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 (A)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 ³ and 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, ^(B)a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^[a]promised you. ⁴ So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones ^(C)on Mount Ebal, ^[b]as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. ⁵ Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you ^(D)shall not wield an iron tool on them. ⁶ You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of ^[c]uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; ⁷ and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and ^(E)rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ You shall write on the ^[d]stones all the words of this Law very clearly.”

⁹ Then 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. ¹⁰ So you shall ^[e]obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.”

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

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is the person who makes ^(H)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 ^(I)all the people shall reply and say, ‘Amen.’

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

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

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

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

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

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

²² ‘^(P)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 ‘^(Q)Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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

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

²⁶ ‘^(T)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 “^(U)Now it shall be, if you diligently ^[h]obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God ^(V)will put you high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings will come to you and ^(W)reach you if you ^[i]obey the Lord your God:

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

⁴ “Blessed will be the ^[k]children of your womb, the ^[l]produce of your ground, and the ^[m]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 ^(Y)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 ^[n]defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. ⁸ The Lord will command the blessing for you in your ^[o]barns and in ^(Z)everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (AA)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. ¹⁰ So all the peoples of the earth will see that ^[p](AB)you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. ^11 (AC)And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the ^[q]children of your womb, in the ^[r]offspring of your livestock, and in the ^[s]produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The 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 ^(AD)you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. ^13 (AE)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 ^[t]follow them carefully, ¹⁴ and ^(AF)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 “^(AG)But it shall come about, if you do not ^[u]obey the Lord your God, to be careful to ^[v]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 “^(AH)Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the ^[w]country.

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

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

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

²⁰ “^(AL)The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and ^(AM)rebuke, in ^[z]everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until ^(AN)you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me. ^21 (AO)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 (AP)The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with ^[aa]the sword, ^(AQ)with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until ^(AR)you perish. ^23 [ab]The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. ^24 (AS)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 “^(AT)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 ^(AU)be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ^26 (AV)Your dead bodies will ^[ac]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 “^(AW)The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with ^(AX)tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of ^[ad]mind; ²⁹ and you will be ^(AY)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 ^[ae]oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you. ^30 (AZ)You will ^[af]betroth a woman, but another man will ^[ag]violate her; ^(BA)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. ³¹ Your 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 ^[ah]be restored to you; your ^[ai]sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. ^32 (BB)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 ^[aj]you can do. ^33 (BC)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. ³⁴ You will also be driven insane by the sight of ^[ak]what you see. ^35 (BD)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 (BE)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 ^(BF)wood and stone. ³⁷ And ^(BG)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 “^(BH)You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because ^(BI)the locust will devour it. ^39 (BJ)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 (BK)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 (BL)You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ^42 (BM)The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. ^43 (BN)The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. ^44 (BO)He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; ^(BP)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 ^(BQ)until you are destroyed, because you would not ^[al]obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they will become ^(BR)a sign and a wonder ^[am]against you and your ^[an]descendants forever.

