Deuteronomy 6:1-Deuteronomy 11:32 - Detailed Stipulations

¹ These are the commands, decrees and laws Jehovah your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them after you enter the land and take possession of it. ² As long as you live, you, your son, and your grandson must respect Jehovah your God. All of you must obey his laws and commandments I give you. Then you will live a long time. ³ Listen, O Israel, and be careful to obey these laws. Things will go well for you and your population will increase in a land flowing with milk and honey. This is what Jehovah the God of your ancestors promised you.

⁴ Listen, Israel! JEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ONE GOD! ⁵ You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with your entire mind and with all your strength. ⁶ These words that I command you this day must be in your heart. ⁷ Carefully teach them to your sons. Talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way. Speak about them when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ Bind them for a sign upon your hand. They shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ Write them upon the posts of your house, and on your gates.

¹⁰ It shall be like the time when Jehovah your God brought you into the land he promised to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. He would give you large and beautiful cities that you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be full of good things that you did not put in them. There will be wells that you did not dig. There will be vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. Jehovah will bring you into this land and you will have all you want to eat. ¹² Beware that you do not forget Jehovah, for he brought you out of Egypt your house of bondage. ¹³ You must respect Jehovah your God. Serve him and swear by his name! ¹⁴ Do not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. ¹⁵ Jehovah your God is a totally demanding zealous God. He tolerates no rivals! The anger of Jehovah your God will burn against you. He will then destroy you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶ Do not test Jehovah your God like you tested him in Massah. ¹⁷ Obey the commandments of Jehovah your God. Obey his testimonies and statutes for he commanded you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in Jehovah's sight. Then you will be able to go in and possess this good land from your enemies, just as he promised your ancestors. ¹⁹ You will throw out all your enemies as Jehovah said.

²⁰ In the future your son will ask you: 'What is the meaning of these laws and regulations that Jehovah our God has commanded you?' ²¹ You will answer your son: 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Jehovah showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and terrible signs, against Egypt, Pharaoh and his entire household. ²³ He brought us out from there. That way he could give us the land he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴ Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes. He required that we respect Jehovah our God. This was for our own good that he might preserve us alive, as things are today. ²⁵ If we are careful to do these commandments before Jehovah our God, just as he ordered us, it will mean righteousness for us.'

¹ Jehovah your God will bring you into the land you are to possess. He will clear away many nations ahead of you. The nations he will clear: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations are larger and mightier than you. ² Jehovah your God will deliver them to you. You must crush them! Completely destroy them. You should make no covenant with them. Do not show them mercy. ³ Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. ⁴ They will lead your young people away from me to serve other gods. So the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you and will destroy you suddenly. ⁵ Deal with them in this way: Destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars. Cut down their idols and burn them with fire. ⁶ You are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be his own special people out of all the nations of the earth.

⁷ Jehovah set his heart on you. He chose you, even though you did not outnumber all the other people. You were the smallest of all nations. ⁸ You were chosen because Jehovah loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers. So he used his mighty hand to bring you out. He freed you from slavery under Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Keep in mind that Jehovah your God is the only true God. He is the faithful God. He keeps his promise and is merciful to thousands of generations of those who love him and obey his commandments. ¹⁰ He destroys everyone who hates him. He never takes long to pay back anyone who hates him. ¹¹ So obey the commandments, laws, and judgments I give you today.

¹² If you listen to these rules and faithfully obey them, Jehovah your God will keep his covenant with you and be merciful to you, as he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will love you, bless you, and increase the number of your descendants. He will bless you with children. He will bless your land with produce: grain, new wine, and olive oil. He will bless your herds with calves, and your flocks with lambs and kids. This will all happen in the land Jehovah will give you, as he swore to your fathers. ¹⁴ God will bless you more than any other people. There will not be a male or a female barren among you or your livestock. ¹⁵ Jehovah will take away every sickness from you. He will not afflict you with any of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you have known. He will put them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ Destroy all the peoples whom Jehovah your God gives you. Do not look at them with pity. Do not serve their gods. For that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷ You may say in your heart: These nations are stronger then we are, how can we throw them out of their land? ¹⁸ Do not be afraid of them. Remember what Jehovah your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt. ¹⁹ You saw with your own eyes the terrible plagues, the miraculous signs, and the amazing things Jehovah did. He used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out. He will do the same thing to all the people who frighten you. ²⁰ Jehovah your God will send the hornet against them. Those who are left will hide from you and perish. ²¹ Do not be terrified of them. Jehovah your God is with you. He is great and awesome God. ²² Jehovah your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to put an end to them quickly. This is because the wild beasts are too numerous (and will multiply) around you. ²³ Jehovah your God will deliver them over to you. He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will deliver their kings into your hand. You will make their name perish from under heaven. They will not be able to stand before you for you will destroy them. ²⁵ Burn the carved images of their gods with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them. Do not take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it. It is an abomination to Jehovah your God. ²⁶ Do not bring an abomination into your house. You must utterly detest it and you must utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.

