“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

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,

No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery,

These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.

Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithful to Him and take oaths in His name.

You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.

See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.

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.

“If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?

“If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something improper about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

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

“A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.

“Now if you faithfully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all His commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth.

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.

In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to say to them.

Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’

but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant He swore to your fathers, as it is today.

“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

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.”

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him,

a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

“This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.

But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

But the prophet who dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.’

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

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—

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

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

I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to My words that he speaks in My name.

Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying:

May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you.

See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.’

“I said to you at that time: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own.

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

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.

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’

On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills, the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.

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

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build,

It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will make them your leaders.

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see.

We captured all his cities at that time. There wasn’t a city that we didn’t take from them: 60 cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.

The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.

you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened among you,

“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

“Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His command—the ordinances and statutes—I am giving you today.

But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?

I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.

“We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights.

“You replied to me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’

I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.

Do not show partiality when deciding a case; listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.

At that time I commanded you about all the things you were to do.

They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’

You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.

the ostrich,
the short-eared owl, the gull,
any kind of hawk,

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

you must strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Completely destroy everyone in it as well as its livestock with the sword.

Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

you must take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you.

“If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you,

But He directly pays back and destroys those who hate Him. He will not hesitate to directly pay back the one who hates Him.

“But you were not willing to go up, rebelling against the command of the Lord your God.

for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, the Lord your God will become angry with you and wipe you off the face of the earth.

“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’

When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.

“The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’

“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but you must not put any in your container.

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

The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe.

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

Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.

You are to gather all its spoil in the middle of the city square and completely burn up the city and all its spoil for the Lord your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever; it is not to be rebuilt.

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.

“But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer,

Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

He declared His covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which He wrote on two stone tablets.

So keep the command—the statutes and ordinances—that I am giving you to follow today.

be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.

You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heavens and enveloped in a dense, black cloud.

“If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the Lord your God will keep His covenant loyalty with you, as He swore to your fathers.

Do not murder.

He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint-like rock for you.

Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

I will provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and oil.

And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.

and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.

The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt.

You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,

When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the array of heaven—do not be led astray to bow down and worship them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.

Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you.

but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

the little owl, the long-eared owl,
the white owl,

It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.

Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.

“So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them!

Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.

You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’

“So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

Do this so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish.

Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.

Yet the Lord was devoted to your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

You must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God chooses—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you do,

Don’t fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even an inch of it, because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your descendants, and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil—the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you.

Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that the Lord will turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.

You may purchase food from them with silver, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.

“But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the Lord chooses.

For who out of all mankind has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and lived?

Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything He has forbidden you.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

This will occur if you obey the Lord your God, keeping all His commands I am giving you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

“Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household,

Do not deny justice or show partiality to anyone. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Then I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights; I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and provoking Him to anger.

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

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

“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?’

take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way.

Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the Lord your God swore to give your fathers,

I was afraid of the fierce anger the Lord had directed against you, because He was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

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

The Lord will remove all sickness from you; He will not put on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.

Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

You are to labor six days and do all your work,

You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice every detestable thing, which the Lord hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams of water, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 people in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many years over Israel.

But we took all the livestock and the spoil from the cities as plunder for ourselves.

Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust. Then I threw it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land the Lord is giving you.

and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.

But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for His inheritance, as you are today.

Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.

At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.

the desert owl,
the osprey, the cormorant,

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

“I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.

Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

“At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,

For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The Lord your God has been with you this past 40 years, and you have lacked nothing.’

“When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want.

Your little children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.

The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

Carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes He has commanded you.

But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers.

be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’

For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithful to Him—

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

The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today.

“Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth.

If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

“So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.

Instead, you must turn to the place Yahweh your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling and go there.

He will say: “Where are their gods,
the ‘rock’ they found refuge in?

Do nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.

(Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is 13 feet six inches long and six feet wide by a standard measure.)

The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.

Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit it.

Do not commit adultery.

Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

“The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

not to act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,

“The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

“Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.

“A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not violate his father’s marriage bed.

Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

The Lord said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”

“When the Lord your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land,

Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

which the Sidonians call Sirion, but the Amorites call Senir,

Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

“The Lord spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and thick darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

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

The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the Lord gave them.

do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water.

“If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’

Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it.

Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you.

I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.

“You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own eyes.

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan came out against us with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.

“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,

the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

“Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.

there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today,

Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.

The Lord your God will also send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.

and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden.

You will eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

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

They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.

Don’t be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

“At that time we took possession of this land. I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Aroer by the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead along with its cities.

and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

or the form of any beast on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky,

Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your other sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat.

All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

but He brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that He swore to our fathers.

Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

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

No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.

