1

1 The Events at Horeb Recalled These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the desert towards the west near the Red Sea, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, and Aulon, and the gold works.

2 It is a journey of eleven days from Horeb to Mount Seir as far as Kadesh Barnea.

3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to all the children of Israel, according to all things which the Lord commanded him for them;

4 after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who dwelt in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

5 Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying,

6 “The Lord your God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough in this mountain.

7 Turn and depart, and enter into the mountain of the Amorites, and go to all that dwell near the Arabah, to the mountain and the plain and to the south, and the land of the Canaanites near the sea, and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

8 Behold, I have delivered the land unto you; go in and inherit the land, which I swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to give it to them and to their descendants after them.’

9 Appointment of Tribal Leaders “And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I shall not be able by myself to bear you.

10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of heaven in multitude.

11 May the Lord God of your fathers add to you a thousand times more numerous than you already are, and bless you, as He has spoken to you.

12 How shall I alone be able to bear your labor, and your burden, and your complaints?

13 Take to yourselves wise and understanding and prudent men for your tribes, and I will set your leaders over you.

14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us is good.’

15 So I took wise and understanding and prudent men from among you, and I set them to rule over you as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens, and officers to your judges.

16 And I instructed your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

17 You shall not have respect to persons in judgment, you shall judge small and great equally; you shall not shrink from before the person of a man, for the judgment is God's; and whatsoever matter shall be too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it.’

18 And I gave to you at that time all the commandments which you shall perform.

19 Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land “So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorite, as the Lord our God charged us, and we came as far as Kadesh Barnea.

20 And I said to you, ‘You have come as far as the mountain of the Amorite, which the Lord our God gives to you.

21 Behold, the Lord your God has delivered to us the land before you; go up and inherit it as the Lord God of your fathers said to you; fear not, neither be afraid.’

22 And you all came to me, and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them go up to the land for us; and let them bring back to us a report of the way by which we shall go up, and of the cities into which we shall enter.’

23 And the saying pleased me: and I took of you twelve men; one man from each tribe.

24 And they turned, and went up to the mountain, and they came as far as the Valley of the Cluster, and surveyed it.

25 And they took in their hands of the fruit of the land, and brought it to you, and said, ‘The land is good which the Lord our God gives us.’

26 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the words of the Lord our God.

27 And you murmured in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28 Where can we go up?’ And your brothers drew away your heart, saying, ‘It is a great nation and populous, and mightier than we; and there are cities great and walled up to heaven. Moreover we saw the sons of the giants there.’

29 And I said to you, ‘Do not fear, neither be afraid of them;

30 the Lord your God, who goes before your face, He shall fight against them together with you effectually, according to all that He did for you in the land of Egypt;

31 and in this wilderness which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorite; how the Lord your God will bear you like a son, as if any man should carry his son, through all the way which you have gone, until you came to this place.’

32 And concerning this matter you did not believe the Lord our God,

33 who goes before you in the way to choose you a place, guiding you in the fire by night, showing you the way by which you should go, and a cloud by day.

34 The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion ‘And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and being greatly provoked, He swore an oath, saying,

35 ‘Not one of these men shall see this good land, which I swore to their fathers,

36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it; and to him I will give the land on which he went up, and to his sons, because he attended to the things of the Lord.’

37 And the Lord was angry with me for your sake, saying, ‘Neither shall you by any means enter therein.

38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands by you, he shall enter in there; strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39 And every young child who this day knows not good or evil, they shall enter therein, and to them I will give it, and they shall inherit it.’

40 And you turned and marched into the wilderness, in the way by the Red Sea.

41 ‘And you answered and said, ‘We have sinned before the Lord our God; we will go up and fight according to all that the Lord our God has commanded us.’ And everyone, having taken up their weapons of war, and being gathered together, went up to the mountain.

42 And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “You shall not go up, neither shall you fight, for I am not with you; lest you be destroyed before your enemies.’”

43 “And I spoke to you, and you did not listen to me; and you transgressed the commandment of the Lord; and you forced your way and went up into the mountain.

44 And the Amorite who dwelt in that mountain came out to meet you, and pursued you as bees do, and wounded you from Seir to Hormah.

45 And you sat down and wept before the Lord our God, and the Lord would not listen to your voice, neither did He take heed to you.

46 And you dwelt in Kadesh many days, as many days as you dwelt there.

2

1 The Desert Years ‘Then we turned and departed into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled around Mount Seir for many days.

2 And the Lord said to me,

3 ‘You have circled around this mountain for long enough; turn therefore toward the north.

4 And command the people, saying, “You are going through the territory of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they shall fear you, and dread you greatly.

5 Do not engage in war against them, for I will not give you of their land, not even enough to set your foot upon, for I have given Mount Seir to the children of Esau as an inheritance.

6 Buy food from them for money, and eat, and you shall receive water from them by measure for money, and drink.

7 For the Lord our God has blessed you in every work of your hands. Consider how you went through that great and terrible wilderness—behold, the Lord your God has been with you for forty years; you did not lack anything.”’

8 ‘And we passed by our brothers the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber; and we turned and passed by the way of the desert of Moab.

9 And the Lord said to me, “Do not quarrel with the Moabites, and do not engage in war with them; for I will not give you of their land for an inheritance, for I have given Ar to the children of Lot, to inherit.”

10 Formerly the Emim dwelt in it, a great and numerous nation and powerful, like the Anakim.

11 These also shall be accounted as Rephaim, like the Anakim; and the Moabites call them Emim.

12 And the Horites dwelt in Seir before, and the sons of Esau destroyed them, and utterly consumed them from before them; and they dwelt in their place, as Israel did to the land of his inheritance, which the Lord gave to them.

13 “Now then, arise and depart, and cross over the Valley of Zered.”

14 ‘And the days in which we traveled from Kadesh Barnea, till we crossed over the Valley of Zered, were thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had failed, dying out of the camp, as the Lord God had sworn to them.

15 And the hand of the Lord was upon them, to destroy them out of the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.

16 ‘And it came to pass when all the men of war dying out of the midst of the people had fallen,

17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying,

18 “You shall pass over this day the borders of Moab, to Ar;

19 and you shall draw near to the children of Ammon: do not quarrel with them, nor wage war with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for an inheritance, because I have given it to the children of Lot for an inheritance.”

20 (It shall be accounted a land for the Rephaim, for the Rephaim dwelt there before, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim.

21 A great nation and populous, and mightier than you, as also the Anakim; yet the Lord destroyed them from before them, and they inherited their land, and they dwelt there instead of them until this day.

22 As they did to the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, even as they destroyed the Horite from before them, and inherited their country, and dwelt therein instead of them until this day.

23 And the Avim who dwell in Asedoth to Gaza, and the Cappadocians who came out of Cappadocia, destroyed them, and dwelt in their place.)

24 “Now then arise and depart, and pass over the valley of Ar; behold, I have delivered into your hands Sihon the king of Heshbon the Amorite, and his land. Begin to inherit it; engage in war with him this day.

25 Begin to put your terror and your fear on the face of all the nations under heaven, who shall be troubled when they have heard your name, and shall be in anguish before you.”

26 Defeat of King Sihon ‘And I sent ambassadors from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with peaceable words, saying,

27 ‘I will pass through your land; I will go by the road, I will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

28 You shall give me food for money, and I will eat; and you shall give me water for money, and I will drink; I will only go through on my feet:

29 as the sons of Esau did to me, who dwelt in Seir, and the Moabites who dwelt in Ar, until I have passed the Jordan, into the land which the Lord our God gives us.’

30 And Sihon king of Heshbon would not allow us to pass by him, because the Lord our God hardened his spirit, and made his heart stubborn, that he might be delivered into your hands, as it is this day.

31 And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver before you Sihon the king of Heshbon the Amorite, and his land: begin to inherit his land.’

32 And Sihon the king of Heshbon came forth to meet us, he and all his people to war at Jahaz.

33 And the Lord our God delivered him before our face, and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people.

34 And we took possession of all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed every city in succession, and their wives, and their children; we left no living prey.

35 Only we took the livestock captive, and took the spoil of the cities.

36 From Ar, which is by the brink of the brook of Arnon, and the city which is in the valley, and as far as the mount of Gilead; there was not a city which escaped us: the Lord our God delivered all of them into our hands.

37 Only we did not draw near to the children of Ammon, even all the parts bordering on the brook Jabbok, and the cities in the mountain country, as the Lord our God commanded us.

3

1 Defeat of King Og ‘And we turned and went by the way leading to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

2 And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people, and all his land, into your hands; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon.’

3 And the Lord our God delivered him into our hands, even Og the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we struck him until we left none of his descendants.

4 And we mastered all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them; sixty cities, all the country round about Argob, belonging to King Og in Bashan;

5 all strong cities, lofty walls, gates and bars, besides the very many cities of the Perizzites.

6 We utterly destroyed them as we dealt with Sihon the king of Heshbon, so we utterly destroyed every city in order, and the women and children,

7 and all the cattle; and we took for a prey to ourselves the spoil of the cities.

8 And we took at that time the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, extending from the brook of Arnon even unto Hermon.

9 (The Phoenicians call Hermon Sirion, but the Amorite calls it Senir).

10 All the cities of Misor, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salcha and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

11 For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron; behold, it is in the chief city of the children of Ammon; the length of it is nine cubits, and the breadth of it four cubits, according to the cubit of a man.

12 ‘And we inherited that land at that time from Ar, which is by the border of the River Arnon, and half the mount of Gilead; and I gave his cities to Reuben and to Gad.

13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan the kingdom of Og I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, and all the country round about Argob, all that Bashan; it shall be accounted the land of Rephaim.

14 And Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country round about Argob as far as the borders of Gargasi and Machathi: he called them by his name Bashan Thavoth Jair, until this day.

15 And to Machir I gave Gilead.

16 And to Reuben and to Gad I gave the land under Gilead as far as the brook of Arnon, the border between the brook and as far as Jabbok; the brook is the border to the children of Ammon.

17 And the Arabah and the Jordan are the boundaries of Chinnereth, even to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea under Asedoth Pisga eastward.

18 ‘And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land by lot: arm yourselves, everyone that is powerful, and go before your brothers the children of Israel.

19 Only your wives and your children and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock), let them dwell in your cities which I have given you;

20 until the Lord your God give your brothers rest, as also He has given to you, and they also shall inherit the land, which the Lord our God gives them on the other side of the Jordan; then you shall return, each one to his inheritance which I have given you.’

21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all things which the Lord our God did to these two kings; so shall the Lord our God do to all the kingdoms against which you shall cross over.

22 You shall not be afraid of them, because the Lord our God Himself shall fight for you.’

23 Moses Views Canaan from Pisgah ‘And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,

24 ‘Lord God, You have begun to show to Your servant Your strength and Your power, and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm: for what god is there in heaven or on earth who will do as You have done, and according to Your might?

25 I will therefore go over and see this good land that is beyond the Jordan, this good mountain, and Lebanon.’

26 But the Lord showed me no regard because of you, and He would not listen to me; and the Lord said to me, ‘Enough already, do not speak of this matter to Me anymore!

27 Go up to the top of the quarried rock, and look with your eyes towards the west, the north, the south, and the east, and behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

28 And command Joshua, and strengthen him, and encourage him; for he shall go before the face of this people, and he shall give them the inheritance of all the land which you have seen.’

29 And we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

4

1 Moses Commands Obedience ‘And now, O Israel, hear the statutes and judgments, hear all that I teach you this day to do, that you may live, and be multiplied, and that you may go in and inherit the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives to you.

2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, and you shall not take from it: keep the commandments of the Lord our God, all that I command you this day.

3 Your eyes have seen all that the Lord our God did in Baal Peor; for every man that went after Baal of Peor, the Lord your God has utterly destroyed him from among you.

