Deuteronomy 1-11

New Catholic Bible

Moses’ First Address^[a]

Chapter 1

Introduction.^{[b] 1} These are the words that Moses spoke to the whole of Israel on the desert side of the Jordan, in the Arabah,^[c] opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. ² This was an eleven days’ journey from Horeb^[d] to Kadesh-barnea by way of the highlands of Seir.

³ On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moses told the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them.^{[e] 4} This was after he had killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.^[f]

Command to Leave Horeb. ⁵ On the eastern side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, ⁶ The Lord, our God, spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. ⁷ Go and proceed into the hill country of the Amorites, into all the territory neighboring the Arabah, into the hill country and the lowlands, into the Negeb and the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. ⁸ Behold, I have given you the land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord promised he would give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants after them.”

Appointment of Leaders. ⁹ At that time I said to you, “I am not able to carry the burden of leading you all by myself. ¹⁰ The Lord, your God, has multiplied you and now you are as numerous as the stars in the heavens. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers, multiply you a thousand times over and bless you, as he has promised you. ¹² How can I handle your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? ¹³ Choose some wise, prudent, and respected men from your tribesmen, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”

¹⁴ They answered, saying, “It would be good to do what you suggested.” ¹⁵ So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them your leaders, captains of the thousands, and captains of the hundreds, and captains of the fifties and the tens, as your tribal officials. ¹⁶ At that time I instructed your judges, “Listen to the disputes among your brethren and judge them justly, whether between a man and his fellow countryman or even the foreigner who is with him.^{[g] 17} Do not show partiality in judging; listen to both the lowly and the great. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case that is too difficult for you and I will hear it.” ¹⁸ At that time I instructed you concerning everything that you were to do.

¹⁹ Twelve Explorers. Then, as the Lord, our God, had commanded us, we set out from Horeb. We passed through the great and terrible wilderness that you have seen up into the hill country of the Amorites, coming to Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰ I said to you, “Come up into the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord, our God, is giving to us. ²¹ Look! The Lord, your God, has given the land to you. Go up and take possession of it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has instructed you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

²² All of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead of ourselves to explore the land. They can bring a report back to us as to which way we should travel and as to what cities we will encounter.”

²³ This seemed to be a very good idea to me. I chose twelve of your men, one from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went up into the hill country and reached the Valley of Eshcol which they explored. ²⁵ They gathered some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, reporting, “The land that the Lord, our God, has given us is good.”

²⁶ The People Rebel. But you were unwilling to go up. You defied the command of the Lord, your God. ²⁷ You complained in your tents and said, “It is because the Lord hates us that he brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they might destroy us. ²⁸ Why should we go up? Our brothers have frightened us by saying, ‘The people are larger and taller than we are. The cities have great walls that reach up into the heavens. Moreover, there are the sons of the Anakim,^[h] we have seen them there.’ ”

²⁹ But I said to them, “Do not be afraid of them! ³⁰ The Lord, your God, marches before you. He will fight for you, just as he did on your behalf in Egypt, as you yourselves have seen. ³¹ You saw how the Lord, your God, carried you all throughout your journey in the wilderness, just as a man carries his son, until you arrived in this place.” ³² Yet, in spite of this, you did not trust the Lord, your God. ³³ He went ahead of you on your journey, as fire by night to search out a place for you to pitch your tents and as cloud by day to show you the path by which you should travel.

³⁴ When the Lord heard your words, he became angry and swore, ³⁵ “Not one of these men from this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your fathers ³⁶ except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his children the land upon which he has set foot, for he has wholeheartedly followed the Lord.”

³⁷ The Lord grew angry with me because of you and said, “You are not going to enter it either. ³⁸ Joshua, the son of Nun, who assists you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will bring Israel in to inherit it. ³⁹ Furthermore, your children whom you said would be taken captive, those who do not yet know the difference between good and evil, they will enter it. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

⁴¹ Then you replied and said to me, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight as the Lord, our God, has commanded us.” So every one of you put on your weapons, thinking it would be easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴² The Lord said to me, “Say to them, ‘Do not go up, nor fight. Otherwise you will be slain by your enemies.’ ” ⁴³ So I spoke to you, but you would not listen to me. You defied the command of the Lord and arrogantly went up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who dwell in that hill country came out against you and chased you like bees, beating you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. ⁴⁵ You came back and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not pay attention to your voice nor give ear to you. ⁴⁶ So you stayed in Kadesh for a long time, all the days that you spent there.