¹ Be careful to do all the commandments I commanded you today! You will then live and multiply and go in and possess the land Jehovah promised to give to your forefathers. ² Remember the forty years Jehovah your God led you in the wilderness. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know what was in your heart. Whether you would obey his commandments. ³ He humbled you (allowed you to suffer) with hunger and then fed you with manna. Neither you nor your fathers had seen this before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but must live on all (everything) (every word) that proceeds from the mouth of Jehovah. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out! And your feet did not swell these past forty years. ⁵ Learn this lesson by heart: Jehovah your God disciplined you like parents discipline their children. ⁶ Obey the commandments of Jehovah your God. Walk in his ways and respect him. ⁷ Jehovah your God will lead you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that do not dry up. Springs and underground streams flow through the valleys and the hills. ⁸ The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. ⁹ The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore. You will be able to mine copper ore in the mountains. ¹⁰ When you have eaten all you want, thank Jehovah your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget Jehovah your God. Always obey his judgments and Laws that I give you today. ¹² You will eat all you want. You will build nice houses and live in them. ¹³ Your herds and flocks, silver and gold, and all that you have will increase. ¹⁴ When this happens, be careful that you do not become arrogant and forget Jehovah your God. He brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹⁵ He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous wilderness. It was a parched, arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He was the one who made water come out of solid rock for you. ¹⁶ He fed you in the desert with manna. Your fathers had never seen this. He did this in order to humble you and test you. But he also did this so that things would go well for you in the end. ¹⁷ When you succeed do not brag: 'I am rich. I earned it all myself.' ¹⁸ Remember that Jehovah your God gives you the strength to make a living. That is how he keeps the promise he made to your fathers. ¹⁹ I warn you: 'If you forget Jehovah your God and worship other gods, you will perish.' ²⁰ Jehovah will destroy you, just as he destroyed the nations you fought. This is because you will not listen to him.

¹ Hear, O Israel, you are about to cross the Jordan River. You will force out nations that are larger and mightier than you, with big cities that have sky-high walls. ² Their people are tall and strong. They are descendants of Anakim. You know all about them. You also heard it said: Who can oppose the descendants of Anak? ³ Understand today that Jehovah your God is the one who is going ahead of you like a consuming (raging) (devouring) fire. He will wipe them out. Then he will use you to crush their power. You will take possession of their land and will quickly destroy them as Jehovah promised you. ⁴ When Jehovah your God expels these people right before your very eyes, do not say to yourselves: 'Jehovah brought us here to possess this land because we live right (are righteous).' This is not the case. It is because these nations are so wicked that Jehovah is forcing them out of your way. ⁵ It is not because you have been living right or because you are so honest that you enter to take possession of their land. It is because these people are so wicked that Jehovah your God is forcing them out of your way. It is also because Jehovah wants to confirm the promise he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ Understand this! It is not because you have been living right that Jehovah your God is giving you this good land to possess. You are a rebellious and impossible (stiff-necked) (stubborn) people!

⁷ Never forget how you made Jehovah your God angry in the desert. You rebelled against Jehovah from the day you left Egypt until you came here. ⁸ Even at Mount Horeb you made Jehovah so angry that he wanted to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the tablets of the promise that Jehovah made to you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights without food or water. ¹⁰ Then Jehovah gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by God's finger (Holy Spirit). On them were written all the words Jehovah spoke to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ At the end of forty days and nights Jehovah gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

¹² Jehovah said to me: 'Go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them. They have made a cast-idol for themselves.' ¹³ Jehovah spoke further to me: 'I have seen this people. They are a very stubborn people. ¹⁴ Leave me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire. I carried the two stone tablets of the covenant in my two hands. ¹⁶ I saw that you had indeed sinned against Jehovah your God. You made yourselves an idol, cast in the shape of a calf. You turned aside quickly from the way Jehovah had commanded you. ¹⁷ I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down before Jehovah. Like the first, forty days and nights I did not eat or drink. This was because of all your sin you committed in doing what was evil in the sight of Jehovah to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁹ I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure from Jehovah. For he was wrathful against you to the point of destroying you! But Jehovah listened to me that time also. ²⁰ Jehovah was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him! So I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. ²¹ I took your sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it. I ground it very small until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that flowed down the mountain.

²² Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked Jehovah to anger. ²³ Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea. He said: 'Go up and possess the land I have given you.' Then you rebelled against the command of Jehovah your God. You did not believe him. You did not listen to his voice! ²⁴ You have rebelled against Jehovah from the day I knew you.

²⁵ So I fell down prostrate before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights. I did this because Jehovah said he would destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to Jehovah and said: 'O Jehovah our God, do not destroy your people for they are your inheritance. You have redeemed them through your greatness. You brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. ²⁸ The land from which you brought us may say: Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land he promised them and because he hated them he has brought them out to slay them in the desert wilderness. ²⁹ Even now they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.

¹ Jehovah said to me: 'Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones. Come up to me on the mountain, and build an ark of wood for yourself.