4 But you that kept close to the Lord your God are all alive this day.

5 Behold, I have shown you the statutes and judgments as the Lord has commanded me, that you should do so in the land into which you go, to inherit it.

6 And you shall keep and do them: for this is your wisdom and understanding before all nations, as many as shall hear all these ordinances; and they shall say, ‘Behold, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what manner of nation is so great, which has God so near to them as the Lord our God is in all things in whatsoever we may call upon Him?

8 And what manner of nation is so great, which has righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law, which I set before you this day?’

9 ‘Take heed to yourself, and guard your heart diligently: forget not any of the things, which your eyes have seen, and let them not depart from your heart all the days of your life; and you shall teach your sons and your sons' sons,

10 even the things that happened in the day in which you stood before the Lord our God in Horeb in the day of the assembly; for the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days which they live upon the earth, and they shall teach their sons.’

11 And you drew near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire up to heaven: there was darkness, blackness, and a tempest.

12 And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire a voice of words, which you heard: and you saw no likeness, only you heard a voice.

13 And He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to keep, even the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

14 And the Lord commanded me at that time, to teach you statutes and judgments, that you should do them on the land, into which you go to inherit it.

15 ‘And take careful heed to your hearts, for you saw no form in the day in which the Lord spoke to you in Horeb in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire;

16 lest you transgress, and make to yourselves a carved image, any kind of figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 the likeness of any beast of those that are on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird which flies under heaven,

18 the likeness of any reptile which creeps on the earth, the likeness of any fish of those which are in the waters under the earth;

19 and lest having looked up to the sky, and having seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, you should go astray and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has distributed to all the nations under heaven.

20 But God took you, and led you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to Him a people of inheritance, as it is this day.

21 And the Lord God was angry with me for the things which you said, and swore that I would not go over this Jordan, and that I would not enter into the land, which the Lord your God has given to you for an inheritance.

22 For I am to die in this land, and shall not pass over this Jordan; but you are to pass over, and shall inherit this good land.

23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord our God, which He made with you, and you transgress, and make to yourselves a graven image of any of the things concerning which the Lord your God has commanded you.

24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25 And when you have begotten sons and grandsons, and you have dwelt a long time on the land, and have transgressed, and made a graven image of any kind, and have done wickedly before the Lord your God to provoke Him;

26 I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you, that you shall surely perish from off the land, into which you go across the Jordan to inherit it; you shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly cut off.

27 And the Lord shall scatter you among all nations, and you shall be left few in number among all the nations, among which the Lord shall bring you.

28 And there you shall serve other gods, the works of the hands of men, of wood and stone, which cannot see, nor can they hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 And there you shall seek the Lord your God, and you shall find Him whenever you shall seek Him with all your heart, and with all your soul in your affliction.

30 And all these things shall come upon you in the last days, and you shall turn to the Lord your God, and shall hearken to His voice.

31 Because the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not forsake you, nor destroy you; He will not forget the covenant of your fathers, which the Lord has sworn to them.

32 ‘Ask of the former days which were before you, from the day when God created man upon the earth; from one end of heaven to the other, if such a great event as this has ever transpired; if such a thing has ever been heard;

33 if a nation has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and have lived!

34 Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation out of the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great sights, according to all the things which the Lord our God did in Egypt in your sight?

35 So that you should know that the Lord your God, He is God, and there is none beside Him.

36 His voice was made audible from heaven to instruct you, and He showed you His great fire upon the earth, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

37 Because He loved your fathers, He also has chosen you, their descendants after them, and He Himself brought you out of Egypt by His great strength,

38 to destroy nations greater and stronger than you before your face, to bring you in, to give you their land to inherit, as you have this day.

39 And you shall know this day, and shall consider in your heart, that the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and on earth below, and there is no one else besides Him.

40 Therefore you shall keep His commandments and His statutes, all that I command you this day; that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, that you may live long upon the earth, which the Lord your God is giving you forever.’

41 Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan on the east,

42 that the manslayer might flee there, one who has killed his neighbor unintentionally, and should not have hated him in times past, and he shall flee to one of these cities and live:

43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead belonging to Gad, and Golan in Bashan belonging to Manasseh.

44 Transition to the Second Address This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.

45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt,

46 on the other side of the Jordan, in the valley near Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel killed when they came out of the land of Egypt.

47 And they inherited his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the east,

48 from Ar, which is on the border of the brook Arnon, even to Mount Zion, which is Hermon.

49 All the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward under Asedoth hewn in the rock.

5

1 The Ten Commandments And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the ordinances and statutes, all that I speak in your ears this day, and you shall learn them, and observe to do them.

2 The Lord your God made a covenant with you in Horeb.

3 The Lord did not make this covenant with your fathers, but with you: you are all here alive this day.

4 The Lord spoke to you face to face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire.

5 And I stood between the Lord and you at that time to report to you the words of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up to the mountain. He said,

6 ‘I am the Lord 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 an image, nor likeness of anything, whatever things that are in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that are in the waters beneath the earth.

9 You shall not bow down to them, nor shall you serve them; for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation to them that hate Me,

10 and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me, and that keep My commandments.

11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord your God will certainly not acquit him that takes His name in vain.

12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day—set it apart, as the Lord your God has commanded you.

13 Six days you shall work, and you shall do all of your works;

14 but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall do no work on that day, neither you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your ox, your donkey, your livestock, nor the stranger that sojourns in the midst of you; that your male servant may rest, and your maid and your ox, as well as you.

15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day, and to set it apart.

16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you; that it may be well with you, and that you may live long upon the land, which the Lord your God gives to you.

17 ‘You shall not commit murder.

18 ‘You shall not commit adultery.

19 ‘You shall not steal.

20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; you shall not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his male servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any beast of his, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

22 “These words the Lord spoke to all the assembly of you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire—there was darkness, blackness, a storm, and a loud voice—and He added nothing else, and He wrote them on two tablets of stone, and He gave them to me.

23 Moses the Mediator of God’s Will “And it came to pass when you heard the voice out of the midst of the fire, (for the mountain burned with fire) that you came to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders,

24 and you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire: this day we have seen that God shall speak to man, and he shall live.

25 And now do not let us die, for this great fire will consume us, if we shall hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, and we shall die.

26 For what man is there, who has heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have heard, and shall live?

27 But draw near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and you shall speak to us all things whatsoever the Lord our God shall speak to you, and we will hear, and do.’

28 And the Lord heard the voice of your words as you spoke to me; and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people, even all things that they have said to you. They have well said all that they have spoken.

29 O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep My commandments at all times, that it might be well with them, and with their sons forever!

30 Go, say to them, ‘Return to your houses,’

31 but you stand here with Me, and I will tell you all the commands and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, and let them do so in the land which I give them for an inheritance.

32 And you shall take heed to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left,

33 according to all the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in it, that He may give you rest; and that it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days on the land which you shall inherit.

6

1 The Great Commandment “And these are the commands, and the statutes, and the judgments, as many as the Lord our God gave commandment, to teach you to do so in the land on which you enter to inherit it.

2 That you may fear the Lord your God, and keep all His statutes, and His commandments, which I command you today, you, your sons, and your grandsons, all the days of your life, that you may live many days.

3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and observe to do them, that it may be well with you, and that you may be greatly multiplied, as the Lord God of your fathers said that He would give you a land flowing with milk and honey. And these are the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord commanded the children of Israel in the wilderness, when they had gone forth from the land of Egypt.

4 “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 “And these words, all that I command you this day, shall be in your heart and in your soul.

7 And you shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them sitting in the house, and walking on the road, and lying down, and rising up.

8 And you shall fasten them for a sign upon your hand, and it shall be immovable before your eyes.

9 And you shall write them on the lintels of your houses and of your gates.

10 Caution Against Disobedience “And it shall come to pass, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and beautiful cities which you did not build,

11 houses full of all good things which you did not fill, wells dug in the rock which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, then having eaten and been filled,

12 beware lest you forget the Lord your God that brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13 You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve; and you shall cleave to Him, and by His name you shall swear.

14 Do not go after other gods, of the gods of the nations that are around you,

15 for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God, lest the Lord your God be very angry with you, and destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted Him in the temptation.

17 You shall by all means keep the commandments of the Lord your God, the testimonies, and the statutes, which He has commanded you.

18 And you shall do that which is pleasing and good before the Lord your God, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and inherit the good land, which the Lord swore to your fathers,

19 to chase all your enemies from before your face, as the Lord has spoken.

20 “And it shall come to pass, when your son shall ask you at a future time, saying, ‘What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God has commanded us?’

21 Then shall you say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought us forth from there with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm.

22 And the Lord did great signs and wonders in Egypt, on Pharaoh and on his house before us.

23 And He brought us out from there to give us this land, which He swore to give to our fathers.

24 And the Lord commanded us to observe all these ordinances; to fear the Lord our God, that it may be well with us forever, that we may live, as it is this day.

25 And there shall be mercy to us, if we take heed to keep all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

7

1 A Chosen People “And when the Lord your God shall bring you into the land into which you go, to possess it, and shall remove great nations from before you, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you,

2 and the Lord your God shall deliver them into your hands, then you shall strike them; you shall utterly destroy them: you shall not make a covenant with them, neither shall you pity them;

3 neither shall you contract marriages with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter to your son.

4 For he will draw away your son from Me, and he will serve other gods; and the Lord will be very angry with you, and will soon utterly destroy you.

5 But thus shall you do to them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their pillars, and cut down their groves, and you shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods.

6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; and the Lord your God chose you to be to Him a peculiar people beyond all nations that are upon the face of the earth.

7 It is not because you are more numerous than all other nations that the Lord has preferred you, and the Lord has chosen you: for you are fewer in number than all other nations.

8 But because the Lord has loved you, and He is keeping the oath which He swore to your fathers; the Lord has brought you out with a strong hand, and the Lord has redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 You shall know therefore, that the Lord your God, He is God, a faithful God, who keeps His covenant and mercy for them that love Him, and for those that keep His commandments to a thousand generations,

10 and who repays those that hate Him to their face, to utterly destroy them; and will not be slack with them that hate Him; He will repay them to their face.

11 Therefore you shall keep the commands and the statutes and these judgments, which I command you this day to do.

12 Blessings for Obedience “And it shall come to pass when you shall have heard these statutes, and have kept and done them, that the Lord your God shall keep for you the covenant and the mercy, which He swore to your fathers.

13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; and He will bless the offspring of your body, and the fruit of your land, your grain, your wine, your oil, your herds of oxen, and the flocks of your sheep, on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to give to you.

14 You shall be blessed beyond all other nations; there shall not be among you an impotent or barren one, or among your livestock.

15 And the Lord your God shall remove all sickness from you; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you have seen, and all that you have known, will He lay upon you; but He will lay them upon all those that hate you.

16 And you shall eat all the spoils of the nations which the Lord your God gives to you; your eye shall not spare them, and you shall not serve their gods; for this is an offense to you.

17 “But if you should say in your heart, ‘This nation is greater than I, how shall I be able to destroy them utterly?’

18 You shall not fear them; you shall surely remember all that the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians;

19 the great trials which your eyes have seen, those signs and great wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm; how the Lord your God brought you forth: so the Lord your God will do to all the nations, whom you fear in their presence.

20 And the Lord your God shall send against them the hornets, until those that are left and those that are hidden from you are utterly destroyed.

21 You shall not be wounded before them, because the Lord your God in the midst of you is a great and powerful God.

22 And the Lord your God shall consume these nations before you by little and little: you shall not be able to consume them speedily, lest the land become desert, and the wild beasts of the field be multiplied against you.

23 And the Lord your God shall deliver them into your hands, and you shall destroy them with a great destruction, until you have utterly destroyed them.

24 And He shall deliver their kings into your hands, and you shall destroy their name from that place; none shall stand up in opposition before you, until you have utterly destroyed them.