Chapter 2

The People Travel North. ¹ Then we turned back and set out for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had instructed me. We traveled around the highlands of Seir for many days.

² Then the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ “You have been going around these highlands long enough. Turn to the north ⁴ and command the people: ‘You are to pass through the territory of your kin, the children of Esau,^[i] who dwell in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a single foot, for I have given Esau possession of the highlands of Seir. ⁶ You are to purchase your food with silver, and you will also purchase your drinking water with silver. ⁷ The Lord, your God, has blessed you in all your undertakings, and he has watched over your journey through this great wilderness these forty years. The Lord, your God, has been with you, and you have lacked for nothing.’ ”

⁸ So we went on, bypassing our kin, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber and traveled along the desert road of Moab.

Bypassing Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not provoke the Moabites nor fight with them, for I will not give you their land as a possession. I have given the Ar to the children of Lot as a possession.” ¹⁰ (The Emim lived there in days of old, they were a great and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim they were considered to be Rephaim, but the Moabites called them the Emim. ¹² The Horites lived in Seir in days of old, but the children of Esau drove them out from before themselves and destroyed them, settling where they had lived, just as Israel did in the land that the Lord had given them to possess.)

¹³ “Now rise up and cross the Valley of the Zered.” So we crossed the Valley of the Zered. ¹⁴ It was thirty-eight years from when we left Kadesh-barnea until when we crossed over the Valley of the Zered. During this time the entire generation of men of war perished in the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For the hand of the Lord was set against them, to wipe them out from the camp until they were consumed. ¹⁶ And so the men of war among the people perished.

¹⁷ Bypassing Ammon. Then the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Today you will cross over the Ar,^[j] the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come up against the Ammonites, do not harass nor provoke them, for I will not give you the land of the Ammonites as a possession. I have given it to the children of Lot as a possession.” ²⁰ (It is considered to be the land of the Rephaim, for the Rephaim lived in it in days of old, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin. ²¹ They were a great and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. They drove them out and settled in their place. ²² He had done the same for the children of Esau in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them. They drove them out and live where they had lived to the present. ²³ The Avvim, who lived in villages up to Gaza,^[k] were destroyed by the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor. They dwell in their place.)

²⁴ Defeat of Sihon.“Rise, set out and cross over the Valley of the Arnon. I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hands. Start to occupy it and do battle with him. ²⁵ From today on I will place terror and fear of you in all of the nations under the heavens. Whoever hears about you will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

²⁶ I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, with words of peace saying, ²⁷ “Let me pass through your land. I will travel on the road, and I will not turn either to the right or the left. ²⁸ You can sell us food for silver so that we might eat, and water for silver so that we might drink, only let me pass through on foot. ²⁹ This is what the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me. Then I will pass over the Jordan into the land that the Lord, our God, has given us.” ³⁰ But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, would not let us pass through, for the Lord had hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn so that he might deliver him into your hands, as he has today.

³¹ Then the Lord said to me, “I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land to you. Now begin to take it, so that you may inherit his land.” ³² Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to give battle at Jahaz. ³³ The Lord, our God, delivered him over to us. We killed him and his sons and all his people. ³⁴ It was then that we captured all of his cities and completely wiped out the men, the women, and the children of all the cities.^[l] We left nothing alive ³⁵ except for the cattle that we took as pillage along with the spoils from the cities that we captured. ³⁶ There was not a city that was too strong for us, from Aroer on the shore of the Arnon River and the city that is in the valley, all the way up to Gilead. The Lord, our God, delivered everything into our hands. ³⁷ But as the Lord, our God, had commanded, you did not enter the land of the Ammonites, nor the land along the River Jabbok, nor the cities in the hill country.

Chapter 3

Defeat of Og. ¹ Next we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, “Do not fear him, for I will deliver him and all his people and his land into your hands. You will do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” ³ The Lord, our God, delivered Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands. We continued to attack them until there was not a single survivor left. ⁴ This was when we captured all of his cities. There was not a single city that we did not take from them, sixty in all, the entire region of the Argob, the kingdom of Og of Bashan. ⁵ All of these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars. There were also a great number of unfortified cities. ⁶ We totally destroyed them, just as we had destroyed Sihon, the king of Heshbon, wiping out the men, women, and children from every city. ⁷ But we took all the cattle and spoils of the cities as pillage.

