Deuteronomy 19-34

New American Standard Bible

Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ²^(B)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[a]possess. ³You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[c]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴“^(C)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[d]kills his friend ^[e]unintentionally, ^[f]not hating him previously— ⁵as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[g]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[h]handle and ^[i]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[j]him ^[k]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[l]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸“And if the Lord your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[m]promised to give your fathers— ⁹if you ^[n]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(F)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(G)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹“But ^(H)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[o]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ¹³^[p]^(I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

¹⁴“^(K)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to ^[q]possess.

¹⁵“^(L)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin ^[r]that he commits; on the ^[s]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. ¹⁶^(M)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷then both people who have the dispute shall stand ^(N)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸And the judges ^(O)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, ¹⁹then ^(P)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. ²⁰And ^(Q)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹So ^[t]^(R)you shall not show pity: ^(S)life for life, ^(T)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see ^(U)horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, ^(V)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ²When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. ³He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. ^(W)Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, ⁴for the Lord your God ^(X)is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ ⁵The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not ^(Y)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. ⁶And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not ^[u]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man ^[v]would put it to use. ⁷^(Z)And who is the man that is ^[w]betrothed to a woman and has not ^[x]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would ^[y]marry her.’ ⁸Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘^(AA)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that ^[z]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’ ⁹And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall ^[aa]offer it terms of peace. ¹¹And if it ^[ab]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your ^(AB)forced labor and serve you. ¹²However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(AC)you shall strike all the ^[ac]men in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴However, the women, the children, ^(AD)the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall ^[ad]use the spoils of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations ^[ae]nearby. ¹⁶^(AE)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. ¹⁷Instead, you shall ^[af]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸so that they will not teach you to do ^[ag]^(AF)all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, ^[ah]by which you would ^(AG)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹“When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For ^[ai]is the tree of the field a human, that it should ^[aj]be besieged by you? ²⁰Only the trees that you know ^[ak]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.

Expiation of a Crime

21 “If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[al]possess, and it is not known who struck him, ²then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed. ³And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the person killed, that is, that the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked ^[am]and has not pulled in a yoke; ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵Then ^(AH)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and ^[an]violent crime shall be ^[ao]settled by them. ⁶And all the elders of that city ^[ap]which is nearest to the person killed shall ^(AI)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. ⁸^[aq]Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Lord, and do not place the guilt for ^(AJ)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be ^[ar]forgiven them. ⁹^(AK)So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Domestic Relations

¹⁰“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and ^(AL)the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, ¹¹and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and are strongly attracted to her and would take her as a wife for yourself, ¹²then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall ^(AM)shave her head and ^[as]trim her nails. ¹³She shall also ^[at]remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and ^(AN)weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may have relations with her and become her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴But it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go ^[au]wherever she wishes; and you certainly shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as merchandise, since you have ^[av]^(AO)humiliated her.

¹⁵“If a man has two wives, the one loved and ^(AP)the other ^[aw]unloved, and both the loved and the ^[ax]unloved have borne him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the ^[ay]unloved, ¹⁶then it shall be on the day that he wills what he owns as an inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, ^[az]at the expense of the son of the ^[ba]unloved, who actually is the firstborn son. ¹⁷On the contrary, he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the ^[bb]unloved wife, by giving him a double ^[bc]portion of everything that ^[bd]he owns, for he was the ^(AQ)beginning of his ^[be]strength; ^(AR)to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

¹⁸“If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does ^(AS)not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them, ¹⁹then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city ^[bf]at the gateway of his hometown. ²⁰And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’ ²¹^(AT)Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so ^(AU)you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and ^(AV)all Israel will hear about it and fear.

²²“Now if ^[bg]a person has committed a sin carrying ^(AW)a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on ^[bh]a tree, ²³^(AX)his body is not to be left overnight on the ^[bi]tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for ^(AY)he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you ^(AZ)do not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Various Laws

22 “^(BA)You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and avoid them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. ²And if your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him. ³You shall also do this with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with any lost property of your countryman, which has been lost by him and you have found. You are not allowed to avoid them. ⁴You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the road, and avoid them; you shall certainly help him raise them up.

⁵“A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶“If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs in it, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(BB)you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, ^(BC)in order that it may go well for you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸“When you build a new house, you shall make a ^[bj]parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring guilt for bloodshed on your house if anyone falls from it.