25 You shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods: you shall not covet their silver, neither shall you take to yourself gold from them, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

26 And you shall not bring an abomination into your house, so should you be an accursed thing like it; you shall utterly detest it, and altogether abominate it, because it is an accursed thing.

8

1 A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity “You shall observe to do all the commands which I charge you today, that you may live and be multiplied, and enter in and inherit the land, which the Lord your God swore to your fathers.

2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness, that He might afflict you, and try you, and that the things in your heart might be made manifest, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3 And He afflicted you and let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers knew not; that He might teach you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.

4 Your garments did not grow old from off you, your shoes were not worn from off you, your feet were not painfully hardened, behold, for these forty years!

5 And you shall know in your heart, that as if any man should chasten his son, so the Lord your God will chasten you.

6 And you shall keep the commands of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.

7 For the Lord your God will bring you into a good and extensive land, where there are torrents of waters, and fountains of deep places issuing through the plains and through the mountains;

8 a land of wheat and barley, with vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land on which you shall not eat your bread with poverty, and you shall not need anything upon it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of its mountains you shall dig copper.

10 And you shall eat and be filled, and shall bless the Lord your God on the good land, which He has given you.

11 “Take heed to yourself that you do not forget the Lord your God, so as not to keep His commands, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you this day,

12 lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built nice houses, and dwelt in them;

13 and your oxen and your sheep are multiplied to you, and your silver and your gold are multiplied to you, and all your possessions are multiplied to you,

14 that you should be exalted in your heart, and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

15 who brought you through that great and terrible wilderness, where the biting serpent is, and the scorpion, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you a fountain of water out of the flinty rock;

16 who fed you with manna in the wilderness, which you did not know, and your fathers did not know; that He might afflict you, and thoroughly test you, and do you good in your latter days.

17 Lest you should say in your heart, ‘My strength, and the power of my own hand have worked for me this great wealth!’

18 But you shall remember the Lord your God, that He gives you strength to get wealth; even that He may establish His covenant, which the Lord swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall come to pass, that if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and should go after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall surely perish!

20 As also the other nations which the Lord God destroys before your face, so shall you perish, because you would not heed the voice of the Lord your God.

9

1 The Consequences of Rebelling Against God “Hear, O Israel: You go this day across the Jordan to inherit nations greater and stronger than yourselves, cities great and walled up to heaven;

2 a people great and many and tall, the sons of Anak, whom you know, and concerning whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the children of Anak?’

3 And you shall know today, that the Lord your God, He shall go before your face; He is a consuming fire; He shall destroy them, and He shall turn them back before you, and shall destroy them quickly, as the Lord had said to you.

4 Do not say in your heart, when the Lord your God has destroyed these nations before your face, that ‘For my righteousness the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land.’

5 Not for your righteousness, nor for the holiness of your heart, do you go in to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord shall destroy them from before you, and that He may establish the covenant, which the Lord swore to our fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 And you shall know this day, that it is not for your righteousnesses that the Lord your God gives to you this good land to inherit, for you are a stiff-necked people.

7 “Remember, and do not forget, how much you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness; from the day that you came forth out of Egypt, even till you came into this place, you continued to be disobedient toward the Lord.

8 Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you;

9 when I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant, which the Lord made with you, and I was in the mountain forty days and forty nights, I ate no bread and drank no water.

10 And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them there had been written all the words which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain, in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass after forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed; they have gone aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, and have made themselves a molten image.’

13 “And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I have spoken to you once and again, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.”

14 And now I shall utterly destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and will make of you a nation great and strong, and more numerous than this.’

15 And I turned and went down from the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to heaven; and the two tablets of the testimonies were in my two hands.

16 And when I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made for yourselves a molten image, and had gone astray out of the way, which the Lord commanded you to keep;

17 then I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my hands, and broke them before you.

18 And I made my petition before the Lord as also at the first forty days and forty nights: I ate no bread and drank no water, on account of all your sins which you sinned in doing evil before the Lord God, to provoke Him.

19 And I was greatly terrified because of the wrath and anger, because the Lord was provoked with you utterly, to destroy you; yet the Lord hearkened to me at this time also.

20 And He was angry with Aaron to destroy him utterly, and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.

21 And your sin which you had made, the calf, I took it, and I burned it with fire, and pounded it and ground it down till it became fine; and it became like dust, and I cast the dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

22 “Also in the burning, and in the temptation, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord.

23 And when the Lord sent you forth from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and inherit the land which I give to you,’ then you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God, and did not believe Him, and you did not listen to His voice.

24 You were disobedient in the things relating to the Lord from the day in which He became known to you.

25 And I prayed before the Lord forty days and forty nights, the number that I prayed before, for the Lord said that He would utterly destroy you.

26 “And I prayed to God, and said, ‘O Lord, great God, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance, whom You redeemed, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with Your great power, and with Your strong hand, and with Your outstretched arm.

27 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself: look not upon the hardness of heart of this people, and their wickedness, and their sins,

28 lest the inhabitants of the land from which You brought us out speak, saying, ‘Because the Lord could not bring them into the land of which He spoke to them, and because He hated them, has He brought them forth to slay them in the wilderness.’

29 And these are Your people and Your portion, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with Your great strength, and with Your mighty hand, and with Your outstretched arm.

10

1 The Second Pair of Tablets “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two stone tablets like the first, and come up to Me into the mountain, and you shall make for yourself an ark of wood.

2 And I shall write upon the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them into the ark.’

3 So I made an ark of boards of incorruptible wood, and I hewed tablets of stone like the first, and I went up to the mountain, and the two tablets were in my hand.

4 And He wrote upon the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire, and the Lord gave them to me.

5 And I turned and came down from the mountain, and I put the tablets into the ark which I had made; and there they were, as the Lord commanded me.”

6 And the children of Israel departed from Beeroth of the sons of Jakim to Moserah; where Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son was priest in his place.

7 From there they departed to Gudgodah; and from Gudogdah to Jotbathah, a land of torrents of water.

8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand near before the Lord, to minister and bless in His name, to this day.

9 Therefore the Levites have no part nor inheritance among their brothers; the Lord Himself is their inheritance, as He said to them.

10 And I remained in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And the Lord heard me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy you.

11 And the Lord said to me, ‘Go, set out before this people, and let them go in and inherit the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.’

12 The Essence of the Law “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul;

13 to keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His statutes, all that I command you this day, that it may be well with you?

14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all things that are in it.

15 Only the Lord chose your fathers, to love them, and He chose out their descendants after them, even you, beyond all nations, as it is this day.

16 Therefore you shall circumcise the hardness of your heart, and you shall not stiffen your neck.

17 For the Lord your God, He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great and mighty; the awesome God, who is no respector of persons, nor will He by any means accept a bribe;

18 executing judgment for the stranger and orphan and widow, and He loves the stranger, to give him food and clothing.

19 And you shall love the stranger; for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve Him, and you shall cleave to Him, and shall swear by His name.

21 He is your boast, and He is your God, who has done in the midst of you all these great and glorious things, which your eyes have seen.

22 With seventy souls your fathers went down into Egypt; but the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.

11

1 Rewards for Obedience “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and shall observe His appointments, and His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, at all times.

2 And you shall know this day; for I speak not to your children, who know not and have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God, and His wonderful works, and His strong hand, and His outstretched arm,

3 and His miracles, and His wonders, which He did in the midst of Egypt on Pharaoh king of Egypt, and all his land;

4 and what He did to the army of the Egyptians, and to their chariots, and their cavalry, and their army; how He made the water of the Red Sea to overwhelm the face of them as they pursued after you, and the Lord destroyed them until this day;

5 and all the things which He did to you in the wilderness until you came into this place;

6 and all the things that He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, whom the earth, opening her mouth, swallowed up, and their houses, and their tents, and all their substance that was with them, in the midst of all Israel;

7 for your eyes have seen all the mighty works of the Lord, which He did among you to this day.

8 “And you shall keep all His commandments, as many as I command you this day, that you may live and be multiplied; and that you may go in and inherit the land, into which you go across the Jordan, to inherit it;

9 that you may live long upon the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them, and to their descendants after them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land into which you go to inherit it is not as the land of Egypt, from which you came out of, where they sowed the seed, and watered it with their feet, as a garden of herbs;

11 but the land into which you go to inherit it is a land of mountains and plains; it shall drink the water of the rain of heaven.

12 A land which the Lord your God surveys continually, the eyes of the Lord your God are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 “Now if you will indeed hearken to all the commandments which I charge you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul,

14 then He shall give to your land the early and latter rain in its season, and you shall bring in your grain, your wine, and your oil.

15 And He shall give food in your fields to your livestock; and when you have eaten and are full,

16 take heed to yourself that your heart be not puffed up, and you transgress, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 and the Lord be angry with you, and restrain the heavens; and there shall not be rain, and the earth shall not yield its fruit, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land, which the Lord has given you.

18 “And you shall store these words in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and it shall be fixed before your eyes.

19 And you shall teach them to your children, so as to speak about them when you sit in the house, and when you walk by the way, and when you sleep, and when you rise up.

20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses, and on your gates;

21 that your days may be long, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22 “And it shall come to pass that if you will indeed hearken to all these commandments which I charge you to observe this day, to love the Lord our God, and to walk in all His ways, and to cleave close to Him;

23 then the Lord shall cast out all these nations before you, and you shall inherit great nations stronger than yourselves.

24 Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, and from the great river, the River Euphrates, even as far as the Western Sea shall be your coasts.

25 No one shall stand before you; and the Lord your God will put the fear of you and the dread of you on the face of all the land, on which you shall tread, as He told you.

26 “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

27 a blessing, if you hearken to the commands of the Lord your God, all that I command you this day;

28 and a curse, if you do not hearken to the commands of the Lord our God, as many as I command you this day, and you wander from the way which I have commanded you, having gone to serve other gods, which you do not know.

29 And it shall come to pass when the Lord your God shall have brought you into the land into which you go over to inherit it, then you shall put blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal.

30 Behold, are not these beyond the Jordan, behind, westward in the land of Canaan, which lies westward near Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?

31 For you are passing over the Jordan, to go in and inherit the land, which the Lord our God gives you to inherit always, and you shall dwell in it.

32 And you shall take heed to observe all His statutes, and these judgments, as many as I set before you this day.

12

1 Pagan Shrines to be Destroyed “And these are the ordinances and the judgments, which you shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives you for an inheritance, all the days which you live upon the land.

2 You shall utterly destroy all the places in which they served their gods, whose land you inherit, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under the thick tree.

3 And you shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their groves, and you shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods, and you shall abolish their name out of that place.

4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God.

5 But in the place which the Lord your God shall choose in one of your cities to name His name there, and to be called upon, you shall even seek Him out and go there.

6 And you shall carry there your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your firstfruits, and your vowed offerings, and your freewill offerings, and your offerings of thanksgiving, the firstborn of your herds, and of your flocks.

7 And you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all the things on which you shall lay your hand, you and your houses, as the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You shall not do altogether as we do here this day, every man that which is pleasing in his own sight.

9 For as yet you have not arrived at the rest and the inheritance, which the Lord our God gives you.

10 And you shall cross over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land, which the Lord our God takes as an inheritance for you; and He shall give you rest from all your enemies round about, and you shall dwell safely.

11 And there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose for His name to be called there, from which shall you bring all things that I order you this day; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands, and every choice gift of yours, whatsoever you shall vow to the Lord your God.

12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is at your gates; because he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 Take heed to yourself that you offer not your burnt offerings in any place which you shall see;

14 except in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, in one of your tribes, there shall you offer your burnt offerings, and there shall you do all things whatsoever I charge you this day.

15 “But you shall kill according to all your desire, and shall eat flesh according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which He has given you in every city; the unclean that is within you and the clean shall eat it on equal terms, as the doe or the stag.

16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the ground as water.

