"The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb. He said, "You have been at this mountain long enough.

"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.

"Then all of you approached me and said: "Let's send out men in advance of us so they can survey the land and bring back a report to us on how we'll go up to their cities.'

Then these men set out, went up to the hill county, reached the Eshcol Valley, and surveyed it.

They hand-picked some of the fruit of the land, brought it down to us, and gave a report that said, "The land which the LORD is about to give us is good.'"

Where can we go? Our brothers discouraged us when they said that the people are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are tall and fortified to the sky, and we also saw the Anakim there.'

"The LORD was also furious with me because of you. He said: "You will not enter the land.

Your little ones whom you said would be taken captive and your children who do not yet know right from wrong will enter the land. I will give it to them and they themselves will possess 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."

"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.

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.

"Let me pass through your territory. I'll stay on the main road. I won't turn to the right or left.

"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.

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.'

Let me cross over that I may see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River the good hill country as well as Lebanon.'

"However, the LORD was furious with me because of you. He did not listen to me. Instead, the LORD said, "You are not to speak to me about this matter again!

Then Moses designated three cities on the east side of the Jordan,

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:

When you heard the voice from the darkness while the mountain was blazing, all the leaders and elders of your tribes came to me and said:

"The LORD heard what you said. He told me: "I've heard what this people said. Everything they said was good.

Do what is good and right in the LORD's sight so it may go well with you. Then you'll enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God promised to your ancestors,

expelling all your enemies before you, as the LORD said."

The Anakim are strong and tall, and you know them. You've heard it said, "Who can stand up against the Anakim?'

I fell down in the LORD's presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I did not eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in the sight of the LORD, thereby provoking him to anger.

When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea and told you, "Go possess the land that I gave you,' instead you disobeyed what the LORD your God said. You didn't trust him or listen to his voice.

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

So I prayed to the LORD and said, "Oh LORD my God, don't destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed by your power. You brought them out from Egypt in a powerful way.

At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, to stand in the LORD's presence, to serve, and to bless his name until this day.

and what he did to Eliab's sons Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing belonging to them in the full sight of Israel.

For the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn't like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden.

after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.'

if you obey the voice of the LORD your God by observing all his commands that I'm commanding you today. Do what is right in the sight of the LORD your God."

"When a fellow Hebrew male or female slave is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you are to set them free.

But when you set them free, don't send them away empty-handed.

Don't view this as a hardship for yourself when you set him free, for he will have served you for six years twice the time of a paid worker. Then the LORD will bless you in all that you do."

"Set apart for the LORD your God every firstborn male among your herd and flock. You must not put the firstborn of your ox to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

"You are not to set up a sacred pole beside the altar of the LORD your God that you will build.

You will certainly set a king over you, whom the LORD your God will choose from among your relatives, but you must not place a foreign king over you who is not from your relatives.

Only he must not amass horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt to obtain more horses. For the LORD said you must never return that way again.

"A portion of what the people offer in sacrifice, whether cattle or sheep, is to be due the priests. They must set aside the shoulder, jowls, and stomach for the priest.

This is how you will remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right in the sight of the LORD."

"Don't plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, the entire crop will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have sown and the produce from it.

If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside.

"When a man is newly married, he must not be sent out to war or have a related duty placed on him. Let him stay home for one year and be happy with his wife whom he has married.

Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it out to you.

Then set it in the presence of the LORD your God and worship him. Rejoice with the descendants of Levi and the foreigner among you at all the good things that the LORD your God has given you and your family."

On the day you cross over the Jordan River to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster.

"When you have crossed the Jordan River, set up these stones about which I'm commanding you today on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to Israel. They said, "Be quiet and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God.

"Indeed, if you diligently obey the LORD your God to carry out all his commands that I'm giving you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

you'll serve your enemies whom the LORD your God will send against you. You will serve in famine and in drought, in nakedness, and in lack of everything. They'll set a yoke of iron upon your neck until they have exterminated you.

"The LORD will raise a distant nation against you from the other side of the earth. Swooping down like a vulture,

Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you'd never see again. There you'll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

The LORD will set him apart from all the tribes of Israel for destruction, according to the curses of the covenant that were written in this Book of the Law."

"Look! Today I have set before you life and what is good, along with death and what is evil.

I call heaven and earth to testify against you today! I've set life and death before you today: both blessings and curses. Choose life, that it may be well with you you and your children.

"Take the book of this Law and set it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God. Let it remain there with you as witness against you,

because I know that after my death, you'll surely act wickedly and turn from the road that I've instructed you. As a result, evil will fall on you in days to come, because you'll act wickedly in the sight of the LORD, causing him to become angry due to your behavior."

When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance, when he separated the human race, he set boundaries for the people according to the number of the children of God.

So he said: "Let me hide my face from them. I will observe what their end will be, because they are a perverted generation, children within whom there is no loyalty.

"I said, "I will scatter them, erasing their memory from the human race,

He said: "The LORD came from Sinai. Rising from Seir upon us, he shone forth from Mount Paran, accompanied by a myriad of his holy ones, with flaming fire from his right hand for them.

About Levi he said: "Let your Thummim and Urim be with the man to whom you showed gracious love, whom you tested at Massah and with whom you struggled at the waters of Meribah,

About Benjamin he said: "The beloved of the LORD will live confidently, the Most High protecting him all day long, and resting in his bosom."

About Joseph he said: "May the blessing of the LORD be on his land: dew from the choicest of the heavens, and from the depths beneath;

from the choicest of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of the one who lived in the burning bush. May blessing rest on Joseph's head, and on the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers.

About Zebulun he said: "Zebulun, rejoice as you go out and Issachar, in being inside your tents.

About Gad he said: "Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad! Like a roaring lion, he crouches, tearing arm and scalp.

About Dan he said: "Dan is a lion's cub, leaping forth from Bashan."

About Naphtali he said: "Naphtali, full of favor and the LORD's blessing, take possession of the west and south."

About Asher he said: "May Asher be blessed, along with his descendants, may his brothers be pleased with him, may he dip his feet in oil,

The God of old is a dwelling place, with everlasting arms underneath. He drove out your enemies before you and said: "Destroy them!'

Then the LORD told him: "This is the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by an oath when I said, "I'll give it to your descendants.' I'll let you see it with your eyes, but you won't cross over there."

So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said.