⁸ This was when we took the land of two of the kings of the Amorites from their hands, land on the east of the Jordan, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon. ⁹ (The Sidonians call Hermon Siron, while the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰ This included all of the cities of the plain and all of Gilead and all of Bashan, up to Salecah and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og of Bashan. ¹¹ (Og was the last of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed was made of iron, and it was nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)^[m]

¹² Distribution of Conquered Lands. From the land that we occupied at this time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the land beginning at Aroer on the Arnon River and half of the hill country of Gilead as well as its cities. ¹³ I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This was the whole region of Argob with all of Bashan, and it was known as the land of the Rephaim. ¹⁴ The clan of Jair, the son of Manasseh, took the entire region of Argob up to the borders with the Geshurites and the Maacathites. They named it after themselves, so that Bashan is known as Havvoth-jair until the present.) ^15 [n]I gave Gilead to Machir. ¹⁶ I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the land that stretched from Gilead up to the Arnon River (with the center of the valley being the boundary) and on to the Jabbok River, the border with the Ammonites. ¹⁷ Its border on the west was the Jordan in the Arabah, from the Kinnereth down to the Sea in the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of the Pisgah.

¹⁸ At that time I commanded you, “The Lord, your God, has given you this land to possess. Have all of the armed men pass over in front of their brethren, the Israelites, armed for battle. ¹⁹ But your wives and your children and your cattle (for I know that you have many cattle) can remain in your cities that I have given you. ²⁰ It will be this way until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he already has to you, so that they also come to possess the land that the Lord, your God, has given them on the other side of the Jordan. Then, each of you can return to the property that I have given you.”

²¹ Then I commanded Joshua, “You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord, your God, has done to these two kings. This is what the Lord will do to any kingdom that you might encounter.^{[o] 22} Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord, your God, will fight for you.”

²³ Moses Forbidden to Enter Jordan. At that time I pleaded with the Lord, ²⁴ “O Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong arm. What God in heaven or on earth can do such deeds and mighty works as yours? ²⁵ Please let me cross over and see the bounteous land that is on the other side of the Jordan, the hill country and the Lebanon.”

²⁶ But the Lord was angry with me because of you^[p] and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, “Enough! Do not speak to me about this anymore. ²⁷ Climb up to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, the north, the south, and the east and see it with your own eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸ But give orders to Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he is to lead this people across and he will give them the land that you see as an inheritance.” ²⁹ So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Chapter 4

Benefits of Obedience. ¹ Now listen, O Israel, to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you to observe so that you might live and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 [q]You will not add to what I command you, nor will you take away from it, so that you might observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I am giving you. ³ Your own eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, for the Lord, your God, wiped out from all of those who followed Baal-peor from your midst. ⁴ But every one of you who clung to the Lord, your God, is alive today.

⁵ Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord, my God, commanded me, so that you might enter into the land into which you are going and take possession of it. ⁶ Carefully observe them, for the nations will consider this is your wisdom and your understanding. They will hear all these statutes and say, “Truly this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷ For what nation is as great as we are? Who has God as near to them, as the Lord, our God, is whenever we call upon him? ⁸ What nation is so great that it has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this law that I set before you today?

⁹ Only be careful and watch yourselves closely lest you ever forget the things that your eyes have seen or you let them slip out of your mind. Teach them to your children and your children’s children, ¹⁰ especially about the day that you stood before the Lord, your God, in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I might let them hear my words. They will thus learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and they will be able to teach their children.” ¹¹ You approached and stood at the base of the mountain. The mountain blazed with flames reaching the very heavens, and it was covered with dark clouds and thick darkness. ¹² The Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not see a form. There was only a voice. ¹³ He proclaimed his covenant to you which he ordered you to fulfill, the Ten Commandments, that he wrote upon two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ The Lord then commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances so that you might observe them in the land that you were crossing over to possess.

¹⁵ Pitfalls of Idolatry. Therefore, guard yourselves carefully, for you did not see any kind of form when the Lord spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of the fire. ¹⁶ Do not become perverse and make an idol for yourselves of any shape or likeness, whether male or female, ¹⁷ whether it be a land animal or a bird that flies in the skies, ¹⁸ or like something that crawls on the ground or a fish in the waters beneath the earth. ¹⁹ When you look up into the skies and you see the sun and the moon and stars, all the hosts of heaven, do not be enticed to worship and serve the things that the Lord, your God, has assigned to every other nation under the heavens. ²⁰ But as for you, the Lord has chosen you and taken you out from the iron furnace,^[r] out of Egypt, to be a people who are his own possession, as you are today.

