Otherwise, the people of the land from which you brought us will say, "The LORD wasn't able to bring them out of the land that he had promised them. So he brought them out to kill them in the desert because he hated them."

"At that time, the LORD told me, "Chisel two tablets of stone for yourself just like the first ones, and then come up to me on the mountain. Also make for yourself a wooden chest.

So I made a chest out of acacia wood and chiseled two tablets of stones just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

Then the LORD inscribed on the tablets what he wrote before, that is, the Ten Commandments that the LORD declared to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire during the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.

"The Israelis traveled from the wells of the descendants of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died, and he was buried there. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.

From there they moved on to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams.

At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, to stand in the LORD's presence, to serve, and to bless his name until this day.

That is why the descendants of Levi do not have a portion and an inheritance among their relatives. As for the LORD, he is their inheritance, just as the LORD your God told them.

When I stood on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights as I did the first time, the LORD listened to me once again. The LORD was not willing to destroy you.

So the LORD told me, "Get up and proceed to lead the people, so they may enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give their ancestors by an oath.'"

You see, heaven even the highest heavens belongs to the LORD, along with the earth and all that is in it,

yet the LORD committed himself to love your ancestors and did so! He chose you their descendants after them from all the nations, as it is today.

"You are to love the foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

You are to fear the LORD your God and serve him. Cling to him and swear by his name.

He is the one you are to praise, because he is, your God who carried out those great and awesome things for you that you witnessed.

Your ancestors went down to Egypt with 70 people, but the LORD your God has now made you as numerous as the stars in the sky."

"Therefore love the LORD your God and be very careful to keep his injunctions, statutes, ordinances, and commands all the time.

Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the LORD your God, that is, his great and far-reaching power,

including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land;

what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, when he caused the waters of the Reed Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the LORD destroyed them, even to this day;

what he did for you in the desert until you came to this place;

and what he did to Eliab's sons Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing belonging to them in the full sight of Israel.

"Keep all the commands that I'm giving you today, so you can be strong enough to enter and possess the land that you are crossing over to inherit

and so you'll live long in the land that the LORD your God promised by an oath to give your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

For the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn't like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden.

Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven,

"If you carefully observe the commands that I'm giving you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul,

Be careful! Otherwise, your hearts will deceive you and you will turn away to serve other gods and worship them.

The wrath of God will burn against you so that he will restrain the heavens and it won't rain. The ground won't yield its produce and you'll be swiftly destroyed from the good land that the LORD is about to give you.

Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead.

Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up.

so that you and your children may live long on the land that the LORD promised to give your ancestors as long as the sky remains above the earth."

"If you carefully observe all of these commands that I'm giving you to do to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him,

Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean Sea.

No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you.

Look! I'm about to grant you a blessing and a curse

or a curse if you don't obey the commands of the LORD your God, by turning from the way that I'm commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known."

"When the LORD brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal.

They're across the Jordan River to the west, aren't they, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?

For you are about to cross the Jordan River to go in and possess the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to inherit and live in.

Be careful to obey all the statutes and ordinances that I'm placing before you today."

"These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the LORD God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth.

Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you're going to dispossess serve their gods upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place."

"You must not act like this with respect to the LORD your God.

Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live.

for you haven't arrived yet to your allotted place that the LORD your God is about to give you.

But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely,

then bring to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling place where he will establish his name everything that I'm commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the LORD.

Be careful not to offer burnt offerings at any location you happen to see

instead of at the place the LORD will choose in one of the tribal areas. There you may offer burnt offerings, and there you may do everything that I'm commanding you."

"You may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, when he provides for you in all your cities. Both ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat it as they would gazelle and deer.

"You won't be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, and the works of your hands in your own cities.

Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live in the land.

When the LORD your God enlarges your territory just as he told you and you say "I want to eat meat' since you desire to eat it, you may do so as much as you please.

"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please.

Only be sure to refrain from eating blood, because blood is the source of life and you must not consume blood with the meat.

