¹⁶"So when all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, ¹⁷Yahweh said to me, ¹⁸'This day you are to pass over the boundary of Moab at Ar; ¹⁹and when you approach the frontier of the sons of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.' ²⁰(That also is known as a land of Rephaim; Rephaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they dispossessed them, and settled in their stead; ²²as he did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, and they dispossessed them, and settled in their stead even to this day. ²³As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their stead.) ²⁴'Rise up, take your journey, and go over the valley of the Arnon; behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. ²⁵This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.'

Victory over the Amorites: Sihon. - Nu.21.21-30

²⁶"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, ²⁷'Let me pass through your land; I will go only by the road, I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. ²⁸You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot, ²⁹as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives to us.' ³⁰But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as at this day. ³¹And Yahweh said to me, 'Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you; begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.' ³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. ³³And Yahweh our God gave him over to us; and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. ³⁴And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women, and children; we left none remaining; ³⁵only the cattle we took as spoil for ourselves, with the booty of the cities which we captured. ³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God gave all into our hands. ³⁷Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God forbade us.

↑   3.

Victory over the Amorites: Og. - Nu.21.31-35

¹"Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ²But Yahweh said to me, 'Do not fear him; for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.' ³So Yahweh our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we smote him until no survivor was left to him. ⁴And we took all his cities at that time - there was not a city which we did not take from them - sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon, destroying every city, men, women, and children. ⁷But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty. ⁸So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁰all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹(For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)

Settlement: east of the Jordan. - Nu.32.1-42

¹²"When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities; ¹³the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole of that Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴Jair the Manassite took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) ¹⁵To Machir I gave Gilead, ¹⁶and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a boundary, as far over as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites; ¹⁷the Arabah also, with the Jordan as the boundary, from Chinnereth as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸"And I commanded you at that time, saying, 'Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess; all your men of valor shall pass over armed before your brethren the people of Israel. ¹⁹But your wives, your little ones, and your cattle (I know that you have many cattle) shall remain in the cities which I have given you, ²⁰until Yahweh gives rest to your brethren, as to you, and they also occupy the land which Yahweh your God gives them beyond the Jordan; then you shall return every man to his possession which I have given you.' ²¹And I commanded Joshua at that time, 'Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so will Yahweh do to all the kingdoms into which you are going over. ²²You shall not fear them; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you.'

²³"And I besought Yahweh at that time, saying, ²⁴'O Yahweh GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? ²⁵Let me go over, I pray, and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill country, and Lebanon.' ²⁶But Yahweh was angry with me on your account, and would not hearken to me; and Yahweh said to me, 'Let it suffice you; speak no more to me of this matter. ²⁷Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and behold it with your eyes; for you shall not go over this Jordan. ²⁸But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him; for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land which you shall see.' ²⁹So he remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

↑   4.

Moses' command to obedience.

¹"And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you. ²You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did at Baal-peor; for Yahweh your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor; ⁴but you who held fast to Yahweh your God are all alive this day. ⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' ⁷For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as Yahweh our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? ⁸And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

⁹"Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children - ¹⁰how on the day that you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, Yahweh said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children so.' ¹¹And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. ¹²Then Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. ¹³And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. ¹⁴And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess.

Warning against idolatry.

¹⁵"Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹And beware lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own possession, as at this day. ²¹Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me on your account, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. ²²For I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over and take possession of that good land. ²³Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you. ²⁴For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

²⁵"When you beget children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, so as to provoke him to anger, ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will drive you. ²⁸And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men's hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice, ³¹for Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them.

³²"For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. ³³Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? ³⁴Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown, that you might know that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you; and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, ³⁸driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day; ³⁹know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for ever."

The Cities of refuge.

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, ⁴²that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbour unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life: ⁴³Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

THE GIVING OF THE LAW: Introduction.

⁴⁴This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel; ⁴⁵these are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took possession of his land and the land of Og the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; ⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

↑   5.

The Ten Commandments. - Ex.20.1-17

¹And Moses summoned all Israel, and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your hearing this day, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. ²Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³Not with our fathers did Yahweh make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive this day. ⁴Yahweh spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, ⁵while I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Yahweh; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:

⁶" 'I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

⁷" 'You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸" 'You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁹you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I Yahweh your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹" 'You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

¹²" 'Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labour, and do all your work; ¹⁴but the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

¹⁶" 'Honour your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

¹⁷" 'You shall not kill.