⁹“^(BD)You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, otherwise ^[bk]all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will be ^[bl]forfeited to the sanctuary.

¹⁰“^(BE)You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹“^(BF)You shall not wear a material of wool and linen combined together.

¹²“^(BG)You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

Laws on Morality

¹³“^(BH)If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then ^[bm]turns against her, ¹⁴and he charges her with shameful behavior and ^[bn]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her to have evidence of virginity,’ ¹⁵then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he ^[bo]turned against her; ¹⁷and behold, he has charged her with shameful behavior, saying, “I did not find your daughter to have evidence of virginity.” But ^[bp]this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸Then ^(BI)the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke him, ¹⁹and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he ^[bq]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to ^[br]divorce her all his days.

²⁰“But if this ^[bs]^(BJ)charge is true, and they did not find the girl to have evidence of virginity, ²¹then they shall bring the girl out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her ^[bt]to death, because she has ^(BK)committed a disgraceful sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house; so ^(BL)you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

²²“^(BM)If a man is found sleeping with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who slept with the woman, and the woman; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel.

²³“^(BN)If there is a girl who is a virgin ^[bu]betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and sleeps with her, ²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them ^[bv]to death: the girl, because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

²⁵“But if the man finds the girl who is betrothed in the field, and the man seizes her and ^[bw]rapes her, then only the man who ^[bx]raped her shall die. ²⁶And you are not to do anything to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, ^[by]so is this case. ²⁷When he found her in the field, the betrothed girl ^[bz]cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸“^(BO)If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and has sexual relations with her, and they are discovered, ²⁹then the man who had sexual relations with her shall give the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he has violated her; he is not allowed to divorce her all his days.

³⁰“^[ca]^(BP)A man shall not take ^[cb]his father’s wife in marriage, so that he does not ^[cc]uncover his father’s garment.

Persons Excluded from the Assembly

23 “^(BQ)No one who is ^[cd]emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the Lord. ²No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the assembly of the Lord. ³^(BR)No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the Lord, ⁴^(BS)because they did not meet you with ^[ce]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you ^(BT)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[cf]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵Nevertheless, the Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God ^(BU)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God ^(BV)loves you. ⁶^(BW)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

⁷“You shall not loathe an ^[cg]Edomite, for ^(BX)he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian, ^(BY)because you were a stranger in his land. ⁸The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

⁹“When you go out as ^[ch]an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.

¹⁰“^(BZ)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ^[ci]reenter the camp. ¹¹But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ^[cj]reenter the camp.

¹²“You shall also have a place allocated outside the camp, so that you may go out there to relieve yourself, ¹³and you shall have a ^[ck]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴Since ^(CA)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to ^[cl]defeat your enemies before you, your camp must be ^(CB)holy; so He must not see ^[cm]anything indecent among you ^[cn]or He will turn away from you.

¹⁵“^(CC)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ^[co]escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶He shall live with you in your midst, in the place that he chooses in one of your ^[cp]towns where it pleases him; ^(CD)you shall not mistreat him.

¹⁷“^(CE)None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, ^(CF)nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the money for a ^[cq]^(CG)dog into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vowed offering, because both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹“^(CH)You are not to charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned on interest. ²⁰^(CI)You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that ^(CJ)the Lord your God may bless you in all ^[cr]that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to ^[cs]possess.

²¹“^(CK)When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly require it of you, and it will be a sin ^[ct]for you. ²²However, if you refrain from making vows, it will not be a sin ^[cu]for you. ²³You shall be careful and perform what goes out of your lips, since in fact you have vowed a ^[cv]voluntary offering to the Lord your God, whatever you have ^[cw]promised.

²⁴“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes ^[cx]until you are satisfied; but you are not to put any in your ^[cy]basket.

²⁵“^(CL)When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you are not to ^[cz]use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law of Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^(CM)indecency in her, that ^(CN)he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and ^[da]sends her away from his house, ²and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³and the latter husband ^[db]turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand, and ^[dc]sends her away from his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies, ⁴then her ^(CO)former husband who ^[dd]sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, after ^[de]she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵“^(CP)When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army, nor be assigned any duty; he shall be free at home for one year and shall ^(CQ)make his wife whom he has taken happy.

Various Laws

⁶“No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s ^[df]means of life as a pledge.

