Most Popular Bible Verses in Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Rank:

3

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

4

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

5

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

6

“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

7

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.

8

He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

9

You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.

10

You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

13

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,

14

“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.

15

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

16

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

18

“A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

19

Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

20

I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

21

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

22

In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord had commanded him to give to them,

23

So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

24

But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

25

“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

26

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

30

a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

31

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,

32

but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

33

But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’

34

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

35

When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,

37

after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

38

It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

39

Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,

40

May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, just as He has promised you!

41

See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.’

42

“I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear the burden of you alone.

43

“The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

44

and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.

45

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

46

The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

47

Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

48

For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?

49

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,

51

Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’

52

See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

53

Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

54

We captured 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.

55

‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north,

56

The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

57

then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you,

58

So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes.

59

Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

60

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;

61

How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife?

62

“Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him.

63

“Then we set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

64

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

65

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

66

It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

67

You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’

68

I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is about to give us.

69

You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’

70

I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

71

Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought us back a report and said, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is about to give us.’

72

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

73

but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

74

They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.

75

and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds,

76

Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

77

you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword.

78

and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

79

then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

80

and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied,

81

then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

82

“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

83

Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.

84

It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you;

85

but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

86

Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;

87

for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

88

Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’

89

otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,

90

You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit.

91

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’

92

“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket.

93

Is it not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?

94

The thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.

95

by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

96

Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’

97

but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

98

Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.

99

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

100

However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.

102

So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

103

Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

104

then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

105

but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

106

All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

107

You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

108

Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.

110

He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.

111

and command the people, saying, “You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

112

In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.

113

then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand.

115

that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.

116

and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’

117

and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,

118

and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

119

The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

121

You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,

122

And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

123

The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

124

Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

125

the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

126

It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

127

You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

128

Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them.

129

Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.

130

Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do.

132

So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

133

Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

134

so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

135

It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

136

Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.

137

Yet on your fathers did the Lord set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.

138

But you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all your undertakings.

139

do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

140

He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.

141

Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers,

142

You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.

143

Only your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses.

144

For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

145

So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.

146

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

147

if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

148

“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

149

Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household;

150

You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

151

I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.

152

We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city.

153

I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes.

154

When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’

155

then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

156

You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers,

157

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also.

159

The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

160

a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

161

The Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.

162

Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

164

Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

165

You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle.

166

You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

167

When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

168

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

169

He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

170

Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

171

that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

172

But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

174

I took your sinful thing, 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 came down from the mountain.

175

Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

176

Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

177

But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

178

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

179

Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

180

The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

181

the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

183

So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you.

184

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.

185

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

186

Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon

187

For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’

188

“When the Lord your God extends your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whatever you desire.

189

Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.

190

The Lord spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.

191

You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.

192

Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

193

so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

194

beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

195

For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him,

196

all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

197

So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.

198

“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

199

If the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates whatever you desire.

200

You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

201

“So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

202

But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

203

“And He will say, ‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?

204

But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case.

205

(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.)

206

(The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.

207

Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

209

O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

210

“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself.

211

so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

212

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

213

“You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

214

A man shall not take his father’s wife so that he will not uncover his father’s skirt.

215

“Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

216

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’

217

“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

218

Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.

219

who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.

220

(Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir):

222

You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

223

“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

224

then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

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He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.

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The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them.)

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you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

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You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

229

“If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’

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Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

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Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you.

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For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land.

233

“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

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Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.

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“When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger,

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then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

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Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days.

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the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today;

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You shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

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Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.

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and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.

242

“It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

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For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden.

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There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

245

‘Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,

246

Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

247

You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

248

“So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

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and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

250

the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

251

And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

252

And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

253

He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’

254

You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

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the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.

256

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.

257

When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

258

No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

259

Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

260

When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

261

and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel—

262

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

263

There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

264

The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

265

(Now the sons of Israel set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.

266

“I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,

267

For the Lord will vindicate His people,
And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.

268

But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

269

He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.

270

Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm,

271

But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

272

To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon;

273

Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it, that is, Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)

274

“So it came about when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,

275

the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

276

Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

277

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.

278

The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim.

279

Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

280

“Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of cobras.

281

You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.

282

You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

283

the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

285

To Machir I gave Gilead.

286

‘Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the brook Zered.

288

Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

289

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you.

290

He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.

291

“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;

292

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’

293

But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

294

Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

295

so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

296

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

297

The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

298

that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

299

“But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die.

300

But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

301

and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

302

This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

303

(It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

304

I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’

305

and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them;

306

I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so the Lord shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

307

I, moreover, stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord was not willing to destroy you.

308

From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.

309

And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)

310

but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.

