Don't bring any detestable thing to your house, because you yourself will be utterly destroyed along with these detestable things. You must absolutely abhor and detest all of it, because it has been devoted to destruction."

"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.

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

because the LORD your God is bringing you to a good land a land with rivers and deep springs flowing to the valleys and hills.

It's a land filled with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It's a land filled with olive oil and honey

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.

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.

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,

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.

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

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.

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

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.

After the LORD has expelled them before you, you are not to say to yourselves, "The LORD caused me to enter and possess this land because of my righteousness.'

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.

At the end of 40 days and nights, the LORD gave to me the two stone Tablets of the Covenant.

"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.'

"Then the LORD told me, "I have examined this people, and they are stubborn indeed.

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.'

"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.

So I grabbed the two tablets and then threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes.

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.

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."

"You provoked the LORD again at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

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.

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don't pay attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sinfulness of this people.

But they are your people and inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty strength and awesome power.'"

"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.

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."

"The Israelis traveled from the wells of the descendants of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died, and he was buried there. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.

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,

yet the LORD committed himself to love your ancestors and did so! He chose you their descendants after them from all the nations, as it is today.

Therefore, circumcise your heart and stop being stubborn.

For the LORD your God is the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes.

He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing."

You are to fear the LORD your God and serve him. Cling to him and swear by his name.

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."

"Therefore love the LORD your God and be very careful to keep his injunctions, statutes, ordinances, and commands all the time.

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;

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;

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.

"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,

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.

Be careful! Otherwise, your hearts will deceive you and you will turn away to serve other gods and worship them.

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.

Also write them upon the doorposts of your house and gates

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.

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.

Look! I'm about to grant you a blessing and a curse

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.

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.

"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.

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 may eat them, just as you would gazelle and deer. Ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat them.