Aren’t these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the Lord your God in later days and obey Him.

and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite camp the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

You will rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

You must burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.

“At that time I begged the Lord:

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.

But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky.

He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

You must understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God:

His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

The Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

and I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.

Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his own name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.

“When all the fighting men had died among the people,

the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.

The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was 38 years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og. The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.

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

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

You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.

The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

Do not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.

I gave Gilead to Machir,

“The Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.

Do not steal.

Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years.

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you.

Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,

“Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’

But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today.

Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.

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

the Lord spoke to me,

But if the man encounters an engaged woman in the open country, and he seizes and rapes her, only the man who raped her must die.

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn up their carved images.

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

Today I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the peoples everywhere under heaven. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’

This too used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,

I will make My arrows drunk with blood
while My sword devours flesh—
the blood of the slain and the captives,
the heads of the enemy leaders.”

what He did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and He destroyed them completely;

“I commanded Joshua at that time: Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter.

“I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion; He agreed not to annihilate you.

They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.

The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, and settled in their place.

Your own eyes have seen every great work the Lord has done.

The Lord spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain.

At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to report the word of the Lord to you, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And He said:

But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.

For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.

“The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.

Don’t worship the Lord your God this way.

and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me.”

Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’

“The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.

This was just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them; they drove them out and have lived in their place until now.

“When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

“So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,

a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.

When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or fight with them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’”

Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?

because they will turn your sons away from Me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.

“I commanded you at that time: The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your fighting men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.

So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

the stork,
any kind of heron,
the hoopoe, and the bat.

Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.

“When the Lord heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath:

The Lord then said to me,

He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

So the Lord our God also handed over Og king of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left.

But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

“Do not set up an Asherah of any kind of wood next to the altar you will build for the Lord your God,

But you stand here with Me, and I will tell you every command—the statutes and ordinances—you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess.’

Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.

‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.

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

But your wives, young children, and livestock—I know that you have a lot of livestock—will remain in the cities I have given you

“But the Lord was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter.

Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.

Don’t be afraid of them, for the Lord your God fights for you.

until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.

“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years—worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,

Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

“You must consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

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.”

just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’

But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’

“Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields.

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

You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,

‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.

But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’

Go and tell them: Return to your tents.

to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place.

So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.

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

“But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:

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.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance
and divided the human race,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the people of Israel.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,

“You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a temporary resident living within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

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

When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

“When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, He said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not believe or obey Him.

“Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

But in spite of this you did not trust the Lord your God,

“One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered,

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

But you may eat every clean flying creature.

I prayed to the Lord:

Lord God, do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

For this reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

“If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her,

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the Lord completely.’

You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.

When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

“You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

“If a man or woman among you in one of your towns that the Lord your God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violating His covenant

You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of Yahweh your God at the place where He chooses to have His name dwell, so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God.

“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’—which neither you nor your fathers have known,

Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses.

When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’

“Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.

Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name.

Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

All winged insects are unclean for you; they may not be eaten.

But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the Lord has told you.

You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have known you.

The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?’

Do not have other gods besides Me.

Rejoice, you nations, concerning His people,
for He will avenge the blood of His servants.
He will take vengeance on His adversaries;
He will purify His land and His people.

“Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.

“You are sons of the Lord your God; do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head on behalf of the dead,

But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.

Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

You may spend the money on anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or anything you desire. You are to feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your family.

The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving the Lord your God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

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

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly.

You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there. There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.

It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

“All your males are to appear three times a year before the Lord your God in the place He chooses: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one is to appear before the Lord empty-handed.

“No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and He was angry enough with you to destroy you.

“Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created man on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of?

“If a man is discovered having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the man who had sex with the woman and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;
listen, earth, to the words of my mouth.

“Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.

“When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,

“If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul,

A people you don’t know will eat your land’s produce and everything you have labored for. You will only be oppressed and crushed continually.

“The Lord was angry with me also because of you and said: ‘You will not enter there either.

He said:

The Lord came from Sinai
and appeared to them from Seir;
He shone on them from Mount Paran
and came with ten thousand holy ones,
with lightning from His right hand for them.

and do not set up a sacred pillar; the Lord your God hates them.

the man who raped her must give the young woman’s father 50 silver shekels, and she must become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

“No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly.

“Appoint judges and officials for your tribes in all your towns the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

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

Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled—
you became fat, bloated, and gorged.
He abandoned the God who made him
and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

“If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.

If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and has sex with her,

When you returned, you wept before the Lord, but He didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you.

“At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your gates.

No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

“Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:

He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.

Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer.

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

you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and follow them carefully.

Who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you;
let it be a shelter for you.