17 You shall not be able to eat in your cities the tithe of your grain, and of your wine, and of your oil, the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, and all your vows, as many as you have vowed, and your thank offerings, and the firstfruits of your hands.

18 But before the Lord your God you shall eat it, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for Himself; you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the stranger that is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, on whatsoever you shall lay your hand.

19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite all the time that you live upon the earth.

20 “And if the Lord your God shall enlarge your borders, as He said to you, and you shall say, ‘I will eat flesh’; if your soul should desire to eat flesh, you shall eat flesh according to all the desire of your soul.

21 And if the place is far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose for Himself, that His name be called upon it, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which God shall have given you, even as I commanded you, and you shall eat in your cities according to the desire of your soul.

22 As the doe and the stag are eaten, so shall you eat it; the unclean in you and the clean shall eat it in like manner.

23 Take diligent heed that you eat no blood, for blood is the life of it; the life shall not be eaten with the flesh.

24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground as water.

25 You shall not eat it, that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, if you shall do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.

26 But you shall take your holy things, if you have any, and your vowed offerings, and come to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have His name named upon it.

27 And you shall sacrifice your burnt offerings, you shall offer the flesh upon the altar of the Lord your God; but the blood of your sacrifices you shall pour out at the foot of the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you shall eat.

28 Beware and hearken, and you shall do all the commands which I charge you, that it may be well with you and with your sons forever, if you shall do that which is pleasing and good before the Lord your God.

29 Warning Against Idolatry “And if the Lord your God shall utterly destroy the nations from before you, to which you go to possess, to inherit their land, and you shall inherit it, and dwell in their land;

30 take heed to yourself that you do not desire to follow after those that have been destroyed from before you, saying, ‘How do these nations act towards their gods? I will do likewise.’

31 You shall not do so to your God; for they have sacrificed to their gods the abominations of the Lord which He hates, for they burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, to sacrifice to their gods.

32 Every word that I command you this day, you shall observe to do: you shall not add to it, neither shall you take away from it.

13

1 “And if there should arise within you a prophet, or one who dreams a dream, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods, which you know not’;

3 you shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or the dreamer of that dream, because the Lord your God is testing you, to see whether you love your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 You shall follow the Lord your God, and fear Him, and you shall hear His voice, and attach yourselves to Him.

5 And that prophet or that dreamer of a dream shall die; for he has spoken to make you err from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, who redeemed you from bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you abolish the evil from among you.

6 “And if your brother by your father or mother, or your son, or daughter, or your wife in your bosom, or friend who is equal to your own soul, should entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 of the gods of the nations that are round about you, who are near you or at a distance from you, from one end of the earth to the other;

8 you shall not consent to him, neither shall you hearken to him; and your eye shall not spare him, you shall feel no regret for him, neither shall you at all protect him:

9 you shall surely report concerning him, and your hands shall be upon him among the first to slay him, and the hands of all the people at the last.

10 And they shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not again do according to this evil thing among you.

12 And if in one of your cities which the Lord God gives you to dwell in, you shall hear men saying,

13 ‘Evil men have gone out from you, and have caused all the inhabitants of their land to fall away, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’, whom you knew not,’

14 then you shall inquire and ask, and search diligently, and behold, if the thing is clearly true, and this abomination has taken place among you,

15 you shall utterly destroy all the inhabitants of that land with the edge of the sword; you shall solemnly curse it, and all the things that are in it.

16 And all its spoils you shall gather into its public ways, and you shall burn the city with fire, along with all its spoils publicly before the Lord your God; and it shall be uninhabited forever, it shall not be built again.’

17 And none of the cursed things shall cleave to your hand, that the Lord may turn from His fierce anger, and show you mercy, and pity you, and multiply you, as He swore to your fathers;

18 if you will hear the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments, all that I charge you this day, to do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.

14

1 Pagan Practices Forbidden “You are the children of the Lord your God: you shall not make any baldness between you eyes for the dead.

2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself of all the nations on the face of the earth.

3 Clean and Unclean Meat You shall not eat any abominable thing.

4 These are the beasts which you shall eat: the calf of the herd, and lamb of the sheep, and kid of the goats;

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, and the mountain goat.

6 Every beast that divides the hoofs, and makes claws of two divisions, and that chews the cud among beasts, these you shall eat.

7 And these you shall not eat: of them that chew the cud, and of those that divide the hoofs, and make distinct claws; the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit; because they chew the cud, and do not divide the hoof, these are unclean to you.

8 And as for the swine, because he divides the hoof, and makes claws of the hoof, yet he does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you; you shall not eat of their flesh, you shall not touch their dead bodies.

9 “And these you shall eat of all that are in the water, you shall eat all that have fins and scales.

10 And all that do not have fins and scales you shall not eat, they are unclean to you.

11 You shall eat every clean bird.

12 And these among them you shall not eat: the eagle, the ossifrage, the sea-eagle,

13 the vulture, the kite and the like to it,

14 (This verse omitted in LXX)

15 the sparrow, the owl, the seagull,

16 the heron, the swan, the stork,

17 the cormorant, the hawk and its like, the hoopoe, the raven,

18 the pelican, and the diver and the like to it, and the redbill and the bat.

19 All winged animals that creep are unclean to you; you shall not eat of them.

20 You shall eat every clean bird.

21 “You shall eat nothing that dies of itself; it shall be given to the sojourner in your cities and he shall eat it, or you shall sell it to a stranger, because you are a holy people unto the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in his mother's milk.

22 Tithing Principles “You shall tithe a tenth of all the produce of your seed, the fruit of your field, year by year.

23 And you shall eat it in the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have His name called there; you shall bring the tithe of your grain and of your wine, and of your oil, the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God at all times.

24 And if the journey is too far for you, and you are not able to bring them, because the place is far from you which the Lord your God shall choose to have His name called there, because the Lord your God will bless you;

25 then you shall sell them for money, and you shall take the money in your hands, and you shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose.

26 And you shall give the money for whatsoever your soul shall desire, for oxen or for sheep, or for wine, or you shall lay it out on strong drink, or on whatsoever your soul may desire, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice and your house,

27 and the Levite that is in your cities, because he has not a portion or inheritance with you.

28 “After three years you shall bring out all the tithes of your fruits, in that year you shall lay it up in your cities.

29 And the Levite shall come, because he has no part or lot with you, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow which is in your cities, and they shall eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works which you shall do.

15

1 Laws Concerning the Sabbatical Year “Every seven years you shall make a release.

2 And this is the ordinance of the release: you shall release every private debt which your neighbor owes you, and you shall not ask payment of it from your brother; for it has been called a release to the Lord your God.

3 Of a stranger you shall ask again whatsoever he has of yours, but to your brother you shall release his debt to you.

4 For thus there shall not be a poor person in the midst of you, for the Lord your God will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you by inheritance, that you should inherit it.

5 And if you shall indeed hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep and do all these commandments, as many as I charge you this day,

6 (for the Lord your God has blessed you in the way of which He spoke to you) then 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 “And if there shall be in the midst of you a poor man from among your brothers, in one of your cities in the land, which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, neither shall you by any means close up your hand from your brother who is in need.

8 You shall surely open your hands to him, and shall lend to him as much as he wants according to his need.

9 Take heed to yourself that there be not a secret thing in your heart—an iniquity, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is approaching.’ And your eye shall be evil to your brother that is in need, and you shall not give to him, and he shall cry against you to the Lord, and there shall be great sin in you.

10 You shall surely give to him, and you shall lend to him as much as he wants, according as he is in need. And you shall not grudge in your heart as you give to him, because on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your works, and in all things on which you shall lay your hand.

11 For the poor shall not fail off your land, therefore I charge you to do this thing, saying, ‘You shall surely open your hands to your poor brother, and to him that is distressed upon your land.’

12 “And if your brother or sister, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, are sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall send him out free from you.

13 And when you shall send him out free from you, you shall not send him out empty.

14 You shall give him provision for the way from your flock, and from your grain, and from your wine; as the Lord your God has blessed you, so you shall give to him.

15 And you shall remember that you also were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I charge you to do this thing.

16 And if he should say to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he continues to love you and your house, because he is well with you;

17 then you shall take an awl, and bore his ear through to the door, and he shall be your servant forever; and in like manner shall you do to your male servant.

18 It shall not seem hard to you when they are sent out free from you, because your servant has served you six years according to the annual hire of a hireling; so the Lord your God shall bless you in all things whatsoever you may do.

19 The Firstborn of Livestock “Every firstborn that shall be born among your cows and your sheep, you shall sanctify the males to the Lord your God; you shall not work with your firstborn calf, and you shall not shear the firstborn of your sheep.

20 You shall eat it before the Lord year by year in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, you and your house.

21 And if there be in it a blemish, if it is lame or blind, (an evil blemish) you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

22 You shall eat it in your cities; the unclean in you and the clean shall eat it in like manner, as the doe or the deer.

23 Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.

16

1 The Passover Reviewed “Observe the month of new grain, and you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God; because in the month of new grain you came out of Egypt by night.

2 And you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, sheep and oxen in the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have His name called upon it.

3 You shall not eat leaven with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, because you came forth out of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

4 Leaven shall not be seen with you in all your borders for seven days, and there shall not be left of the flesh which you shall sacrifice at even on the first day until the morning.

5 You shall not have power to sacrifice the Passover in any of the cities, which the Lord your God gives you.

6 But in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to have His name called there, you shall sacrifice the Passover at sunset, at the time when you came out of Egypt.

7 And you shall boil and roast and eat it in the place, which the Lord your God shall choose; and you shall return in the morning, and go to your house.

8 Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a holiday, a feast to the Lord your God: you shall not do in it any work, except what must be done by anyone.

9 The Feast of Weeks Reviewed “Seven weeks shall you number to yourself; when you have begun to put the sickle to the grain, you shall begin to number seven weeks.

10 And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God, accordingly as your hand has power, in as many things as the Lord your God shall give you.

11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son, and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow which dwells among you, in whatsoever place the Lord your God shall choose, that His name should be called there.

12 And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and you shall observe and do these commands.

13 The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed “You shall keep for yourself the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you gather in your produce from your threshing floor and your winepress.

14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, along with the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow that is in your cities.

15 Seven days shall you keep a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for Himself; and if the Lord your God shall bless you in all your fruits, and in every work of your hands, then you shall rejoice.

16 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord shall choose in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: you shall not appear before the Lord your God empty.

17 Each one according to his ability, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which He has given you.

18 Municipal Judges and Officers “You shall make for yourself judges and officers in your cities, which the Lord your God gives you in your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment;

19 they shall not pervert judgment, nor favor persons, nor receive a gift; for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

20 You shall justly pursue justice, that you may live, and go in and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.

21 Forbidden Forms of Worship “You shall not plant for yourself a grove; you shall not plant for yourself any tree near the altar of your God.

22 You shall not set up for yourself a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

17

1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a calf or a sheep, in which there is a blemish, or any evil thing; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

2 “And if there should be found in any of your cities which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who shall do that which is evil before the Lord your God, so as to transgress His covenant,

3 and they should go and serve other gods, and worship them, the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which He commanded you not to do,

4 and it be told you, and you shall have inquired diligently, and behold, the thing really did take place, and this abomination really has been done in Israel;

5 then shall you bring out that man, or that woman, and you shall stone them with stones, and they shall die.

6 He shall die on the testimony of two or three witnesses; a man who is put to death shall not be put to death for one witness.

7 And the hand of the witnesses shall be upon him among the first to put him to death, and the hand of the people at the last; so shall you remove the evil one from among yourselves.

8 Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges “And if a matter shall be too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, and between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, and between contradiction and contradiction, matters of judgment in your cities;

9 then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God shall choose, and you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and they shall search out the matter and report the judgment to you.

10 And you shall do according to the sentence which they shall report to you out of the place in which the Lord your God shall choose, and you shall observe to do all things having been appointed to you by the law.

