Samaritan Deuteronomy

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness in the Arabah, opposite Sof, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Di Zahab. 2 It is eleven days’ [journey] from Horeb by the route through Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3 And in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel everything Shema had commanded him to tell them, 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to write this law, saying: 6 “Shema our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and set out, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their inhabitants in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland [and] in the south and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Look, I have placed the land in front of you. Go in and take possession of the land which I swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to their offspring after them.

9 And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to carry you alone. 10 Shema your God has increased your numbers, and look, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. 11 Shema, the God of your fathers, will make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I alone carry your load, your burden, and your disputes? 13 Take wise, and understanding, and experienced men, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’ 14 And you answered me, and said, ‘What you have proposed to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16 And I instructed your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear [the cases] between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother, and the foreign resident who is with him. 17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of a man’s face, for the judgment is God’s. And you shall bring me any case that is too hard for you, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. >— — 19 And we traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Shema our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Shema our God gives us. 21 Look, Shema your God has placed the land in front of you. Go up, take possession, as Shema, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be discouraged.’ 22 And all of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may make us love the land, and report back to us about the route by which we must go up, and the cities we shall enter.’ 23 And I was pleased with the proposal. And I chose twelve men from among you, one man for every tribe.

24 And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and reported back to us and said, ‘It is a good land which Shema our God gives us.’ 26 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of Shema your God. 27 And you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because Shema hates us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up to, when our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and more numerous than we are, the cities are great and fortified up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.’

29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified or afraid of them. 30 Shema your God, who goes ahead of you, himself will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how Shema your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet, look, despite this, you did not believe in Shema your God, 33 who goes ahead of you along the way to find you a place to camp, in fire by night, to show you which way you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34 And Shema heard the voice of your words and was angered, and he swore saying, 35 ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore [to give] to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give him and his children the land he has walked on, because he has completely followed Shema.’ 37 Shema was also angry with me because of you, saying, ‘You also shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, and your children shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and set out into the wilderness in the direction of the sea of Sof.’ 41 Then you answered, and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Shema our God. We will go up and fight against him, just as Shema our God commanded us.’ And each of you fastened on his weapons of war, and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.

42 And Shema said to me, ‘Say to them, ‘Do not go up or fight, for I am not among you, so that you are not defeated by your enemies.’ 43 So I spoke to you, and you did not listen, but you rebelled against the command of Shema your God, and arrogantly went up into the hill country. 44 And the Amalekite and the Canaanite who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, as far as Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before Shema, but Shema did not listen to your voice or pay attention to you. 46 So you remained at Kadesh for many days, the length of time you remained [there].

1 Then we turned and traveled into the wilderness in the direction of the sea of Sof, as Shema told me. And we circled Mount Seir many days.

2 And Shema spoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Turn northward, 4 and command the people, saying, ‘You are about to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who live in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. 5 Do not fight with them, for I will not give you a possession of their land. No, not even enough to set your foot on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6 You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink.’ 7 For Shema your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has known your going through this great wilderness. These forty years Shema your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. And I sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Let me pass, please, through your land. I will not pass through field or vineyard, we will not drink water from a cistern. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn aside to the right or to the left, until we have passed your territory.’ And He said, ‘You shall not pass through me, or I will come out against you with the sword.’

8 So we went on, away from our brothers the children of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion Geber. And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab.

9 And Shema said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or fight with him, for I will not give you any of his land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.’ 10 (The Emim lived there formerly, a great and numerous people, and tall as the Anakim. 11 But the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the children of Esau drove them out, and God destroyed them from before them, and they drove them out and lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Shema gave to them.) 13 ‘And now get up, set out and cross the brook Zered.’ And we crossed the brook Zered. 14 And the days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the brook Zered were thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of soldiers had died out from the camp, as Shema had sworn to them. 15 Moreover the hand of Shema was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they were destroyed. 16 So when all the soldiers had died out and were gone from among the people,

17 Shema said to me, saying, 18 ‘Today you are to cross Ar, the border of Moab. 19 And when you come near [the border of] the children of Ammon, do not harass them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also is considered a land of Rephaim. Rephaim lived there formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a great and numerous people, and tall as the Anakim, but Shema destroyed them before them, and they drove them out and lived in their place, 22 as he did for the children of Esau who live in Seir when he destroyed the Horites from before them, and they drove them out and lived in their place even to this day. 23 And the Avvim who lived in Hazerim as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came out of Caphtor destroyed them and lived in their place.) 24 ‘Get up, set out and cross the valley of the Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and fight him in battle. 25 Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.

26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go along the king’s highway; I will not turn aside to either the right or the left. 28 You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and give me water for money, so that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, 29 as the children of Esau who live in Seir, and the Moabites who live in Ar, did to me, until I cross the Jordan into the land which Shema our God gives us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for Shema your God hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn, so that he might hand him over to you, as is the case today.

31 And Shema said to me, ‘Look, I have begun to hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, so that you may inherit his land.’ 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And Shema our God handed him over to us, and we struck him down and his sons and all his people. 34 And we took all his cities at that time and completely devoted to destruction all his cities, the women and the little ones, without leaving him any survivors. 35 We took only the cattle as plunder for ourselves, along with the goods from the cities we had captured. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [from] the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Shema our God handed everything over to us. 37 But no hand came near the land of the children of Ammon, [that is] the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country and whatever Shema our God had forbidden us.

1 Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

2 And Shema said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over into your hand, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3 So Shema our God handed Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people over into our hand, and we struck him down until none was left remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time—there was not a city which we did not take from them—sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides the great many unwalled towns. 6 And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, completely devoting to destruction every city, with the women and the little ones. 7 But we took all the cattle and the goods of the cities as plunder for ourselves.

8 And we took the land at that time from the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon 9 (the Sidonites call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), 10 all the cities of the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Look, his bed frame was a bed frame of iron. It is in Rabbah of the Ammonites! It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, according to the cubit of a man!

12 And we took possession of this land at that time: from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that [portion] of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. 14 And Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them—that is, Bashan—after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.) 15 And I gave Gilead to Machir. 16 And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and [its] border, as far as over the river Jabbok, which is the boundary of the children of Ammon; 17 the Arabah also, and the Jordan, and [its] border, [from] Amkinnaret as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under Ashdoth Pisgah on the east.

18 And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘Shema your God has given you this land to possess. You shall cross armed ahead of your brothers the children of Israel, all the brave men. 19 But your little ones and your wives and your cattle—I know that you have much cattle—shall stay in your cities which I have given you, 20 until Shema gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which Shema your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you shall return to the property I have given you.’ 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen what Shema has done to these two kings. Shema shall do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. 22 You shall not fear them, for it is Shema your God who fights for you.’ —

23 And I begged Shema at that time, saying, 24 ‘Lord Shema, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? 25 Let me cross over, please, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that beautiful mountain, and Lebanon.’ 26 But Shema was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And Shema said to me, ‘That is enough. Do not speak to me about this matter again.

27 Get up to the top of Pisgah and look westward and northward and southward and eastward, and see for yourself, for you shall not cross this Jordan. 28 But instruct Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall cross ahead of this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.’ 29 So we stayed in Giyya opposite Beth Peor.

1 And now, Israel, listen to the decrees and to the rules which I teach you, to do them, so that you may live and go in and possess the land which Shema, the God of your fathers, gives you. 2 You shall not add to the word which I command you today, nor take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of Shema your God which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what Shema did because of Baal Peor, for Shema your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal Peor. 4 But you who clung to Shema your God are alive every one of you today.

5 See, I have taught you decrees and rules, as Shema my God commanded me, so that you should do so in the land which you are entering to possess. 6 Keep them and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in front of the peoples who shall hear all these decrees, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them as Shema our God is whenever we call on him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has decrees and rules so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?

9 Only be careful and guard your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes saw, and so that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life, but make them known to your children and your children’s children. 10 The day that you stood before Shema your God in Horeb when Shema said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and so that they may teach their children.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, [with] darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

12 And Shema spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard the voice of words, but you saw no form, nothing but a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, the ten commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And Shema commanded me at that time to teach you decrees and rules, so that you might do them in the land which you are crossing over to possess. 15 Be very careful, then, for you saw no form of any kind on the day that Shema spoke to you in Horeb from the middle of the fire, 16 so that you do not act corruptly, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth, 19 and so that when you look up to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, the entire army of heaven, you are not drawn away and worship them and serve them, [things] which Shema your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But Shema has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as is the case today.

