Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

{When I went up the mountain} to receive {the stone tablets}, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh {made} with you, and remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights, I did not eat food and I did not drink water.

And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them [was writing] according to all the words that Yahweh spoke with you at the mountain, from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

And then the Lord said to me, I have seen that this people is stiff-necked:

Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

And I looked, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; you [had] turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded [for] you.

And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.

For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.

'And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time;

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

And when Yahweh sent you [out] from Kadesh Barnea, {saying}, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe him, and you did not listen to his voice.

Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you.

And I prayed unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, that thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

lest [the people of] the land from which you brought us out from there say, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring them to the land that he {promised} to them and because of his hatred [toward] them, he has brought them out to kill them in the desert."

At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

And he wrote upon the tablets {according to the first writing}, the ten words that Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, and Yahweh gave them to me.

And I turned, and I came down from the mountain, and I put the tablets in the ark that I had made, and they are there, [just] as Yahweh commanded me.

At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto 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.

And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear [and worship] the Lord your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being],

to keep the commandments of Yahweh and his statutes that I am commanding you today {for your own good}.

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm,

and his signs and his deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all [of] his land,

and that which He hath done to the force of Egypt, to its horses, and to its chariot, when He hath caused the waters of the Red Sea to flow against their faces in their pursuing after them, and Jehovah destroyeth them, unto this day;

and that which He hath done to you in the wilderness, till your coming in unto this place;

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

The fact of the matter is, {your own eyes have seen} all [of] the great deeds of Yahweh that he did.

Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

For the fact is [that] the land {that you are about to go into} to take possession of it [is] not like the land of Egypt, [from] which you have {come out of}, where you sow your seed and you give water by [your] foot, {as in a vegetable garden}.

But the land that you [are] about to cross into to take possession of it [is] a land of hills and valleys, [and] by the rain of the heaven it drinks water,

a land that Yahweh your God [is] caring for it; continually the eyes of Yahweh your God [are] on it, from the beginning of the year up to the end of [the] year.

"And it will happen [that] if you listen carefully to my commandments that I [am] commanding you {today}, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all [of] your heart and with all [of] your soul,

That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

and teach them your children: so that thou talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up:

That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Yes, if you diligently keep all this commandment that I [am] commanding you {to observe it}, by loving Yahweh your God {by walking in} all his ways and by holding fast to him,

Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

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.

There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you {today},

and the curse, if you [do] not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but [rather] you turn from the way that I [am] commanding you {today} to go after other gods that you have not known.

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

For you are [now] about to cross the Jordan to go to take possession of the land that Yahweh, your God, [is] giving to you, and you will take possession of it and live in it,

and you must diligently {observe} all the rules and the regulations that I [am] setting {before you} {today}."

These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

{But only} to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all [of] your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go.

And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

For you have not come up to now to the resting place and to the inheritance that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you.

But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:

And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

"But {whenever you desire} you may slaughter, and you may eat meat according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you in all [of] your {towns}; the unclean and the clean may eat it [just] as [they would] the gazelle and as the deer.

You are not allowed to eat in your {towns} the tithe of your grain and your wine and your olive oil and the firstborn of your herd and your flock and all [of] your votive gifts that you vowed and your freewill offering and {your donations}.

But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.

If the place that Yahweh your God will choose to put his name there is [too] far from you, and you slaughter any of your herd and any of your flock that Yahweh has given to you [just] as I have commanded you, then you may eat whenever you desire in your {towns}.

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

Only your holy objects {that are yours} and your votive gifts you must carry and you must bring to the place that Yahweh will choose.

Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.

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

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every thing that is abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods.

What thing soever I command you, that shall ye observe to do: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

If there arise among you a prophet, or one that dreameth dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder,

and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he told unto thee, when he said, Let us go after other gods, whom thou hast not known, and let us serve them,

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;

And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

"If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to live in, [someone] {saying that}

that some worthless and evil men have gone out from among you and have tempted the inhabitants of their city [to sin], saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known),

Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;

Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.