11 You shall do according to the law and to the judgment which they shall declare to you: you shall not swerve to the right hand or to the left from any sentence which they shall report to you.

12 And any man that shall act in arrogance, so as not to adhere to the priest who stands to minister in the name of the Lord your God, or the judge who shall preside in those days, that man shall die, and you shall remove the evil one out of Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear and fear, and shall no longer act presumptuously.

14 Limitations of Royal Authority “And when you shall enter into the land which the Lord your God gives you, and shall inherit it and dwell in it, and shall say, ‘I will set a ruler over me, as also the other nations round about me’;

15 you shall surely set over you the ruler whom the Lord God shall choose: of your brothers you shall set over you a ruler; you shall not have power to set over you a stranger, because he is not your brother.

16 For he shall not multiply to himself horses, and he shall by no means turn the people back to Egypt, lest he should multiply to himself horses; for the Lord said, ‘You shall not return that way again.’

17 And he shall not multiply to himself wives, lest his heart turn away; and he shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 “And when he shall be established in his government, then shall he write for himself this repetition of the law into a book by the hands of the priests the Levites;

19 and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord your God, and to keep all these commandments, and to observe these ordinances;

20 that his heart be not lifted up above his brothers, that he depart not from the commandments on the right hand or on the left; that he and his sons may reign long in his dominion among the children of Israel.

18

1 Privileges of Priests and Levites “The priests, the Levites, even the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; the burnt offerings of the Lord are their inheritance, they shall eat them.

2 And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord Himself is his portion, as He said to him.

3 “And this is the due of the priests in the things coming from the people from those who offer sacrifices, whether it be a calf or a sheep; and you shall give the shoulder to the priest, and the cheeks, and the stomach;

4 and the firstfruits of your grain, and of your wine, and of your oil; and you shall give to him the firstfruits of the fleeces of your sheep:

5 because the Lord has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand before the Lord your God, to minister and bless in His name, himself and his sons among the children of Israel.

6 “And if a Levite should come from one of the cities of all the children of Israel, where he himself dwells, accordingly as his mind desires, to the place which he shall have chosen,

7 he shall minister to the name of the Lord his God, as all his brothers the Levites, who stand there before the Lord your God.

8 He shall eat an allotted portion, besides the sale of his inheritance.

9 Avoid Wicked Customs “And when you shall have entered into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found in you one who purges his son or his daughter with fire, or one who uses divination, or one who deals with omens, or a sorcerer

11 employing an incantation, or one who has in him a divining spirit, or an observer of signs who questions the dead.

12 For everyone that does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God; for because of these abominations the Lord shall destroy them from before your face.

13 You shall be perfect before the Lord your God.

14 For all these nations whose land you shall inherit, they will listen to omens and divinations; but the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.

15 A New Prophet Like Moses “The Lord your God shall raise up to you a Prophet from among your brothers, like me; Him shall you hear,

16 according to all the things which you desired from the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘We will not again hear the voice of the Lord your God,’ and ‘we will not anymore see this great fire, lest we die.’

17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken rightly, all that they have said to you.

18 I will raise up to them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them as I shall command Him.

19 And whoever shall not hearken to all the words that the Prophet shall speak in My name, I will take vengeance on him.

20 But whichever prophet that shall impiously speak in My name a word which I have not commanded him to speak, and whosoever shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

21 But if you shall say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’

22 Whatever words that prophet shall speak in the name of the Lord, and they shall not come true, and not come to pass, this is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; that prophet has spoken wickedly: you shall not spare him.’

19

1 Laws Concerning the Cities of Refuge “And when the Lord your God has destroyed the nations, whose land God gives to you, and you shall inherit them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses,

2 you shall separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives to you.

3 Take a survey of your way, and you shall divide the coasts of your land, which the Lord your God apportions to you, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

4 “And this shall be the ordinance of the manslayer who shall flee there, and shall live: whosoever has killed his neighbor ignorantly, seeing that he did not hate him in times past.

5 And whoever shall enter with his neighbor into the thicket, to gather wood, if the hand of him that cuts wood with the ax should be violently shaken, and the ax head should fall off from the handle and strike his neighbor, and he should die, then he shall flee to one of these cities, and live;

6 lest the avenger of blood pursue after the manslayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, if the way be too long, and kill him, though there is to this man no sentence of death, because he did not hate him in times past.

7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate for yourself three cities.’

8 And if the Lord shall enlarge your borders, as He swore to your fathers, and the Lord shall give to you all the land which He said he would give to your fathers;

9 if you shall hearken to do all these commands which I charge you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways continually, you shall add for yourself yet three cities to these three.

10 So innocent blood shall not be spilled in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and there shall not be in you one guilty of blood.

11 “But if there should be in you a man hating his neighbor, and he should lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and strike him, that he should die, and he should flee to one of these cities,

12 then shall the elders of his city send, and take him from there, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the avengers of blood, and he shall die.

13 Your eye shall not spare him; so shall you purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with you.

14 Property Boundaries “You shall not move the landmarks of your neighbor, which your fathers set in the inheritance, in which you have obtained a share in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit.

15 Laws Concerning Witnesses “One witness shall not stand to testify against a man for any iniquity, or for any fault, or for any sin which he may commit; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.

16 And if an unjust witness should rise up against a man, alleging iniquity against him,

17 then shall the two men between whom the controversy is, stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and before the judges, who may be in those days.

18 And the judges shall make diligent inquiry; and behold, if an unjust witness has given unjust testimony, and has stood up against his brother,

19 then shall you do to him as he wickedly devised to do against his brother, and you shall remove the evil from yourselves.

20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and do no more according to this evil thing in the midst of you.

21 Your eye shall not spare him; you shall exact life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

20

1 Rules of Warfare “And if you should go forth to war against your enemies, and should see a horse and rider, and a people more numerous than yourself; you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

2 And it shall come to pass whenever you shall draw near to battle, that the priest shall draw near and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

3 ‘Hear, O Israel; you are going this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint; fear not, neither be confounded, neither turn aside from their face.

4 For it is the Lord your God who advances with you, to fight with you against your enemies, and to save you.’

5 And the scribes shall speak to the people, saying, ‘What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man dedicate it.

6 And what man is there that has planted a vineyard, and not been made merry with it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man be made merry with it.

7 And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.’

8 And the scribes shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there that fears, and is cowardly in his heart? Let him go and return to his house, lest he make the heart of his brother fail, as his own.’

9 And it shall come to pass when the scribes shall have ceased speaking to the people, that they shall appoint generals of the army to be leaders of the people.

10 “And if you shall draw near to a city to overcome them by war, then call them out peaceably.

11 If then they should answer peaceably to you, and open to you, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary and subject to you.

12 But if they will not hearken to you, but wage war against you, you shall besiege it;

13 until the Lord your God shall deliver it into your hands, and you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword;

14 except the women and the little ones; and all the livestock, and whatsoever shall be in the city, and all the plunder you shall take as spoil for yourself, and shall eat all the plunder of your enemies whom the Lord your God gives you.

15 Thus shall you do to all the cities that are very far off from you, not being of the cities of these nations which the Lord your God gives you to inherit their land.

16 Of these you shall not take anything alive;

17 but you shall surely curse them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite; as the Lord your God commanded you:

18 that they may not teach you to do all their abominations, which they did to their gods, and so you should sin before the Lord your God.

19 “And if you should besiege a city many days to prevail against it by war to take it, you shall not destroy its trees, by applying an iron tool to them, but you shall eat of it, and shall not cut it down. Is the tree that is in the field a man, to enter before you into the work of the siege?

20 But the tree which you know to be not fruit-bearing, this you shall destroy and cut down; and you shall construct a mound against the city, which makes war against you, until it is delivered up.

21

1 The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder “And if one should be found slain with the sword in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, having fallen in the field, and they do not know who has killed him,

2 then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man.

3 And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not labored, and which has not pulled with a yoke.

4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough valley, which has not been tilled and is not sown, and they shall slay the heifer in the valley.

5 And the priests, the Levites, shall come near, because the Lord God has chosen them to stand by Him, and to bless in His name, and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.

6 And all the elders of that city who draw near to the slain man shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer which was slain in the valley;

7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.

8 Be merciful to Your people Israel, O Lord, whom You have redeemed, that innocent blood may not be charged on Your people Israel’; and atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood.

9 And you shall take away innocent blood from among you, if you should do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.

10 Female Captives “And if when you go out to war against your enemies, the Lord your God should deliver them into your hands, and you should take their spoil,

11 and if you should see among the spoil a woman beautiful in countenance, and should desire her, and take her to yourself for a wife,

12 and should bring her within your house; then shall you shave her head, and trim her nails,

13 and shall take away her garments of captivity from off her, and she shall abide in your house, and shall mourn her father and mother for a full month; and afterwards you shall go in to her and dwell with her, and she shall be your wife.

14 And it shall be if you do not delight in her, you shall send her out free; and she shall not by any means be sold for money, you shall not treat her contemptuously, because you have humbled her.

15 The Right of the Firstborn “And if a man has two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated should have born him children, and the son of the hated should be firstborn;

16 then it shall be that whenever he shall divide by inheritance his goods to his sons, he shall not be able to give the right of the firstborn to the son of the loved one, having overlooked the son of the hated, which is the firstborn.

17 But he shall acknowledge the firstborn of the hated one, to give to him double of all things which shall be found by him, because he is the first of his children, and to him belongs the birthright.

18 The Rebellious Son “And if any man has a disobedient and contentious son, who will not listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not listen to them,

19 then shall his father and his mother take hold of him, and bring him forth to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place;

20 and they shall say to the men of their city, ‘This our son is disobedient and contentious, and he will not listen to our voice, he is a reveler and a drunkard.’

21 And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves, and the rest shall hear and fear.

22 Miscellaneous Laws “And if there be sin in anyone, and the judgment of death be upon him, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree;

23 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall by all means bury it in that day; for everyone that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God; and you shall by no means defile the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

22

1 “When you see the calf of your brother or his sheep wandering in the way, you shall not overlook them; you shall by all means turn them back to your brother, and you shall restore them to him.

2 And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, you shall bring it into your own house; and it shall be with you until your brother shall seek them, and you shall restore them to him.

3 Thus shall you do to his donkey, and thus shall you do to his garment, and thus shall you do to everything that your brother has lost; whatsoever things have been lost by him, and you have found, you shall not have power to overlook.

4 “You shall not see the donkey of your brother, or his calf, fallen in the way; you shall not overlook them, you shall surely help him to raise them up.

5 The clothing of a man shall not be on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman's dress; for everyone that does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

6 “And if you should come upon a brood of birds before your face in the way or upon any tree, or upon the earth, young or eggs, and the mother is brooding on the young or the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young ones.

7 You shall by all means let the mother go, but you shall take the young to yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may live long.

8 If you should build a new house, then shall you make a parapet to your house; so you shall not bring blood-guiltiness upon your house, if one should in any way fall from it.

9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the fruit be defiled, and whatsoever seed you may sow, with the fruit of your vineyard.

10 “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

11 “You shall not wear a mingled garment, woolen and linen together.

12 “You shall make fringes on the four borders of your garments, with whatever you may be clothed with.

13 Laws of Sexual Morality “And if anyone should take a wife, and dwell with her, and hate her,

14 and attach to her reproachful words, and bring against her an evil name, and say, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found out that she was not a virgin’;

15 then the father and the mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city to the gate.

16 And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave this my daughter to this man for a wife;

17 and now he has hated her, and attaches reproachful words to her, saying, “I have not found tokens of virginity with your daughter”; and these are the evidences of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall unfold the garment before the elders of the city.

18 And the elders of that city shall take that man, and shall chastise him,

19 and shall fine him a hundred shekels, and shall give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought forth an evil name against a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife: he shall never be able to put her away.

