“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.

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.

But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today.

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.’

For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to Him?

“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.’

At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.

“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—

not to act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,

or the form of any beast on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky,

any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth.

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.

“The Lord was angry with me on your account. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.

Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything He has forbidden you.

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, provoking Him to anger,

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you.

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

But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the Lord your God in later days and obey Him.

He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.

“Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created man on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of?

Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

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

Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,

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.”

Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive:

Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.

These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt,

They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east,

The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to report the word of the Lord to you, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And He said:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.

You are to labor six days and do all your work,

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.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

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 give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.

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.

“The Lord spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and thick darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives.

But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.

Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’

“The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.

Go and tell them: Return to your tents.

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.’

“Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

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.

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.

Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.

Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build,

houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells dug that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take your oaths in His name.

for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, the Lord your God will become angry with you and wipe you off the face of the earth.

Do not test the Lord your God as you tested Him at Massah.

Carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes He has commanded you.

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,

by driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord has said.

“When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?’

tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household,

but He brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that He swore to our fathers.

The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today.

Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and He drives out many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—

and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

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.

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn up their carved images.

For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

“The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.

“If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the Lord your God will keep His covenant loyalty with you, as He swore to your fathers.

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your descendants, and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil—the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you.

You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

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

do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

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.

The Lord your God will also send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.