⁷“^(CR)If someone is ^[dg]caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he treats him as merchandise and sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

⁸“^(CS)Be careful about an infestation of leprosy, that you are very attentive and act in accordance with everything that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, you shall be careful to act. ⁹Remember what the Lord your God did ^(CT)to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰“^(CU)When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. ¹¹You shall stand outside, and the person to whom you are making the loan shall bring the pledge outside to you. ¹²And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. ¹³^(CV)When the sun goes down you shall certainly return the pledge to him, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and ^(CW)it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴“^(CX)You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your strangers who are in your land in your ^[dh]towns. ¹⁵^(CY)You shall give him his wages on his day ^[di]before the sun sets—for he is poor and sets his ^[dj]heart on it—so that ^(CZ)he does not cry out against you to the Lord, and it becomes a sin in you.

¹⁶“^(DA)Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin alone.

¹⁷“^(DB)You shall not pervert the justice ^[dk]due a stranger or ^[dl]an orphan, nor ^(DC)seize a widow’s garment as a ^[dm]pledge. ¹⁸But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹“^(DD)When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong ^(DE)to the stranger, the ^[dn]orphan, and to the widow, in order that the Lord your God ^(DF)may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰^(DG)When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches ^[do]again; that shall be left ^(DH)for the stranger, the ^[dp]orphan, and for the widow.

²¹“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to ^[dq]go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the ^[dr]orphan, and the widow. ²²And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Various Laws

25 “^(DI)If there is a dispute between people and they go to ^[ds]court, and ^[dt]the judges decide their case, ^(DJ)and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty, ²then it shall be if the wicked person ^[du]^(DK)deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his ^[dv]wrongful act. ³^(DL)He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not ^(DM)become contemptible in your eyes.

⁴“^(DN)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

⁵“When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. ^(DO)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall ^[dw]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that ^(DP)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. ⁷^(DQ)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ ⁸Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ⁹^(DR)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and ^(DS)spit in his face; and she shall ^[dx]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ ¹⁰And in Israel ^[dy]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

¹¹“If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight ^[dz]with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps ^[ea]that man’s genitals, ¹²then you shall cut off her ^[eb]hand; ^[ec]^(DT)you shall not show pity.

¹³“^(DU)You shall not have in your bag ^[ed]differing weights, a large and a small. ¹⁴You shall not have in your house ^[ee]differing measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵You shall have a correct and honest ^[ef]weight; you shall have a correct and honest ^[eg]measure, ^(DV)so that your days may be prolonged ^[eh]in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For ^(DW)everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁷“^(DX)Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he ^(DY)did not ^[ei]fear God. ¹⁹So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you ^(DZ)rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to ^[ej]possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Offering First Fruits

26 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it, ²that you shall take some of ^(EA)the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and ^(EB)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ^[ek]my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵And you shall respond and say before the Lord your God, ‘^(EC)My father was a ^[el]wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and ^[em]resided there, ^(ED)few in number; but there he became a ^(EE)great, mighty, and populous nation. ⁶And the ^(EF)Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us. ⁷Then ^(EG)we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our wretched condition, our trouble, and our oppression; ⁸^(EH)and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs and wonders; ⁹and He has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, ^(EI)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground ^(EJ)which You, Lord have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; ¹¹and you, ^(EK)the Levite, and the stranger who is among you shall ^(EL)rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

¹²“^(EM)When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the ^[en]orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your ^[eo]towns and be satisfied. ¹³And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have also given it to the Levite, the stranger, the ^[ep]orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments which You have commanded me; ^(EN)I have not violated or forgotten any of Your commandments. ¹⁴I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have acted in accordance with everything that You have commanded me. ¹⁵^(EO)Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, ^(EP)a land flowing with milk and honey just as You swore to our fathers.’

¹⁶“This day the Lord your God commands you to perform these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you shall be careful to perform them ^(EQ)with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷^(ER)Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and ^[eq]that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. ¹⁸And the Lord has today declared you to be ^(ES)His people, His personal possession, just as He promised you, and ^[er]that you are to keep all His commandments; ¹⁹and ^[es]that He will ^(ET)put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor; and that you shall be ^(EU)a consecrated people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”

The Curses at Mount Ebal

27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today. ²^(EV)So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime ³and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(EW)a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^[et]promised you. ⁴So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones ^(EX)on Mount Ebal, ^[eu]as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. ⁵Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you ^(EY)shall not wield an iron tool on them. ⁶You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of ^[ev]uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; ⁷and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and ^(EZ)rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸You shall write on the ^[ew]stones all the words of this Law very clearly.”

