You must by all means destroy all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods -- on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him,

When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land.

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same."

You are children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald for the sake of the dead.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth.

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

However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you).

These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,

and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you -- they may not be eaten.

You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.

You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.

You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day.

Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you.

You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.

You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!

Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.

The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.

You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you.

Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.

and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three.

"Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it.

In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier's heart as fearful as his own."

If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.

This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.

and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer's neck.

If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her; you must not take advantage of her, since you have already humiliated her.

If you happen to notice a bird's nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, you must not take the mother from the young.

Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered.

You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine.

You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of a male prostitute into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.

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.

You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.

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.

"If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

"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:

"The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.

The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

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.

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.

This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess.

These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.

You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God -- the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,

Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.

if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.

What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess.

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.

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."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

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?'

As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright.

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.

He said, "I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.

They are a nation devoid of wisdom, and there is no understanding among them.

For their vine is from the stock of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.

He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,

For this is no idle word for you -- it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your power. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words.

May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor, and may his horns be those of a wild ox; with them may he gore all peoples, all the far reaches of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go outside, and Issachar, when you are in your tents.

The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath you are his eternal arms; he has driven out enemies before you, and has said, "Destroy!"

You have joy, Israel! Who is like you? You are a people delivered by the Lord, your protective shield and your exalted sword. May your enemies cringe before you; may you trample on their backs.

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.

She said to the men, "I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you.

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

Anyone who leaves your house will be responsible for his own death -- we are innocent in that case! But if anyone with you in the house is harmed, we will be responsible.

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

They told Joshua, "Surely the Lord is handing over all the land to us! All who live in the land are cringing before us!"

The stones will be a reminder to you. When your children ask someday, 'Why are these stones important to you?'

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him, "Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?"

The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies we sent.

But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster.

They returned and reported to Joshua, "Don't send the whole army. About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. Don't tire out the whole army, for Ai is small."

The Lord responded to Joshua, "Get up! Why are you lying there face down?

The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. I will no longer be with you, unless you destroy what has contaminated you.

Get up! Ritually consecrate the people and tell them this: 'Ritually consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord God of Israel says, "You are contaminated, O Israel! You will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is contaminating you."

I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath."

I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say, 'They are retreating from us like before.' We will retreat from them.

Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll.

But they said to Joshua, "We are willing to be your subjects." So Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, 'Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, "We are willing to be your subjects. Make a treaty with us."'

Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby.

Now you are condemned to perpetual servitude as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."

So now we are in your power. Do to us what you think is good and appropriate.

The men of Gibeon sent this message to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, "Do not abandon your subjects! Rescue us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings living in the hill country are attacking us."

Joshua conquered the area between Kadesh Barnea and Gaza and the whole region of Goshen, all the way to Gibeon.

Canaanites came from the east and west; Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites from the hill country; and Hivites from below Hermon in the area of Mizpah.

Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites defeated and drove from their land on the east side of the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern Arabah:

His kingdom included the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), including the route to Beth Jeshimoth and the area southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley to Mount Halak on up to Seir. Joshua assigned this territory to the Israelite tribes,

When Joshua was very old, the Lord told him, "You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.

from the Shihor River east of Egypt northward to the territory of Ekron (it is regarded as Canaanite territory), including the area belonging to the five Philistine lords who ruled in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as Avvite land