This is what Moses said to the assembly of Israel in the Transjordanian wastelands, the arid country opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab

You replied to me that what I had said to you was good.

So all of you approached me and said, "Let's send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there."

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there."

This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day.

The Lord, however, said to me, "Don't be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon."

"O, Lord God, you have begun to show me your greatness and strength. (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?)

Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to you.

You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, how he eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor.

In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him?

And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today?

When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he said to me, "I have heard what these people have said to you -- they have spoken well.

Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left!

When your children ask you later on, "What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?"

Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols.

you must not fear them. You must carefully recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt,

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being,

You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments at all times.

or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he annihilated them.

They did not see what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place,

or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp and swallowed them, their families, their tents, and all the property they brought with them.

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

You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, "Let us follow other gods" -- gods whom you have not previously known -- "and let us serve them."

Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him.

This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, for it is to be recognized as "the Lord's cancellation of debts."

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.

This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: "Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die."

The Lord then said to me, "What they have said is good.

you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord.

They must declare to the elders of his city, "Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say -- he is a glutton and drunkard."

Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering.

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt.

When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.

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.

If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering.

Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.

Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,

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.

Then all the nations will ask, "Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?"

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.

The Lord will do to them just what he did to Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, and to their land, which he destroyed.

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.

I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them."

Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands on him; and the Israelites listened to him and did just what the Lord had commanded Moses.