²¹ The Lord was angry with me because of you and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan nor enter the fertile land that the Lord, your God, has given to you as an inheritance. ²² I must die in this land; I will not cross over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of this fertile land. ²³ Therefore, keep guard over yourselves, lest you forget the covenant that the Lord, your God, has made with you and you make an idol in the form of anything that the Lord, your God, has prohibited. ²⁴ The Lord, your God, is a consuming fire and a jealous God.

²⁵ When you have borne children and grandchildren and have dwelt in the land for a long time, if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, and provoking him to anger, ²⁶ I will call upon the heavens and the earth to give witness against you on that day so that you might be utterly obliterated from the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. You will not remain there long, but you will be totally wiped out.

²⁷ The Lord will scatter you among the nations and only a few of you will survive among the foreign peoples where the Lord has led you. ²⁸ There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, made of wood and stone, which cannot see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

The Lord Is God.

²⁹ But if you seek the Lord, your God, and you strive with all your heart and your soul, you will find him there. ³⁰ When you are in distress and all of these things happen to you in the future, you are to return to the Lord,^[s] your God, and obey his voice, ³¹ and he will not abandon you, nor destroy you nor forget the covenant that he made with your fathers, confirming it to them by oath, for the Lord, your God, is a merciful God.

³² Ask now about the days of old, the former times. From the day that God created humans upon the earth, inquire from one end of the heavens to the other, has anything so great ever happened or has anything like it been heard of? ³³ Has any other people heard the voice of God speak from the midst of the flame, as you heard, and still live? ³⁴ Did God ever go and lead one nation from the midst of another nation by trials, signs, wonders, and battle, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great and wondrous deeds, all things that the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might come to know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶ He had you hear his voice from out of the heavens so that he might instruct you. He showed you his great fire upon the earth so that you might hear his voice from the midst of the flames. ³⁷ It was because he loved your fathers and had chosen their descendants after them that he brought you out of Egypt before him by his great strength. ³⁸ He drove out greater and more powerful nations before you so that he might bring you into their land to give it to you as an inheritance, just as it is today.

³⁹ So today acknowledge it and take it to heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. ⁴⁰ You shall obey his statutes and the commandments that I give you today, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you for all time.

⁴¹ Cities of Refuge. Then Moses set aside three cities on the east of the Jordan ⁴² to which anyone who unintentionally killed another person with whom he had not previously been at enmity might flee. He could flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁴³ They were Bezer,^[t] on the desert plateau, for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the men of Manasseh.

Moses’ Second Address

The Covenant with Israel^[u]

⁴⁴ Introduction. This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. ⁴⁵ These are the stipulations, the statutes, and the judgments that Moses declared to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt ⁴⁶ and they were dwelling in the valley near Beth-peor on the east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and who was defeated by Moses and the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took possession of his land and also the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who reigned on the east side of the Jordan. ⁴⁸ This land extended from Aroer, that is on the bank of the Arnon River, up to Mount Sion (that is Hermon). ⁴⁹ It included all of the plain on the east side of the Jordan up to the Sea in the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

Chapter 5

The Ten Commandments.^{[v] 1} Moses then summoned all of the Israelites and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the decrees that I proclaim in your hearing today. Learn them and carefully observe them. ² The Lord, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with those of us who are still alive and present today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the flame.

⁵ “I stood between you and the Lord at that time, declaring the word of the Lord to you, for you were afraid and did not go up the mountain because of the fire. He said, ⁶ ‘I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out from the land of slavery. ⁷ You shall have no god other than me. ⁸ You shall not make any idols in the form of anything that dwells in the heavens above or on the earth below or even in the waters below the land. ⁹ You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them. I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. I visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but I will show mercy to the thousandth generation on those who love me and observe my commandments.

¹¹ “ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not consider blameless those who take his name in vain.

¹² “ ‘You shall observe the Sabbath by keeping it holy, as the Lord, your God, has commanded you. ¹³ You are to labor on six days, doing all of your work then. ¹⁴ The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. You shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor your cattle, nor even the foreigner living in your town. Thus your manservant and maidservant can rest as well. ¹⁵ Remember that you were once a slave in the land of Egypt. The Lord, your God, brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.^[w]

¹⁶ “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord, your God, has commanded you,^[x] so that you might have a long life and things might go well with you in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you.

