revenge on your enemies. The land will be struck because of his people’s sins, but in his good mercies he will make atonement for the land and the people.”

Moses’ Final Instructions

44 Moses came and recited this song of praise for the people to hear, he and Joshua son of Nun. 45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he told them, “Take to heart all the words with which I testify against you today, so that you may command your sons to keep and obey all the words of ⟨this⟩ Law worthy of praise. 47 For it is no empty word for you: it is your life. Through this word you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Moses Is Told to Ascend the Mountain

48 That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Hebrews, Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as an inheritance. 50 You will be gathered in peace on the mountain you are climbing and gathered in peace to your people, just as your brother Aaron was gathered in peace on Mount Hor and gathered in peace to his people, 51 because you rebelled against the name of my Memra among the sons of Israel at the Waters of Contention of Petra in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify me among the sons of Israel. 52 You will see the land before you, but you will not enter it, the land I am giving to the sons of Israel.”

Moses Blesses the Tribes

1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the sons of Israel before his death. 2 He said, “The Lord was revealed from Sinai to give the Law to his people, the sons of Israel. He shone in his Glory on Mount Gebalene to give the Law to the sons of Esau. But when they found written in it, ‘You must not be murderers,’ they would not accept it. He appeared in his Glory on Mount Paran to give his Law to the sons of Ishmael. But when the sons of Ishmael found written in it, ‘You must not be thieves,’ they would not accept it. He returned and was revealed on Mount Sinai, accompanied by myriads of holy angels. The sons of Israel said, ‘We will do and obey everything the Memra of the Lord has spoken.’ He stretched his right hand out from the flames of fire and gave the Law to his people. 3 Was it not revealed and known before him that neither the sons of Esau nor the sons of Ishmael would accept the Law? Yet all this was to show his love for the people, the sons of Israel. Myriads of holy angels came down. Though he brought many punishments upon them, they did not rest or stop studying the Law. They were led to the foot of his clouds, setting out and camping at his commands.” 4 The sons of Israel said, “Moses commanded the Law to us; he gave it as an inheritance and possession to the assembly of the tribes of the house of Jacob. 5 A king will arise from the house of Jacob. When he gathers the leaders of the people, all the tribes of the sons of Israel will obey him.”

The Blessing of Reuben

6 “May Reuben live in this world and not die the second death, which the wicked die in the world to come. May his young men be a people strong in number.”

The Blessing of Judah

7 This is the blessing with which Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Judah. He said, “Memra ⟨of the Lord⟩, hear Judah’s prayer, and bring him safely home from battle to his people in peace. May his hands avenge him on their enemies; be his help and support against those who hate him.”

The Blessing of Levi

8 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Levi and said, “You clothed Aaron, the faithful man, with the Thummim and Urim.⁠a You sifted him, and he stood firm under trial; you tested him at the Waters of Strife, and he proved faithful. 9 For it is said of the tribe of Levi, ‘He showed no partiality to his father or mother in judgment. He did not recognize his brothers in the affair of the calf or have compassion on his sons in the affair of Zimri.’ For they kept the word of your mouth and carefully observed your decrees and your Law. 10 They will be fit to teach your judicial ordinances among the house of Jacob and the decrees of your Law to the assembly of the tribes of the sons of Israel. They will offer incense of the finest perfumes to turn away your anger, and they will place a complete ⟨acceptable offering upon your altar⟩. 11 ⟨Lord, bless the forces of the tribe of the sons of Levi, and favorably receive the offering of his hands.⟩ Break the hips of those who hate him; may his enemies be unable to stand before him.”

The Blessing of Benjamin

12 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Benjamin and said, “The Lord’s beloved lives safely near him; he will protect him every day. The sanctuary will be built in his territory, and the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord will dwell in his inheritance.”