⁹Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. ¹⁰So you shall ^[ex]obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.”

¹¹Moses also commanded the people on that day, saying, ¹²“When you cross the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on ^(FA)Mount Gerizim to bless the people: ^(FB)Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³For the curse, these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴The Levites shall then respond and say to all the people of Israel with a loud voice,

¹⁵‘Cursed is the person who makes ^(FC)a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And ^(FD)all the people shall reply and say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁶‘^(FE)Cursed is one who treats his father or mother contemptuously.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁷‘^(FF)Cursed is one who displaces his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁸‘^(FG)Cursed is one who misleads a person who is blind on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁹‘^(FH)Cursed is one who distorts the justice due a stranger, an ^[ey]orphan, or a widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰‘^(FI)Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, because he has ^[ez]uncovered his father’s garment.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²¹‘^(FJ)Cursed is one who has sexual intercourse with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²²‘^(FK)Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²³‘^(FL)Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁴‘^(FM)Cursed is he who attacks his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵‘^(FN)Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to attack an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶‘^(FO)Cursed is anyone who does not fulfill the words of this Law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

The Blessings at Mount Gerizim

28 “^(FP)Now it shall be, if you diligently ^[fa]obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God ^(FQ)will put you high above all the nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings will come to you and ^(FR)reach you if you ^[fb]obey the Lord your God:

³“Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be ^(FS)in the ^[fc]country.

⁴“Blessed will be the ^[fd]children of your womb, the ^[fe]produce of your ground, and the ^[ff]offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.

⁵“Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

⁶“Blessed will you be ^(FT)when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

⁷“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be ^[fg]defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. ⁸The Lord will command the blessing for you in your ^[fh]barns and in ^(FU)everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹^(FV)The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰So all the peoples of the earth will see that ^[fi]^(FW)you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹^(FX)And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the ^[fj]children of your womb, in the ^[fk]offspring of your livestock, and in the ^[fl]produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹²The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and ^(FY)you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. ¹³^(FZ)And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to ^[fm]follow them carefully, ¹⁴and ^(GA)do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them.

Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵“^(GB)But it shall come about, if you do not ^[fn]obey the Lord your God, to be careful to ^[fo]follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶“^(GC)Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the ^[fp]country.

¹⁷“^(GD)Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

¹⁸“^(GE)Cursed will be the ^[fq]children of your womb, the ^[fr]produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.

¹⁹“^(GF)Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.

²⁰“^(GG)The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and ^(GH)rebuke, in ^[fs]everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until ^(GI)you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me. ²¹^(GJ)The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ²²^(GK)The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with ^[ft]the sword, ^(GL)with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until ^(GM)you perish. ²³^[fu]The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. ²⁴^(GN)The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

²⁵“^(GO)The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will ^(GP)be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶^(GQ)Your dead bodies will ^[fv]serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

²⁷“^(GR)The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with ^(GS)tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of ^[fw]mind; ²⁹and you will be ^(GT)groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be ^[fx]oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you. ³⁰^(GU)You will ^[fy]betroth a woman, but another man will ^[fz]violate her; ^(GV)you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit. ³¹Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not ^[ga]be restored to you; your ^[gb]sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. ³²^(GW)Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing ^[gc]you can do. ³³^(GX)A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually. ³⁴You will also be driven insane by the sight of ^[gd]what you see. ³⁵^(GY)The Lord will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, and strike you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. ³⁶^(GZ)The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of ^(HA)wood and stone. ³⁷And ^(HB)you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.

³⁸“^(HC)You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because ^(HD)the locust will devour it. ³⁹^(HE)You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it. ⁴⁰^(HF)You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely. ⁴¹^(HG)You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ⁴²^(HH)The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. ⁴³^(HI)The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴^(HJ)He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; ^(HK)he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵“So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you ^(HL)until you are destroyed, because you would not ^[ge]obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶And they will become ^(HM)a sign and a wonder ^[gf]against you and your ^[gg]descendants forever.