21 Furthermore, Shema was angry with me because of you, so that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not go into the good land which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land. I must not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and possess that good land. 23 Be careful so that you do not forget the covenant of Shema your God, which he made with you, or make a carved image in the form of anything which Shema your God has forbidden you. 24 For Shema your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

25 When you have children and children’s children, and you have been in the land a long time and corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the presence of Shema your God, to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall soon be completely destroyed from the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but shall be completely destroyed. 27 And Shema will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where Shema shall lead you away. 28 And there you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you shall ask about Shema your God, and you shall find him, when you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things have come on you, in the days to come you shall return to Shema your God and obey his voice. 31 For Shema your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

32 For ask about the past days before your time, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has been [any such thing] as this great thing, or whether anything like it has been heard. 33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a living God speaking from the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and lived? 34 Or has God attempted to go and take for himself a nation from among [another] nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great sights, according to all that Shema your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35 It was shown to you so that you might know that Shema is God. There is no one else besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, so that he might instruct you, and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their descendant after them and brought you out with his presence and with his great power, out of Egypt, 38 to drive out nations greater and mightier than you from before you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as is the case today. 39 Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Shema is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else. 40 And you shall keep his decrees and his commandments, which I command you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may live long in the land which Shema your God gives you forever.”

41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan in the east, 42 so that a killer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him previously, and in fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. 44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: 45 These are the testimonies, the decrees and the rules, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan, in Giyya opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck down when they came out of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the east. 48 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Shiyyon—that is, Hermon, 49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under Ashdoth Pisgah.

1 And Moses called to all Israel and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the decrees and the rules which I speak in your hearing today, so that you may learn them, and be careful to do them. 2 Shema our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Shema did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are here alive today. 4 Shema spoke with you face to face in the mountain, from the middle of the fire, 5 as I stood between Shema and you at that time, to tell you the words of Shema, for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain, saying,

6 ‘I am Shema your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 You shall have no other gods before me. 8 You shall not make yourself a carved image, or any likeness [of anything] that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship or serve them, for I, Shema your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 and showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 11 You shall not misuse the name of Shema your God, for Shema will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

12 Observe the Sabbath day, for it is holy, as Shema your God commanded you. 13 You shall work for six days, and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Shema your God. On it you shall not do any work: you, or your son, or your daughter, [or] your male slave, or your female slave, [or] your ox, or your donkey, or any of your cattle, or the foreign resident within your cities, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Shema your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Shema your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

16 Honor your father and your mother, as Shema your God commanded you, so that your days may be long, and so that it may go well with you in the land which Shema your God gives you. 17 You shall not kill. 18 You shall not commit adultery. 19 You shall not steal. 20 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor shall you covet your neighbor’s wife, his field, his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. And when Shema your God brings you into the land of the Canaanite which you are entering to possess, you shall set up large stones, and plaster them with plaster. And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law. And when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, in [Mount] Ārgarizem. And there you shall build an altar to Shema your God, an altar of stones; you shall use no iron tool on them. You shall build an altar to Shema your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burned offerings on it to Shema your God. And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. And you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God. That mountain is beyond the Jordan, beyond the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside Elon Moreh, opposite Shechem.’⁠a

22 Shema spoke these words to all your assembly in the mountain from the middle of the fire, [with] darkness, cloud, and thick darkness, [with] a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me. 23 And when you heard the voice from the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders, 24 and you said, ‘Look, Shema our God has shown us his glory, and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives. 25 So why should we die? For this great fire will devour us. If we hear the voice of Shema our God again, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire, as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that Shema our God shall say, and you will speak to us all that Shema our God will speak to you, and we will hear it and do it.’ 28 And Shema heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And Shema said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. Everything they have said is good.

29 If only they had such a heart, so that they would fear me, and keep my commandments always, so that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! 30 Go say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’ 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandment, the decrees, and the rules, which you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.’ 32 So you shall be careful to do as Shema your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way which Shema your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and so that it may be well with you, and so that you may live long in the land which you shall possess.

1 Now this is the commandment, the decrees, and the rules, which Shema your God commanded me to teach you, so that you might do them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 so that you might fear Shema your God, to keep all his decrees and his commandments, which I command you today, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be long. 3 So listen, Israel, and be careful to do [it], so that it may be well with you, and so that you may greatly increase in number, as Shema, the God of your fathers, has promised you, [in] a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Listen, Israel: Shema our God is one Shema. 5 And you shall love Shema your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 And these words which I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in the house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 8 And you shall tie them as a sign on your hands, and they shall be bands between your eyes. 9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

10 And when Shema your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things which you did not fill, cisterns dug out, which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be full, 12 then be careful not to forget Shema your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 You shall fear Shema your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name. 14 You shall not follow other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are around you, 15 for Shema your God among you is a jealous God, so that the anger of Shema your God does not burn against you and he does not destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 You shall not test Shema your God, as you tested [him] in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of Shema your God, and his testimonies and his decrees, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of Shema your God, so that it may be well with you and so that you may go in, and possess the good land which Shema swore to your fathers, 19 to drive out all your enemies from before you, as Shema has spoken.

20 And when your son asks you in the future, saying, ‘What do the testimonies, the decrees and the rules which Shema our God has commanded you mean?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and Shema brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, 22 and Shema showed signs and wonders, great and terrible, against Egypt, against Pharaoh and against all his household, before our eyes, 23 and he brought us out from there, so that he might bring us in to give us the land which Shema swore to our fathers. 24 And Shema commanded us to do all these decrees, to fear Shema our God for our good always, and so that he might keep us alive, as is the case today. 25 And it shall be righteousness to us, if we are careful to do all this commandment in the presence of Shema our God, as he has commanded us.’

1 When Shema your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, and drives out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when Shema your God hands them over to you, and you strike them down, then you must completely destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. 3 You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son or take his daughter as a wife for your son. 4 For he will turn away your son from following me, so that he may serve other gods, and the anger of Shema will burn against you, and he will destroy you quickly. 5 But this is how you shall deal with them: You shall break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and cut down their Asherim, and burn their carved images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to Shema your God, and Shema your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession above all peoples that are on the face of the earth.

7 Shema did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more numerous than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because Shema loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, that Shema has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Shema your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repays those who hate him while they are living, by destroying them. He will not delay with those who hate him. He will repay them while they are living. 11 You shall therefore keep the commandment, the decrees and the rules, which I command you today, to do them.

12 And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, Shema your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which he swore to your fathers. 13 And he will love you, and bless you, and increase your numbers. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock, in the land which Shema swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall be no infertile male or female among you, or among your cattle. 15 And Shema will take away from you all sickness, and he will put none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you know on you, but will put them on all those who hate you. 16 And you shall destroy all the peoples that Shema your God hands over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a trap to you.

17 If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I drive them out?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them, [but] you shall remember well what Shema your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, with which Shema your God brought you out, Shema your God shall do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover Shema your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and hide themselves die before you. 21 You shall not be terrified of them, for Shema your God is among you, a great and terrifying God. 22 And Shema your God will drive out those nations from before you little by little. You may not destroy them at once, so that the wild animals do not multiply against you. 23 But Shema your God will hand them over to you and will throw them into great confusion, until he destroys them. 24 And he will hand their kings over into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under heaven. No man shall be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. 25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, or take it for yourselves, so that you are not trapped by it, for they are detestable things to Shema your God. 26 And you shall not bring a detestable thing into your house, and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall completely detest it, and you shall completely hate it, for it is devoted to destruction.

1 You shall be careful to obey the entire commandment which I give you today, so that you may live and increase in number, and go in and possess the land which Shema swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way which Shema your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you go hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that he might teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that comes from the mouth of Shema. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your feet did not swell these forty years.

