Deuteronomy 28 - Joshua 4

New King James Version

Blessings on Obedience^(A)

28 “Now it shall come to pass, ^(B)if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God ^(C)will set you high above all nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(D)overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

³^(E)“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ^(F)in the country.

⁴“Blessed shall be ^(G)the ^[a]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

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

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

⁷“The Lord ^(I)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

⁸“The Lord will ^(J)command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you ^(K)set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

⁹^(L)“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(M)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(N)afraid of you. ¹¹And ^(O)the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord ^[b]swore to your fathers to give you. ¹²The Lord will open to you His good ^[c]treasure, the heavens, ^(P)to give the rain to your land in its season, and ^(Q)to bless all the work of your hand. ^(R)You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And the Lord will make ^(S)you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you ^[d]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ¹⁴^(T)So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses on Disobedience^(U)

¹⁵“But it shall come to pass, ^(V)if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

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

¹⁷“Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

¹⁸“Cursed shall be the ^[e]fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

¹⁹“Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰“The Lord will send on you ^(W)cursing, ^(X)confusion, and ^(Y)rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me. ²¹The Lord will make the ^[f]plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. ²²^(Z)The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with ^(AA)scorching,^[g] and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³And ^(AB)your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. ²⁴The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

²⁵^(AC)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become ^[h]troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶^(AD)Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away. ²⁷The Lord will strike you with ^(AE)the boils of Egypt, with ^(AF)tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and ^(AG)confusion of heart. ²⁹And you shall ^(AH)grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.

³⁰^(AI)“You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; ^(AJ)you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; ^(AK)you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes. ³¹Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them. ³²Your sons and your daughters shall be given to ^(AL)another people, and your eyes shall look and ^(AM)fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be ^[i]no strength in your ^(AN)hand. ³³A nation whom you have not known shall eat ^(AO)the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. ³⁴So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see. ³⁵The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

³⁶“The Lord will ^(AP)bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and ^(AQ)there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone. ³⁷And you shall become ^(AR)an^[j] astonishment, a proverb, ^(AS)and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.

³⁸^(AT)“You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for ^(AU)the locust shall ^[k]consume it. ³⁹You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the ^(AV)wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. ⁴⁰You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for ^(AW)they shall go into captivity. ⁴²Locusts shall ^[l]consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

⁴³“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵“Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you ^[m]did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶And they shall be upon ^(AX)you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.

⁴⁷^(AY)“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, ^(AZ)for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in ^(BA)hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He ^(BB)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹^(BC)The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, ^(BD)as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰a nation of fierce countenance, ^(BE)which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.

⁵²“They shall ^(BF)besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³^(BG)You shall eat the ^[n]fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. ⁵⁴The ^[o]sensitive and very refined man among you ^(BH)will^[p] be hostile toward his brother, toward ^(BI)the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, ⁵⁵so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. ⁵⁶The ^[q]tender and ^[r]delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, ^[s]will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, ⁵⁷her ^[t]placenta which comes out ^(BJ)from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.

⁵⁸“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear ^(BK)this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants ^(BL)extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. ⁶⁰Moreover He will bring back on you all ^(BM)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶²You ^(BN)shall be left few in number, whereas you were ^(BO)as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³And it shall be, that just as the Lord ^(BP)rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord ^(BQ)will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be ^(BR)plucked^[u] from off the land which you go to possess.

⁶⁴“Then the Lord ^(BS)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^(BT)there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. ⁶⁵And ^(BU)among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; ^(BV)but there the Lord will give you a ^[v]trembling heart, failing eyes, and ^(BW)anguish of soul. ⁶⁶Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. ⁶⁷^(BX)In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and ^(BY)because of the sight which your eyes see.

⁶⁸“And the Lord ^(BZ)will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ^(CA)‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

The Covenant Renewed in Moab

29 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(CB)covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

²Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: ^(CC)“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— ³^(CD)the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴Yet ^(CE)the Lord has not given you a heart to ^[w]perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. ⁵^(CF)And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. ^(CG)Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. ⁶^(CH)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷And when you came to this place, ^(CI)Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. ⁸We took their land and ^(CJ)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹Therefore ^(CK)keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may ^(CL)prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰“All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from ^(CM)the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— ¹²that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and ^(CN)into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, ¹³that He may ^(CO)establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, ^(CP)just as He has spoken to you, and ^(CQ)just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴“I make this covenant and this oath, ^(CR)not with you alone, ¹⁵but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, ^(CS)as well as with him who is not here with us today ¹⁶(for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, ¹⁷and you saw their ^[x]abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); ¹⁸so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, ^(CT)whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, ^(CU)and that there may not be among you a root bearing ^(CV)bitterness or wormwood; ¹⁹and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I ^[y]follow the ^(CW)dictates of my heart’—^(CX)as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