⁴⁷“^(HN)Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, ^(HO)in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He ^(HP)will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁴⁹“^(HQ)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(HR)as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰a nation ^[gh]with a defiant attitude, who will ^(HS)have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹Furthermore, it will eat the ^[gi]offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed; a nation that will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the newborn of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have eliminated you. ⁵²^(HT)And it will besiege you in all your ^[gj]towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your ^[gk]towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³^(HU)Then you will eat the ^[gl]offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will ^[gm]oppress you. ⁵⁴The man who is ^[gn]refined and very delicate among you ^[go]will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife ^[gp]he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left, ⁵⁵so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will ^[gq]oppress you in all your ^[gr]towns. ⁵⁶^(HV)The ^[gs]refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, ^[gt]will be hostile toward the husband ^[gu]she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, ⁵⁷and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her ^[gv]legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because ^(HW)she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will ^[gw]oppress you in your ^[gx]towns.

⁵⁸“If you are not careful to ^[gy]follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to ^[gz]^(HX)fear this honored and awesome ^(HY)name, ^[ha]the Lord your God, ⁵⁹then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and ^[hb]your descendants, ^[hc]severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰^(HZ)And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you ^(IA)until you are destroyed. ⁶²Then you will be left few in ^[hd]number, ^(IB)whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not ^[he]obey the Lord your God. ⁶³And it will come about that, just as the Lord ^(IC)rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord ^(ID)rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be ^(IE)torn away from the land which you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴Furthermore, the Lord will ^(IF)scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to ^[hf]the other; and there you will ^(IG)serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. ⁶⁵^(IH)Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there ^(II)the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. ⁶⁶So your lives will be ^[hg]hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷^(IJ)In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes which you will see. ⁶⁸And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

The Covenant in Moab

29 ^[hh]^(IK)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(IL)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

²^[hi]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; ³^(IM)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴Yet to this day ^(IN)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; ^(IO)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ⁶^(IP)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷^(IQ)When you ^[hj]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[hk]defeated them; ⁸and we took their land and ^(IR)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹^(IS)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(IT)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

¹⁰“You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(IU)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹²so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that ^(IV)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴“Now it is not with you alone that I am ^(IW)making this covenant and this oath, ¹⁵^(IX)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today ¹⁶(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(IY)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ¹⁸^(IZ)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(JA)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[hl]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(JB)His wrath will ^[hm]^(JC)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(JD)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(JE)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²²“Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(JF)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, ²³‘All its land is ^(JG)brimstone and salt, ^(JH)burned debris, ^[hn]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(JI)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴All the nations will say, ‘^(JJ)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[ho]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵Then people will say, ‘It is ^(JK)because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[hp]assigned to them. ²⁷Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(JL)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸and ^(JM)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹“^(JN)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(JO)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[hq]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, ^(JP)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you ^[hr]call them to mind ^(JQ)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, ²and you ^(JR)return to the Lord your God and ^[hs]obey Him ^(JS)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, ³then the Lord your God will ^(JT)restore ^[ht]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(JU)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has ^(JV)scattered you. ⁴If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ^[hu]ends of the earth, ^(JW)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[hv]bring you back. ⁵^(JX)The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and ^(JY)make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶“Moreover, ^(JZ)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your ^[hw]descendants, ^(KA)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. ⁷^(KB)And the Lord your God will ^[hx]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸And you will again ^[hy]obey the Lord, and ^[hz]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. ⁹^(KC)Then the Lord your God will prosper you ^[ia]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the ^[ib]children of your womb, the ^[ic]offspring of your cattle, and in the ^[id]produce of your ground, for ^(KD)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ¹⁰^[ie]if you ^[if]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which ^(KE)are written in this Book of the Law, ^[ig]if you turn to the Lord your God ^(KF)with all your heart and soul.

¹¹“For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹²It is not in heaven, ^[ih]that you could say, ‘^(KG)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ii]follow it?’ ¹³Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[ij]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ik]follow it?’ ¹⁴On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[il]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵“See, ^(KH)I have placed before you today life and ^[im]happiness, and death and ^[in]adversity, ¹⁶in that I am commanding you today ^(KI)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(KJ)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that ^(KK)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[io]and take possession of it. ¹⁹^(KL)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(KM)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[ip]descendants, ²⁰^(KN)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(KO)by holding close to Him; ^(KP)for ^[iq]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[ir]so that you may live in ^(KQ)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Moses’ Last Counsel