5 And you shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Shema your God disciplines you. 6 And you shall keep the commandments of Shema your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him. 7 For Shema your God brings you to a good and broad land, a land of brooks of water, of water sources and springs, flowing in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you shall eat bread without shortage, you shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Shema your God for the good land which he has given you.

11 Be careful not to forget Shema your God in not keeping his commandments and his rules and his decrees, which I command you today, 12 so that when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and lived [in them], 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 your heart does not become proud and you do not forget Shema your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, [with its] fiery snakes, scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flint rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, so that he might humble you and test you, to benefit you in the end. 17 [Be careful not to] say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ 18 But you shall remember Shema your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as is the case today. 19 And if you forget Shema your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall certainly be destroyed. 20 You shall be destroyed like the nations that Shema destroys before you, because you would not obey the voice of Shema your God.

1 Listen, Israel: You are to cross the Jordan today, to go in to drive out nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that Shema your God is he who crosses ahead of you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and he will bring them down before you. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as Shema has spoken to you. 4 Do not say in your heart, after Shema your God has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness Shema has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas because of the wickedness of these nations Shema does drive them out before you. 5 You are not going in to possess their land because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart, but Shema is driving these nations out before you because of their wickedness, and so that he may establish the word which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6 Know therefore that Shema your God does not give you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you made Shema your God angry in the wilderness. From the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Shema. 8 Also in Horeb you made Shema angry, and Shema was angry enough with you to destroy you.

9 When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Shema made with you, then I stayed in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And Shema gave to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which Shema spoke to you in the mountain from the middle of the fire on the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights Shema gave me the two tablets of the covenant. 12 And Shema said to me, ‘Get up, get down quickly from here, for your people that you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a cast-metal calf.’

13 Furthermore Shema spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, so that I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and look, you had sinned against Shema your God. You had made yourselves a cast-metal calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which Shema had commanded you. 17 And I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before Shema as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sins you committed by doing what was evil in the eyes of Shema to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the burning anger with which Shema was angry enough with you to destroy you. But Shema listened to me that time also. 20 And Shema was very angry with Aaron, [wanting] to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 And I took your sins, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust, and I threw its dust into the brook that flowed down from the mountain. 22 And at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you made Shema angry. 23 And when Shema sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of Shema your God, and you did not believe him or obey his voice. 24 You have been rebellious against Shema from the day that he knew you.

25 So I fell down before Shema for those forty days and forty nights, because Shema had said he would destroy you. 26 And I prayed to Shema, and said, ‘Lord Shema, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with your mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not pay attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness or to their sin, 28 so that the people of the land from which you brought us out do not say, ‘Because Shema was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’ 29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out from Egypt by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

1 At that time Shema said to me, ‘Cut two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up on the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand. 4 And he wrote on the tablets, as he had written before, the ten commandments which Shema spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire on the day of the assembly, and Shema gave them to me. 5 And I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are, as Shema commanded me.

6 And the children of Israel traveled from Moseroth, and camped in Bene Jaakan. 7 From there they traveled and camped in Gudgodah. From there they traveled and camped in Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. From there they traveled and camped in Abronah. From there they traveled and camped in Ezion Geber. From there they traveled and camped in the wilderness of Zin—that is, Kadesh. From there they traveled and camped in Mount Hor. And Aaron died there, and he was buried there. And Eleazar his son served as priest in his place.

8 At that time Shema set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Shema, to stand before Shema to serve him and to bless in his name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers; Shema is his inheritance, as Shema your God said to him. 10 And I stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights, and Shema listened to me that time also, and Shema was unwilling to destroy you. 11 And Shema said to me, ‘Get up and set out ahead of this people, and they shall go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.’

12 And now, Israel, what does Shema your God require of you, but to fear Shema your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Shema your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of Shema your God and his decrees, which I command you today for your good? 14 Look, heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and everything in it belong to Shema your God. 15 Yet Shema delighted in your fathers and loved them, and he chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as is the case today. 16 So circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and no longer be stiff-necked. 17 For Shema your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great and mighty and terrifying God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He provides justice for the orphan and widow, and loves the foreign resident, giving him food and clothing. 19 So love the foreign resident, for you were foreign residents in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear Shema your God, and serve him, and hold fast to him, and swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt as seventy people, and now Shema your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

1 Therefore you shall love Shema your God and keep his requirements, his rules and his commandments and his decrees always.

2 And know today that [I speak] with you rather than your children, who have not known or seen the discipline of Shema your God, his greatness, and his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, 3 his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his land, 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the sea of Sof flow over them as they pursued you, and how Shema has destroyed them to this day, 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up and all the men who belonged to Korah, and their households and their tents, and every living thing that followed them among all Israel. 7 But your eyes have seen all the great work of Shema which he did. 8 Therefore you shall keep all the commandment which I command you today, so that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you are entering to possess, 9 and so that you may live long in the land which Shema swore to your fathers to give to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your feet, like a vegetable garden, 11 but the land which you are crossing over to possess, is a land of hills and valleys, [which] drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 the land which Shema your God cares for. The eyes of Shema your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 And if you listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love Shema your God, to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he will give the rain of your land in its season, the early rain and the late rain, so that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and it shall eat and be full. 16 Be careful that your heart is not deceived and you do not turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 otherwise the anger of Shema will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens, so that there shall be no rain and the land shall not yield its fruit, and you will quickly be destroyed from the good land which Shema gives you. 18 Therefore you shall store these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall tie them as a sign on your hands, and they shall be bands between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in the house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that you and your children may live long in the land which Shema swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

22 For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you today, to do it, to love Shema your God, to walk in all his ways, and to hold fast to him, 23 then Shema will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall drive out nations greater and mightier than yourself. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot shall step shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon and from the river, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you. Shema your God shall put fear and dread of you on all the land that you shall step on, as he has spoken to you.

26 Look, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Shema your God which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Shema your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to follow other gods which you have not known. 29 And when Shema your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, you shall set the blessing on [Mount] Ārgarizem and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Look, they are beyond the Jordan, beyond the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites that live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside Elon Moreh, opposite Shechem!⁠a

31 For you are to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Shema your God gives you. And when you possess it and live in it, 32 you shall be careful to do all the decrees and all the rules which I set before you today.

1 These are the decrees and the rules which you shall be careful to do in the land which Shema, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall certainly destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall drive out served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 And you shall break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the carved images of their gods, and you shall destroy their name out of that place. 4 You shall not do so to Shema your God. 5 But you shall seek the place which Shema your God has chosen⁠a out of all your tribes to make his name live there, and you shall come there, 6 and there you shall bring your burned offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and your contributions, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, 7 and there you shall eat in the presence of Shema your God, and you shall celebrate in everything you put your hands to, you and your households, in which Shema your God has blessed you.

8 You shall not follow all the things that we do here today, each person doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Shema your God gives you. 10 But when you cross the Jordan and live in the land which Shema your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then you shall bring to the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there all that I command you: your burned offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and your contributions, and your freewill offerings, and all your choice vows which you vow to Shema. 12 And you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, your male slaves, and your female slaves, and the Levite that is within your cities, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 Be careful that you do not offer your burned offerings in every place that you see, 14 but you shall offer your burned offerings in the place which Shema has chosen in one of your tribes, and there you shall do all that I command you. 15 However, you may kill and eat meat within all your cities, as much as your soul desires, according to the blessing of Shema your God which he has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.

17 You may not eat within your cities the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vows which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hands, 18 but you shall eat them in the presence of Shema your God in the place which Shema your God has chosen, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite that is within your cities, and you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God in everything you put your hands to. 19 Be careful that you do not abandon the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 When Shema your God enlarges your territory as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because your soul desires to eat meat, you may eat meat as much as your soul desires. 21 If the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there is too far from you, then you shall kill animals from your herd and your flock which Shema has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your cities, as much as your soul desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and as the deer are eaten, so you shall eat of it; the unclean among you and the clean may eat of it alike. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the eyes of Shema.

26 Only you shall take the holy things you have and your vows, and go to the place which Shema has chosen. 27 And you shall offer your burned offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Shema your God, and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Shema your God, and you shall eat the flesh. 28 Observe and obey and do all these words which I command you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is right and good in the eyes of Shema your God.