20 But if this report should be true, and the evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman;

21 then shall they bring out the young woman to the doors of her father's house, and they shall stone her with stones, and she shall die; because she has done a disgraceful thing among the children of Israel, to defile the house of her father by harlotry: so you shall remove the evil one from among you.

22 “And if a man should be found lying with a woman married to a man, you shall kill them both, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so shall you remove the wicked one out of Israel.

23 “And if there should be a young woman espoused to a man, and a man should have found her in the city and have lain with her;

24 you shall bring them both out to the gate of their city, and they shall be stoned with stones, and they shall die; the young woman, because she did not cry out in the city; and the man, because he humbled his neighbor's spouse: so shall you remove the evil one from yourselves.

25 “But if a man should find in the field a young woman that is betrothed, and he should force her and lie with her, you shall slay the man that lay with her only.

26 And the young woman has not committed a sin worthy of death; as if a man should rise up against his neighbor, and slay him, so is this thing;

27 because he found her in the field; the betrothed young woman cried, and there was none to help her.

28 “And if anyone should find a young virgin who has not been betrothed, and should force her and lie with her, and the matter should be found out,

29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the damsel fifty silver shekels, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; he shall never be able to put her away.

30 “A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's bed.

23

1 Those Excluded from the Assembly “He that is fractured or mutilated in his private parts shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.

2 One born of a harlot shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.

3 “The Ammonite and Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, even until the tenth generation he shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, even forever;

4 because they did not meet you with bread and water by the way, when you went out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Mesopotamia to curse you.

5 But the Lord your God would not hearken to Balaam; and the Lord your God changed the curses into blessings, because the Lord your God loved you.

6 You shall not speak peaceably or profitably to them all your days forever.

7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, because he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land.

8 If sons should be born to them, in the third generation they shall enter into the assembly of the Lord.

9 Cleanliness of the Camp Site “And if you should go forth to engage with your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every wicked thing.

10 If there should be in you a man who is not clean by reason of his issue by night, then he shall go forth out of the camp, and he shall not enter into the camp.

11 And it shall come to pass toward evening he shall wash his body with water, and when the sun has gone down, he shall go into the camp.

12 And you shall have a place outside of the camp, and you shall go out there,

13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment; and it shall come to pass that when you relieve yourself outside the camp, that you shall dig with it, and you shall cover your refuse.

14 Because the Lord your God walks in your camp to deliver you, and to give up your enemy from before your face; and your camp shall be holy, and there shall not appear in you a disgraceful thing, so that He should turn away from you.

15 Miscellaneous Laws “You shall not deliver a servant to his master, who coming from his master attaches himself to you.

16 He shall dwell with you, he shall dwell among you where he shall please; you shall not afflict him.

17 “There shall not be a harlot of the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a fornicator of the sons of Israel; there shall not be a cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a cult prostitute among the sons of Israel.

18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God, for any vow, because both are an abomination to the Lord your God.

19 “You shall not lend with interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything which you may lend.

20 You may lend with interest to a stranger, but to your brother you shall not lend with interest; that the Lord your God may bless you in all your works upon the land, into which you are entering to inherit it.

21 “And if you will vow a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and otherwise it shall be sin to you.

22 But if you should be unwilling to vow, it is not sin to you.

23 You shall observe the words that proceed from between your lips; and as you have vowed a gift to the Lord God, so shall you do that which you have spoken with your mouth.

24 “And if you should go into the vineyard of your neighbor, you shall eat grapes sufficient to satisfy your desire; but you may not put them into a vessel.

25 And if you should go into the grainfield of your neighbor, then you may gather the heads with your hands; but you shall not put the sickle to your neighbor's grain.

24

1 Laws Concerning Marriage and Divorce “And if anyone should take a wife, and should dwell with her, then it shall come to pass if she should not have found favor before him, because he has found some unbecoming thing in her, that he shall write for her a certificate of divorce, and give it into her hands, and he shall send her away out of his house.

2 And if she should go away and be married to another man;

3 and the last husband should hate her, and write for her a certificate of divorce, and should give it into her hands, and send her away out of his house, and the last husband should die, who took her to himself for a wife;

4 the former husband who sent her away shall not be able to return and take her to himself for a wife, after she has been defiled; because it is an abomination before the Lord your God, and you shall not defile the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit.

5 Miscellaneous Laws “And if anyone should have recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall anything be laid upon him; he shall be free in his house; for one year he shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.

6 “You shall not take for a pledge the lower millstone, nor the upper millstone; for he who does so takes one’s living for a pledge.

7 “And if a man should be caught stealing one of his brothers of the children of Israel, and having overcome him he should sell him, that thief shall die; so shall you remove that evil one from yourselves.

8 “Take heed to yourself regarding the plague of leprosy: you shall take great heed to do according to all the law, which the priests, the Levites, shall report to you; take heed to do, as I have commanded you.

9 Remember all that the Lord your God did to Miriam in the way, when you were going out of Egypt.

10 “If your neighbor owes you a debt, any debt whatsoever, you shall not go into his house to take his pledge:

11 you shall stand outside, and the man who is in your debt shall bring the pledge out to you.

12 And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.

13 You shall surely restore his pledge at sunset, and he shall sleep in his own cloak, and he shall bless you; and it shall be mercy to you before the Lord your God.

14 You shall not unjustly withhold the wages of the poor and needy of your brothers, or of the strangers who are in your cities.

15 You shall pay him his wages the same day, the sun shall not go down upon it, because he is poor and he trusts in it; and he shall cry against you to the Lord, and it shall be sin to you.

16 “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, and the sons shall not be put to death for the fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger and the fatherless, and the widow; you shall not take the widow's garment for a pledge.

18 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

19 “And when you have reaped the grain in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in your field, you shall not return to take it; it shall be for the stranger and the orphan and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.

20 And if you should gather your olives, you shall not return to collect the remainder; it shall be for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

21 And whenever you shall gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean what you have left; it shall be for the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow;

22 and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

25

1 “And if there should be a dispute between men, and they should come forward to judgment, and the judges judge, and acquit the righteous, and condemn the wicked;

2 then it shall come to pass, if the unrighteous should be worthy of stripes, you shall lay him down before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them according to his iniquity.

3 And they shall scourge him with forty stripes in number, they shall not inflict more; for if you should scourge him with more stripes beyond these stripes, your brother will be disgraced before you.

4 “You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.

5 Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother “And if brothers should live together, and one of them should die, and should not have descendants, the wife of the deceased shall not marry out of the family to a man not related: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and shall take her to himself for a wife, and shall dwell with her.

6 And it shall come to pass that the child which she shall bear, shall be named by the name of the deceased, and his name shall not be blotted out of Israel.

7 And if the man should not be willing to take his brother's wife, then shall the woman go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, ‘My husband's brother will not raise up the name of his brother in Israel, my husband's brother has refused.’

8 And the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him; and if he stand and say, ‘I will not take her,’

9 then his brother's wife shall come forward before the elders, and shall loose one shoe from off his foot, and shall spit in his face, and shall answer and say, ‘Thus shall they do to the man who will not build his brother's house in Israel.’

10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him that has had his shoe loosed.’

11 Miscellaneous Laws “And if men should fight together, a man with his brother, and the wife of one of them should advance to rescue her husband out of the hand of him that strikes him, and she should stretch forth her hand, and take hold of his private parts;

12 you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not spare her.

13 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light.

14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

15 You shall have a true and just weight, and a true and just measure, that you may live long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

16 For everyone that does this is an abomination to the Lord your God, even everyone that does injustice.

17 Destroy the Amalekites “Remember what things Amalek did to you by the way, when you went forth out of the land of Egypt,

18 how he withstood you in the way, and harassed your rear, even those that were weary behind you, and you hungered and were weary; and he did not fear God.

19 And it shall come to pass whenever the Lord your God shall have given you rest from all your enemies round about you, in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven, and shall not forget to do it.

26

1 First Fruits and Tithes “And it shall be, when you have entered into the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and you have inherited it, and you have dwelt upon it,

2 that you shall take of the first of the fruits of your land, which the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put them into a basket, and you shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have His name called there.

3 And you shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and you shall say to him, ‘I testify this day to the Lord my God, that I have come into the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give to us.’

4 And the priest shall take the basket out of your hands, and shall set it before the altar of the Lord your God.

5 “And he shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father abandoned Syria, and went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a small number, and became there a mighty nation and a great multitude.

6 And the Egyptians afflicted us, and humbled us, and imposed hard tasks on us,

7 and we cried to the Lord our God, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our humiliation, and our labor, and our affliction.

8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt Himself with His great strength, and His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm, and with great visions, and with signs, and with wonders.

9 And He brought us into this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 And now behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which you gave me, O Lord, a land flowing with milk and honey’; and you shall leave it before the Lord your God, and you shall worship before the Lord your God;

11 and you shall rejoice in all the good things which the Lord your God has given you, you and your family, and the Levite, and the stranger that is within you.

12 “And when you have completed all the tithing of your fruits in the third year, you shall give the second tenth to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; and they shall eat it in your cities, and be merry.

13 And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have fully collected the holy things out of my house, and I have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, according to all commands which You have commanded me: I did not transgress Your command, and I did not forget it.

14 And in my distress I did not eat of them, I have not gathered of them for an unclean purpose, I have not given of them to the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, I have done as You have commanded me.

15 Look down from Your holy house, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the land which You have given them, as You swore to our fathers, to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.’

16 Concluding Exhortation “On this day the Lord your God charged you to keep all the statutes and judgments; and you shall observe and do them, with all your heart, and with all your soul.

17 You have chosen God this day to be your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to observe His statutes and judgments, and to hearken to His voice.

18 And the Lord has chosen you this day, that you should be to Him a peculiar people, as He said, to keep His commands;

19 and that you should be above all nations, as He has made you renowned, and a boast, and glorious, that you should be a holy people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”

27

1 The Law Inscribed on Stones And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all these commands, all that I command you this day.

2 And it shall come to pass in the day when you shall cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself great stones, and shall plaster them with plaster.

3 And you shall write on these stones all the words of this law, as soon as you have crossed the Jordan, when you have entered into the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, according as the Lord God of your fathers said to you.

4 And it shall be as soon as you have gone over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.

5 And you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not lift up iron upon it.

6 Of whole stones shall you build an altar to the Lord your God, and you shall offer upon it burnt offerings to the Lord your God.

7 And you shall there offer a peace offering; and you shall eat and be filled, and rejoice before the Lord your God.

8 And you shall write upon the stones all this law very plainly.”

9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and hear, O Israel; this day you have become a people to the Lord your God.

10 And you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and you shall keep all His commandments and His statutes, as many as I command you this day.”

11 Cursings Pronounced from Mount Ebal And Moses charged the people on that day, saying,

12 “These shall stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim, having gone over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 And these shall stand for cursing on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Nephthali.

14 And the Levites shall answer and say to all Israel with a loud voice,

15 “‘Cursed is the man who shall make a graven or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of craftsmen, and shall put it in a secret place.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16 “’Cursed is the man that dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 “’Cursed is the man that removes his neighbor's landmarks.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18 “’Cursed is the man who misleads a blind man down the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19 “’Cursed is everyone that shall pervert the judgment of the stranger, and orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 “’Cursed is the man that lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's nakedness.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 “’Cursed is the man that lies with any beast.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22 “’Cursed is the man that lies with his sister by his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23 “’Cursed is the man that lies with his daughter-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (23a) “’Cursed is the man that lies with his wife's sister.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24 “’Cursed is the man that attacks his neighbor secretly.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 “’Cursed is the man that shall take a bribe to slay an innocent man.’ And all the people shall say, Amen.’

26 “’Cursed is every man that shall not continue in all the words of this law, to do them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

28

1 Blessings for Obedience “And it shall come to pass, that if you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all these commandments which I charge you this day, that the Lord your God shall set you on high above all the nations of the earth;

2 and all these blessings shall come upon you, and shall find you. If you will indeed hear the voice of the Lord your God,

3 blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the offspring of your body, and the fruits of your land, and the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.