¹⁸" 'Neither shall you commit adultery.

¹⁹" 'Neither shall you steal.

²⁰" 'Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbour.

²¹" 'Neither shall you covet your neighbour's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbour's.'

²²"These words Yahweh spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me.

The people's fear. - Ex.20.18-21

²⁸"And Yahweh heard your words, when you spoke to me; and Yahweh said to me, 'I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they have rightly said all that they have spoken. ²⁹Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children for ever! ³⁰Go and say to them, "Return to your tents." ³¹But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandment and the statutes and the ordinances which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.' ³²You shall be careful to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³³You shall walk in all the way which Yahweh your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land which you shall possess.

↑   6.

The Great Commandment.

¹"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it; ²that you may fear Yahweh your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them; that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God is one LORD; ⁵and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; ⁷and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Warnings.

¹⁰"And when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities, which you did not build, ¹¹and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, ¹²then take heed lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹³You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name. ¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; ¹⁵for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

¹⁶"You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷You shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ¹⁸And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of Yahweh, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers ¹⁹by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has promised.

²⁰"When your son asks you in time to come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh our God has commanded you? ²¹then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; ²²and Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes; ²³and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land which he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. ²⁵And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.'

↑   7.

Evils of idolatry. - Ex.34.11-16

¹"When Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than yourselves, ²and when Yahweh your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them; then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them. ³You shall not make marriages with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons. ⁴For they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. ⁵But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

⁶"For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. ⁷It was not because you were more in number than any other people that Yahweh set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; ⁸but it is because Yahweh loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know therefore that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰and requites to their face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him who hates him, he will requite him to his face. ¹¹You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day.

Blessings of obedience. - Dt.28.1-14

¹²"And because you hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which he swore to your fathers to keep; ¹³he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. ¹⁵And Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict upon you, but he will lay them upon all who hate you. ¹⁶And you shall destroy all the peoples that Yahweh your God will give over to you, your eye shall not pity them; neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷"If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them? ¹⁸you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out; so will Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰Moreover Yahweh your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹You shall not be in dread of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and terrible God. ²²Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ²³But Yahweh your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven; not a man shall be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. ²⁵The graven images of their gods you shall burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. ²⁶And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house, and become accursed like it; you shall utterly detest and abhor it; for it is an accursed thing.

↑   8.

The promised land.

¹"All the commandment which I command you this day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers. ²And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. ³And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh. ⁴Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years. ⁵Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, Yahweh your God disciplines you. ⁶So you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷For Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, ⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land he has given you.

Warnings.

¹¹"Take heed lest you forget Yahweh your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day: ¹²lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' ¹⁸You shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day. ¹⁹And if you forget Yahweh your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish. ²⁰Like the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of Yahweh your God.

↑   9.

The disobedience of the people.

¹"Hear, O Israel; you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak? ³Know therefore this day that he who goes over before you as a devouring fire is Yahweh your God; he will destroy them and subdue them before you; so you shall drive them out, and make them perish quickly, as Yahweh has promised you.

⁴"Do not say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land'; whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is driving them out before you. ⁵Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶"Know therefore, that Yahweh your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. ⁷Remember and do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you came out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. ⁸Even at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. ⁹When I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰And Yahweh gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹And at the end of forty days and forty nights Yahweh gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant. ¹²Then Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.'

¹³"Furthermore Yahweh said to me, 'I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people; ¹⁴let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.' ¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. ¹⁷So I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸Then I lay prostrate before Yahweh as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which Yahweh bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But Yahweh hearkened to me that time also. ²⁰And Yahweh was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹Then I took the sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

²²"At Taberah also, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath. ²³And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and did not believe him or obey his voice. ²⁴You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.

²⁵"So I lay prostrate before Yahweh for these forty days and forty nights, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. ²⁶And I prayed to Yahweh, 'O Yahweh GOD, destroy not your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness, or their sin, ²⁸lest the land from which you brought us say, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness." ²⁹For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.'

↑   10.

The two tablets of stone. - Ex.34.1-10

¹"At that time Yahweh said to me, 'Hew two tables of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood. ²And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.' ³So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables in my hand. ⁴And he wrote on the tables, as at the first writing, the ten commandments which Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me. ⁵Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as Yahweh commanded me.

