[This happened] {after defeating} Sihon king of the Amorites, who [was] reigning in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who [was] reigning in Ashtaroth in Edrei.

On the other side of the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses began to explain this law, {saying}:

"Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, {saying}, 'You have stayed {long enough} at this mountain.

and [just as he did] in the wilderness when you saw that Yahweh your God carried you, just as someone carries his son, all [along] the way [that] you traveled until {you reached} this place.'

But through all of this you did not trust in Yahweh your God,

'No one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,

'[Long] enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north,

The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in {all the work you have done}; he knows {your travels} [with respect to] this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God [has been] with you; you have not lacked a thing." '

just as he did for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from {before them} and dispossessed them, and [then] they settled in their place up to this day.

This day I will begin to place {the dread of you} and the fear of you {before} the peoples under all the heavens. [They] will hear {the report about you}, and [so] they will shake and tremble {because of you}.'

And [so] we took possession of this land at that time, from Aroer, which [is] on the [edge of the] wadi of Arnon, and [also] half of the hill country of Gilead and its towns I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

"And I charged you [all] at that time [when I] said, "Yahweh has given you--to [all of] you--this land to possess. All the {warriors} shall cross over, ready to fight, before your brothers, the {Israelites}.

Let me cross over, please, and let me see the good land {that is beyond the Jordan}, this good hill country and Lebanon.'

But Yahweh was very angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me, and Yahweh said, '{Enough of that from you}! You shall not speak to me [any] longer about this matter!

Go up [to] the top of Pisgah and {look around you} toward the west, toward the north, and toward the east, and {view} [the land] with your eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

Now instruct Joshua and support him and encourage him because he himself will cross [over] before this people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.'

And {you must observe them diligently}, for that [is] your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all [of] these rules, and they will say, 'Surely this great nation [is] a wise and discerning people.'

And what [other] great nation has for it just rules and regulations just like {this whole} law that I [am] setting {before} you {today}?

{And do this so that you do not lift} your eyes [toward] heaven and {observe} the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of the heaven, and be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that Yahweh your God has allotted to all [of] the peoples under all [of] the heaven.

But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out from the furnace of iron, from Egypt, to be a people of inheritance to him, {as it is this day}.

For I [am] going to die in this land; I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you [are] going to cross, and you are going to take possession of this good land.

"Yes, ask, please, about former days that {preceded you} from the day that God created humankind on the earth; [ask even] from [one] end of the heaven up to the [other] end of heaven {whether anything ever happened} like this great thing or {whether anything like it was ever heard}.

You [yourselves] were shown [this wonder] in order [for you] to acknowledge that Yahweh [is] the God; there is no other [God] {besides him}.

to drive out nations greater and more numerous than you {from before you}, to bring you [and] to give to you their land [as] an inheritance, as [it is] this day.

Now this [is] the law that Moses set {before} the {Israelites};

[It was] not with our ancestors [that] Yahweh made this covenant, [but with] these [of] us [who are] here alive today.

you said, 'Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire; this day we have seen that God can speak with a human being, {yet he remains alive}.

And so then why shall we die, for this great fire will consume us if {we continue} to hear the voice of Yahweh our God [any] longer, and [so] we shall die?

"And Yahweh heard the sound of your words {when you spoke to me}, and Yahweh said to me, 'I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you; [they] are right [with respect to] all that they have spoken.

"Now this [is] the commandment, the rules and the regulations, that Yahweh your God charged to teach [to] you [for you] {to observe} in the land that you [are] about to cross [over] into to take possession of it,

And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe [and] do all [of] this commandment {before} Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.'

But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire.

And you may think in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand {acquired this wealth for} me.'

"You shall not say {to yourself} {when Yahweh your God is driving them out} {before you}, {saying}, 'Because of my righteousness Yahweh brought me to take possession of this land'; but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh [is] driving them out {before you}.

"So you should understand that [it is] not because of your righteousness [that] Yahweh your God [is] giving you this good land to take possession of it, because {you are a stubborn people}.

Remember, {do not forget}, that you provoked Yahweh your God in the desert, [and] from the day that you went out from the land of Egypt until {you came to this place} you were rebelling against Yahweh.

And Yahweh said to me, 'Come [now], go down quickly from this mountain because your people behave corruptly whom you brought out from Egypt, [for] they turned quickly from the way that I commanded them [to follow]; they have made for themselves a cast image.'

And Yahweh spoke to me, {saying}, 'I have seen this people, and look! {They are a stubborn people}.

Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you must not {pay attention to} the stubbornness of this people, to their wickedness and to their sin,

At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to stand {before} Yahweh, to serve him and to bless [the people] in his name until this day.

and what he did to you in the desert until you came up to this place,

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,

You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this.

But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the [one] redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so [in this way] you shall purge the evil from your midst.

And all [of] Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and {they shall not continue to act} according to this evil thing in your midst.

then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! [It is] true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst,

"This [is what] you shall eat from all that [is] in the water: {everything} {that has fins and scales} you may eat.

