"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, he will drive out many nations before you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations who are more numerous and stronger than you.

because they will turn your children from me to serve other gods so that the LORD's anger blazes against you and swiftly destroys you by fire.

"It wasn't because you were more numerous than other people of the earth that the LORD committed himself to you and chose you. In fact, you were the least numerous of all the nations.

But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands.

Therefore keep the commands, decrees, and the ordinances that I am instructing you to obey today."

"If you pay attention to these laws and obey them, then the LORD your God will continue his covenant of gracious love with you that he promised with an oath to your ancestors.

He'll love you and increase your numbers. He'll bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land (the grain, new wine, and oil), the offspring of your herds, and the lambs of your flock, in the land that the LORD promised your ancestors he would give you.

Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won't be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God.

"Be careful to observe every command that I'm instructing you today, in order that you may live, increase, and enter and take possession of the land that the LORD promised by an oath to your ancestors.

He humbled you, causing you to be hungry, yet he fed you with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known, in order to teach you that human beings are not to live by food alone instead human beings are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

Be convinced in your heart that as a father disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.

Be careful! Otherwise, you will forget the LORD your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I'm commanding you this day.

who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who led you through the vast and dangerous desert, that parched land without water, with its poisonous snakes and scorpions. He brought water out of solid rock for you,

and fed you in the desert with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known, to humble and test you so that things go well with you later.

But remember the LORD your God, because he is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, in order to confirm his covenant that he promised by an oath to your ancestors, as is the case today.

If you neglect the LORD your God, follow other gods, and serve and worship them, I testify to you today that you will certainly be destroyed.

"Listen, Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and dispossess greater and mightier nations than you, who live in large cities that are fortified to the sky.

But know today that the LORD your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD told you.

On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you to confirm what the LORD promised by an oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Know that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving to you this good land to inherit, for you are a stubborn people."

"Remember and don't ever forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the desert. From the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place you have been rebelling against the LORD.

At Horeb you continually rebelled against the LORD, so that he was angry enough to destroy you.

Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the LORD had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water.

Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets on which God inscribed with his own finger all the words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire that day when you were all assembled together.

"Then the LORD told me, "Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them, and have cast an idol for their use.'

Let me alone! I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I'll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.'

Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded.

I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the LORD also listened to me at that time.

It was as had been the case with Aaron, the LORD was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time.

Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain."

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.

Otherwise, the people of the land from which you brought us will say, "The LORD wasn't able to bring them out of the land that he had promised them. So he brought them out to kill them in the desert because he hated them."

"At that time, the LORD told me, "Chisel two tablets of stone for yourself just like the first ones, and then come up to me on the mountain. Also make for yourself a wooden chest.

I'll write on the tablets what was on the first tablets that you broke. Then place them in the wooden chest.'

Then the LORD inscribed on the tablets what he wrote before, that is, the Ten Commandments that the LORD declared to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire during the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.

Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets in the chest that I had made. They are there now, just as the LORD commanded me."

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.

That is why the descendants of Levi do not have a portion and an inheritance among their relatives. As for the LORD, he is their inheritance, just as the LORD your God told them.

So the LORD told me, "Get up and proceed to lead the people, so they may enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give their ancestors by an oath.'"

and observe his commands and statutes that I'm commanding you today for your own good.

You see, heaven even the highest heavens belongs to the LORD, along with the earth and all that is in it,

He is the one you are to praise, because he is, your God who carried out those great and awesome things for you that you witnessed.

Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the LORD your God, that is, his great and far-reaching power,

including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land;

Your very own eyes saw all the great things that the LORD did."

"Keep all the commands that I'm giving you today, so you can be strong enough to enter and possess the land that you are crossing over to inherit

and so you'll live long in the land that the LORD your God promised by an oath to give your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

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.

Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven,

"If you carefully observe the commands that I'm giving you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul,

The wrath of God will burn against you so that he will restrain the heavens and it won't rain. The ground won't yield its produce and you'll be swiftly destroyed from the good land that the LORD is about to give you.

so that you and your children may live long on the land that the LORD promised to give your ancestors as long as the sky remains above the earth."

"If you carefully observe all of these commands that I'm giving you to do to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him,

then the LORD will dispossess all these nations before you and you'll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you.

Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean Sea.

a blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I'm giving you today,

or a curse if you don't obey the commands of the LORD your God, by turning from the way that I'm commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known."

"When the LORD brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal.

For you are about to cross the Jordan River to go in and possess the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to inherit and live in.

Be careful to obey all the statutes and ordinances that I'm placing before you today."

"These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the LORD God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth.

Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you're going to dispossess serve their gods upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place."

Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live.

for you haven't arrived yet to your allotted place that the LORD your God is about to give you.

But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely,

then bring to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling place where he will establish his name everything that I'm commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the LORD.

instead of at the place the LORD will choose in one of the tribal areas. There you may offer burnt offerings, and there you may do everything that I'm commanding you."

"You won't be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, and the works of your hands in your own cities.

You'll eat only in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he will choose you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your cities. Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God in everything you undertake.

You must not eat it, so that life will go well for you and for your children after you. Then you'll do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

"You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the LORD will choose.

Be sure to observe all these words that I'm commanding you, in order that life may go well for you and your children after you forever, for this is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God."

"When the LORD your God eliminates the nations that you are about to dispossess so you can live in their land,

You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the LORD hates. Moreover, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to their gods.

that takes place, and then he may tell you, "Let's follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let's serve them.' Even though the sign or portent comes to pass,

you must not listen to the words of that prophet or that diviner of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to make known whether or not you'll continue to love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

That prophet or diviner of dreams must be executed, because he advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and because he lured you from the way in which the LORD your God instructed you to live. Purge the evil from among you."

from the gods of the people that surround you whether near or far from you from one end of the earth to the other).

"You may hear in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit

that worthless men have come from among you to entice those who live in the towns. They may say, "Let's go and serve other gods that you haven't known.'

You must thoroughly investigate and inquire if it is true that this detestable thing exists among you. If it is so,

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."

These are the animals that you may eat: ox, sheep, goat,

You may eat every animal with a divided hoof those with split cloven hooves that chews the cud.

However, you must not eat these animals that chew the cud or have a divided hoof: the camel, hare, and rock badger. Even though they chew the cud, their hooves are not divided. Therefore they are unclean for you.

You may eat every bird that is clean.

"Be sure to tithe annually from everything you plant that yields a harvest in the field.

Then in the presence of the LORD your God, in the place where he'll choose to establish his name, you may consume the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your livestock and flock, so that you'll learn to revere the LORD your God all your life.

Now the way may be distant from you, so that you are unable to transport your tithe because you have been blessed by the LORD your God and the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name may be distant from you.

In that case, convert it into cash, secure the money, and then bring it to the place where the LORD will choose.

Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities

so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."

This is the way to conduct remission: every creditor must cancel the loan that his friend borrowed, and he must not pressure his friend or brother to repay it, because remission to the LORD will be proclaimed.

Moreover, there will be no poor person among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land that he is about to give you to possess.

Only be certain to obey the voice of the LORD your God. Carefully observe all of these commands that I'm commanding to you today.

"If there should be a poor man among your relatives in one of the cities of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your poor relative.

Don't ever forget that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, yet the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore, I'm giving you these commands today.