⁶(The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth-bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his stead. ⁷From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. ⁸At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. ⁹Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, as Yahweh your God said to him.)

¹⁰"I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and Yahweh hearkened to me that time also; Yahweh was unwilling to destroy you. ¹¹And Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.'

What God demands.

¹²"And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³and to keep the commandments and statutes of Yahweh, which I command you this day for your good? ¹⁴Behold, to Yahweh your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it; ¹⁵yet Yahweh set his heart in love upon your fathers and chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day. ¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. ¹⁷For Yahweh your God is God of gods and Yahweh of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. ¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him and cleave to him, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen. ²²Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.

↑   11.

Love God.

¹"You shall therefore love Yahweh your God, and keep his charge, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments always. ²And consider this day (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, ³his signs and his deeds which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; ⁴and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them to this day; ⁵and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place; ⁶and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel; ⁷for your eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which he did.

Obey the Laws.

⁸"You shall therefore keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land which you are going over to possess, ⁹and that you may live long in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land which you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your feet, like a garden of vegetables; ¹¹but the land which you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, ¹²a land which Yahweh your God cares for; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³"And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. ¹⁵And he will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶Take heed lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, ¹⁷and the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there be no rain, and the land yield no fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which Yahweh gives you.

¹⁸"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ²⁰And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates, ²¹that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²²For if you will be careful to do all this commandment which I command you to do, loving Yahweh your God, walking in all his ways, and cleaving to him, ²³then Yahweh will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. ²⁴Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall be from the wilderness and Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. ²⁵No man shall be able to stand against you; Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.

²⁶"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: ²⁷the blessing, if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, ²⁸and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known.

²⁹And when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh? ³¹For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which Yahweh your God gives you; and when you possess it and live in it, ³²you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.

↑   12.

The one place to worship.

¹"These are the statutes and ordinances which you shall be careful to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live upon the earth. ²You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree; ³you shall tear down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name out of that place. ⁴You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. ⁵But you shall seek the place which Yahweh your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there; thither you shall go, ⁶and thither you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering that you present, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock; ⁷and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. ⁸You shall not do according to all that we are doing here this day, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; ⁹for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Yahweh your God gives you. ¹⁰But when you go over the Jordan, and live in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you live in safety, ¹¹then to the place which Yahweh your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, thither you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering that you present, and all your votive offerings which you vow to Yahweh. ¹²And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed that you do not offer your burnt offerings at every place that you see; ¹⁴but at the place which Yahweh will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

¹⁵"However, you may slaughter and eat flesh within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the hart. ¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out upon the earth like water. ¹⁷You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstlings of your herd or of your flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the offering that you present; ¹⁸but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your towns; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you undertake. ¹⁹Take heed that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰"When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, 'I will eat flesh,' because you crave flesh, you may eat as much flesh as you desire. ²¹If the place which Yahweh your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your towns as much as you desire. ²²Just as the gazelle or the hart is eaten, so you may eat of it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. ²³Only be sure that you do not eat the blood; for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out upon the earth like water. ²⁵You shall not eat it; that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of Yahweh. ²⁶But the holy things which are due from you, and your votive offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place which Yahweh will choose, ²⁷and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God, but the flesh you may eat. ²⁸Be careful to heed all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you for ever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of Yahweh your God.

²⁹"When Yahweh your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, ³⁰take heed that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do likewise.' ³¹You shall not do so to Yahweh your God; for every abominable thing which Yahweh hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

³²"Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it.

↑   13.

Idolatry.

¹"If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, ²and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall walk after Yahweh your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and cleave to him. ⁵But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to make you leave the way in which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

⁶"If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷some of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, ⁸you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him; ⁹but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹¹And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

¹²"If you hear in one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, ¹³that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, ¹⁴then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently; and behold, if it be true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you, ¹⁵you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh your God; it shall be a heap for ever, it shall not be built again. ¹⁷None of the devoted things shall cleave to your hand; that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, ¹⁸if you obey the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping all his commandments which I command you this day, and doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh your God.

↑   14.

Mourning.

¹"You are the sons of Yahweh your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. ²For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.