31 So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them, “I am ^(KR)120 years old today; ^(KS)I am no longer able to ^[is]go out and come in, and the Lord has told me, ‘^(KT)You shall not cross this Jordan.’ ³^(KU)It is the Lord your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^(KV)Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. ⁴And the Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵^(KW)The Lord will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you. ⁶^(KX)Be strong and courageous, ^(KY)do not be afraid or in dread of them, for ^(KZ)the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. ^(LA)He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “^(LB)Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. ⁸And ^(LC)the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. ^(LD)He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

⁹So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ^(LE)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of ^(LF)the year of the release of debts, at the ^(LG)Feast of Booths, ¹¹when all Israel comes ^(LH)to appear before the Lord your God at ^(LI)the place which He will choose, ^(LJ)you shall read this Law before all Israel ^[it]so that they hear it. ¹²Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your ^[iu]town, so that they may hear and ^(LK)learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to ^[iv]follow all the words of this Law. ¹³And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land ^[iw]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[ix]possess.”

Israel Will Fall Away

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^[iy]^(LL)the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” ^(LM)So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ¹⁵^(LN)And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^(LO)you are about to ^[iz]lie down with your fathers; and ^(LP)this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and ^(LQ)they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷^(LR)Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and ^(LS)I will abandon them and ^(LT)hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘^(LU)Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’ ¹⁸But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

¹⁹“Now then, ^(LV)write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it ^[ja]on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. ²⁰^(LW)For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and ^(LX)become ^[jb]prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. ²¹Then it will come about, ^(LY)when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their ^[jc]descendants); for ^(LZ)I know their inclination which they are ^[jd]developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.” ²²^(MA)So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

²³^(MB)Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “^(MC)Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and ^(MD)I will be with you.”

²⁴It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete, ²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites ^(ME)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may ^[je]remain there as a witness against you. ²⁷For I know ^(MF)your rebellion and ^(MG)your ^[jf]stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death? ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ^(MH)call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will ^(MI)behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

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

The Song of Moses

32 “^(MJ)Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!
²^(MK)May my teaching drip as the rain,
My speech trickle as the dew,
^(ML)As droplets on the fresh grass,
And as the showers on the vegetation.
³^(MM)For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
^(MN)Ascribe greatness to our God!
⁴^(MO)The Rock! His work is perfect,
^(MP)For all His ways are ^[jg]just;
^(MQ)A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and just is He.
⁵^[jh]^(MR)They have acted corruptly against Him,
They are not His children, because of their defect;
^(MS)But are a perverse and crooked generation.
⁶Is this what you ^(MT)do to the Lord,
^(MU)You foolish and unwise people?
^(MV)Is He not your Father who has purchased you?
^(MW)He has made you and established you.
⁷Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of all generations.
^(MX)Ask your father and he will inform you,
Your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸^(MY)When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of ^[ji]mankind,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
^(MZ)According to the number of the ^[jj]sons of Israel.
⁹^(NA)For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
¹⁰^(NB)He found him in a desert land,
And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
He encircled him, He cared for him,
He guarded him as ^(NC)the ^[jk]apple of His eye.
¹¹^(ND)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
And hovers over its young,
^(NE)He spread His wings, He caught them,
He carried them on His pinions.
¹²^(NF)The Lord alone guided him,
^(NG)And there was no foreign god with him.
¹³^(NH)He had him ride on the high places of the earth,
And he ate the produce of the field;
^(NI)And He had him suck honey from the rock,
And ^[jl]^(NJ)oil from the flinty rock,
¹⁴Curds of the herd, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs
And rams, the breed of Bashan, and of goats,
^(NK)With the best of the wheat;
And you drank wine of the ^(NL)blood of grapes.