29 When Shema your God destroys the nations before you whom you are entering to drive out, and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 be careful that you are not trapped to follow them, after he destroyed them from before you, and that you do not ask about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods?—so that I may do the same.’ 31 You shall not do so to Shema your God, for they have done for their gods all the detestable things that Shema hates, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

1 You shall carefully do everything that I command you today. You shall not add to it or take away from it.

2 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 3 and the sign or the wonder that he spoke to you happens, and if he says, ‘Let us follow other gods which you have not known and let us serve them,’ 4 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams, for Shema your God is testing you, to know whether you love Shema your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 You shall follow Shema your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 6 And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Shema your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to draw you aside from the way which Shema your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

7 If your brother, the son of your father, or the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you hold to your chest, or your friend, that is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you and your fathers have not known, 8 of the gods of the peoples that are around you, near to you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 9 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him, 10 but you shall certainly kill him. Your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 11 And you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from Shema your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 12 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

13 If you hear in one of your cities, which Shema your God gives you to live in, 14 saying “Some worthless men have gone out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known,’” 15 then you shall investigate, search and ask carefully. And look, if it is true and certain that such a detestable thing has been done among you, 16 you shall certainly strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword devoting it to destruction, and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 17 And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its open square and shall burn with fire the city and all its plunder as a whole burned offering to Shema your God, and it shall be a heap forever; it shall never be rebuilt. 18 And none of the devoted things shall cling to your hand, so that Shema may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy and have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he swore to your fathers, 19 when you obey the voice of Shema your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you today, to do what is right and good in the eyes of Shema your God.

1 You are the children of Shema your God. You shall not cut yourselves or shave a bald patch between your eyes for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to Shema your God, and Shema your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth. 3 You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4 And these are the animals which you may eat: the ox, and the sheep, and the goat, 5 the deer, and the gazelle, and the roe deer, and the wild goat, and the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 You may eat every animal among the animals that has a hoof divided in two [and] chews the cud. 7 Nevertheless you shall not eat these among those that chew the cud or have divided hooves: the camel, and the hare, and the hyrax, because they chew the cud but do not have divided hooves; they are unclean to you. 8 And the pig, because it has a hoof divided in two but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

9 And among all that are in the waters, you may eat whatever has fins and scales, 10 and you shall not eat whatever does not have fins and scales; it is unclean to you. 11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey, 13 and the kite, and the falcon of its kind, 14 and every raven of its kind, 15 and the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the seagull of its kind, and the hawk, 16 and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the horned owl, 17 and the pelican, and the vulture, 18 and the stork, and the heron of its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 19 All winged swarming creatures are unclean to you; you shall not eat of them. 20 You may eat any clean bird. 21 You shall not skin any carcass. You may give it to the foreign resident that is within your cities, so that he may skin it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to Shema your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

22 You shall certainly tithe all the harvest of your seed that comes from the field each year. 23 And you shall eat it in the presence of Shema your God in the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, so that you may learn to fear Shema your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there, when Shema your God blesses you, 25 then you shall turn it into money, and tie up the money in your hand and go to the place which Shema your God has chosen, 26 and you shall spend the money on whatever your soul desires, on oxen, or on sheep, on wine, or on strong drink, or on whatever your soul asks of you, and you shall eat there in the presence of Shema your God, and you shall celebrate, you and your household. 27 And you shall not abandon the Levite within your cities, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 At the end of [every] three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your harvest in the same year, and shall store it within your cities, 29 and the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the foreign resident, and the orphan, and the widow, that are within your cities, shall come and eat and be full, so that Shema your God may bless you in all the work of your hands which you do.

1 At the end of [every] seven years you shall grant a release from debts. 2 And this is the way to grant the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not demand repayment from his neighbor, his brother, because Shema’s release has been proclaimed. 3 You may demand repayment from a foreigner, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother. 4 But there shall be no poor people among you, for Shema your God will certainly bless you in the land which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, 5 if only you diligently obey the voice of Shema your God, to observe and to do all this commandment which I command you today. 6 For Shema your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

7 If there is among you a poor man, one of your brothers, within any of your cities in the land which Shema your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother, 8 but you shall certainly open your hand to him, [and] you shall certainly lend him enough for his need [in that] which he lacks. 9 Be careful not to have a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The year of plenty, the year of release, is near,’ otherwise you may turn a hostile eye toward your poor brother, you may give him nothing, and he may cry to Shema against you, making you guilty of sin. 10 You shall certainly give to him, and your heart shall not be troubled when you give to him, because of this Shema your God will bless you in all your works and in everything you put your hands to. 11 For there will always be poor people in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall certainly open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.’

12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall provide for him generously out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As Shema your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Shema your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. 16 And if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, because he is well off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl and push it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And you shall do the same to your female slave. 18 And it shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. And Shema your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 You shall dedicate all the firstborn males born of your herd and your flock to Shema your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it in the presence of Shema your God each year in the place which Shema has chosen, you and your household. 21 And if it has any defect, [if it is] unable to walk properly or blind, or any serious defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Shema your God. 22 You shall eat it within your cities, the unclean and the clean [shall eat it] alike, as the gazelle, and as the deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.

1 Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to Shema your God, for in the month of Abib Shema your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall sacrifice the Passover to Shema your God of the flock and the herd, in the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat it for seven days with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry, so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And there shall be no yeast seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain all night until the morning. 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your cities which Shema your God gives you, 6 but you shall sacrifice the Passover in the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there in the evening, at the setting of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall roast and eat it in the place which Shema your God has chosen, and you shall return in the morning to your tents. 8 You shall eat unleavened bread for six days, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to Shema your God; you shall not do any ordinary work.

9 You shall count seven weeks for yourself; from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to Shema your God with a contribution as a freewill offering of your hands, which you shall give as Shema your God has blessed you. 11 And you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite that is within your cities, and the foreign resident, and the orphan, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and you shall observe and do these decrees.

13 You shall keep the Feast of Shelters for seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall celebrate in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave, and your female slave, and the Levite, and the foreign resident, and the orphan, and the widow, that are within your cities. 15 You shall keep a feast for seven days to Shema your God in the place which Shema your God has chosen, because Shema your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be completely joyful. 16 Three times a year all your males shall appear in the presence of Shema your God in the place which he has chosen: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Shelters, and they shall not appear in the presence of Shema empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Shema your God which he has given you.

18 You shall appoint judges and officers in all your cities which Shema your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with fair judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice, and you shall not show partiality, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the words of the righteous. 20 You shall pursue complete justice, so that you may live and inherit the land which Shema your God gives you. 21 You shall not plant an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Shema your God which you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which Shema your God hates.

1 You shall not sacrifice to Shema your God an ox or a sheep in which there is a defect [or] anything evil, for those are detestable things to Shema your God.

2 If a man or woman is found among you, within any of your cities which Shema your God gives you, who does what is evil in the eyes of Shema your God by breaking his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the army of heaven, which I have not commanded him, 4 and you were told, and you have heard [of it], then you shall investigate carefully, and look, if it is true and certain that such a detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your gates, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. 6 The person sentenced to die shall be put to death on testimony from the mouth of two witnesses or from the mouth of three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on testimony from the mouth of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

8 If a matter arises that is too difficult for you to judge, between blood and blood, and between plea and plea, and between blow and blow, in disputes within your cities, then you shall get up and go up to the place which Shema your God has chosen, 9 and you shall come to the Levitical priests, and to the judge who is serving at that time, and they shall investigate and tell you the verdict. 10 And you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place which Shema your God has chosen, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they shall teach you. 11 You shall act according to the instructions they give you and the judgment they tell you. And you shall not turn aside from the verdict they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12 And the man who acts arrogantly, by not obeying the priest who stands to serve there in the presence of Shema your God and the judge, that man shall die. And you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and shall no longer act arrogantly.

14 When you come to the land which Shema your God gives you, and possess it, and live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall certainly set as king over you the one whom Shema your God shall choose. You shall set one from among your brothers as king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he shall not accumulate horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to accumulate horses, since Shema has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not accumulate wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away, nor shall he accumulate large amounts of silver and gold for himself. 18 And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from [what is] before the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear Shema his God, to keep all the words of this law and these decrees, to do them, 20 so that his heart may not become proud toward his brothers, and so that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he may live long on the throne of his kingdom, he and his children, among Israel.

