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.’

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.’

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

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

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.

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.’

“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.

and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’

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,

“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,’

You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’

He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them.

The officers will continue to address the army and say, ‘Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers’ hearts won’t melt like his own.’

They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’

The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her.

But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’

The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’

When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, you must say to him, ‘Today I acknowledge to the Lord your God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God:

I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commands You gave me. I have not violated or forgotten Your commands.

‘The one who dishonors his father or mother is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who leads a blind person astray on the road is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who denies justice to a foreigner, a fatherless child, or a widow is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his father’s wife is cursed, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who has sexual intercourse with any animal is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who sleeps with his mother-in-law is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who secretly kills his neighbor is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘The one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘Anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice is cursed.’
And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see.

My anger will burn against them on that day; I will abandon them and hide My face from them so that they will become easy prey. Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us?’

if I had not feared insult from the enemy,
or feared that these foes might misunderstand
and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed;
it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’”

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