¹⁵“^(NM)But ^[jm]Jeshurun became fat and kicked—
You have become fat, thick, and obstinate—
^(NN)Then he abandoned God ^(NO)who made him,
And ^[jn]rejected ^(NP)the Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶^(NQ)They made Him jealous with strange gods;
^(NR)With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
¹⁷^(NS)They sacrificed to demons, who were not God,
^(NT)To gods whom they have not known,
^(NU)New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not know.
¹⁸You forgot ^(NV)the Rock who fathered you,
^(NW)And forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹“^(NX)The Lord saw this, and spurned them
^(NY)Because of the provocation by His sons and daughters.
²⁰Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
^(NZ)I will see what their end will be;
^(OA)For they are a perverse generation,
^(OB)Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.
²¹^(OC)They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their ^[jo]^(OD)idols.
^(OE)So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
²²^(OF)For a fire has flared in My anger,
And it burns to the lowest part of ^[jp]Sheol,
^(OG)And devours the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³‘^(OH)I will add misfortunes to them;
^(OI)I will use up My arrows on them.
²⁴^(OJ)They will be wasted by famine, and emaciated by ^[jq]plague
^(OK)And a bitter epidemic;
^(OL)And the teeth of beasts I will send against them,
^(OM)With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
²⁵^(ON)Outside the sword will make them childless,
And inside, terror—
^(OO)Both young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hair.
²⁶I would have said, “^(OP)I will wipe them out,
^(OQ)I will remove the mention of ^[jr]their name from humanity,”
²⁷Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
That their adversaries would misjudge,
That they would say, “^(OR)Our hand is ^[js]triumphant,
And the Lord has not performed all this.”’

²⁸“^(OS)For they are a nation ^[jt]destitute of counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.
²⁹^(OT)If only they were wise and they understood this;
^(OU)If only they would discern their ^[ju]future!
³⁰^(OV)How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their ^(OW)Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?
³¹Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock;
^(OX)Even our enemies ^[jv]themselves judge this.
³²For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of ^(OY)poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
³³Their wine is the venom of ^[jw]serpents,
And the ^[jx]deadly poison of vipers.

³⁴‘^(OZ)Is it not stored up with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
³⁵^(PA)Vengeance is Mine, and retribution;
^(PB)In due time their foot will slip.
^(PC)For the day of their disaster is near,
And the impending things are hurrying to them.’
³⁶^(PD)For the Lord will vindicate His people,
^(PE)And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their ^[jy]strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
³⁷And He will say, ‘^(PF)Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge?
³⁸^(PG)Those who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
^(PH)Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your protection!
³⁹^(PI)See now that I, I am He,
^(PJ)And there is no god besides Me;
^(PK)It is I who put to death and give life.
^(PL)I have wounded and it is I who heal,
^(PM)And there is no one who can save anyone from My hand.
⁴⁰Indeed, ^(PN)I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, as I live forever,
⁴¹^(PO)If I have sharpened ^[jz]My flashing sword,
And My hand has taken hold of justice,
^(PP)I will return vengeance on My adversaries,
And I will repay those who hate Me.
⁴²^(PQ)I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
^(PR)And My sword will devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the long-haired ^[ka]leaders of the enemy.’
⁴³^(PS)Rejoice, you nations, with His people;
^(PT)For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
^(PU)And will return vengeance on His adversaries,
^(PV)And will atone for His land and His people.”

⁴⁴Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with ^[kb]^(PW)Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them, “^(PX)Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command ^(PY)your sons to ^[kc]follow carefully, all the words of this Law. ⁴⁷For it is not a ^[kd]trivial matter for you; indeed ^(PZ)it is your life. And ^(QA)by this word you will prolong your days in the land, ^[ke]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[kf]possess.”

⁴⁸Now ^(QB)the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, ⁴⁹“^(QC)Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab ^[kg]opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession. ⁵⁰Then you are to die on the mountain where you ascend, and be ^(QD)gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, ⁵¹^(QE)because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the ^(QF)wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. ⁵²^(QG)For you will see the land at a distance but ^(QH)you will not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

The Blessing by Moses

33 Now this is the blessing with which Moses ^(QI)the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. ²He said,

“^(QJ)The Lord came from Sinai,
^(QK)And ^[kh]dawned on them from Seir;
^(QL)He shone from Mount Paran,
And He came from ^(QM)the midst of myriads of ^[ki]holy ones;
^(QN)At His right hand there was ^[kj]flashing lightning for them.
³^(QO)Indeed, He loves ^[kk]the people;
^(QP)All ^[kl]Your holy ones are in Your hand,
^(QQ)And they ^[km]followed in Your steps;
Everyone takes of Your words.
⁴^(QR)Moses issued to us the Law,
^(QS)A possession for the assembly of Jacob.
⁵^(QT)And He was king in ^[kn]Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people gathered,
The tribes of Israel together.

⁶“^(QU)May Reuben live and not die,
Nor may his people be few.”

⁷^(QV)And this was regarding Judah; so he said:

“Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people.
With his hands he contended for ^[ko]them,
And may You be a help against his adversaries.”