Clean and unclean. - Lv.11.1-47

³"You shall not eat any abominable thing. ⁴These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵the hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain-sheep. ⁶Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. ⁷Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. ⁸And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

⁹"Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. ¹⁰And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹"You may eat all clean birds. ¹²But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, ¹³the buzzard, the kite, after their kinds; ¹⁴every raven after its kind; ¹⁵the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk, after their kinds; ¹⁶the little owl and the great owl, the water hen ¹⁷and the pelican, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, ¹⁸the stork, the heron, after their kinds; the hoopoe and the bat. ¹⁹And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰All clean winged things you may eat.

²¹"You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a people holy to Yahweh your God.

The Tythe.

²²"You shall tithe all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from the field year by year. ²³And before Yahweh your God, in the place which he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. ²⁴And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to bring the tithe, when Yahweh your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which Yahweh your God chooses, to set his name there, ²⁵then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and go to the place which Yahweh your God chooses, ²⁶and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves; and you shall eat there before Yahweh your God and rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

²⁸"At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in the same year, and lay it up within your towns; ²⁹and the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

↑   15.

The year of release. - Lv.25.1-7

¹"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. ²And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbour; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, his brother, because Yahweh's release has been proclaimed. ³Of a foreigner you may exact it; but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. ⁴But there will be no poor among you (for Yahweh will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess), ⁵if only you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, being careful to do all this commandment which I command you this day. ⁶For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

⁷"If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, ⁸but you shall open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. ⁹Take heed lest there be a base thought in your heart, and you say, 'The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your eye be hostile to your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin in you. ¹⁰You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him; because for this Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. ¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.

Slaves. - Ex.21.1-11

¹²"If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed; ¹⁴you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press; as Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. ¹⁵You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. ¹⁶But if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you, ¹⁷then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your bondman for ever. And to your bondwoman you shall do likewise. ¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served you six years. So Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.

the offering of the firstborn.

¹⁹"All the firstling males that are born of your herd and flock you shall consecrate to Yahweh your God; you shall do no work with the firstling of your herd, nor shear the firstling of your flock. ²⁰You shall eat it, you and your household, before Yahweh your God year by year at the place which Yahweh will choose. ²¹But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind, or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. ²²You shall eat it within your towns; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a hart. ²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

↑   16.

Passover. - Ex.12.1-20

¹"Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. ²And you shall offer the passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place which Yahweh will choose, to make his name dwell there. ³You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction - for you came out of the land of Egypt in hurried flight - that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. ⁴No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days; nor shall any of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. ⁵You may not offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns which Yahweh your God gives you; ⁶but at the place which Yahweh your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt. ⁷And you shall boil it and eat it at the place which Yahweh your God will choose; and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. ⁸For six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God; you shall do no work on it.

The Harvest festival. - Ex.34.22, Lv.23.15-21

⁹"You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as Yahweh your God blesses you; ¹¹and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place which Yahweh your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. ¹²You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

Feast of Booths. - Lv.23.33-43

¹³"You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, when you make your ingathering from your threshing floor and your wine press; ¹⁴you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. ¹⁵For seven days you shall keep the feast to Yahweh your God at the place which Yahweh will choose; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

¹⁶"Three times a year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty-handed; ¹⁷every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you.

Judges.

¹⁸"You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality; and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. ²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

²¹"You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of Yahweh your God which you shall make. ²²And you shall not set up a pillar, which Yahweh your God hates.

↑   17.

¹"You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

²"If there is found among you, within any of your towns which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, in transgressing his covenant, ³and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, ⁴and it is told you and you hear of it; then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done in Israel, ⁵then you shall bring forth to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. ⁶On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses he that is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. ⁷The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

⁸"If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns which is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place which Yahweh your God will choose, ⁹and coming to the Levitical priests, and to the judge who is in office in those days, you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. ¹⁰Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place which Yahweh will choose; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you; ¹¹according to the instructions which they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the verdict which they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. ¹²The man who acts presumptuously, by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. ¹³And all the people shall hear, and fear, and not act presumptuously again.

Choice of a King.

¹⁴"When you come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me'; ¹⁵you may indeed set as king over you him whom Yahweh your God will choose. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶Only he must not multiply horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, since Yahweh has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again.' ¹⁷And he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply for himself silver and gold.

¹⁸"And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in the charge of the Levitical priests; ¹⁹and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them; ²⁰that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left; so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

↑   18.