¹⁷ “ ‘You shall not 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 desire your neighbor’s wife. Nor shall you desire your neighbor’s house or land, or his manservant or his maidservant, or his ox or ass or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ ”

²² Moses at Sinai. These are the things that the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly on the mountain from the midst of the flame, out of the cloud and the deep darkness, this and nothing more. He then wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. ²³ When you heard the voice coming out of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire,^[y] all of the leaders of your tribes and your elders drew near to me.

²⁴ You said, “The Lord, our God, has shown us his glory and his majesty. We have heard his voice coming forth from out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God were to speak to him. ²⁵ But now, why should we die, for this great fire will consume us if we listen anymore to the voice of the Lord, our God? We will surely die. ²⁶ For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out from the midst of the flames, as we have, and continued to live? ²⁷ You approach him and listen to all that the Lord, our God, will say to you. Then you can tell us all that the Lord, our God, said to you. We will listen and obey.”

²⁸ The Lord heard what you said to me, and the Lord said to me, “I have heard what this people has said to you. Everything that they said is acceptable. ²⁹ Oh, that they would have fear of me in their hearts and they would observe all of my commandments always. Then things would go well with them and their children forever. ³⁰ Go tell them, ‘Go back to your tents.’ ³¹ But you, stay here with me, so that I can pass on to you all of the commandments and statutes and decrees that you are to teach them so that they might observe them in the land that I am giving to them to possess. ³² Therefore, be careful to observe what the Lord, your God, has commanded of you. Do not turn away from it to the right nor the left. ³³ Continue in all of the ways that the Lord, your God, has commanded you. Continue in them so that you may live and prosper and that you may long dwell on the land of your inheritance.”

Chapter 6

¹ These are the commands, statutes, and decrees that the Lord, your God, directed me to teach you so that you might observe them in the land to which you are going as your inheritance. ² Thus, you will fear the Lord, your God, and observe the statutes and commandments that I give you—you, and your children, and your children’s children—all the days of your life, so that you might live a long time.

³ Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that you might prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

The Law of Love.^{[z] 4} Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, is Lord alone. ⁵ You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶ You shall keep these things that I command you today in your heart. ⁷ Teach them to your children. You shall talk of them when you are sitting in your home, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. ^8 [aa]Bind them as a reminder upon your hand, and wear them as a pendant between your eyes ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.

Loyalty to the Lord.

^10 [ab]When the Lord, your God, will have brought you into the land that he promised to your forefathers, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that he would give to you, a land with large and pleasant cities that you did not build ¹¹ with houses filled with all kinds of good things that you did not provide, wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill of them, ¹² be sure not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the land of slavery.

¹³ Fear the Lord, your God, and serve him. Swear oaths with his name. ¹⁴ You shall not seek after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you ¹⁵ for the Lord, your God, who lives among you is a jealous God.^[ac] Beware lest the anger of the Lord, your God, be kindled and he wipe you off of the face of the earth.

¹⁶ You shall not tempt the Lord,^[ad] your God, as you tempted him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall take heed to observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, and the decrees and statutes that he has given to you. ¹⁸ Do what the Lord regards as right and good so that things will go well with you and that you might enter in and take possession of the good land that the Lord promised to your fathers, ¹⁹ being able to cast out all of your enemies from before you, just as the Lord has promised.

²⁰ Instructing Children. In the future when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the Lord, our God, has commanded of you,” ²¹ you are to tell your son, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² The Lord performed signs and wonders in our sight, great and terrible things, that he imposed upon Egypt and upon Pharaoh and upon all of his household. ²³ He brought us out from there so that he might bring us into and give to us the land that he promised to our fathers.

²⁴ “The Lord commanded us to observe all of these statutes and to fear the Lord, our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, even as we are today. ²⁵ If we are diligent in observing all of these commandments before the Lord, our God, as he commanded of us, then this will be our righteousness.”

Chapter 7

Destroying the Nations.^{[ae] 1} When the Lord, your God, has brought you into the land that you are entering to take possession of and he has driven out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations in all, each larger and stronger than you are ² and when the Lord, your God, will have delivered them over to you and you will have defeated them, you are to wipe them out. You are not to make a covenant with them or show them any mercy. ^3 [af]Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons. ⁴ They would turn your sons away from serving me to serve other gods and the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you and destroy you in an instant.