⁸Of Levi he said,

“Let Your ^(QW)Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your ^(QX)godly man,
^(QY)Whom You tested at Massah,
With ^[kp]whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;
⁹^(QZ)Who said of his father and his mother,
‘I did not consider them’;
And he did not acknowledge his brothers,
Nor did he regard his own sons,
For ^(RA)they kept Your word,
And complied with Your covenant.
¹⁰^(RB)They will teach Your ordinances to Jacob,
And Your Law to Israel.
^(RC)They shall put ^[kq]incense before You,
And ^(RD)whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
¹¹Lord, bless his strength,
And accept the work of his hands;
Smash the ^[kr]hips of those who rise up against him,
And those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

¹²Of Benjamin he said,

“^(RE)May the beloved of the Lord live in security beside Him
^(RF)Who shields him all the day long,
^(RG)And he lives between His shoulders.”

¹³Of Joseph he said,

“^(RH)Blessed of the Lord be his land,
With the choice things of heaven, with the dew,
And from the deep waters lying beneath,
¹⁴And with the choice yield of the sun,
And the choice produce of the months;
¹⁵And with the ^[ks]best things of ^(RI)the ancient mountains,
With the choice things of the everlasting hills,
¹⁶And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor ^(RJ)of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let it come to the head of Joseph,
And to the top of the head of the one who was prince among his brothers.
¹⁷As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his,
And his horns are the horns of ^(RK)the wild ox;
With them he will ^(RL)gore the peoples
All ^[kt]at once, to the ends of the earth.
And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸^(RM)Of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
And, Issachar, in your tents.
¹⁹^(RN)They will call peoples to the mountain;
There they will offer ^(RO)righteous sacrifices;
For they will ^[ku]draw out ^(RP)the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.”

²⁰^(RQ)Of Gad he said,

“Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad;
He lies down ^(RR)as a ^[kv]lion,
And tears the arm, also the crown of the head.
²¹^(RS)Then he ^[kw]selected the choicest part for himself,
^(RT)For there the ruler’s portion was ^[kx]reserved;
^(RU)And he came with the leaders of the people;
^(RV)He executed the justice of the Lord,
And His ordinances with Israel.”

²²^(RW)Of Dan he said,

“Dan is ^(RX)a lion’s cub;
He leaps out from Bashan.”

²³Of Naphtali he said,

“^(RY)Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the Lord,
Take possession of the sea and the south.”

²⁴^(RZ)Of Asher he said,

“More blessed than sons is Asher;
May he be favored by his brothers,
^(SA)And may he dip his foot in olive oil.
²⁵^(SB)Your ^[ky]bars will be iron and bronze,
^(SC)And as your days, so will your strength be.

²⁶“^(SD)There is no one like the God of ^[kz]Jeshurun,
^(SE)Who rides the heavens ^[la]to your help,
And the clouds in His majesty.
²⁷^(SF)The eternal God is a ^[lb]hiding place,
^(SG)And underneath are the everlasting arms;
^(SH)And He drove out the enemy from you,
^(SI)And said, ‘Destroy!’
²⁸^(SJ)So Israel lives in security,
^(SK)The fountain of Jacob secluded,
^(SL)In a land of grain and new wine;
^(SM)His heavens also drip down dew.
²⁹^(SN)Blessed are you, Israel;
^(SO)Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
^(SP)The shield of your help,
^(SQ)And He who is the sword of your majesty!
^(SR)So your enemies will cringe before you,
^(SS)And you will trample on their high places.”

The Death of Moses

34 ^(ST)Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord ^(SU)showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ²and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the ^[lc]^(SV)western sea, ³and the ^[ld]Negev and the territory in the Valley of Jericho, ^(SW)the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which ^(SX)I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your ^[le]descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there.” ⁵So Moses ^(SY)the servant of the Lord ^(SZ)died there in the land of Moab, in accordance with the ^[lf]word of the Lord. ⁶And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, ^(TA)opposite Beth-peor; but ^(TB)no one knows his burial place to this day. ⁷Although Moses was ^(TC)120 years old when he died, ^(TD)his eyesight was not dim, nor had his vigor left him. ⁸So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

⁹Now Joshua the son of Nun was ^(TE)filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰Since that time ^(TF)no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom ^(TG)the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land— ¹²and for all the mighty ^[lg]power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.