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

⁴⁹ “^(BV)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(BW)as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation ^[ao]with a defiant attitude, who will ^(BX)have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ Furthermore, it will eat the ^[ap]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 (BY)And it will besiege you in all your ^[aq]towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your ^[ar]towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. ^53 (BZ)Then you will eat the ^[as]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 ^[at]oppress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is ^[au]refined and very delicate among you ^[av]will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife ^[aw]he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left, ⁵⁵ so 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 ^[ax]oppress you in all your ^[ay]towns. ^56 (CA)The ^[az]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, ^[ba]will be hostile toward the husband ^[bb]she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, ⁵⁷ and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her ^[bc]legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because ^(CB)she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will ^[bd]oppress you in your ^[be]towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to ^[bf]follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to ^[bg](CC)fear this honored and awesome ^(CD)name, ^[bh]the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and ^[bi]your descendants, ^[bj]severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ^60 (CE)And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you ^(CF)until you are destroyed. ⁶² Then you will be left few in ^[bk]number, ^(CG)whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not ^[bl]obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ And it will come about that, just as the Lord ^(CH)rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord ^(CI)rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be ^(CJ)torn away from the land which you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ Furthermore, the Lord will ^(CK)scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to ^[bm]the other; and there you will ^(CL)serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. ^65 (CM)Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there ^(CN)the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. ⁶⁶ So your lives will be ^[bn]hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. ^67 (CO)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. ⁶⁸ And 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 ^[bo](CP)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 ^(CQ)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [bp]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 (CR)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴ Yet to this day ^(CS)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵ And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; ^(CT)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ^6 (CU)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 (CV)When you ^[bq]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[br]defeated them; ⁸ and we took their land and ^(CW)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (CX)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(CY)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, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(CZ)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so 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, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that ^(DA)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 ^(DB)making this covenant and this oath, ^15 (DC)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; ¹⁷ moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(DD)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ^18 (DE)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 ^(DF)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹ And 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 ^[bs]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(DG)His wrath will ^[bt](DH)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(DI)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹ Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(DJ)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²² “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(DK)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 ^(DL)brimstone and salt, ^(DM)burned debris, ^[bu]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(DN)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(DO)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[bv]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is ^(DP)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. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[bw]assigned to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(DQ)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(DR)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 “^(DS)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(DT)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[bx]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, ^(DU)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you ^[by]call them to mind ^(DV)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, ² and you ^(DW)return to the Lord your God and ^[bz]obey Him ^(DX)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, ³ then the Lord your God will ^(DY)restore ^[ca]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(DZ)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has ^(EA)scattered you. ⁴ If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ^[cb]ends of the earth, ^(EB)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[cc]bring you back. ^5 (EC)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 ^(ED)make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶ “Moreover, ^(EE)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your ^[cd]descendants, ^(EF)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. ^7 (EG)And the Lord your God will ^[ce]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸ And you will again ^[cf]obey the Lord, and ^[cg]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. ^9 (EH)Then the Lord your God will prosper you ^[ch]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the ^[ci]children of your womb, the ^[cj]offspring of your cattle, and in the ^[ck]produce of your ground, for ^(EI)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ^10 [cl]if you ^[cm]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which ^(EJ)are written in this Book of the Law, ^[cn]if you turn to the Lord your God ^(EK)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. ¹² It is not in heaven, ^[co]that you could say, ‘^(EL)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[cp]follow it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[cq]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 ^[cr]follow it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[cs]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵ “See, ^(EM)I have placed before you today life and ^[ct]happiness, and death and ^[cu]adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today ^(EN)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(EO)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. ¹⁷ But 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, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that ^(EP)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[cv]and take possession of it. ^19 (EQ)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(ER)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[cw]descendants, ^20 (ES)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(ET)by holding close to Him; ^(EU)for ^[cx]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[cy]so that you may live in ^(EV)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. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(EW)120 years old today; ^(EX)I am no longer able to ^[cz]go out and come in, and the Lord has told me, ‘^(EY)You shall not cross this Jordan.’ ^3 (EZ)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. ^(FA)Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And 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 (FB)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 (FC)Be strong and courageous, ^(FD)do not be afraid or in dread of them, for ^(FE)the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. ^(FF)He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷ Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “^(FG)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. ⁸ And ^(FH)the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. ^(FI)He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

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

Israel Will Fall Away

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^[df](FQ)the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” ^(FR)So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ^15 (FS)And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. ¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^(FT)you are about to ^[dg]lie down with your fathers; and ^(FU)this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and ^(FV)they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ^17 (FW)Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and ^(FX)I will abandon them and ^(FY)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, ‘^(FZ)Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’ ¹⁸ But 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, ^(GA)write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it ^[dh]on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. ^20 (GB)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 ^(GC)become ^[di]prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. ²¹ Then it will come about, ^(GD)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 ^[dj]descendants); for ^(GE)I know their inclination which they are ^[dk]developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.” ^22 (GF)So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

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

²⁴ It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete, ²⁵ that Moses commanded the Levites ^(GJ)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 ^[dl]remain there as a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know ^(GK)your rebellion and ^(GL)your ^[dm]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? ²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ^(GM)call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death you will ^(GN)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.”