The Blessing of Joseph

13 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Joseph and said, “How blessed before the Lord is Joseph’s land, with the best treasures of the heavens above, which send down dew and rain, and with the blessings of the springs below, which rise to water the land’s plants! 14 It produces choice fruits ripened by the sun and yields delicious fruits every month. 15 It produces good fruits through the merits of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are compared to mountains, and through the merits of our mothers, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, who are compared to hills. 16 It produces good fruits through the merits of the land and everything in it, and does the will of the one who made the Glory of his Shekinah dwell in the thornbush. May all these blessings come and become a crown of honor on Joseph’s head, on the head of the man who was king and ruler in Egypt and took care to honor his brothers. 17 The birthright, kingship, glory, and majesty belong to him. Just as firstborn bulls cannot be put to work and wild oxen cannot be brought into slavery by their horns, so the sons of Joseph cannot be brought into slavery. They will be raised up, elevated, and exalted above all the nations of the earth. They go out to war against their enemies and those who hate them, killing kings together with their rulers.” These are the myriads of Amorites killed by Joshua son of Nun, of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, and the thousands of Midianites killed by Gideon son of Joash, of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh.

The Blessings of Zebulun and Issachar

18 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Zebulun and said, “Rejoice, house of Zebulun, when you go out on business; rejoice, house of Issachar, when you sit in your houses of study. 19 Look! The people of the house of Zebulun will gather together at the mountain of the sanctuary and offer true sacrifices there. For they will enjoy the wealth of maritime trade, and hidden treasures will be revealed to them.”

The Blessing of Gad

20 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Gad and said, “Blessed is the one who has enlarged Gad’s territory. He rests and lives amid battle like lions and a lioness. No nation or kingdom can withstand him. Those he has killed can be recognized among those who were killed: he cuts off the head together with the arm.” 21 From the beginning he saw that a burial place was prepared for him there, set with precious stones and pearls, for Moses, the scribe of Israel, was buried there. Just as he used to go in and out at the head of the people in this world, he will go in and out at their head in the world to come. He carried out God’s righteousness and taught his judicial ordinances to the sons of Israel.

The Blessing of Dan

22 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Dan and said, “Dan is like a lion cub, and the land will drink from the springs that flow from Batanea.”

The Blessing of Naphtali

23 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Naphtali and said, “Naphtali is satisfied with favor and filled with blessings from before the Lord. He will inherit the west and the Sea of Gennesaret and the south.”

The Blessing of Asher

24 Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the tribe of Asher and said, “Blessed above the sons! Among the tribes he will reconcile his brothers with their Father in heaven. The land will produce oil like water, and he will bathe his feet in oil. 25 Look! The people of the house of Asher are bright as iron and strong as bronze; their old age will be like their youth.

Israel’s Blessing

26 There is none like the God of Israel, who has made the Glory of his Shekinah dwell in the heavens and his majesty in the clouds. 27 The Glory of the Shekinah of God has been a dwelling place from the beginning; beneath his mighty arm the tribes of the sons of Israel are led. He will drive your enemies out before you, and through his Memra he commanded that they be wiped out. 28 Israel lived alone in safety, in keeping with the blessings their father Jacob gave them, in a land producing grain and wine. The heavens above them will also send dew and rain down upon them. 29 How blessed you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people whose redemption is near from before the Lord, the shield of your help, the protection of your forces, the holder of your weapons, and the strength of your exalted hopes? Your enemies will be shattered before you. You, my people, sons of Israel, will step on the necks of their kings when you study the Law and carry out the commandments.”

Moses Views the Land

1 Moses went up from the plain of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of the height opposite Jericho. The Memra of the Lord showed him all the land and Gilead as far as Dan of Caesarea, 2 all the land of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the south, and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city that produces palm trees, which is Zoar. 4 “The Memra of the Lord said to me,” Moses said, “‘This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “I will give it to the descendants of your sons.” Look at it, for you will not cross over there.’”

The Death and Burial of Moses

5 ⟨Moses⟩, the Lord’s servant, died there in the land of the Moabites, according to the decree of the Memra of the Lord. 6 They buried him in the valley in the land of the Moabites, opposite the idol of Peor. To this very day, no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he was gathered. His eyes had not grown dim, and the radiance of his face had not changed. 8 The sons of Israel mourned Moses in the plain of Moab for thirty days. Then they completed the days of weeping and mourning for Moses.

Joshua Succeeds Moses

9 Joshua son of Nun was filled with a spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The sons of Israel obeyed him and did as the Memra of the Lord had commanded Moses.

No Prophet Like Moses

10 No prophet like Moses arose again in Israel, whom the Memra of the Lord knew speech to speech, 11 with all the signs and miraculous wonders that the Memra of the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, 12 and with all the mighty power and great manifestations that Moses displayed as all Israel watched.