²⁰^(CY)“The Lord would not spare him; for then ^(CZ)the anger of the Lord and ^(DA)His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord ^(DB)would blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹And the Lord ^(DC)would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the ^(DD)Law, ²²so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they ^(DE)see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it:

²³‘The whole land is brimstone, ^(DF)salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, ^(DG)like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ ²⁴All nations would say, ^(DH)‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ ²⁵Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; ²⁶for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. ²⁷Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, ^(DI)to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. ²⁸And the Lord ^(DJ)uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

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

The Blessing of Returning to God

30 “Now ^(DK)it shall come to pass, when ^(DL)all these things come upon you, the blessing and the ^(DM)curse which I have set before you, and ^(DN)you ^[z]call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, ²and you ^(DO)return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³^(DP)that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(DQ)gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴^(DR)If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ⁵Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶And ^(DS)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

⁷“Also the Lord your God will put all these ^(DT)curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸And you will ^(DU)again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. ⁹^(DV)The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the ^[aa]fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again ^(DW)rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, ¹⁰if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life or Death

¹¹“For this commandment which I command you today ^(DX)is ^[ab]not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. ¹²^(DY)It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴But the word is very near you, ^(DZ)in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

¹⁵“See, ^(EA)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸^(EB)I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ¹⁹^(EC)I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that ^(ED)I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your ^(EE)life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua the New Leader of Israel^(EF)

31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them: “I ^(EG)am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer ^(EH)go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ^(EI)‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ ³The Lord your God ^(EJ)Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^(EK)Joshua himself crosses over before you, just ^(EL)as the Lord has said. ⁴^(EM)And the Lord will do to them ^(EN)as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵^(EO)The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶^(EP)Be strong and of good courage, ^(EQ)do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, ^(ER)He is the One who goes with you. ^(ES)He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(ET)“Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. ⁸And the Lord, ^(EU)He is the One who goes before you. ^(EV)He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹So Moses wrote this law ^(EW)and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(EX)who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the ^(EY)year of release, ^(EZ)at the Feast of Tabernacles, ¹¹when all Israel comes to ^(FA)appear before the Lord your God in the ^(FB)place which He chooses, ^(FC)you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²^(FD)Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, ¹³and that their children, ^(FE)who have not known it, ^(FF)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(FG)“Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that ^(FH)I may ^[ac]inaugurate him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁵Now ^(FI)the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will ^[ad]rest with your fathers; and this people will ^(FJ)rise and ^(FK)play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will ^(FL)forsake Me and ^(FM)break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then My anger shall be ^(FN)aroused against them in that day, and ^(FO)I will forsake them, and I will ^(FP)hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[ae]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ^(FQ)‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is ^(FR)not among us?’ ¹⁸And ^(FS)I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹“Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(FT)a witness for Me against the children of Israel. ²⁰When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves ^(FU)and grown fat, ^(FV)then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. ²¹Then it shall be, ^(FW)when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for ^(FX)I know the inclination ^(FY)of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

²²Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. ²³^(FZ)Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ^(GA)“Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

²⁴So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, ²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law, ^(GB)and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there ^(GC)as a witness against you; ²⁷^(GD)for I know your rebellion and your ^(GE)stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? ²⁸Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing ^(GF)and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will ^(GG)become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And ^(GH)evil will befall you ^(GI)in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

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

The Song of Moses

32 “Give ^(GJ)ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O ^(GK)earth, the words of my mouth.
²Let ^(GL)my ^[af]teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
^(GM)As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
³For I proclaim the ^(GN)name of the Lord:
^(GO)Ascribe greatness to our God.
⁴He is ^(GP)the Rock, ^(GQ)His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
^(GR)A God of truth and ^(GS)without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

⁵“They^(GT) have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A ^(GU)perverse and crooked generation.
⁶Do you thus ^(GV)deal^[ag] with the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not ^(GW)your Father, who ^(GX)bought you?
Has He not ^(GY)made you and established you?

⁷“Remember^(GZ) the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
^(HA)Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
⁸When the Most High ^(HB)divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He ^(HC)separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the ^[ah]children of Israel.
⁹For ^(HD)the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

¹⁰“He found him ^(HE)in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He ^(HF)kept him as the ^[ai]apple of His eye.
¹¹^(HG)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
¹²So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

¹³“He^(HH) made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;
¹⁴Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
^(HI)With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the ^(HJ)blood of the grapes.