311

The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire,

312

while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,

313

Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die.

314

Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him.)

315

‘Arise, set out, and pass through the valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.

316

You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God.

317

Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”

318

Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’

319

“The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

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just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

321

“When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

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for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

323

So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

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a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

325

When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’

326

‘O Lord God, 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?

327

For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

329

Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you.

330

“Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel.

331

So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

332

the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

333

Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

334

“Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying,

335

And the Lord spoke to me, saying,

336

The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.

337

So the Lord our God delivered Og also, king of Bashan, with all his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left.

338

But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’

339

Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

340

You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself.

341

But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.’

343

‘Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab.

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and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

345

But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,

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But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; and the Lord said to me, ‘Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter.

347

Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’

348

Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.’

349

until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God will give them beyond the Jordan. Then you may return every man to his possession which I have given you.’

350

“If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;

351

“It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.

352

Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,

354

You shall consecrate to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

355

Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
In due time their foot will slip;
For the day of their calamity is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

356

just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving to us.’

357

But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.’

358

“You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year.

359

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

360

You will 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,

361

‘Let me pass through your land, I will travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

362

But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.’

363

Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.”

364

driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.

365

So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

366

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.

367

But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

368

See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

369

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the sons of Israel.

370

“Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it,

371

You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

372

“Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

373

Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.

374

“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive,

376

When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.

377

Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

379

A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

380

If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered,

382

You may eat any clean bird.

383

I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

384

So you remained in Kadesh many days, the days that you spent there.

386

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully.’

387

It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

388

“Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

389

Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.

390

When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.

391

“Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.

393

If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant,

394

You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

395

If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

396

You and your household shall eat it every year before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses.

397

“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

398

“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’

401

“Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

402

And all the teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

403

Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.

404

You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.

405

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?’

407

Rejoice, O nations, with His people;
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And will render vengeance on His adversaries,
And will atone for His land and His people.”

408

Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

410

But if it has any defect, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

411

“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,

412

Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’

413

Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin.

414

Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

415

You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.

416

The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

417

Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.”

418

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.

420

No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord,

421

You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

422

It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.

423

Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

424

None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

425

Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

426

“Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

428

Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

429

You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

430

“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you,

431

“It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,

432

A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually.

433

The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.

434

He said,
The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones;
At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.

435

You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the Lord your God hates.

436

then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days.

437

No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

438

“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

439

When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

440

But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You are grown fat, thick, and sleek—
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scorned the Rock of his salvation.

441

If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.

442

If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her,

443

Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

444

At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town.

447

For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

448

You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as a gazelle or a deer.

449

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

450

his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

451

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.

452

Who 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 hiding place!

453

You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see.

454

The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His portion.

455

So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

456

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

457

“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

458

“If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him,

459

“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace.

460

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.

461

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 alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

462

But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

464

He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

465

Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,

466

On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

467

He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He encircled him, He cared for him,
He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

468

So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

469

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

470

They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

472

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

473

Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

474

You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.

475

Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death.

476

For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

477

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

478

Then you said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will indeed go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country.

479

“All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.

480

“When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

481

You shall not charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

482

“So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,

483

To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.

484

The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

485

You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.

486

“If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals,

487

Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!

488

Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;

489

“Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

490

And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated before your enemies.”’

491

or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

492

Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt,

493

When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

494

You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’

495

Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

496

“If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God,

497

You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;

498

The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

500

“If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young;

501

Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As the droplets on the fresh grass
And as the showers on the herb.

502

If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

503

You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

504

some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known),

505

No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

506

When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

507

“As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his,
And his horns are the horns of the wild ox;
With them he will push the peoples,
All at once, to the ends of the earth.
And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

508

If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

509

They shall have no inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.

510

Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you.

512

“Do you thus repay the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is not He your Father who has bought you?
He has made you and established you.

513

Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

514

So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

515

The Lord will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

516

Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

517

For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
Ascribe greatness to our God!

518

The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah.

519

So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

520

“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

521

You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

523

You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman.

524

“Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of all generations.
Ask your father, and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.

525

and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

526

So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

527

Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’

528

The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,

529

If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.

530

Moreover, the Lord 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, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.

532

The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

533

It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

534

“But if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin,

536

‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

537

When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you.

538

because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

539

Of Levi he said,
“Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man,
Whom You proved at Massah,
With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;

540

if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

541

You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the Lord drives you.

542

You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

543

For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
And consumes the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

544

You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess.

545

then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

546

‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’

548

and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’

549

Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I command you today.

550

Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

552

They have acted corruptly toward Him,
They are not His children, because of their defect;
But are a perverse and crooked generation.

553

And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.

554

Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you.

555

of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),

556

The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

557

you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.

