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.

Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills, the Negev and the sea coast—to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.

See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.’

The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.

“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: officials for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

“We then set out from Horeb and went across all the great and terrible wilderness you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’

The plan seemed good to me, so I selected 12 men from among you, one man for each tribe.

You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.

Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

“So I said to you: Don’t be terrified or afraid of them!

The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt.

And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.

‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the Lord completely.’

But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.’

So I spoke to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country.

“Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.

Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

You may purchase food from them with silver, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.

“So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.

“The Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.

Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.

a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. The Lord destroyed the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they drove them out and settled in their place.

“The Lord also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.

“So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon from the Wilderness of Kedemoth, saying,

You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’

So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.

So the Lord our God also handed over Og king of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left.

all the cities of the plateau, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.

Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his own name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.

The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.

“But the Lord was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter.

Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’

So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.

“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.

Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

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.’

“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before Me, and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’

Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.

“For your own good, be extremely careful—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb—

When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the array of heaven—do not be led astray to bow down and worship them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.

But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for His inheritance, as you are today.

There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.

Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?

You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him.

Keep His statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

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

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commands always, so that they and their children will prosper forever.

But you stand here with Me, and I will tell you every command—the statutes and ordinances—you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess.’

Follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.

“This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.

Do this so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life.

Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the Lord your God swore to give your fathers,

because they will turn your sons away from Me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

So keep the command—the statutes and ordinances—that I am giving you to follow today.

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

the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.

“You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to your fathers.

Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.

He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

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.

On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

“So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

I saw how you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord had commanded for you.

So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

Then I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights; I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and provoking Him to anger.

Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

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.’

So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’

Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

You must understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God:

His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

what He did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and He destroyed them completely;

“Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land the Lord is giving you.

so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers.

Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see.

“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.

Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.

Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.

Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that the Lord will turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.

“You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a temporary resident living within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.