because you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God chose you to be his people, his treasured possession from all the nations on the face of the earth."

"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 for the one who hates him, he will repay him by destroying him. He will not delay dealing with someone who hates him.

"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.

The LORD will turn aside every disease from you. He won't inflict on you the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but will inflict them instead on all who hate you.

You are to utterly destroy everyone whom the LORD your God will deliver to you. Don't have pity on them nor serve their gods. Otherwise, they will become a snare for you."

He slowly will dislodge these nations before you, but he won't destroy them quickly, so the wild animals won't multiply around you.

He will deliver kings into your control, and you are to wipe out the memory of them from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you. You are to utterly destroy them.

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.

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way these 40 years in the desert, to humble and test you in order to make known what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

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.

Observe the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him,

a land without scarcity. You'll eat food in it and lack nothing. It's a land where its rocks are iron and you can dig copper from its mountains."

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

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you have built beautiful houses and lived in them,

when your cattle and oxen multiply, when your silver and gold increase,

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.

You may say to yourselves, "I have become wealthy by my own strength and by my own ability.'

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.

"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.

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.

"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.

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.'

"So I turned and went down from the mountain while the mountain was on fire. The two Tablets of the Covenant were in both of my hands.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

So I made a chest out of acacia wood and chiseled two tablets of stones just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

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."

From there they moved on to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams.

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.

When I stood on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights as I did the first time, the LORD listened to me once again. The LORD was not willing to destroy you.

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.'"

"Now Israel, what does the LORD your God desire from you? Only this: fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life,

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,

"You are to love the foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

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.

Your ancestors went down to Egypt with 70 people, but the LORD your God has now made you as numerous as the stars in the sky."

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,

what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, when he caused the waters of the Reed Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the LORD destroyed them, even to this day;

what he did for you in the desert until you came to this place;

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.

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

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.

a land about which the LORD your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the LORD are continuously on it throughout the entire year."

then he will send rain on the land in its season the early and latter rains then you'll gather grain, new wine, and oil.

He will provide grass on the fields for your livestock, and you'll eat and be satisfied.

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.

Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead.

Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up.

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,

No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you.

"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.

They're across the Jordan River to the west, aren't they, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?

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.

"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.

Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with all the works of your hand with which he blessed 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.

"Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city for there is no territorial allotment for him as you have.

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 may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, when he provides for you in all your cities. Both ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat it as they would gazelle and deer.

Only, you must not consume the blood; instead, pour it out on the ground as you would water.

"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.

Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live in the land.

When the LORD your God enlarges your territory just as he told you and you say "I want to eat meat' since you desire to eat it, you may do so as much as you please.

"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please.

You must not consume it; instead, pour it on the ground as you would water.

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.

You must offer your burnt offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. You must offer the blood by pouring it on the altar of the LORD your God while you consume the meat.

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,

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.'

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.

"A prophet or a diviner of dreams may arise among you, give you an omen or a miracle

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."

"Your own blood brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your friend who is like your soul mate may entice you quietly. He may tell you, "Let's go and serve other gods,' (whom neither you nor your ancestors have known

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 must not yield to him, listen to him, look with pity on him, show compassion to him, or even cover up for him.

But you must surely execute him. You must be the first to put him to death with your own hand, and then the hands of the whole community.

Then all Israel will hear about it, be afraid, and won't do this evil thing again among you.

"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.'