559

so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

560

They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
To gods whom they have not known,
New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.

561

therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

562

You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

563

you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

564

If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing,

565

Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east,

566

“You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there,

567

However, there will be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

568

then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.

569

So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.

570

You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.

571

“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.

572

When the Lord your God cuts off the nations, whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

574

There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And through the skies in His majesty.

575

For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

576

If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you,

577

You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

578

You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.

579

So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.

580

Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

581

How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?

582

You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

583

The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.

584

For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand and serve in the name of the Lord forever.

585

So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

586

He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

587

But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

588

If I sharpen My flashing sword,
And My hand takes hold on justice,
I will render vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.

589

For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,

590

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 your midst.

591

You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep.

592

Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

593

Of Benjamin he said,
May the beloved of the Lord dwell in security by Him,
Who shields him all the day,
And he dwells between His shoulders.”

594

You shall bring out much seed to the field but you will gather in little, for the locust will consume it.

595

then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

596

You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

597

They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

598

Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you;

599

and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself,

600

“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
Their clusters, bitter.

601

You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

602

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land;

603

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

604

Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you.

605

Of Joseph he said,
Blessed of the Lord be his land,
With the choice things of heaven, with the dew,
And from the deep lying beneath,

606

It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete,

607

But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

608

and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.

609

“You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.

610

Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

611

Curds of cows, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs,
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the finest of the wheat—
And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.

612

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,

613

Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

614

The Lord our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people.

615

“Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say,

616

and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded,

617

you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

618

that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.

619

The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

620

He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
And He made him suck honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock,

621

Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?

622

You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.

623

Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

624

Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun.

625

They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

626

But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you,

627

The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.

628

You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.

629

For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

630

The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.

632

You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

633

then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt.

634

Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.

635

by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

636

But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today.

637

“This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

638

For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

639

“Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.

640

“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

641

For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

642

The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

643

“When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

644

You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the way, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly help him to raise them up.

645

The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,

646

and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,

647

If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not reenter the camp.

648

The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well.

650

“Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

651

he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.

652

Of Asher he said,
“More blessed than sons is Asher;
May he be favored by his brothers,
And may he dip his foot in oil.

653

Blessed are you, O Israel;
Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
Who is the shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
So your enemies will cringe before you,
And you will tread upon their high places.”

654

Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths,

655

This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.

656

But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

657

So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime

658

“No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.

659

(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed;

660

Of Dan he said,
“Dan is a lion’s whelp,
That leaps forth from Bashan.”

661

then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

663

When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

664

These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

665

According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.

666

So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case.

667

You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.

668

May Reuben live and not die,
Nor his men be few.”

669

the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

670

He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes.

671

for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

672

“Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and comes whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses,

673

It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’

674

Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

675

For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.

676

Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously—

677

“So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

678

but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.

679

Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power,

680

The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.

681

The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

682

Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.

683

When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

684

“When you go out as an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

685

You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you.

686

When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.

687

“These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

688

The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

689

For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

690

Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

691

Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

692

I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.

693

It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.

694

Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.

695

“You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

696

The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.

697

So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you.

698

“The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.

699

Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you.

700

He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them,

701

Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

702

They shall eat equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

703

and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.

704

You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the Lord your God is giving you;

705

And he said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to come and go, and the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’

706

The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to occupy, that you may possess his land.’

707

When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

708

If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.

709

Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them.

710

The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

711

And you shall again obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today.

712

then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.

713

you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to possess.

714

because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.

715

Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’

716

This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’

718

then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death.

719

The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

720

So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up on Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime.

721

So Israel dwells in security,
The fountain of Jacob secluded,
In a land of grain and new wine;
His heavens also drop down dew.

722

They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague
And bitter destruction;
And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.

723

and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

724

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

725

but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

726

then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

727

Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

728

moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);

729

When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people.

730

and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

731

But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

732

“But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

733

and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

734

And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’

735

and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,

736

If your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him.

737

and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

738

and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

739

It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you.

740

then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

741

“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faithfulness.

742

You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

743

From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother.

744

“Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz.

745

in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

746

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.

747

“You may eat any clean bird.

748

“Indeed their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves judge this.

749

Indeed, He loves the people;
All Your holy ones are in Your hand,
And they followed in Your steps;
Everyone receives of Your words.

750

and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

751

Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

752

So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

753

Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob.

754

Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

755

And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let it come to the head of Joseph,
And to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

756

For they are a nation lacking in counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.

757

Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

758

The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower.

759

You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.

760

Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”

761

The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.

762

It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke;

763

Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool on them.

764

Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

765

You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them.