The priests' and Levites' portion.

¹"The Levitical priests, that is, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings by fire to Yahweh, and his rightful dues. ²They shall have no inheritance among their brethren; Yahweh is their inheritance, as he promised them. ³And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ⁴The first fruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons for ever.

⁶"And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives - and he may come when he desires - to the place which Yahweh will choose, ⁷then he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before Yahweh. ⁸They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.

Pagan abominations forbidden.

⁹"When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. ¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; and because of these abominable practices Yahweh your God is driving them out before you. ¹³You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. ¹⁴For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.

Prophets: a promise and a warning.

¹⁵"Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren - him you shall heed - ¹⁶just as you desired of Yahweh your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, or see this great fire any more, lest I die.' ¹⁷And Yahweh said to me, 'They have rightly said all that they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' ²¹And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?' - ²²when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which Yahweh has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.

↑   19.

Cities of refuge. - Nu.35.9-28, Jos.20.1-9.

¹"When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ²you shall set apart three cities for you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess. ³You shall prepare the roads, and divide into three parts the area of the land which Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

⁴"This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If any one kills his neighbour unintentionally without having been at enmity with him in time past - ⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbour to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbour so that he dies - he may flee to one of these cities and save his life; ⁶lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and wound him mortally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he was not at enmity with his neighbour in time past. ⁷Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. ⁸And if Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers - ⁹provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you this day, by loving Yahweh your God and by walking ever in his ways - then you shall add three other cities to these three, ¹⁰lest innocent blood be shed in your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹"But if any man hates his neighbour, and lies in wait for him, and attacks him, and wounds him mortally so that he dies, and the man flees into one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ¹³Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Boundary marks.

¹⁴"In the inheritance which you will hold in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess, you shall not remove your neighbour's landmark, which the men of old have set.

Witnesses.

¹⁵"A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained. ¹⁶If a malicious witness rises against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷then both parties to the dispute shall appear before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days; ¹⁸the judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. ²⁰And the rest shall hear, and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. ²¹Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

↑   20.

Military service.

¹"When you go forth to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. ²And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people, ³and shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint; do not fear, or tremble, or be in dread of them; ⁴for Yahweh your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.' ⁵Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, 'What man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶And what man is there that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. ⁷And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.' ⁸And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest the heart of his fellows melt as his heart.' ⁹And when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

¹⁰"When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. ¹¹And if its answer to you is peace and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labour for you and shall serve you. ¹²But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it; ¹³and when Yahweh your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, ¹⁴but the women and the little ones, the cattle, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves; and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. ¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. ¹⁶But in the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷but you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as Yahweh your God has commanded; ¹⁸that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices which they have done in the service of their gods, and so to sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹"When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; for you may eat of them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field men that they should be besieged by you? ²⁰Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

↑   21.

The offering for unsolved murder.

¹"If in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, any one is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, ²then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain; ³and the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has never been worked and which has not pulled in the yoke. ⁴And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. ⁵And the priests the sons of Levi shall come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of Yahweh, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. ⁶And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷and they shall testify, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed. ⁸Forgive, O Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel; but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them.' ⁹So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of Yahweh.

Captive women.

¹⁰"When you go forth to war against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive, ¹¹and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife, ¹²then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails. ¹³And she shall put off her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.

The firstborn inheritance.

¹⁵"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the disliked, and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked, ¹⁶then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the first-born in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the first-born, ¹⁷but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the disliked, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first issue of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.

The rebellious son.

¹⁸"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them, ¹⁹then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, ²⁰and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' ²¹Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Incidental laws.

²²"And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ²³his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

↑   22.

¹"You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and withhold your help from them; you shall take them back to your brother. ²And if he is not near you, or if you do not know him, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. ³And so you shall do with his ass; so you shall do with his garment; so you shall do with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not withhold your help.

⁴You shall not see your brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and withhold your help from them; you shall help him to lift them up again.

⁵"A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

⁶"If you chance to come upon a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷you shall let the mother go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

⁸"When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if any one fall from it.

⁹"You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited to the sanctuary, the crop which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard.

¹⁰You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together. ¹¹You shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.

¹²"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.

Sexual relationships.