⁵ This is what you are to do to them: you are to destroy their altars, tear down their sacred images, cut down their sacred groves, and burn up their idols in fire. ⁶ You are a people holy to the Lord, your God. The Lord, your God, has chosen you from among all the peoples in the world to be his own, a treasured possession. ⁷ The Lord did not delight in you because you were more numerous than these other peoples, for you are actually the least numerous of all people. ⁸ It was because the Lord loved you and was keeping the promise that he had sworn to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, from the land of your slavery.

⁹ Keep in mind, therefore, that the Lord, your God, is God. He is a faithful God who keeps his covenant of mercy to the thousandth generation toward those who love him and observe his commandments. ¹⁰ But upon those who hate him, he will avenge himself face to face, wiping them out. He will not delay in avenging himself face to face with those who hate him.^{[ag] 11} Therefore, be careful to observe the commandments, statutes, and decrees that I give you today.

¹² Blessings of the Covenant. If you obey these decrees and carefully observe them, then the Lord, your God, will preserve his covenant of mercy with you, as he promised to your forefathers. ¹³ He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the crops on your land, your grain, your wine and your oil, as well as the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, in the land that he promised to your forefathers to give to you. ¹⁴ You will be more greatly blessed^[ah] than any other people. None of your men or women will be childless, none of your cattle will be without young. ¹⁵ The Lord will protect you from all illnesses. He will not inflict upon you any of the terrible diseases that you encountered in Egypt, but rather he will send them upon everyone who hates you. ¹⁶ You must annihilate all of the people whom the Lord, your God, delivers over to you. Do not look with pity upon them; do not serve their gods, for this would be a snare for you. ^17 [ai]You should say to yourselves, “These nations were stronger than we were. How did we ever drive them out?” ¹⁸ Do not be afraid of them. Remember what the Lord, your God, did to Pharaoh and to the whole of Egypt. ¹⁹ You saw with your own eyes the tremendous trials, signs, and wonders, how with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm the Lord, your God, brought you out. The Lord, your God, will do the same things to all of those people of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ The Lord, your God, will destroy them by sending hornets into the midst of those who survived and are hiding. ²¹ Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord, your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. ²² Little by little the Lord, your God, will drive out those nations before you. You will not be able to eliminate them immediately, lest the wild animals around you multiply too much. ²³ The Lord, your God, will hand them over to you, throwing them into a great confusion until they are totally wiped out. ²⁴ He will deliver kings into your hands, and you will wipe out their names from under the heavens. No one will be able to stand up to you. You will destroy them.

²⁵ You are to burn the idols of their gods in the fire. Do not seek after the gold or the silver that covers them, nor take it for yourselves, lest it become a snare for you. It is an abomination to the Lord, your God. ²⁶ Nor should you bring an abomination into your house, or you, like it, will be set aside for destruction. Loathe and detest it, for it is something that is cursed.

Chapter 8

The Lord’s Kindness.^1 [aj]Be diligent in observing all of the commandments that I am giving you today, so that you might live and multiply, and so that you might enter and take possession of the land that the Lord promised to your fathers. ² Remember how the Lord, your God, guided your path through the wilderness for these forty years, abasing you and testing you so that he might know what was in your heart, whether or not you would observe his commandments. ³ He brought you low, allowing you to suffer from hunger. He then fed you with manna, something with which your fathers were not familiar, so that you might come to know that man does not live by bread alone,^[ak] but man lives by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.

⁴ Throughout these forty years your clothing did not wear out nor did your feet swell. ⁵ Thus you could understand that the Lord, your God, was disciplining you, just like a father disciplines his son. ⁶ Therefore, observe the commandments of the Lord, your God. Walk in his ways and fear him. ⁷ The Lord, your God, is bringing you into a good land, a land filled with brooks, fountains, and springs that rush forth from the valleys and the hills. ⁸ It is a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land with olive oil and honey. ⁹ It is a land in which you will not lack bread to eat; you will not lack anything at all. It is a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

¹⁰ Warning about Prosperity. When you have eaten your fill and are satisfied, then praise the Lord, your God, for the good land that he has given you. ¹¹ Take heed not to forget the Lord, your God, by not observing his commandments, decrees, and statutes that I have given you today. ¹² Otherwise, when you have eaten your fill and you have built fine houses and are living in them ¹³ and your herds and your flocks have grown large, and your silver and your gold have multiplied, in fact all that you own has multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart might become proud and you will forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the land of your slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through a vast and terrible wilderness where there were snakes and fiery scorpions and thirst, where when there was no water he brought water forth from the hard rock for you. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something with which your fathers were not familiar, to abase you and to test you, so that later on it might go well with you.