1 The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Shema made by fire and his share. 2 And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Shema is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. 3 And this shall be the priests’ rightful share from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the first produce of your grain, your new wine and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. 5 For Shema your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand before Shema your God to serve him and to bless in his name, he and his sons forever. 6 And if a Levite comes from one of your cities out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreign resident, and he comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Shema has chosen, 7 then he shall serve in the name of Shema his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Shema. 8 He shall have equal portions to eat, besides [what comes from] the sale of his ancestral property.

9 When you come into the land which Shema your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through fire, a spell caster, a diviner, a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, 11 one who uses charms, one who consults a spirit, a spirit medium, or one who consults the dead. 12 For all who do these things are detestable to Shema your God, and because of these detestable practices Shema your God is driving them out from before you. 13 You shall be wholehearted with Shema your God. 14 For these nations, which you shall drive out, listen to the diviners and to the spell casters; but as for you, Shema your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 Shema your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me, and you shall listen to him, 16 according to all that you asked of Shema your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear again the voice of Shema my God or see this great fire of his, so that I do not die.’

17 And Shema said to me, ‘What they have said is good. 18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19 And I will hold whoever does not listen to his words which he shall speak in my name accountable for [it]. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How can we recognize a word which Shema has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Shema, [if] the word does not happen or come true, that is a word which Shema has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it arrogantly; you shall not be afraid of him.

1 When Shema your God destroys the nations, whose land Shema your God gives you, and you drive them out, and live in their cities, and in their houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which Shema your God gives you to possess. 3 You shall prepare the roads, and divide into three parts the territory of your land, which Shema your God gives you to inherit, so that every killer may flee there. 4 And this is the case of the killer, who shall flee there and live: Anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him previously— 5 and when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and he wields the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live, 6 so that the avenger of blood does not pursue the killer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him dead, though he did not deserve to die, since he did not hate him previously. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities.’

8 And if Shema your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers, 9 if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love Shema your God and to walk always in his ways, then you shall add three more cities, besides these three, 10 so that innocent blood is not shed in the middle of your land, which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood is not on you. 11 If any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and hand him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

14 You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which earlier generations have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Shema your God gives you to possess. 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any wrongdoing or for any sin, whatever sin he commits; a matter shall be established on testimony from the mouth of two witnesses or from the mouth of three witnesses. 16 And if a malicious witness rises up against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men involved in the dispute shall stand before Shema, and before the priests and the judges who are serving at that time. 18 And the judges shall investigate carefully, and look, the witness is a false witness; a liar testified against his brother. 19 You shall do to him, as he had intended to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall never again do any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity; [it shall be] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

1 When you go to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them, for Shema your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people, 3 and shall say to them, ‘Listen, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies, do not let your heart grow weak, do not fear or be terrified or panicked by them, 4 for Shema your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, and to save you.’ 5 And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there a man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man does not dedicate it. 6 And is there a man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man does not enjoy its fruit. 7 And is there a man who has become engaged to a wife and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man does not marry her.’ 8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, ‘Is there a man who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not make his brother’s heart melt like his own heart.’ 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then they shall appoint army commanders at the head of the people.

10 When you come near to a city to fight against it, [first] proclaim peace to it. 11 And if its answer to you is peace and it opens to you, then all the people that are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. 12 And if it will not make peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when Shema your God hands it over into your hand, you shall strike down all of its males with the edge of the sword, 14 but the women and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, its plunder, you shall take for plunder to yourself; and you shall eat the plunder of your enemies, which Shema your God has given you. 15 You shall do this to all the cities which are very far away from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16 But of the cities of these peoples, that Shema your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall keep alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall completely destroy them, the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Shema your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to imitate all their detestable practices, which they have done to their gods, and so you would sin against Shema your God.

19 When you besiege a city a long time, making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them, but you shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man that it should be besieged by you? 20 You shall destroy and cut down only the trees which you know are not trees for food, so that you may build siegeworks against the city that made war with you, until it falls.

1 If anyone is found killed in the land which Shema your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has struck him, 2 your elders and your officers shall come, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around the man who was killed. 3 And the elders of the city nearest to the man who was killed shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not been led by an owner. 4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall behead the heifer there in the valley. 5 And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for Shema your God has chosen them to serve and to bless in the name of Shema, and according to their word every dispute and every blow shall be [settled]. 6 And all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the man who was killed, shall wash their hands over the beheaded heifer in the valley, 7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. 8 Shema, forgive your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the innocent blood among your people Israel.’ And the blood shall be atoned for them. 9 So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of Shema.

10 When you go to battle against your enemies, and Shema your God hands them over into your hands, and you carry away their captives, 11 and see among their captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire for her, and would take her for yourself as a wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head, and trim her nails. 13 And she shall take off the clothes of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month, and after that you shall have sex with her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 Then, if you are not pleased with her, you shall let her go wherever she wants; but you shall not sell her at all for money, nor shall you deal with her maliciously, because you have humiliated her.

15 If a man has two wives, one loved and one hated, and they have given him children, [both] the loved and the hated, and if the firstborn son belongs to the wife who is hated, 16 then on the day when he gives his sons what he has as an inheritance, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength, and his is the right of the firstborn.

18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son that will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, [though] they discipline him, will not obey them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his place. 20 And they shall say to the men of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

22 If a man has committed a sin punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall certainly bury him the same day, for anyone who is hanged is cursed by God; you shall not defile your land which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance.

1 You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep or all of his livestock stray, and ignore them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother asks you for it, and you shall return it to him. 3 So you shall do with his donkey, and so you shall do with his piece of clothing, and so you shall do with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found; you may not ignore [it]. 4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox, or all of his livestock, fallen down along the road, and ignore them; you shall certainly help him to lift them up. 5 A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing, for [these are] detestable to Shema your God, as is whoever does these things.

6 If a bird’s nest happens to be in front of you along the road, in any tree or on the ground, [with] young ones or eggs, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may be well with you, and so that you may live long. 8 When you build a new house, you shall make a protective wall for your roof, so that you may not bring blood on your house, if anyone falls from it. 9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, so that the entire yield is not forfeited, the seed which you have sown, and the produce of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear mixed fabric, wool and linen together. 12 You shall make yourself fringes on the four edges of your clothing with which you cover yourself.

13 If any man takes a wife, and has sex with her, and hates her, 14 and makes slanderous accusations against her, and gives her a bad reputation, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her the [evidence of] virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the [evidence of] the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, and he hated her, 17 and look, he has made slanderous accusations against her, saying, ‘I did not find in your daughter the [evidence of] virginity,’ and yet this is the [evidence of] my daughter’s virginity.’ And he shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him, 19 and they shall fine him one hundred [pieces of] silver, and give them to the father of the young woman, because he gave the virgins of Israel a bad reputation. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. 20 But if the matter is true, that the [evidence of] virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by acting as a prostitute in her father’s house; so you shall purge the evil from among you. 22 If a man is found having sex with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man that had sex with the woman and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.

23 If there is a young woman that is a virgin engaged to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and has sex with her, 24 you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out while in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor’s wife; so you shall purge the evil from among you. 25 But if the man finds the young woman who is engaged in the field, and the man forces her and has sex with her, then only the man that had sex with her shall die, 26 but you shall do nothing to the young woman; the young woman has committed no sin punishable by death, for this matter is like a man attacking his neighbor and killing him; 27 for he found her in the field, the engaged young woman cried out, and there was no one to save her.

28 If a man finds a young woman that is a virgin, that is not engaged, and seizes her, and has sex with her, and they are found, 29 then the man that had sex with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty [pieces of] silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humiliated her; he may not divorce her all his days.