And this [is] the manner of the remission of debt: every {creditor} shall remit his claim that he holds against his neighbor, and he shall not exact payment [from] his brother because there remission of debt has been proclaimed unto Yahweh.

By all means you must give to him, and {you must not be discontented} at your giving to him, because on account of this [very] thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and {in all that you undertake}.

and it is reported to you or you hear [about it] and you enquire [about it] thoroughly and, indeed, [the] trustworthiness of the deed [has] been established, it {has occurred}, this detestable thing, in Israel,

then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates; that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones {to death}.

"{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,

Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from {those who sacrifice the sacrifice}, [whether it is] an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach.

[This is] {according to all that you asked} from Yahweh your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, {saying}, '{I do not want again to hear} the voice of Yahweh my God, [and] I do not want to see again this great fire, so that I may not die!'

"Now this [is] the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live [there] who has killed his neighbor {unintentionally}, and he did not hate him {previously}.

[He does this] lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because {he is hot with anger} and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance [to the city of refuge], and [so] {he kills him}, but {he did not deserve a death sentence}, because he [was] not hating him {before}.

[then] {if you diligently observe this entire commandment} that I [am] commanding you {today} by loving Yahweh your God and by going in his ways {at all times}, then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three.

[Do this] so that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance and [thereby] bloodguilt would be on you.

{And the rest} shall hear and shall fear, and {they shall not continue to do such a thing again} as this evil thing in your midst.

And the officials shall speak to the troops, {saying}, 'Who [is] the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and {another man} dedicates it.

And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done].

And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother {a full month}, and after this {you may have sex with her}, and you may marry her, and she may {become your wife}.

and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious; {he does not obey us}, [and] he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

you shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourselves; [do this] {so that it may go well} for you and {you may live long in the land}.

and {he accuses her falsely}, and {he defames her}, and he says 'This woman I took and I lay with her and {I discovered that she was not a virgin},'

And [then] the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he [now] {dislikes} her,

"But if {this charge} was true, {and the signs of virginity were not found} for the young woman,

But you shall not do anything to the young woman, [for] there is not [reckoned] against the young woman {a sin deserving death}; {it is similar to when} a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, {a fellow human being}, [just] so [is] this {case},

On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not go {down}, because [he is] poor and {his life depends on it}; [do this] so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, {and you incur guilt}.

And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and [that] Yahweh your God redeemed you from there; therefore I [am] commanding you to do this commandment.

And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, therefore I [am] commanding you to do this thing."

[then] his sister-in-law shall go near him before the eyes of the elders, and she shall pull off his sandal from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall {declare} and she shall say, 'This is how it is done to the man who does not build the house of his brother.'

And he brought us to this place and gave to us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

"This day Yahweh your God is commanding you to do these rules and regulations, {and you must observe them diligently} with all your heart and with all your soul.

and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, {promised} to you.

You shall write on the stone all of the words of this law very clearly."

Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and hear, Israel, [for] this day you have become {a people} for Yahweh your God.

'Cursed be [the one] {who does not keep} the words of this law, to observe them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'"

"If {you do not diligently observe} all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God,

Also any illness and any plague that [is] not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed.

But Yahweh has not given to you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, [even] {to this day}.

And [when] you came to this place [then] Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out to meet you for battle, and we defeated them.

And {you must diligently observe the words of this covenant}, so that you may succeed in all that you do.

"Now I am not {making this covenant} and this oath {with you alone}.

And then when he hears the words of this oath, then {he will assure himself} in his heart, {saying}, '{Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart},' thereby destroying the well-watered [land] [along] with the parched.

Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for [by then] the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven.

And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.

And all the nations will say, '{Why} has Yahweh done {such a thing} to this land? What [caused] the fierceness of this great anger?'

So {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll,

"The hidden [things] {belong to Yahweh} our God, but the revealed [things] {belong to us} [to know] and to our children {forever}, [in order] to do all the words of this law."

[He will do this] if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commandment and his statutes written in the scroll of this law [and] if you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self.

"For this commandment that I [am] commanding you {today} [is] {not too wonderful for you}, and it [is] not [too] far [from you].

And he said to them, "I am hundred and twenty years old {today}; I am not able to go out and to come [in] [any] longer, and Yahweh said to me, 'You may not cross this Jordan.'

Then Moses summoned Joshua, and he said to him {in the presence of all Israel}, "Be strong and be courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh swore to their ancestors to give to them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.

So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants of Levi, the [ones] carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

{when all Israel comes to appear before} Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel {in their hearing}.

Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your {towns}, so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and {they shall diligently observe} all the words of this law.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you [are] about to lie [down] with your ancestors, and this people will arise and they will play the prostitute after {the foreign gods} of the land {to which they are going}.

"And so then write this song for yourselves and teach it to the {Israelites}; put it in their mouth, so that this song may be for me as a witness against the {Israelites}.