766

And He was king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
The tribes of Israel together.

767

Of Zebulun he said,
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth,
And, Issachar, in your tents.

769

then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’

770

Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

771

So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

772

Would that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would discern their future!

773

The Lord alone guided him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

774

Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God.

775

and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

776

as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

777

For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

778

The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

779

They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
And Your law to Israel.
They shall put incense before You,
And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

780

You shall have sons and daughters but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.

781

Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

782

Be careful against an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

783

The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

784

The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely,

785

For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

786

and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,

787

It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled her.

788

if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

789

your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,

790

and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

791

You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.

792

that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today,

793

‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces,
I will remove the memory of them from men,”

794

Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel;

795

You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

796

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),

798

that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

799

The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments;

800

that a manslayer might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

801

So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

802

You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

803

Who said of his father and his mother,
‘I did not consider them’;
And he did not acknowledge his brothers,
Nor did he regard his own sons,
For they observed Your word,
And kept Your covenant.

804

then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn.

805

Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’

806

Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

807

“Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

808

Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’

809

The Levites shall then answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

810

All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

811

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God.

812

The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart;

813

The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.

814

when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

815

Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.

816

Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

817

But if the man does not desire 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 establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’

818

a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.

819

and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement.

820

You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you.

821

“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

822

and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

823

I will heap misfortunes on them;
I will use My arrows on them.

824

I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.

825

Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

826

and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea,

827

Outside the sword will bereave,
And inside terror—
Both young man and virgin,
The nursling with the man of gray hair.

828

The Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

829

It is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken.

830

across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out from Egypt.

831

then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.

832

and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

833

For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death?

834

The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

835

However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

836

then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.

837

Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit.

838

Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

839

Moses also charged the people on that day, saying,

840

From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God delivered all over to us.

841

and charges her with shameful deeds and publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her a virgin,’

842

The Lord saw this, and spurned them
Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.

843

and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;

844

The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it.

845

You shall therefore obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

846

so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.

847

If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

848

You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

849

And this regarding Judah; so he said,
“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people.
With his hands he contended for them,
And may You be a help against his adversaries.”

850

They shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever.

851

you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

852

in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

853

and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”

854

but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

855

then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.

856

You shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents.

857

then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.

858

then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

859

Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God;

860

However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you.

862

You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession, so that any manslayer may flee there.

863

“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

864

and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

865

She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

866

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

867

Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”

868

otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

869

Then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law.

870

if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

871

Thus you shall do with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with anything lost by your countryman, which he has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to neglect them.

872

They will call peoples to the mountain;
There they will offer righteous sacrifices;
For they will draw out the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.”

873

Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

874

He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your towns where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat him.

875

then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

876

But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp.

877

Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

878

Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.

879

and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.

880

Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby.

881

and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.

882

then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

883

Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us.

884

with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

885

You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.

886

Of Gad he said,
“Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad;
He lies down as a lion,
And tears the arm, also the crown of the head.

887

So the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him,

888

If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

889

Of Naphtali he said,
O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the Lord,
Take possession of the sea and the south.”

890

All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’

891

They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east,

892

You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

893

For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.

894

When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

895

You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

896

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

897

The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

898

Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

899

But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.

900

Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them.

901

Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

902

“If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers—

903

“O Lord, bless his substance,
And accept the work of his hands;
Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,
And those who hate him, so that they will not rise again.”

904

how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.

905

When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

906

Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

907

the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.

908

Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book;

909

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

910

Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

911

Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.

912

The girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, but he turned against her;

913

You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

914

“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

915

It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

916

Then he provided the first part for himself,
For there the ruler’s portion was reserved;
And he came with the leaders of the people;
He executed the justice of the Lord,
And His ordinances with Israel.”

917

When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

918

Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

919

When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them;

920

Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
That their adversaries would misjudge,
That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant,
And the Lord has not done all this.”’

921

In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’

922

For the curse, these shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

923

Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

924

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

925

You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.

926

But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

927

So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

928

The Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

929

Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

930

And with the choice yield of the sun,
And with the choice produce of the months.

931

these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt,

932

Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

933

Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.

934

We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

935

and behold, he has charged her with shameful deeds, saying, “I did not find your daughter a virgin.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city.

936

“And with the best things of the ancient mountains,
And with the choice things of the everlasting hills,

937

And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

938

You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly.”

939

Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

940

Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

941

so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.

942

“Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath,

943

The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground.

944

In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.

945

Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

946

The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.

947

You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God;

948

But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

949

They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them.

950

I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

951

So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.

952

He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

953

Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

954

Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’

955

and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God.

956

but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today

957

Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

958

for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land,

959

And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you.