1 A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt. 2 A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall not enter the assembly of Shema. 3 A person of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of Shema; none of his [descendants] shall enter, even to the tenth generation, into the assembly of Shema. 4 An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of Shema; none of their [descendants] shall enter, even to the tenth generation, into the assembly of Shema forever, 5 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam the son of Beor, the fortune-teller of Aram Naharaim, against you to curse you. 6 Nevertheless, Shema your God would not listen to Balaam, but Shema your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Shema your God loved you. 7 You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever. 8 You shall not hate an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not hate an Egyptian, because you were a foreign resident in his land. 9 Children of the third generation that are born to them shall enter into the assembly of Shema.

10 When you are camped against your enemies, then you shall guard yourself from every evil thing. 11 If there is among you any man who is not clean because of a nighttime emission, then he shall go out of the camp; he shall not come within the camp. 12 But if he washes his body in water, and when the sun sets, then afterward he shall come to the camp. 13 And you shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it, 14 and you shall have a peg on your belt, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement. 15 For Shema your God walks in the middle of your camp, to rescue you, and to hand your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, so that he may not see an unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

16 You shall not hand a slave who has escaped from his master to you back over to his master. 17 He shall live among you in the place which he chooses in one of your cities, where it pleases him best. You shall not oppress him. 18 No [cult] prostitute shall live among the daughters of Israel, nor shall a male [cult] prostitute live among the sons of Israel. 19 You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of Shema your God for any vow, for both of these are detestable things to Shema your God. 20 You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 21 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you shall not charge your brother interest, so that Shema your God may bless you in everything you put your hands to in the land which you are entering to possess.

22 When you make a vow to Shema your God, you shall not delay paying it, for Shema your God will certainly demand it from you, and you will be guilty of sin. 23 But if you refrain from vowing, you shall not be guilty of sin. 24 You shall carefully do what has come from your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to Shema what you have promised with your mouth. 25 When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your own pleasure, but you shall not put any in your containers. 26 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pick the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

1 When a man takes a wife, and has sex with her, and marries her, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her, he shall write her a divorce document, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she has left his house, she may go and be another man’s [wife]. 3 And if the latter husband hates her, and writes her a divorce document, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband, who took her to be his wife, dies, 4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is a detestable thing in the presence of Shema. And you shall not bring sin on the land, which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance. 5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army, nor shall he be assigned any duty. He shall be free at home for one year, and shall be happy with his wife whom he has taken. 6 No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.

7 If a man is found kidnapping one of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him maliciously or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you. 8 Be careful in the plague of leprosy, to be very careful to do according to all the law that the Levitical priests shall teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9 Remember what Shema your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

10 When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make a loan shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge, 13 you shall certainly return to him the pledge at the setting of the sun, so that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you in the presence of Shema your God.

14 You shall not oppress a hired worker, who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or of your foreign residents that are in your land within your cities. 15 You shall pay him his wages that day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it, so that he does not cry to Shema against you and make you guilty of sin. 16 Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 You shall not distort the justice [due to] an orphan foreign resident, or take the widow’s garment in pledge, 18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Shema your God redeemed you; therefore I command you to do this thing.

19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the foreign resident, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Shema your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not harvest the branches again; it shall be for the foreign resident, for the orphan, and for the widow. 21 When you gather [the grapes of] your vineyard, you shall not pick what is left after harvesting; it shall be for the foreign resident, for the orphan, and for the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you this thing.

1 If there is a dispute between men, and they come into court, and [the judges] judge between them, they shall declare the righteous innocent and condemn the wicked. 2 And if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and be beaten in his presence, with the number of blows matching his wickedness. 3 He may beat him with forty [lashes], [but] he shall not exceed [these], so that your brother is not degraded in your eyes if he goes beyond these with many lashes. 4 You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5 If brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no sons, the dead man’s wife shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall have sex with her, and take her as his wife, and fulfill his duty to her as her husband’s brother. 6 And the firstborn son that she bears shall succeed in the name of his dead brother, so that his name may not be erased from Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill his duty to me as my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he stands, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his shoe off from his foot, and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘This shall be done to the man that does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And he shall be called in Israel, ‘the house of him who had his shoe pulled off.’

11 If men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband out of the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand, and seizes his flesh, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13 You shall not have different weights in your bag, a large one and a small one. 14 You shall not have different measures in your house, a large one and a small one. 15 You shall have an accurate and fair weight, and an accurate and fair measure, so that your days may be long in the land which Shema your God gives you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act unrighteously, are detestable to Shema your God. 17 Remember what Amalek did to you along the road as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you along the road, and struck your rear, all who were weak behind you, when you were exhausted and tired, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore, when Shema your God has given you rest from all your enemies around, in the land which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, you shall erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

1 And when you come in to the land which Shema your God gives you for an inheritance, and have taken possession of it, and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Shema your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Shema your God has chosen to make his name live there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is serving at that time, and say to him, ‘I declare today to Shema your God that I have come to the land which Shema swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of Shema your God. 5 And you shall answer and say in the presence of Shema your God, ‘An Aramean oppressed my father, and he went down to Egypt and lived as a foreign resident there, few in number. And there he became a great, mighty and numerous nation. 6 And the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, and imposed harsh slavery on us. 7 And we cried to Shema, the God of our fathers, and Shema heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our hard labor, and our oppression. 8 And Shema brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with a great revelation, and with signs, and with wonders. 9 And he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now, look, I brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Shema, have given me.’ And you shall set it down in the presence of Shema your God, and worship in the presence of Shema your God. 11 And you shall celebrate in all the good which Shema your God has given you and your household, you, and the Levite, and the foreign resident who is among you.

12 When you have finished setting aside all the tithe of your crop in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreign resident, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your cities and be full, 13 then you shall say in the presence of Shema your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite, to the foreign resident, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me. I have not broken any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of it in my sadness, or removed any of it while being unclean, or given of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of Shema my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy home, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

16 Today Shema your God commands you to do these decrees and rules; you shall keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Look, you have proclaimed Shema today to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his decrees, and his commandments, and obey his voice. 18 And look, Shema has proclaimed you today to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments, 19 and to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and so that you may be a holy people to Shema your God, as he has spoken.” —

1 And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2 And on the day you cross the Jordan to the land which Shema your God gives you, you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross, so that you may go in to the land which Shema your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Shema, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on [Mount] Ārgarizem,⁠a and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to Shema your God, an altar of stones; you shall use no iron [tool] on them. 6 You shall build the altar to Shema your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burned offerings on it to Shema your God. 7 And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there, and you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

9 And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: “Pay attention and listen, Israel: Today you have become a holy people to Shema your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of Shema your God, and keep his commandments and his decrees, which I command you today.” 11 And Moses instructed the people the same day, saying: 12 “These shall stand to bless the people on [Mount] Ārgarizem, when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall answer, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15 ‘The man who makes a carved or cast-metal image, detestable things to Shema, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret is cursed.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ 16 ‘Anyone who degrades his father or his mother is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 17 ‘Anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 18 ‘Anyone who misleads a blind man on the road is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 19 ‘Anyone who perverts the justice [due] to the orphan, the foreign resident, and the widow is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 20 ‘Anyone who has sex with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt, is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 21 ‘Anyone who has sex with any animal is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 22 ‘Anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 23 ‘Anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 24 ‘Anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25 ‘Anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26 ‘Anyone who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them is cursed.’⁠b And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

1 And if you diligently obey the voice of Shema your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you today, Shema your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come on you and reach you, if you obey the voice of Shema your God. 3 You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. 4 The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock shall be blessed. 5 Your basket and your kneading bowl shall be blessed. 6 You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. 7 Shema will cause your enemies that rise up against you to be struck down before you; they shall come out against you one way, and shall flee before you seven ways. 8 Shema will command the blessing on you in your barn, and in everything you put your hands to, and he will bless you in the land which Shema your God gives you. 9 Shema will establish you as a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Shema your God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Shema, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And Shema will make you prosper abundantly, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Shema swore to your fathers to give you.

12 Shema will open to you his good treasury from the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season, to bless all the work of your hands, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And Shema will make you a head and not a tail, and you shall only be above, and you shall not be below, if you obey the commandments of Shema your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do [them], 14 and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to follow other gods to serve them.

