At the time you cross the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must set up large stones and cover them with plaster.

Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

When you have crossed the Jordan, you are to set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I am commanding you today, and you are to cover them with plaster.

Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God—you must not use any iron tool on them.

Use uncut stones to build the altar of the Lord your God and offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on it.

‘The person who makes a carved idol or cast image, which is detestable to the Lord, the work of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret is cursed.’
And all the people will reply, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who dishonors his father or mother is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who leads a blind person astray on the road is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who denies justice to a foreigner, a fatherless child, or a widow is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his father’s wife is cursed, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who has sexual intercourse with any animal is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his mother-in-law is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who secretly kills his neighbor is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘Anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

The Lord will grant you a blessing on your storehouses and on everything you do; He will bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.

so that at noon you will grope as a blind man gropes in the dark. You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.

The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you don’t understand,

Though you were as numerous as the stars of the sky, you will be left with only a few people, because you did not obey the Lord your God.

Just as the Lord was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so He will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be deported from the land you are entering to possess.

The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

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

and so that He may establish you today as His people and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not here today.

Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

When someone hears the words of this oath, he may consider himself exempt, thinking, ‘I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.’ This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered land as well as the dry land.

Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He had made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

The Lord your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands with children, the offspring of your livestock, and your land’s produce. Indeed, the Lord will again delight in your prosperity, as He delighted in that of your fathers,

“This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.

It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’

And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’

But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

saying, “I am now 120 years old; I can no longer act as your leader. The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’

The Lord your God is the One who will cross ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said.

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

The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.

Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.”

The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The Lord said to Moses, “The time of your death is now approaching. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting so that I may commission him.” When Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting,

My anger will burn against them on that day; I will abandon them and hide My face from them so that they will become easy prey. Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us?’

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

Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them.

For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made.”

The Rock—His work is perfect;
all His ways are entirely just.
A faithful God, without prejudice,
He is righteous and true.

His people have acted corruptly toward Him;
this is their defect—they are not His children
but a devious and crooked generation.

Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
Isn’t He your Father and Creator?
Didn’t He make you and sustain you?

But the Lord’s portion is His people,
Jacob, His own inheritance.

He found him in a desolate land,
in a barren, howling wilderness;
He surrounded him, cared for him,
and protected him as the pupil of His eye.

“I will pile disasters on them;
I will use up My arrows against them.

They will be weak from hunger,
ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague;
I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs,
as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.

Israel is a nation lacking sense
with no understanding at all.

If only they were wise, they would figure it out;
they would understand their fate.

But their “rock” is not like our Rock;
even our enemies concede.

For their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous;
their clusters are bitter.

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

“Is it not stored up with Me,
sealed up in My vaults?

Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay.
In time their foot will slip,
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly.”

The Lord will indeed vindicate His people
and have compassion on His servants
when He sees that their strength is gone
and no one is left—slave or free.

See now that I alone am He;
there is no God but Me.
I bring death and I give life;
I wound and I heal.
No one can rescue anyone from My hand.

I raise My hand to heaven and declare:
As surely as I live forever,

he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

“Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession.

Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

For both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.

This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death.

Moses gave us instruction,
a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

He said about Dan:

Dan is a young lion,
leaping out of Bashan.

May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze,
and your strength last as long as you live.

There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides the heavens to your aid,
the clouds in His majesty.

The God of old is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
He drives out the enemy before you
and commands, “Destroy!”

How happy you are, Israel!
Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord?
He is the shield that protects you,
the sword you boast in.
Your enemies will cringe before you,
and you will tread on their backs.

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,

all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,

the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

The Lord then said to him, “This is the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said.

He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows where his grave is.

Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

“Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.

I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses.

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.

“Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.

Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit.’”

until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they too possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”

They answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go.

We will obey you, just as we obeyed Moses in everything. And may the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses.

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the gate was shut.

and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.

When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.