¹³"If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and then spurns her, ¹⁴and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings an evil name upon her, saying, 'I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity,' ¹⁵then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate; ¹⁶and the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he spurns her; ¹⁷and lo, he has made shameful charges against her, saying, "I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity." And yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him; ¹⁹and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. ²⁰But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman, ²¹then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

²²"If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.

²³"If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, ²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbour's wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

²⁵"But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. ²⁶But to the young woman you shall do nothing; in the young woman there is no offence punishable by death, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbour; ²⁷because he came upon her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸"If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰"A man shall not take his father's wife, nor shall he uncover her who is his father's.

↑   23.

Exclusions from the Lord's people.

¹"He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of Yahweh.

²"No bastard shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of Yahweh.

³"No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter the assembly of Yahweh for ever; ⁴because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵Nevertheless Yahweh your God would not hearken to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you. ⁶You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days for ever.

⁷"You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. ⁸The children of the third generation that are born to them may enter the assembly of Yahweh.

Camp sanitation.

⁹"When you go forth against your enemies and are in camp, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁰"If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of what chances to him by night, then he shall go outside the camp, he shall not come within the camp; ¹¹but when evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down, he may come within the camp.

¹²"You shall have a place outside the camp and you shall go out to it; ¹³and you shall have a stick with your weapons; and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it, and turn back and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴Because Yahweh your God walks in the midst of your camp, to save you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, that he may not see anything indecent among you, and turn away from you.

Incidental laws.

¹⁵"You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you; ¹⁶he shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place which he shall choose within one of your towns, where it pleases him best; you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷"There shall be no cult prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of Yahweh your God in payment for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

¹⁹"You shall not lend upon interest to your brother, interest on money, interest on victuals, interest on anything that is lent for interest. ²⁰To a foreigner you may lend upon interest, but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

²¹"When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you. ²²But if you refrain from vowing, it shall be no sin in you. ²³You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to Yahweh your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴"When you go into your neighbour's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your vessel.

²⁵When you go into your neighbour's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbour's standing grain.

↑   24.

Divorce and remarriage.

¹"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, ²and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, ³and the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before Yahweh, and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

Additional incidental laws.

⁵"When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.

⁶"No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge; for he would be taking a life in pledge.

⁷"If a man is found stealing one of his brethren, the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

⁸"Take heed, in an attack of leprosy, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you; as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ⁹Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam on the way as you came forth out of Egypt.

¹⁰"When you make your neighbour a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge. ¹¹You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹²And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge; ¹³when the sun goes down, you shall restore to him the pledge that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God.

¹⁴"You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brethren or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns; ¹⁵you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it); lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin in you.

¹⁶"The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷"You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge; ¹⁸but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and Yahweh your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

¹⁹"When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

²⁰When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²²You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

↑   25.

¹"If there is a dispute between men, and they come into court, and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, ²then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offence. ³Forty stripes may be given him, but not more; lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

⁴"You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.

Duty to a dead brother.

⁵"If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he persists, saying, 'I do not wish to take her,' ⁹then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' ¹⁰And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, The house of him that had his sandal pulled off.

Other incidental laws.

¹¹"When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, ¹²then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall have no pity.

¹³"You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. ¹⁴You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵A full and just weight you shall have, a full and just measure you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ¹⁶For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

The fate of the Amalekites.

¹⁷"Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and cut off at your rear all who lagged behind you; and he did not fear God. ¹⁹Therefore when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

↑   26.

Harvest offerings.

¹"When you come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and have taken possession of it, and live in it, ²you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that Yahweh your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place which Yahweh your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, 'I declare this day to Yahweh your God that I have come into the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.' ⁴Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of Yahweh your God.

⁵"And you shall make response before Yahweh your God, 'A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. ⁷Then we cried to Yahweh the God of our fathers, and Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression; ⁸and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; ⁹and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Yahweh, have given me.' And you shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God; ¹¹and you shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

¹²"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your towns and be filled, ¹³then you shall say before Yahweh your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them; ¹⁴I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh my God, I have done according to all that you have commanded me. ¹⁵Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.'

Commendment to obey the Law.

¹⁶"This day Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷You have declared this day concerning Yahweh that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice; ¹⁸and Yahweh has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honour, and that you shall be a people holy to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken."

↑   27.

An altar at Mount Ebal.