15 But if you will not obey the voice of Shema your God, to observe his commandments and his decrees which I command you today, all these curses shall come on you and reach you: 16 You shall be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. 17 Your basket and your kneading bowl shall be cursed. 18 The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animal, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock shall be cursed. 19 You shall be cursed when you come in, and you shall be cursed when you go out. 20 Shema will send on you the bitterness, and the dismay, and the rebuke, in everything you put your hands to do, until he destroys you, and until he ruins you quickly, because of your evil deeds by which you have abandoned me. 21 Shema will make the plague cling to you, until he has destroyed you from the land which you are entering to possess.

22 Shema will strike you with a wasting disease, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until they ruin you. 23 And your heaven that is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. 24 Shema will make the rain of your land powder and dust from heaven. It shall come down on you until he destroys you. 25 Shema will cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a terror among all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your carcass shall be food to the birds of the heavens, and to the animals of the earth. And there shall be no one to frighten [them] away.

27 Shema will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with hemorrhoids, and with scurvy, and with the itch of which you cannot be healed. 28 Shema will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. 29 And you shall grope at noon, as the blind grope in darkness, and your way shall not prosper. And you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to save you. 30 You shall become engaged to a wife, and another man shall have sex with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be returned to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to save you. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look on and fail with longing for them all day long, and it shall not be in the power of your hand [to prevent it]. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall only be oppressed and crushed continually. 34 And you shall be driven mad by the sight of your eyes which you shall see. 35 Shema will strike you with a painful boil on the knees and on the legs, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 Shema will bring you and your king whom you shall set over you to a nation that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become a notorious example and a proverb, and an object of hatred among all the peoples where Shema shall lead you away. 38 You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather little in, for the locust shall devour it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor store [the grapes], for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not pour out a drink offering, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42 The locust shall devour all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 The foreign resident that is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. 45 And all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and reach you until they destroy you, because you did not obey the voice of Shema your God, to keep his commandments and his decrees which he commanded you. 46 And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve Shema your God with joy, and with gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all [things]. 48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies that Shema shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all [things]. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.

49 Shema will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle sees, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 a nation with a fierce face, that shall not respect the old or show favor to the young, 51 and shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until he destroys you, who also shall not leave you grain, or new wine, or oil, the offspring of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until he has destroyed you. 52 And he shall besiege you in all your cities, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, shall come down throughout all your land. And he shall besiege you in all your cities throughout your land, which Shema your God has given you. 53 And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom he has given you, in the siege and in the suffering that your enemies shall inflict on you.

54 The most pampered and delicate man among you shall turn a hostile eye toward his brother, and toward the wife he holds to his chest, and toward the children he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left, in the siege and in the suffering that your enemies shall inflict on you in all your cities.

56 The pampered and delicate woman among you, who would not dare to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and delicacy, shall turn a hostile eye toward the husband she holds to her chest, toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears, for she shall eat them for lack of all [things] secretly, in the siege and in the suffering that your enemies shall inflict on you in your cities.

58 If you will not be careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, so that you may fear this glorious and awe-inspiring name, Shema your God, 59 then Shema your God will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring extraordinary: great and lasting plagues, and severe and lasting sicknesses. 60 And he will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they shall cling to you. 61 Shema will also bring on you every sickness and everyone who strikes that is not written about in this book of law, until he destroys you. 62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the voice of Shema your God. 63 And as Shema rejoiced over you to benefit you and to increase your numbers, so Shema will rejoice over you to bring about your death and to destroy you. And you shall be pulled from the land which you are entering to possess.

64 And Shema will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of wood and stone. 65 And among these nations you shall find no relief, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot, but Shema will give you a trembling heart there, failing eyes, and a languishing soul. 66 And your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. 68 And Shema will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the route which I told you ‘you shall never see again,’ and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man shall buy you.” 69 These are the words of the covenant which Shema commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

1 And Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that Shema did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants and to all his land, 2 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 3 But Shema has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear to this day. 4 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your shoes have not worn off your feet. 5 You have not eaten bread, and have not drunk wine or strong drink, so that you may know that I am Shema your God. 6 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle. And we struck them down, 7 and we took their land, and it was given as inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. 8 Keep the words of this covenant, and do them, so that you may succeed in all that you do.

9 All of you stand today before Shema your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 10 your little ones, and your wives, and your foreign resident that is among your camps, from the cutter of your wood to the drawer of your water, 11 so that you may enter into the covenant of Shema your God, and into his oath, which Shema your God makes with you today, 12 so that he may establish you today for himself as a people, and so that he may be to you a God, as he told you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

13 And I am not making this covenant and this oath with you alone, 14 but with the one who stands here with us today before Shema our God, and also with the one who is not here with us today, 15 for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed, 16 and you have seen their detestable things, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them, 17 so that there is not among you a man, woman, family or tribe whose heart has turned away today from Shema our God, to go serve the gods of those nations, so that there is not among you a root bearing poison and wormwood, 18 and when he hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,’ to destroy the moist with the dry. 19 Shema will not be willing to pardon him, but then the anger of Shema and his jealousy will burn against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie on him, and Shema will erase his name from under heaven. 20 And Shema will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law.

21 And the generation to come, your children who shall rise up after you and the foreigner who shall come from a distant land, shall say when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses with which Shema has made it sick: 22 ‘[By] sulfur and salt all its land is burned. It yields no seed, and grows nothing, and no grass can sprout on it. [It is] an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Shema overthrew in his anger, and in his fury.’ 23 And all the nations shall say, ‘Why has Shema done this to this land? And why is this anger so fiercely hot?’ 24 Then men shall say, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Shema, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 25 and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they did not know, and that he had not given to them. 26 And the anger of Shema burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses written in this book. 27 And Shema rooted them out of their land in anger, and in fury, and in great indignation, and threw them into another land, as is the case today.’ 28 The secret things belong to Shema our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

1 And when all these things come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations, to which Shema your God will drive you, 2 and you return to Shema your God, and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul, 3 then Shema your God will return [to you] with your repentance, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, among whom Shema your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the farthest parts of heaven, from there Shema your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you. 5 And Shema your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And he will increase your numbers beyond those of your fathers. 6 And Shema your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Shema your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7 And Shema your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you shall return and obey the voice of Shema your God, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 9 And Shema your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your ground, and in the fruit of your cattle, for good. For Shema will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of Shema your God, to keep his commandments and his decrees which are written in this book of the law, [and] when you turn to Shema your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 For this commandment which I command you today is not remote from you, nor is it far away. 12 It is not in heaven, so that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you should say, ‘Who shall cross the sea for us, and bring it to us so that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.

15 See, I have set before you life, and good, and death, and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love Shema your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his decrees, and his commandments, and his rules, so that you may live and increase in number, and so that Shema your God may bless you in the land which you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not obey, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall certainly be destroyed; you shall not live long in the land, which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, [that] I have set before you the life and the death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring, 20 to love Shema your God, and to obey his voice, and to hold fast to him, for he is your life, and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which Shema swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you.”

1 And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. And Shema told me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ 3 Shema your God is he who is crossing ahead of you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall drive them out. And Joshua is he who is crossing ahead of you, as Shema has spoken. 4 And Shema will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And Shema will hand them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and firm; do not fear or be terrified of them, for Shema your God is he who goes with you; he will not abandon you or desert you.”

7 And Moses called Joshua, and said to him in the eyes of all Israel: “Be strong and firm, for you shall bring this people into the land which Shema has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8 And Shema is he who goes ahead of you. He will be with you; he will not abandon you, or desert you. Do not fear or be discouraged.” 9 And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Shema, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them saying: “At the end of [every] seven years, in the appointed time of the year of release, in the Feast of Shelters, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before Shema your God, in the place which he has chosen, he shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, the men and the women, and the little ones, and your foreign resident that is within your cities, so that they may hear, and so that they may learn, and fear Shema your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and so that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear Shema their God, as long as they live in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

14 And Shema said to Moses: “Look, the time is approaching for you to die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may give him instructions.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And Shema appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood by the entrance of the Tent.

