Break camp, get going, and proceed to the hill country of the Amorites and all the nearby places in the Arabah desert, the highlands, the foothills, the Negev, the coastal plains, all of the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates.

Choose for yourselves wise and discerning men, known to your tribes, and appoint them as your leaders.

When you hold a hearing, don't be partial in judgment toward the least important or toward the great. Never fear men, because judgment belongs to God. If the matter is difficult for you, bring it to me for a hearing.'

"Then we set out from Horeb and walked through that vast and dreadful desert, where you observed the road to the Amorite hill country. Just as the LORD our God ordained for us, we finally arrived at Kadesh-barnea.

The LORD your God is the One who will be going ahead of you. He'll fight for you just as he did in Egypt before your eyes.

who walked ahead of you along the way to scout a place for you to pitch camp by fire at night and cloud by day to lead you on the way you should go."

However, Nun's son Joshua, your assistant, will go there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to take possession of it.

But as for you, prepare to set out for the desert on the way to the Reed Sea.'

"You responded to me and said, "We have sinned against the LORD. We will now go up and fight according to what the LORD our God commanded.' So each man put on his weapon for battle and recklessly started out for the hill country."

You remained in Kadesh for many days. It was a long time, indeed."

"We turned and set out for the desert on the road to the Reed Sea, just as the LORD had directed me. We traveled around Mount Seir for many days.

When you come to the Ammonites, don't harass or provoke them to war, for I won't give any part of Ammonite land to you, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their property.

This is what he did for the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them. So they dispossessed them and settled there in their place, where they live to this day.

It was the same for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza. The Caphtorites, who came from Crete, destroyed them and settled there in their place.)

Get ready and set out for the Wadi Arnon. Look! I've given into your control Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, along with his land. Prepare to take possession by provoking him to war.

Starting today I will begin to instill fear and terror of you on the part of every nation under heaven who hears reports about you. They'll tremble in anguish before you.'"

Sell me food for cash, so I can eat and give me water for cash, so I can drink. Just let me pass through on foot,

as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, as did the Moabites who live in Ar. I'll pass through, until I will have crossed the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is about to give us.'

We only appropriated the livestock for our use, along with plunder from the cities that we captured.

From Aroer on the edge of Arnon Valley and from the town all the way to Gilead, there was no city that was too strong for us the LORD our God delivered them all to us.

"We set out and went up along the road to Bashan. Then King Og of Bashan came out to meet us he and his whole army for a battle at Edrei.

Then the LORD told me, "Don't fear him, because I've delivered him, his army, and his territory into your control. Do to him just as you have done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.'

But we kept for ourselves all of the livestock and plunder from the towns.

We took control of all the cities of the plain, all of Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

Only King Og of Bashan remained from the remnants of the Rephaim. In fact, his bed was made of iron. It's in Rabbah of the Ammonites, isn't it? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide."

Manasseh's son Jair captured all the Argob region as far as the territory of the descendants of Geshur and the descendants of Maacath. Bashan was named after him; that's why it is called Havvoth-jair to this day.

And I've given Gilead to the descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad as far as the Arnon Valley, designating the middle of the valley as its boundary, including up to the Jabbok River as a boundary with the Ammonites.

"Then I commanded you at that time, "The Lord your God gave you this land as a possession. Those equipped for battle every man a warrior will cross before your fellow Israelis.

until the LORD grants rest to your fellow Israelis like you. When they take possession of the territory that the LORD your God is about to give them on the other side of the Jordan River, then each of you may return to the territory that I've allotted for you.'

You are not to fear them, because the LORD your God will fight for you.'"

"LORD God, you've begun to show your greatness and your strong power to your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can equal your works and mighty deeds?

For what great nation has a god so near like the LORD our God whenever we call on him?

Only guard yourselves carefully so you won't forget the things that you saw and let them slip from your mind for the rest of your life. Tell them to your children and to your grandchildren.

"When you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain a mountain that was blazing with fire at its core while the sky was covered with thick, dark clouds

the LORD your God spoke from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form; there was only a voice.

"Therefore, for your own sake, be very careful, since you did not see any form on the day that the LORD your God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire.

Be careful! Otherwise, you will be destroyed when you make carved images for yourself all sorts of images in the form of man, woman,

For the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace out of Egypt to be the people of his inheritance, as you are today.

Indeed, the LORD your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God."