¹Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, "Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. ²And on the day you pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall set up large stones, and plaster them with plaster; ³and you shall write upon them all the words of this law, when you pass over to enter the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. ⁴And when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you this day, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵And there you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones; you shall lift up no iron tool upon them. ⁶You shall build an altar to Yahweh your God of unhewn stones; and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God; ⁷and you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God. ⁸And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly."

⁹And Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, "Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of Yahweh your God. ¹⁰You shall therefore obey the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day."

¹¹And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, ¹²"When you have passed over the Jordan, these shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:

The twelve curses.

¹⁵" 'Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.'

¹⁶" 'Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁷" 'Cursed be he who removes his neighbour's landmark.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁸" 'Cursed be he who misleads a blind man on the road.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁹" 'Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁰" 'Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered her who is his father's.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²¹" 'Cursed be he who lies with any kind of beast.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²²" 'Cursed be he who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²³" 'Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁴" 'Cursed be he who slays his neighbour in secret.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁵" 'Cursed be he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁶" 'Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

↑   28.

Blessings of obedience. - Lv.26.3-13, Dt.7.12-24.

¹"And if you obey the voice of Yahweh your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of Yahweh your God. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. ⁵Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. ⁶Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷"Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. ⁸Yahweh will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; and he will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ⁹Yahweh will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all the peopl;es of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yahweh; and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹And Yahweh will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. ¹²Yahweh will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only, and not downward; if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them, ¹⁴and if you do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses of disobedence. - Lv.26.14-46

¹⁵"But if you will not obey the voice of Yahweh your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. ¹⁶Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. ¹⁸Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. ¹⁹Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰"Yahweh will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me. ²¹Yahweh will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. ²²Yahweh will smite you with consumption, and with fever, inflammation, and fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³And the heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.

²⁵"Yahweh will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷Yahweh will smite you with the boils of Egypt, and with the ulcers and the scurvy and the itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸Yahweh will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind; ²⁹and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ³⁰You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it. ³¹Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be violently taken away before your face, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be no one to help you. ³²Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all the day; and it shall not be in the power of your hand to prevent it. ³³A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually; ³⁴so that you shall be driven mad by the sight which your eyes shall see. ³⁵Yahweh will smite you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶"Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. ³⁷And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away. ³⁸You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. ⁴²All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess. ⁴³The sojourner who is among you shall mount above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. ⁴⁶They shall be upon you as a sign and a wonder, and upon your descendants for ever.

⁴⁷"Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹Yahweh will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰a nation of stern countenance, who shall not regard the person of the old or show favour to the young, ⁵¹and shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. ⁵²They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which Yahweh your God has given you. ⁵³And you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you will grudge food to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to the last of the children who remain to him; ⁵⁵so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. ⁵⁶The most tender and delicately bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter, ⁵⁷her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because she will eat them secretly, for want of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

⁵⁸"If you are not careful to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awful name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹then Yahweh will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. ⁶⁰And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you. ⁶¹Every sickness also, and every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. ⁶²Whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, you shall be left few in number; because you did not obey the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³And as Yahweh took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so Yahweh will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you; and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶⁴And Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul; ⁶⁶your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷In the morning you shall say, 'Would it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'Would it were morning!' because of the dread which your heart shall fear, and the sights which your eyes shall see. ⁶⁸And Yahweh will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you."

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The covenant in the land of Moab.

¹These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he had made with them at Horeb.

²And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders; ⁴but to this day Yahweh has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet; ⁶you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am Yahweh your God. ⁷And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them; ⁸we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹Therefore be careful to do the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰"You stand this day all of you before Yahweh your God; the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, both he who hews your wood and he who draws your water, ¹²that you may enter into the sworn covenant of Yahweh your God, which Yahweh your God makes with you this day; ¹³that he may establish you this day as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴Nor is it with you only that I make this sworn covenant, ¹⁵but with him who is not here with us this day as well as with him who stands here with us this day before Yahweh our God.

¹⁶"You know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷and you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. ¹⁸Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from Yahweh our God to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' This would lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰Yahweh would not pardon him, but rather the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy would smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book would settle upon him, and Yahweh would blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹And Yahweh would single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. ²²And the generation to come, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick - ²³the whole land brimstone and salt, and a burnt-out waste, unsown, and growing nothing, where no grass can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger and wrath - ²⁴yea, all the nations would say, 'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land? What means the heat of this great anger? ²⁵Then men would say, 'It is because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶and went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them; ²⁷therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book; ²⁸and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as at this day.'