^17 [al]You might think to yourself, “It is through my strength and the might of my own hand that I have acquired this wealth.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord, your God, for it is he who has given you the ability to acquire this wealth so that he might confirm the covenant that he made with your fathers, which is still in force today. ¹⁹ But if you forget the Lord, your God, and follow after other gods, serving and worshiping them, then I swear to you today that you will surely perish. ²⁰ You will perish just like the nations that the Lord crushed in your sight, for you would not have been attentive to the voice of the Lord, your God.

Chapter 9

Israel’s Good Fortune. ¹ Hear, O Israel, today you are going to pass over the Jordan to dispossess nations more powerful than you are which have large cities whose walls reach up into the heavens. ² The people are strong and tall, descendants of the Anakim. You know all about them, for you have heard it said, “Who can stand up against the Anakim?”

³ Understand, therefore, that the Lord, your God, is crossing over ahead of you like a devouring fire today. He will destroy them and bring them low before you. Therefore, you will be able to drive them out and annihilate them quickly, just as the Lord has promised you. ⁴ After the Lord, your God, has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “It was because of my righteousness that the Lord brought me in to take possession of this land.” It is because of the wickedness of the nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or the sincerity of your heart that you are going to take possession of their land. Rather, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord, your God, will drive them out before you, fulfilling the promise that he made to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord, your God, is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked^[am] people.

The Golden Calf. ⁷ Remember, and never forget, how you angered the Lord, your God, in the wilderness from the day that you left the land of Egypt until the day that you arrived here. You have always been rebellious. ⁸ At Horeb you made the Lord so angry that the Lord was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed up upon the mountain for forty days and forty nights, neither eating food nor drinking water. ¹⁰ The Lord gave me two stone tablets on which the finger of God had written all of the things that the Lord had said to you on the mountain from the midst of the flames on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ At the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “Arise, hurry down, for your people whom you brought forth out of Egypt has become perverse. They have quickly turned aside from the path that I had directed them to follow and they have made a molten image for themselves.”

¹³ Furthermore, the Lord also said to me, “I have observed this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. ¹⁴ Leave me alone, so I can destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens. I will make you a greater and more numerous nation than they are.”

¹⁵ So I turned and climbed down the mountain that was blazing with fire, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in my two hands. ¹⁶ I looked out, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord, your God. You had made a molten calf for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away from the path in which the Lord had directed you. ¹⁷ I took the two tablets and with my two hands cast them down and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and for forty nights.^[an] I did not eat food nor did I drink water on account of all the sins you had committed, doing what was so evil in the sight of the Lord that you provoked him to anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and the wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough at you to destroy you. Yet, the Lord once again listened to me.

²⁰ The Lord was angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. ²¹ I took that sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and I burned it in the fire. I crushed it and ground it so fine that it was like a powder, and I threw that powder into the stream that came down from the mountain. ²² You also angered the Lord at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah. ²³ Then when the Lord sent you forth from Kadesh-barnea, saying to you, “Go up and take possession of the land that I have given to you,” you despised the command of the Lord, your God. You did not trust him nor listen to his voice. ²⁴ You have despised the Lord from the first day that I knew you.

²⁵ I fell down and lay prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights because the Lord said that he was going to destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, God, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance, whom you redeemed by your great power, and whom you brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not consider the stubbornness of this people nor the wickedness of their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the people of the land from which you brought them will say, ‘The Lord brought them out and put them to death in the desert because he was not able to bring them into the land that he had promised them and also because he hated them.’ ²⁹ Yet, they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out with your great power and your outstretched arm.”

Chapter 10

The Stone Tablets. ¹ The Lord then also told me, “Carve out two stone tablets like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain. You are also to make an Ark out of wood. ² I will engrave the words that had been on the first tablets that you broke on these tablets. Then you are to place them in the Ark.”

³ I made an Ark out of acacia wood and carved out two tablets like the first ones and climbed up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ He wrote on the tablets what he had written on the previous ones, the ten commandments that the Lord had proclaimed to you on the mountain from the midst of the flames on the day of the assembly. The Lord then gave them to me. ⁵ I climbed down the mountain and placed the tablets in the Ark that I had made, as the Lord had commanded, and they are still there today.

⁶ The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene-jaakan to Moserah.^[ao] There Aaron died, and he was buried there. Eleazer, his son, succeeded him as priest. ⁷ From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land filled with streams of water. ⁸ It was at this time that the Lord set aside the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant, to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they do until the present. ⁹ That is why the Levites have no share in the inheritance with their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord, your God, promised them.