"After you've borne children and grandchildren, have been there for a long time in the land, have become so corrupted that you make images of any form, and have done evil in the eyes of the LORD your God, you will provoke him to anger.

Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among the nations, and you'll be fewer in number in the nations where the LORD your God will drive you.

For God is compassionate. The LORD your God won't fail you. He won't destroy you or forget the covenant that he confirmed with your ancestors."

Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of a fire just as you did, and survived it?

Or has any god ever taken for himself one nation out from another nation with testings, signs, wonders, wars, awesome power, and magnificent, terrifying deeds as the LORD your God did in Egypt before your eyes?

You have been made to hear his voice from heaven so you may be instructed. And he showed you his great fire here on earth, and you heard his voice from the middle of that fire.

May you observe his statutes and keep his commands that I'm giving you today, so that life may go well for you and for your descendants after you. That way, you'll live a long life in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you permanently."

Bezer in the desert plain for the descendants of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the descendants of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the descendants of Manasseh.

from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon as far as Mount Sirion, which is also called Hermon,

and all the Arabah east of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.

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

I stood at that time as mediator between the LORD and you to declare his message to you, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. He said:

You are to have no other gods as a substitute for me.

""You are not to craft for yourselves an idol resembling what is in the skies above, or on earth beneath, or in the water sources under the earth.

""Honor your father and your mother, just as the LORD your God commanded you, so that you will live long and things will go well for you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

"The LORD declared these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly on the mountain from out of the fire and dark clouds, and nothing more was added. He inscribed them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

"The LORD our God truly has displayed his glory and power, for we heard him from out of the fire today. We have witnessed how God spoke to human beings, yet they lived.

Now therefore, why should we die? This great fire will consume us. If we continue to listen to the voice of the LORD our God any longer, we'll die.

For what mortal man has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire like we did, and lived?

As for you, go near and listen to everything that the LORD our God will say to you, then repeat it to us, and we'll listen and obey.'

If only they would commit to fear me and keep all my commands, then it will go well with them and their children forever.

You are to walk in every pathway that the LORD your God commanded you, so that life may go well for you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land that you will possess.'"

so that you, your children, and your grandchildren may fear the LORD your God. Keep all his decrees and commandments that I'm giving you every day of your life, so you may live a long time.

Listen, Israel! Be careful to obey, so that life may go well for you and that you may increase greatly. Just as the LORD God of your ancestors told you, you'll have a land flowing with milk and honey.

Fear the LORD your God, serve him, and make your oaths in his name.

For the LORD your God who is among you is a jealous God. He will turn his anger against you and destroy you from the surface of the land."

tell him, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with great power.

Before our very eyes, the LORD did great and terrible signs and wonders in Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to his entire household.

But as for us, he brought us out from there to bring us into the land and give it to us, as he promised our ancestors.

Then the LORD commanded us to observe all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God for our own good, so that he may keep us alive as we are today.

It will be credited as righteousness for us, if we're careful to obey the entire Law in the presence of the LORD our God, as he commanded.'"

You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons,

because they will turn your children from me to serve other gods so that the LORD's anger blazes against you and swiftly destroys you by fire.

This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire,

But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

But for the one who hates him, he will repay him by destroying him. He will not delay dealing with someone who hates him.

You are to utterly destroy everyone whom the LORD your God will deliver to you. Don't have pity on them nor serve their gods. Otherwise, they will become a snare for you."

But you mustn't fear them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt.

Your eyes saw the great trials, the signs and wonders, and the awesome power with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the people whom you fear.

Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won't be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God.

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who led you through the vast and dangerous desert, that parched land without water, with its poisonous snakes and scorpions. He brought water out of solid rock for you,

But know today that the LORD your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD told you.

Know that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving to you this good land to inherit, for you are a stubborn people."

Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the LORD had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water.

Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which God inscribed with his own finger all the words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire that day when you were all assembled together.

"Then the LORD told me, "Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them, and have cast an idol for their use.'

"So I turned and went down from the mountain while the mountain was on fire. The two Tablets of the Covenant were in both of my hands.

Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded.

It was as had been the case with Aaron, the LORD was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time.

Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain."

I fell down in the LORD's presence for 40 days and nights, because the LORD said he was ready to destroy you.

"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.

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.

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.

"Now Israel, what does the LORD your God desire from you? Only this: fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life,

and observe his commands and statutes that I'm commanding you today for your own good.

For the LORD your God is the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes.

He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing."

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