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

God Knows and Cares

12 Under these circumstances, after ^[a]so many thousands of ^[b]people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “^(A)Beware of the ^[c]leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ^2 (B)But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. ³ Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have ^[d]whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on ^(C)the housetops.

⁴ “Now I say to you, ^(D)My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵ But I will warn you whom to fear: ^(E)fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into ^[e](F)hell; yes, I tell you, fear ^[f]Him! ⁶ Are ^(G)five sparrows not sold for two ^[g]assaria? And yet not one of them has gone unnoticed in the sight of God. ^7 (H)But even the hairs of your head are all counted. ^[h]Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.

⁸ “Now I say to you, everyone who ^(I)confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God; ⁹ but ^(J)the one who denies Me before people will be denied ^(K)before the angels of God. ^10 (L)And everyone who ^[i]speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. ¹¹ Now when they bring you before ^(M)the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not ^(N)worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; ¹² for ^(O)the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Greed Denounced

¹³ Now someone ^[j]in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “^[k](P)You there—who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over the two of you?” ¹⁵ But He said to them, “^(Q)Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began thinking to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there. ¹⁹ And I will say to ^[l]myself, “^(R)You have many goods stored up for many years to come; relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘^(S)You fool! This very night ^[m](T)your soul is demanded of you; and ^(U)as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’ ²¹ Such is the one who ^(V)stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich in relation to God.”

²² And He said to His disciples, “^(W)For this reason I tell you, ^[n]do not worry about your ^[o]life, as to what you are to eat; nor for your body, as to what you are to wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ^(X)ravens, that they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor ^(Y)barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add a ^[p](Z)day to his ^[q]life’s span? ²⁶ Therefore if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about the other things? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither labor nor ^[r]spin; but I tell you, not even ^(AA)Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ²⁸ Now if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? ^(AB)You of little faith! ²⁹ And do not ^[s]seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not ^(AC)keep worrying. ³⁰ For ^[t]all these things are what the nations of the world ^[u]eagerly seek; and your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ But ^[v]seek His kingdom, and ^(AD)these things will be ^[w]provided to you. ^32 [x](AE)Do not be afraid, ^(AF)little flock, because ^(AG)your Father has chosen to give you the kingdom.

³³ “^(AH)Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts that do not wear out, ^(AI)an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor does a moth destroy. ³⁴ For ^(AJ)where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Be in Readiness

³⁵ “^[y](AK)Be prepared, and keep your ^(AL)lamps lit. ³⁶ You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find ^(AM)on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that ^(AN)he will ^[z]prepare himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and he will come up and serve them. ^38 (AO)Whether he comes in the ^[aa]second watch, or even in the ^[ab]third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “^(AP)But ^[ac]be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be ^(AQ)broken into. ^40 (AR)You too, be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think He will.”

⁴¹ Peter said, “Lord, are You telling this parable to us, or ^(AS)to everyone else as well?” ⁴² And ^(AT)the Lord said, “^(AU)Who then is the faithful and sensible ^(AV)steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that ^(AW)slave whom his ^[ad]master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will take a long time to come,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; ⁴⁶ then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, and will ^[ae]cut him in two, and assign ^[af]him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will ^(AX)receive many blows, ⁴⁸ but the one who did not ^(AY)know it, and committed acts deserving of ^[ag]a beating, will receive only a few blows. ^(AZ)From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Christ Divides People

⁴⁹ “I ^[ah]have come to cast fire upon the earth; and ^[ai]how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a ^(BA)baptism ^[aj]to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! ^51 (BB)Do you think that I came to provide peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; ⁵² for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, ^(BC)father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴ And He was also saying to the crowds, “^(BD)Whenever you see a cloud rising ^[ak]in the west, you immediately say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. ⁵⁵ And whenever you feel a ^[al]south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a ^(BE)hot day,’ and it turns out that way. ⁵⁶ You hypocrites! ^(BF)You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you do not know how to analyze this present time?

⁵⁷ “And ^(BG)why do you not even judge by yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ For ^(BH)when you are going with your accuser to appear before the magistrate, on the way, make an effort to ^[am]settle with him, so that he does not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid up ^[an]the very last ^[ao](BI)lepton.”