5 Blessed shall be your barns, and your stores.

6 Blessed shall you be in your coming in, and blessed shall you be in your going out.

7 “The Lord shall cause your enemies that rise against you to be utterly broken before your face—they shall come out against you one way, and they shall flee seven ways from before you.

8 The Lord shall send upon you His blessing in your barns, and on all on which you shall put your hand, in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

9 The Lord shall raise you up as a holy people unto Himself, as He swore to your fathers; if you will hear the voice of the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways.

10 And all the nations of the earth shall see you, that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they shall stand in awe of you.

11 And the Lord your God shall multiply you for good in the offspring of your body, and in the offspring of your livestock, and in the fruits of your land, on your land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to you.

12 May the Lord open to you His good treasure from out of the heavens, to give rain to your land in season; may He bless all the works of your hands. So shall you lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

13 The Lord your God shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall then be above and you shall not be below, if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, in all things that I command you this day to observe.

14 You shall not turn aside from any of the commandments, which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods, to serve them.

15 Cursings for Disobedience “But it shall come to pass, if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments, as many as I command you this day, then all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.

16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.

17 Cursed shall be your barns and your stores.

18 Cursed shall be the offspring of your body, and the fruits of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.

19 Cursed shall you be in your coming in, and cursed shall you be in your going out.

20 “The Lord shall send upon you various needs, and famine, and consumption of all things on which you shall put your hand, until He has utterly destroyed you, and until He has consumed you quickly because of your evil deeds, because you have forsaken Him.

21 The Lord shall cause the pestilence to cleave to you, until He has consumed you off the land into which you go to inherit it.

22 The Lord will strike you with distress, and fever, and cold, and inflammation, and blighting, and paleness, and they shall pursue you until they have destroyed you.

23 And you shall have over your head a sky of brass, and the earth under you shall be iron.

24 The Lord your God shall make the rain of your land dust; and dust shall come down from heaven, until it has destroyed you, and until it has quickly consumed you.

25 The Lord shall give you up for slaughter before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way, and flee from their face seven ways; and you shall be a dispersion in all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 And your dead men shall be food to the birds of the sky, and to the beasts of the earth; and there shall be none to scare them away.

27 The Lord shall strike you with the botch of Egypt in the seat, and with a malignant scab, and itch, so that you can not be healed.

28 The Lord shall strike you with insanity, and blindness, and astonishment of mind.

29 And you shall grope at midday, as a blind man gropes in the darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and then you shall be unjustly treated, and plundered continually, and there shall be no helper.

30 You shall take a wife, and another man shall have her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes of it.

31 Your calf shall be slain before you, and you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from you, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no helper.

32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another nation, and your eyes, wasting away, shall look for them; your hand shall have no strength.

33 A nation which you know not shall eat the produce of your land, and all your labors; and you shall be perpetually injured and crushed.

34 And you shall be distracted, because of the sights of your eyes which you shall see.

35 The Lord shall strike you with an evil sore, on the knees and the legs, so that you shall not be able to be healed from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 The Lord shall carry away you and your princes, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers know; and there shall you serve other gods, of wood and stone.

37 And there shall you be a wonder and a parable, and a tale, among all the nations, to which the Lord your God shall carry you away.

38 You shall carry forth much seed into the field, and you shall bring in little, because the locust shall devour it.

39 You shall plant a vineyard, and dress it, and shall not drink the wine, neither shall you delight yourself with it, because the worm shall devour it.

40 You shall have olive trees in all your borders, and you shall not anoint yourself with oil, because your olive shall utterly cast its fruit.

41 You shall beget sons and daughters, and they shall not be yours, for they shall depart into captivity.

42 All your trees and the fruits of your land shall the blight consume.

43 The stranger that is within you shall be lifted up, and you shall be brought down very low.

44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45 “And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and shall overtake you, until He has consumed you, and until He has destroyed you, because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He has commanded you.

46 And these things shall be signs for you, and wonders among your descendants forever;

47 because you did not serve the Lord your God with gladness and a good heart, because of the abundance of all things.

48 And you shall serve your enemies, which the Lord will send forth against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the desire of all things; and you shall wear upon your neck a yoke of iron until He has destroyed you.

49 The Lord shall bring upon you a nation from the extremity of the earth, like the swift flying of an eagle, a nation whose voice you shall not understand;

50 a nation bold in countenance, which shall not respect the person of the aged and shall not pity the young.

51 And it shall eat up the young of your livestock, and the fruits of your land, so as not to leave to you grain, wine, oil, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep, until it has destroyed you;

52 and has utterly crushed you in your cities, until the high and strong walls be destroyed in which you trusted, in all your land; and it shall afflict you in your cities, which He has given to you.

53 And you shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, all that He has given you, in your desperate straits and your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you.

54 He that is tender and very delicate within you shall look with an evil eye upon his brother, and the wife in his bosom, and the children that are left, which may have been left to him;

55 so as not to give to one of them of the flesh of his children, whom he shall eat, because of his having nothing left him in your desperate straits, and in your affliction, with which your enemies shall afflict you in all your cities.

56 And she that is tender and delicate among you, whose foot has not ventured to go upon the earth for delicacy and tenderness, shall look with an evil eye on her husband in her bosom, and her son and her daughter,

57 and her offspring that comes out between her feet, and the child which she shall bear; for she shall eat them because of the needs of all things, secretly in your desperate straits, and in your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you in your cities.

58 “If you are not careful to keep all the words of this law, which have been written in this book, to fear this glorious and wonderful name, THE LORD YOUR GOD;

59 then shall the Lord magnify your plagues, and the plagues of your descendants, great and wonderful plagues, and evil and abiding diseases.

60 And He shall bring upon you all the evil pain of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cleave to you.

61 And the Lord shall bring upon you every sickness, and every plague that is not written, and everyone that is written in the book of this law, until He has destroyed you.

62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky in multitude; because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

63 And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you; and you shall be quickly removed from the land, into which you go to inherit it.

64 “And the Lord your God shall scatter you among all nations, 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.

65 Moreover among those nations He will not give you quiet, neither by any means shall the sole of your foot have rest; and the Lord shall give you there another and a misgiving heart, and failing eyes, and a wasting soul.

66 And your life shall be in suspense before your eyes, and you shall be afraid by day and by night, and you shall have no assurance of your life.

67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sights of your eyes which you shall see.

68 And the Lord shall bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said, ‘You shall not see it again’; and you shall be sold there to your enemies as male and female slaves, and no one shall buy you.”

29

1 The Covenant Renewed in Moab These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

2 And Moses called all the sons of Israel and said to them, “You have seen all the things that the Lord did to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt and to his servants, and all his land;

3 the great temptations which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders.

4 Yet the Lord God has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day.

5 And He led you forty years in the wilderness; your garments did not grow old, and your sandals were not worn away from off of your feet.

6 You did not eat bread, you did not drink wine or strong drink, that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

7 And you came as far as this place; and there came forth Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, to meet us in war.

8 And we struck them and took their land, and I gave it for an inheritance to Reuben and Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.

9 And you shall take heed to do all the words of this covenant, that you may understand all things that you shall do.

10 “You all stand today before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, every man of Israel,

11 your wives, and your children, and the stranger who is in the midst of your camp, from your woodcutters, even to those who draw water,

12 that you should enter into the covenant of the Lord your God and into His oaths, as many as the Lord your God appoints you this day;

13 that He may appoint you to Himself for a people, and He shall be your God, as He has said to you, and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “And I do not appoint to you alone this covenant and this oath;

15 but to those also who are here with you today before the Lord your God, and to those who are not here with you today.

16 For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, how we came through the midst of the nations through whom you came.

17 And you beheld their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which are among them.

18 Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness.

19 And it shall be if one shall hear the words of this curse, and shall flatter himself in his heart, saying, ‘Let good happen to me, for I will walk in the error of my heart,’ lest the sinner destroy the guiltless with him:

20 God shall by no means be willing to pardon him, but rather the wrath of the Lord and His jealousy shall flame out against that man; and all the curses of this covenant shall attach themselves to him, which are written in this book, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

21 And the Lord shall separate that man for evil among all the children of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in the book of this law.

22 And another generation shall say—even your sons who shall rise up after you, and the stranger who shall come from a land afar off, and shall see the plagues of that land and their diseases, which the Lord has sent upon it,

23 brimstone and burning salt, (the whole land shall not be sown, neither shall any green thing spring up, nor rise upon it, as Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His wrath and anger)—

24 and all the nations shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What is this great fierceness of anger?’

25 And men shall say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, the things which He appointed to their fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt,

26 and they went and served other gods which they did not know, neither did He assign them to them.’

27 And the Lord was exceedingly angry with that land to bring upon it according to all the curses which are written in the book of this law.

28 And the Lord removed them from their land in anger, and wrath, and very great indignation, and cast them out into another land as it is this day.

29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, to do all the words of this law.

30

1 The Blessings of Returning to God “And it shall come to pass when all these things shall have come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before your face, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations in which the Lord has scattered you,

2 and shall return to the Lord your God, and shall listen to His voice, according to all the things which I command you this day, with all your heart, and with all your soul;

3 then the Lord shall heal your iniquities, and shall pity you, and shall again gather you out from all the nations, among which the Lord has scattered you.

4 If your dispersion be from one end of heaven to the other, from there the Lord your God shall gather you, and from there the Lord your God shall take you.

5 And the Lord your God shall bring you in from there into the land which your fathers have inherited, and you shall inherit it; and He will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.

6 And the Lord shall purge your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.

7 And the Lord your God will put these curses upon your enemies, and upon those that hate you, who have persecuted you.

8 And you shall return and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and shall keep His commandments, all that I charge you this day.

9 And the Lord your God shall bless you in every work of your hands, in the offspring of your body, and in the offspring of your cattle, and in the fruits of your land, because the Lord your God will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers,

10 if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments written in the book of this law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

11 Exhortation to Choose Life “For this command which I give you this day is not grievous, neither is it far from you.

12 It is not in heaven above, as if there were one saying, ‘Who shall go up for us into heaven, and shall take it for us, and we will hear and do it?’

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, saying, ‘Who will go over for us to the other side of the sea, and take it for us, and make it audible to us, and we will do it?’

14 The word is very near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, and in your hands, to do it.

15 “Behold, I have set before you this day life and death, good and evil.

16 If you will obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His judgments; then you shall live, and shall be many in number, and the Lord your God shall bless you in all the land into which you go to inherit it.

17 But if your heart should change, and you will not obey, and you shall go astray and worship other gods, and serve them,

18 I declare to you this day, that you shall utterly perish, and you shall by no means live long upon the land into which you go over the Jordan to inherit it.

19 I call both heaven and earth to witness this day against you, I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse: choose life, that you and your offspring may live;

20 to love the Lord your God, to listen to His voice, and cleave to Him; for this is your life, and the length of your days, that you should dwell upon the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

31

1 Joshua Becomes Moses’ Successor And Moses finished speaking all these words to all the children of Israel,

2 and said to them, “I am this day a hundred and twenty years old; I shall not be able any longer to come in or go out; and the Lord said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’

3 The Lord your God who goes before you, He shall destroy these nations before you, and you shall inherit them: and it shall be that Joshua shall go before your face, as the Lord has spoken.

4 And the Lord your God shall do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, and to their land, as He destroyed them.

5 And the Lord has delivered them to you; and you shall do to them, as I commanded you.

6 Be courageous and strong; fear not, neither be cowardly nor afraid before them; for it is the Lord your God that advances with you in the midst of you, neither will He by any means forsake you, nor desert you.

7 “And Moses called Joshua, and said to him before all Israel, ‘Be courageous and strong; for you shall go in before this people into the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them, and you shall give it to them for an inheritance.’