You must not eat it, so that life will go well for you and for your children after you. Then you'll do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

"You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the LORD will choose.

Be sure to observe all these words that I'm commanding you, in order that life may go well for you and your children after you forever, for this is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God."

"When the LORD your God eliminates the nations that you are about to dispossess so you can live in their land,

after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.'

You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the LORD hates. Moreover, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to their gods.

Now as to everything I'm commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don't add to or subtract from it."

that takes place, and then he may tell you, "Let's follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let's serve them.' Even though the sign or portent comes to pass,

you must not listen to the words of that prophet or that diviner of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to make known whether or not you'll continue to love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

You must follow the LORD your God, fear him, observe his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.

That prophet or diviner of dreams must be executed, because he advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and because he lured you from the way in which the LORD your God instructed you to live. Purge the evil from among you."

from the gods of the people that surround you whether near or far from you from one end of the earth to the other).

You must not yield to him, listen to him, look with pity on him, show compassion to him, or even cover up for him.

But you must surely execute him. You must be the first to put him to death with your own hand, and then the hands of the whole community.

Stone him to death, because he sought to lure you from the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the land of slavery.

Then all Israel will hear about it, be afraid, and won't do this evil thing again among you.

"You may hear in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit

that worthless men have come from among you to entice those who live in the towns. They may say, "Let's go and serve other gods that you haven't known.'

then put the inhabitants of the town to death by the sword. Devote everything in it to divine destruction even its livestock by the sword.

Gather whatever you've taken as spoils at the public square of the town, then burn the town, along with whatever you've taken, as an offering to the LORD your God. It will remain a permanent mound of ruins, never to be rebuilt again.

Moreover, you must never take any item from those condemned things, so the LORD may yet relent from his burning anger and extend compassion, have mercy, and cause you to increase in number as he promised by an oath to your ancestors

if you obey the voice of the LORD your God by observing all his commands that I'm commanding you today. Do what is right in the sight of the LORD your God."

because you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD chose to make you his precious possession from among all the nations of the earth."

"You may choose to eat from these creatures in the water: you may eat anything with fin and scale,

but you may not eat anything without fin and scale, since it is unclean to you.

Any winged, swarming insect is unclean to you. They must not be eaten.

"You must not eat any carcass. But you may give it to the alien in your cities so he may eat it or sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. "You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."

"Be sure to tithe annually from everything you plant that yields a harvest in the field.

Then in the presence of the LORD your God, in the place where he'll choose to establish his name, you may consume the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your livestock and flock, so that you'll learn to revere the LORD your God all your life.

Now the way may be distant from you, so that you are unable to transport your tithe because you have been blessed by the LORD your God and the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name may be distant from you.

In that case, convert it into cash, secure the money, and then bring it to the place where the LORD will choose.

You may spend the money to your heart's content to buy livestock, flocks, wine, strong drink, and whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there and rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God."

so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."

This is the way to conduct remission: every creditor must cancel the loan that his friend borrowed, and he must not pressure his friend or brother to repay it, because remission to the LORD will be proclaimed.

Moreover, there will be no poor person among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that he is about to give you to possess.

Only be certain to obey the voice of the LORD your God. Carefully observe all of these commands that I'm commanding to you today.

For the LORD your God will bless you just as he promised. You are to lend to many nations but not borrow. Also, you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you."

"If there should be a poor man among your relatives in one of the cities of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your poor relative.

Instead, be sure to open your hand to him and lend him enough to lessen his need.

Be careful not to think this wicked thought to yourselves: "The seventh year, the year of remission, is drawing near,' and you show ill will toward your poor relative and not give to him. He may then call to the LORD on account of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

You must certainly give to him and not feel regret for doing so. Because of this, the LORD your God will bless all your works and everything you do.

Since poor people won't cease to exist in the land, therefore I'm commanding you: Be sure to be generous to your poor and needy relatives in your land."

"When a fellow Hebrew male or female slave is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set them free.