16 And Shema said to Moses: “Look, you are about to lie down with your fathers, and this people will rise up, and act as a prostitute by following the foreign gods of the land, to which they go to be among them, and they will abandon me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger shall burn against them in that day, and I will abandon them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be plunder, and many evils and troubles shall come on them. And they will say in that day, ‘Look, evils have come on us because our God is not with us!’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face from them in that day for all the evil which they did, when they turned to other gods.

19 So now write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them to the land which I swore to their fathers to give them, flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and are full, and grow fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come on them, this song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their offspring, for I know their inclination which they form today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore to his fathers.”

22 And Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. 23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun instructions, and said: “Be strong and firm, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land, which I swore to them, and I will be with you.” 24 And when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, writing them to the end,

25 Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Shema, saying: 26 “Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Shema your God, so that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Look, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Shema, and how much more after my death! 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, so that I may speak these words in their hearing, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will completely corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will happen to you in days to come, because you will do what is evil in the eyes of Shema, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”

30 And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, to the end: —

1 “Listen, heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 2 My teaching shall drop as the rain, my speech shall flow as the dew, as gentle rain on grass, and as showers on the plants. 3 For I will invoke the name of Shema, and declare the greatness of our God. 4 The rock’s work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without wrongdoing, he is just and right. 5 They have acted corruptly; the children with defects [are] not his, a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Is this how you repay Shema, foolish and unwise people? Look, he is your father who possesses you! He has made you, and established you. 7 Remember the days long past, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For Shema’s portion is his people Jacob; the lot of his inheritance is Israel. 10 He strengthened him in the desert, and set him in praise. He encircled him, and he adopted him as a son, and he guarded him as [one guards] the pupil of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, he spreads out his wings and takes them. He carries them on his wing. 12 Shema alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, he fed him [with] the yield of the field. He made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flint rock. 14 Butter from the herd, and milk of the flock, with butter from lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats, with the finest of the wheat, and you drank wine from the blood of grapes. 15 Jacob ate and was satisfied, Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, you became beautiful. Then he abandoned God who made him, and they spurned the rock of his salvation. 16 They stirred him to jealousy with foreign [gods], and with the detestable things they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons, which were not gods, gods that they had not known, [to] new ones that appeared recently, whom your fathers did not fear. 18 You disdained the rock who fathered you, and have forgotten the God who praised you. 19 And Shema saw [it], and became angry, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them, and I will see what their end shall be, for they are a generation of perversity, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. 21 They have angered me with what is no god; they have enraged me with their idols. So I will anger them with those who are no people, I will enrage them with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is lit by my anger, and it burns to the lowest Sheol. It devours the earth with its produce. It sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will gather evils on them. And I will spend my arrows on them. 24 From this hunger their food is flame. I will send fierce predators and the teeth of wild animals against them, with the venom of creatures that crawl in the dust. 25 The sword shall cause loss of loved ones outside, and there shall be terror in the rooms. [Destroying] both young man and virgin and nursing [child] with the old man. 26 I said, ‘they provoke me to anger, I would erase their memory from among men,’ 27 if it were not that I feared the provocation of my enemy, so that our adversaries would not boast and say, ‘Our hands prevailed, Shema has not done all this.’ 28 For they are a nation without its counsel, there is no understanding in them. 29 They are not wise, and [do not] understand this, and [do not] consider their final end. 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two make ten thousand flee, unless their rock had sold them, and Shema had handed them over? 31 For their rock is not as our rock, [still] our enemies are hopeful. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the grapevine of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of poison, and their clusters are bitter. 33 Their wine is poison of snakes, hostile venom of vipers. 34 Look, it is stored with me, sealed up in my storehouses! 35 For the day of vengeance and repayment, at the time when their foot shall slip.⁠a For the day of their calamity is near, and their doom comes swiftly. 36 For Shema will vindicate his people, and have compassion for his servants, when he sees that [their] power is gone, and no one remains, slave or free. 37 And they will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, 38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection.’ 39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god besides me. I kill, and I give life; I wound, and I heal. And no one can rescue anyone from my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to the heaven, and say, ‘As I live forever, 41 if I sharpen my glittering sword, and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; with the blood of the killed and the captives, from the head of the enemy’s rioters.’ 43 Nations, praise his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for the land of his people.”

44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses finished speaking these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them: “Take to heart all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe and to do, all the words of this law. 47 For this is no empty matter for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall live long in the land, which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

48 And Shema spoke to Moses on that very day, saying: 49 “Go up this Mount Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people, 51 because you acted unfaithfully against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not acknowledge me as holy among the children of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go into the land which I give the children of Israel.”

1 And this is the blessing, with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said: “Shema came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran, with tens of thousands of holy ones accompanying him. At his right hand was a fiery law for them.⁠a 3 Yes, he is loved by peoples, and all his consecrated ones are in your charge. And they submit themselves at your feet, receiving your words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance [for] the assembly of Jacob. 5 There was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. 6 May Reuben live, and not die, and may there be a number descended from him. 7 And this is for Judah, and he said, ‘Hear, Shema, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. His hand is his struggle, and you shall be a help against his adversaries.’

8 And of Levi he said, ‘Your Thummim and your Urim are with your loyal one, whom you tested at Massah, and with whom you struggled at the waters of Meribah, 9 who said of his father and of his mother, ‘I have not seen,’ he did not acknowledge his brother or recognize his own child. For they have observed your word, and keep your covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob your rules, and Israel your laws. They shall put incense before you, and a whole burned offering on your altar. 11 Bless, Shema, his resources, and accept the work of his hand, crush the hips of his adversaries, and of his enemies, who can rouse them?’

12 And of Benjamin he said, ‘He shall live in safety by the might of Shema, and he covers him all the day long, and he lives between his shoulders.’

13 And of Joseph he said, ‘His land is blessed by Shema, with bounty of heaven, with dew, and with the deep that crouches beneath, 14 and with the abundant yield of the sun, and with the abundant growth of the months, 15 and with the bounty of the ancient mountains and with the bounty of the everlasting hill, 16 and with the finest produce of the earth and its fullness, and the good will of the one who lives in the bush. [Let] its harvest [be] on the head of Joseph, and on the leader, the one crowned [among] his brothers. 17 He is a firstborn bull, and majesty is his, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he shall gore peoples, together to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.’

18 And of Zebulun he said, ‘Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents. 19 Peoples shall be summoned to My mountain, and they shall offer there sacrifices of righteousness. For they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and hidden treasures of sand.’

20 And of Gad he said, ‘May the one who enlarges Gad be blessed. He lies down like a lioness, tearing arm and brow. 21 And he chose the first part for himself, for the lawgiver’s portion was reserved there. And he warned the heads of the people. He carried out the righteousness of Shema, and his rules with Israel.’

22 And of Dan he said, ‘Dan is a lion’s cub, and he leaps out from the Bashan.’ 23 And of Naphtali he said, ‘Naphtali is satisfied and favored, full of the blessing of Shema, and possesses west and south.’

24 And of Asher he said, ‘May Asher be blessed above children, and let him be acceptable to his brothers, and let him dip his feet in oil. 25 Your bars are iron and bronze, and your greatness is as your days.’ 26 There is no one like God, Jeshurun, [who] rides on heavens for your help, and in his majesty on skies, 27 the home of the eternal God. And underneath are his everlasting arms. And he drove out the enemy from before you. And said, ‘I shall destroy.’

28 And Israel lives in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, on a land of grain and new wine, and even your heavens drop dew. 29 You are happy, Israel. Who is like you, the people saved by Shema, the shield of your help, and the sword of your majesty! And your enemies shall submit themselves to you, and you shall step on their high place.”

1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And Shema showed him all the land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, and to the western sea. 2 This verse is excluded. 3 This verse is excluded. 4 And Shema said to him: “This is the land which I swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross there.”

5 So Moses the servant of Shema died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Shema. 6 And he buried him in Giyya in the land of Moab,⁠a opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 And Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor had his vitality faded.

8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plain of Moab for thirty days. Then the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses ended. 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hand on him. And the children of Israel obeyed him, and did as Shema commanded Moses.

10 And no prophet like Moses has arisen in Israel since then, whom Shema knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and the wonders, which Shema sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12 and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great vision, which Moses performed in the eyes of all Israel.