If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately.

For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you.

Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.

You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest.

You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.

When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he will surely hold you accountable as a sinner.

If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful.

When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, but you must not take away any in a container.

When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor's ripe grain.

If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.

her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married.

One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security.

When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.

If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering.

You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.

Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.

You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow's garment as security for a loan.

Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do.

When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.

You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain.

If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man's wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband's brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!"

then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, "Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother's family line!"

then you must cut off her hand -- do not pity her.

You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one.

You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one.

So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven -- do not forget!

Then you shall say before the Lord your God, "I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.

I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.

Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones -- do not use an iron tool on them.

The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.

But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.

"But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:

You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.

You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.

Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you.

As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.

The Lord will force you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them.

You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe.

You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity.

They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given you.

"Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have,

The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,

They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, or lambs of your flocks until they have destroyed you.

Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, until you have perished.

Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.

But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears!

I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out nor have your sandals deteriorated.

It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath,

but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today.

The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.

They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.

"This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.

It is not in heaven, as though one must say, "Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, "Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,

I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

He said to them, "Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, 'You will not cross the Jordan.'

Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!"

The Lord is indeed going before you -- he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!"

Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

At that time my anger will erupt against them and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome them so that they will say at that time, 'Have not these disasters overcome us because our God is not among us?'

Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it. I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised."

His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children -- this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.

Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your creator? He has made you and established you.

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.

But the Lord took note and despised them because his sons and daughters enraged him.

They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.

But I fear the reaction of their enemies, for their adversaries would misunderstand and say, "Our power is great, and the Lord has not done all this!"'

For our enemies' rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.

"Is this not stored up with me?" says the Lord, "Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?

for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.

You will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land that I am giving to the Israelites."

May Reuben live and not die, and may his people multiply.

He said to his father and mother, "I have not seen him," and he did not acknowledge his own brothers or know his own children, for they kept your word, and guarded your covenant.

Then the Lord said to him, "This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it, but you will not cross over there."

Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed.

No one will be able to resist you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.

Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do.

This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.

Any man who rebels against what you say and does not obey all your commands will be executed. But be strong and brave!"

Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: "Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho." They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there.

The king of Jericho received this report: "Note well! Israelite men have come here tonight to spy on the land."

When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. I don't know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!"

The men said to her, "If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we've been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you."

The men said to her, "We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:

If you should report what we've been up to, we are not bound by this oath you made us swear."

They went to the hill country and stayed there for three days, long enough for those chasing them to return. Their pursuers looked all along the way but did not find them.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before."

When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites.

Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, a land rich in milk and honey.

He replaced them with their sons, whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way.

Now Joshua had instructed the army, "Do not give a battle cry or raise your voices; say nothing until the day I tell you, 'Give the battle cry.' Then give the battle cry!"

So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time. Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.