²⁹"The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

↑   30.

Conditions for restoration and blessing.

¹"And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you, ²and return to Yahweh your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; ³then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you. ⁴If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; ⁵and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷And Yahweh your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸And you shall again obey the voice of Yahweh, and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. ⁹Yahweh your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for Yahweh will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰if you obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹"For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ¹²It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ¹⁴But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵"See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you this day, by loving Yahweh your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving Yahweh your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

↑   31.

Appointment of Joshua.

¹So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. Yahweh has said to me, 'You shall not go over this Jordan.' ³Yahweh your God himself will go over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them; and Joshua will go over at your head, as Yahweh has spoken. ⁴And Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵And Yahweh will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is Yahweh your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."

⁷Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸It is Yahweh who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed."

Reading of the Law.

⁹And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release, at the feast of booths, ¹¹when all Israel comes to appear before Yahweh your God at the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, ¹³and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess."

Last instruction to Moses.

¹⁴And Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him." And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And Yahweh appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud stood by the door of the tent.

¹⁶And Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; then this people will rise and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured; and many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day on account of all the evil which they have done, because they have turned to other gods. ¹⁹Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. ²¹And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their descendants); for I know the purposes which they are already forming, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give." ²²So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the people of Israel.

²³And Yahweh commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to give them: I will be with you."

²⁴When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, to the very end, ²⁵Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, ²⁶"Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. ²⁷For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are; behold, while I am yet alive with you, today you have been rebellious against Yahweh; how much more after my death! ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands."

The Song of Moses.

³⁰Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

⁴"The Rock, his work is perfect;
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and right is he.
⁵They have dealt corruptly with him,
they are no longer his children because of their blemish;
they are a perverse and crooked generation.
⁶Do you thus requite Yahweh,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
⁷Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the sons of men,
he fixed the bounds of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
⁹For Yahweh's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

¹⁰"He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
¹¹Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings,
catching them, bearing them on its pinions,
¹²Yahweh alone did lead him,
and there was no foreign god with him.
¹³He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
and he ate the produce of the field;
and he made him suck honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs and rams, herds of Bashan and goats,
with the finest of the wheat -
and of the blood of the grape you drank wine.

¹⁵"But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked;
you waxed fat, you grew thick, you became sleek;
then he forsook God who made him,
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominable practices they provoked him to anger.
¹⁷They sacrificed to demons which were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come in of late,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
¹⁸You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹"Yahweh saw it, and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
²⁰And he said, 'I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
²¹They have stirred me to jealousy with what is no god;
they have provoked me with their idols.
So I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people;
I will provoke them with a foolish nation.
²²For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³" 'And I will heap evils upon them;
I will spend my arrows upon them;
²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence;
and I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with venom of crawling things of the dust.
²⁵In the open the sword shall bereave,
and in the chambers shall be terror,
destroying both young man and virgin,
the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.
²⁶I would have said, "I will scatter them afar,
I will make the remembrance of them cease from among men,"
²⁷had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should judge amiss,
lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant,
Yahweh has not wrought all this." '

²⁸"For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
²⁹If they were wise, they would understand this,
they would discern their latter end!
³⁰How should one chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and Yahweh had given them up?
³¹For their rock is not as our Rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges.
³²For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom,
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
their clusters are bitter;
³³their wine is the poison of serpents,
and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴"Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
³⁵Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.
³⁶For Yahweh will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
³⁷Then he will say, 'Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
³⁸who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
let them be your protection!

³⁹" 'See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven,
and swear, As I live for ever,
⁴¹if I whet my glittering sword,
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and will requite those who hate me.
⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh -
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.'

⁴³"Praise his people, O you nations;
for he avenges the blood of his servants,
and takes vengeance on his adversaries,
and makes expiation for the land of his people."

⁶"Let Reuben live, and not die,
nor let his men be few."

²⁶"There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
and in his majesty through the skies.
²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you,
and said, Destroy.
²⁸So Israel dwelt in safety,
the fountain of Jacob alone,
in a land of grain and wine;
yea, his heavens drop down dew.
²⁹Happy are you, O Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh,
the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you;
and you shall tread upon their high places."