8 And the Lord that goes with you shall not forsake you nor abandon you; fear not, neither be afraid.”

9 The Law to be Read Every Seventh Year And Moses wrote the words of this law in a book, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to the elders of the sons of Israel.

10 And Moses charged them in that day, saying, “After seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles,

11 when all Israel comes together to appear before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their ears,

12 having assembled the people, the men, and the women, and the children, and the stranger that is in your cities, that they may hear, and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God; and they shall hear and learn to do all the words of this law.

13 And their sons who have not known shall hear, and shall learn to fear the Lord your God all the days that they live upon the land, into which you go over the Jordan to inherit it.”

14 Moses and Joshua Receive God’s Charge And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the days of your death are at hand; call Joshua, and stand by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony, and I will give him a command.” And Moses and Joshua went to the tabernacle of testimony, and stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony.

15 And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony; and the pillar of the cloud stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people shall arise and whore after the strange gods of the land, into which they are entering: and they will forsake Me, and break My covenant, which I made with them.

17 And I will be very angry with them in that day, and I will leave them and turn My face away from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and afflictions shall come upon them, and they shall say in that day, ‘Because the Lord my God is not with me, these evils have come upon me.’

18 And I will surely turn away My face from them in that day, because of all their evil doings which they have done, because they turned aside after strange gods.

19 And now write the words of this song, and teach it to the children of Israel, and you shall put it into their mouth, that this song may witness for Me among the children of Israel to their face.

20 For I will bring them into the good land, which I swore to their fathers, to give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, and they shall eat and be filled and satisfy themselves. Then they shall turn aside after other gods, and serve them, and they shall provoke Me, and break My covenant.

21 And this song shall stand up to witness against them; for they shall not forget it out of their mouth, or out of the mouth of their offspring; for I know their wickedness, what they are doing here this day, before I have brought them into the good land, which I swore to their fathers.”

22 And Moses wrote this song in that day, and taught it to the children of Israel.

23 And he charged Joshua, and said, “Be courageous and strong, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land, which the Lord swore to them, and He shall be with you.”

24 And when Moses finished writing all the words of this law in a book, even to the end,

25 then he charged the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

26 “Take the book of this law, and you shall put it inside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; and it shall be there among you for a testimony.

27 For I know your provocation, and your stiff neck; for yet during my life with you at this day, you have been provoking in your conduct toward God: how shall you not also be so after my death?

28 Gather together to me the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, that I may speak in their ears all these words; and I call both heaven and earth to witness against them.

29 For I know that after my death you will utterly transgress, and turn aside out of the way which I have commanded you; and evils shall come upon you in the latter days, because you will do evil before the Lord, to provoke Him to anger by the works of your hands.”

30 And Moses spoke all the words of this song even to the end, in the ears of the whole assembly.

32

1 The Song of Moses “Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words out of my mouth.

2 Let my speech be looked for as the rain, and my words come down as dew, as the showers upon the herb, and as snow upon the grass.

3 For I have called on the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God.

4 As for God, His works are true, and all His ways are justice. God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in Him; just and holy is the Lord.

5 They have sinned, not pleasing Him; spotted children, a crooked and perverse generation.

6 Do you thus recompense the Lord? O foolish and unwise people. Did not He Himself, your Father, purchase you, and make you, and form you?

7 Remember the days of old, consider the years for past ages; ask your father, and he shall relate to you, ask your elders, and they shall tell you.

8 When the Most High divided the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.

9 And His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of His inheritance.

10 He maintained him in the wilderness, in burning thirst and a dry land: He led him about and instructed him, and kept him as the apple of His eye.

11 As an eagle would watch over his brood, and yearns over his young, he receives them, having spread his wings, and takes them up on his back.

12 The Lord alone has led them, there was no strange god with them.

13 He brought them up on the strength of the land; He fed them with the fruits of the fields; they sucked honey out of the rock, and oil out of the solid rock.

14 Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of calves and kids, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and he drank wine, the blood of the grape.

15 “So Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat, he became thick and broad: then he forsook the God that made him, and departed from God his Savior.”

16 “They provoked Me to anger with strange gods; with their abominations they bitterly angered Me.”

17 “They sacrificed to demons, and not to God; to gods whom they did not know: new and fresh gods came in, whom their fathers did not know.

18 You have forsaken the God that fathered you, and forgotten the God who feeds you.

19 And the Lord saw, and was jealous; and He was provoked by the anger of His sons and daughters,

20 and said, ‘I will turn away My face from them, and will show what shall happen to them in the last days; for it is a perverse generation, sons in whom is no faith.

21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by that which is not God, they have exasperated Me with their idols; and I will provoke them to jealousy with them that are not a nation, I will anger them with a nation void of understanding.

22 For a fire has been kindled out of My wrath, it shall burn to hell below; it shall devour the land, and the fruits of it; it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 ‘I will gather evils upon them, and will fight with My weapons against them.

24 They shall be consumed with hunger and the devouring of birds, and there shall be irremediable destruction: I will send forth against them the teeth of wild beasts, with the rage of serpents creeping on the ground.

25 Outside, the sword shall bereave them of children, and terror shall issue out of the secret chambers; the young man shall perish with the virgin, the suckling with him who has grown old.

26 I said, I will scatter them, and I will cause their memorial to cease from among men.

27 Were it not for the wrath of the enemy, lest they should live long, lest their enemies should combine against them; lest they should say, Our own outstretched arm, and not the Lord’s, has done all these things.’

28 It is a nation that has lost counsel, neither is there understanding in them.

29 They had not sense to understand; let them reserve these things against the time to come.

30 How should one pursue a thousand, and two put tens of thousands to flight, if God had not sold them, and the Lord had not delivered them up?

31 For their gods are not as our God, but our enemies are void of understanding.

32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their vinebranch of Gomorrah: their grape is a grape of gall, their cluster is one of bitterness.

33 Their wine is the rage of serpents, and the incurable rage of asps.

34 “’Lo! Are not these things stored up by Me, and sealed among My treasures?

35 In the day of vengeance I will recompense, whenever their foot shall be tripped up; for the day of their destruction is near to them, and the judgments at hand are close upon you.’

36 For the Lord shall judge His people, and shall be comforted over His servants; for He saw that they were utterly weakened, and failed in the hostile invasion, and have become feeble.

37 And the Lord said, ‘Where are their gods on whom they trusted?

38 The fat of whose sacrifices you ate, and you drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them arise and help you, and be your protectors.

39 Behold I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside Me: I kill, and I will make alive: I will strike, and I will heal; and there is none who shall deliver out of My hands.

40 For I will lift up My hand to heaven, and swear by My right hand, and I will say, “I live forever.”

41 For I will sharpen My sword like lightning, and My hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render judgment to My enemies, and will recompense them that hate Me.

42 I will make My weapons drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, it shall gorge itself with the blood of the wounded, and from the captivity of the heads of their enemies that rule over them.’

43 Rejoice, you heavens, with Him, and let all the angels of God worship Him; rejoice you Gentiles, with His people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in Him; for He shall avenge the blood of His sons, and He shall render vengeance, and recompense justice to His enemies, and He will repay them that hate Him; and the Lord shall purge the land of His people.”

44 And Moses wrote this song in that day, and taught it to the children of Israel; and Moses went in and spoke all the words of this law in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.

45 And Moses finished speaking to all Israel.

46 And he said to them, “Take heed with your heart to all these words, which I testify to you this day, which you shall command your sons, to observe and do all the words of this law.

47 For this is no vain word to you; for it is your life, and because of this word you shall live long upon the land, into which you go over the Jordan to inherit it.”

48 And the Lord spoke to Moses in this day, saying,

49 “Go up this mountain of Abarim, this Mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel:

50 and you shall die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people; as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people.

51 Because you disobeyed My word among the children of Israel, at the Waters of Strife, of Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin; because you did not hallow Me among the sons of Israel.

52 You shall see the land before you, but you shall not enter into it.”

33

1 Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.

2 And he said, “The Lord has come from Sinai, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has shone forth from Mount Paran, with the ten thousands of Kadesh; on His right hand were His angels with Him.

3 And He spared His people, and all His saints are in Your hand; and they are under You. And he received of His words

4 the law which Moses commanded us, an inheritance to the assemblies of Jacob.

5 And he shall be prince with the beloved one, when the princes of the people are gathered together with the tribes of Israel.

6 “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let him be many in number.”

7 And this is the blessing of Judah: “Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and visit his people: his hands shall contend for him, and You shall be a help from his enemies.”

8 And to Levi he said, “Let Levi give his manifestations and his truth to the holy One, whom they tempted in the temptation; they reviled Him at the Water of Strife.

9 Who says to his father and mother, ‘I have not seen you’; and he disowned his brothers, and he refused to know his children; he kept Your oracles, and observed Your covenant.

10 They shall declare Your ordinances to Jacob, and Your law to Israel; they shall place incense in the time of Your wrath continually upon Your altar.

11 Bless his substance, O Lord, and accept the works of his hands; break the loins of his enemies that have risen up against him, and let not them that hate him rise up.”

12 And to Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in confidence, and God overshadows him always, and he rested between His shoulders.

13 And to Joseph he said, “His land is of the blessing of the Lord, of the seasons of sky and dew, and of the deeps of wells below,

14 and of the fruits of the changes of the sun in season, and of the produce of the months,

15 from the top of the ancient mountains, and from the top of the everlasting hills,

16 and of the fullness of the land in season; and let the things pleasing to him that dwelt in the bush come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of him who was glorified above his brothers.

17 His beauty is as the firstborn bull, his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall thrust the nations at once, even from the end of the earth: these are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and these are the thousands of Manasseh.”

18 And to Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar in his tents.

19 They shall utterly destroy the nations, and you shall call men there, and there offer the sacrifice of righteousness; for the wealth of the sea shall suckle you, and so shall the emporiums of them that dwell by the sea coast.”

20 And to Gad he said, “Blessed be the one that enlarges Gad: as a lion he rested, having broken the arm and the ruler.

21 And he saw his firstfruits, that there the land of the princes gathered with the chiefs of the people was divided; the Lord wrought righteousness, and His judgment with Israel.”

22 And to Dan he said, “Dan is a lion's whelp, and shall leap out of Bashan.”

23 And to Naphthali he said, “Naphthali has the fullness of good things; and let him be filled with blessing from the Lord: he shall inherit the west and the south.”

24 And to Asher he said, “Asher is blessed with children; and he shall be acceptable to his brothers: he shall dip his food in oil.

25 His sandal shall be iron and brass; as your days be, so shall be your strength.

26 There is not any such as the God of the beloved; He who rides upon the heaven is your helper, and the Magnificent One of the firmament.

27 And the rule of God shall protect you, and that under the strength of the everlasting arms; and He shall cast forth the enemy from before your face, saying, ‘Perish.’

28 And Israel shall dwell in confidence alone on the land of Jacob, with grain and wine; and the sky shall be misty with dew upon you.

29 Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, O people saved by the Lord? Your helper shall hold His shield over you, and His sword is your boast; and your enemies shall speak falsely to you, and you shall tread upon their neck.”

34

1 The Death of Moses And Moses went up from the plains of Moab, to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is before Jericho; and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan, and all the land of Nephthali,

2 and all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah to the farthest sea;

3 and the wilderness, and the country round about Jericho, the city of palm trees, to Zoar.

4 And the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants will I give it’: and I have showed it to your eyes, but you shall not go in to it.”

5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab, by the word of the Lord.

6 And they buried him in Gai near Beth Peor; and no one has seen his tomb to this day.

7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old at his death; his eyes were not dimmed, nor were his natural powers destroyed.

8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in Araboth of Moab at the Jordan near Jericho for thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were completed.

9 And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of knowledge, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened to him; and they did as the Lord commanded Moses.

10 And there rose up no more a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,

11 in all the signs and wonders, which the Lord sent him to work in Egypt on Pharaoh, and his servants, and all his land;

12 the great wonders, and the mighty hand which Moses displayed before all Israel.