¹⁰ Once again I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and the Lord heard me once again, for the Lord decided not to destroy you. ¹¹ The Lord said to me, “Rise up, proceed on your journey ahead of the people so that they might go in and take possession of the land that I promised to their fathers to give them.”

¹² God’s Steadfast Love.^[ap]And so now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, require of you but to fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all of his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the commandments and the statutes that I am giving you today for your own good. ¹⁴ Indeed the heavens and the highest heavens^[aq] belong to the Lord, your God, as well as the earth and all that is in it, ¹⁵ yet the Lord’s sole delight was in your fathers. He loved them so much that he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, which is still true today.

¹⁶ Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your hearts, and stop being stiff-necked,^{[ar] 17} for the Lord, your God, is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, a great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. ¹⁸ He ensures justice for the orphan and the widow, and demonstrates his love for the foreigner by giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ So now, show your love to the foreigner, for you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ You shall fear the Lord, your God, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him, taking your oaths by his name. ²¹ He is your glory, and he is your God. He has performed great and awesome wonders for you, deeds he performed before your very eyes. ²² Seventy of your ancestors went down into Egypt. Now the Lord, your God, has multiplied you so that you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Chapter 11

God’s Mighty Deeds. ¹ You shall love the Lord, your God, and observe his ordinances, his statutes, his decrees, and his commandments always. ² Remember this day, for I am now not speaking with your children, who did not experience the discipline of the Lord, your God, his majesty, his mighty hand and outstretched arm, ³ and the signs and deeds he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to the whole land, ⁴ what he did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and chariots, how he caused the waters of the Red Sea to flow over them as they pursued you, for the Lord brought a lasting destruction upon them, ⁵ and what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived here, ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, how he opened a hole in the ground right in the midst of the Israelites that swallowed them up, them and their households and their tents and all of their possessions. ⁷ You have seen with your own eyes all of these great deeds that the Lord has done.

⁸ Therefore, keep all of the commandments that I give you today so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess ⁹ and so that the Lord may prolong your life in the land that the Lord promised to give to your forefathers and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰ The land that you are entering to take possession of is not like the land of Egypt out of which you have come. There you planted your seeds and watered the plants by hand,^[as] like you would in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ The land that you are entering to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys that obtains its water from the rain of the skies. ¹² It is a land that the Lord, your God, cares for, the Lord, your God, continuously keeps his eyes on it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.

^13 [at]If you carefully observe the commandments that I give you today, to love the Lord, your God, and to serve him with all your heart and soul, ¹⁴ then he will provide the rain upon the land in its proper season, the fall rains and the spring rains, so that you can harvest your grain, your wine, and your oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in your field for your cattle, so that you may eat until you are full.

¹⁶ Only be careful not to let yourself be enticed, turning away and serving other gods, worshiping them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord’s anger would lash out against you. He would shut up the heavens so that there would be no rain, no produce from the land. Beware lest you soon perish in the good land that the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ Rewards of Faithfulness. Fix these words in your heart and your soul, bind them as a reminder upon your hand, and wear them as a pendant between your eyes. ¹⁹ You are to teach them to your children. You shall talk of them when you are sitting in your home, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. ²⁰ You are to write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children will be multiplied in the land that the Lord promised to give them, lasting as long as the heavens cover the earth.

²² If you are careful in observing all of these commandments that I give you, loving the Lord, your God, and walking in all of his ways and holding fast to him, ²³ then the Lord will drive out all of these nations from before you. You will dispossess nations that are larger and stronger than you are. ²⁴ Everywhere that your feet touch the ground shall be yours, from the desert and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, up to the western sea, this will all be your land.^{[au] 25} No one will be able to stand up to you. The Lord, your God, as he promised you, he has put fear and dread of you upon everyone in the land, wherever you go.

²⁶ Blessing and Curse. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. ²⁷ There will be a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I give you today. ²⁸ There will be a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, and you turn from the way that I command you today and you seek after other gods whom you have previously not known. ²⁹ When the Lord, your God, has brought you into the land that you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim a blessing on Mount Gerizim and a curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ (Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the terebinth of Moreh?)^{[av] 31} You are to cross over the Jordan and enter in it and take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you. When you have taken possession of it and are living in it, ³² then you are to observe all of the statutes and decrees that I have placed before you today.