¹⁵“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
^(HK)You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he ^(HL)forsook God who ^(HM)made him,
And scornfully esteemed the ^(HN)Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶^(HO)They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With ^[aj]abominations they provoked Him to anger.
¹⁷^(HP)They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
¹⁸^(HQ)Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have ^(HR)forgotten the God who fathered you.

¹⁹“And^(HS) when the Lord saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
²⁰And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
^(HT)Children in whom is no faith.
²¹^(HU)They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger ^(HV)by their ^[ak]foolish idols.
But ^(HW)I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
²²For ^(HX)a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the ^[al]lowest ^[am]hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³‘I will ^(HY)heap disasters on them;
^(HZ)I will spend My arrows on them.
²⁴They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the ^(IA)teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
²⁵The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
²⁶^(IB)I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
²⁷Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, ^(IC)“Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’

²⁸“For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
²⁹^(ID)Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their ^(IE)latter end!
³⁰How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock ^(IF)had sold them,
And the Lord had surrendered them?
³¹For their rock is not like our Rock,
^(IG)Even our enemies themselves being judges.
³²For ^(IH)their vine is of the vine of Sodom
And of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter.
³³Their wine is ^(II)the poison of serpents,
And the cruel ^(IJ)venom of cobras.

³⁴‘Is this not ^(IK)laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
³⁵^(IL)Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
^(IM)For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’

³⁶“For^(IN) the Lord will judge His people
^(IO)And have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power is gone,
And ^(IP)there is no one remaining, bond or free.
³⁷He will say: ^(IQ)‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
³⁸Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you,
And be your refuge.

³⁹‘Now see that ^(IR)I, even I, am He,
And ^(IS)there is no God besides Me;
^(IT)I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
⁴⁰For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
⁴¹^(IU)If I ^[an]whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
⁴²I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’

⁴³“Rejoice,^(IV) O Gentiles, with His ^[ao]people;
For He will ^(IW)avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He ^(IX)will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

⁴⁴So Moses came with ^[ap]Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. ⁴⁵Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶and he said to them: ^(IY)“Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your ^(IZ)children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is not a ^[aq]futile thing for you, because it is your ^(JA)life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”

Moses to Die on Mount Nebo

⁴⁸Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: ⁴⁹^(JB)“Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; ⁵⁰and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be ^[ar]gathered to your people, just as ^(JC)Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people; ⁵¹because ^(JD)you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of ^[as]Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you ^(JE)did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel. ⁵²^(JF)Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”

Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

33 Now this is ^(JG)the blessing with which Moses ^(JH)the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. ²And he said:

^(JI)“The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from ^(JJ)Seir;
He shone forth from ^(JK)Mount Paran,
And He came with ^(JL)ten thousands of saints;
From His right hand
Came a fiery law for them.
³Yes, ^(JM)He loves the people;
^(JN)All His saints are in Your hand;
They ^(JO)sit down at Your feet;
Everyone ^(JP)receives Your words.
⁴^(JQ)Moses ^[at]commanded a law for us,
^(JR)A heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
⁵And He was ^(JS)King in ^(JT)Jeshurun,
When the leaders of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.

⁶“Let ^(JU)Reuben live, and not die,
Nor let his men be few.”

⁷And this he said of ^(JV)Judah:

“Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people;
^(JW)Let his hands be sufficient for him,
And may You be ^(JX)a help against his enemies.”

⁸And of ^(JY)Levi he said:

^(JZ)“Let Your ^[au]Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one,
^(KA)Whom You tested at Massah,
And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,
⁹^(KB)Who says of his father and mother,
‘I have not ^(KC)seen them’;
^(KD)Nor did he acknowledge his brothers,
Or know his own children;
For ^(KE)they have observed Your word
And kept Your covenant.
¹⁰^(KF)They shall teach Jacob Your judgments,
And Israel Your law.
They shall put incense before You,
^(KG)And a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar.
¹¹Bless his substance, Lord,
And ^(KH)accept the work of his hands;
Strike the loins of those who rise against him,
And of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

¹²Of Benjamin he said:

“The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him,
Who shelters him all the day long;
And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”

¹³And of Joseph he said:

^(KI)“Blessed of the Lord is his land,
With the precious things of heaven, with the ^(KJ)dew,
And the deep lying beneath,
¹⁴With the precious fruits of the sun,
With the precious produce of the months,
¹⁵With the best things of ^(KK)the ancient mountains,
With the precious things ^(KL)of the everlasting hills,
¹⁶With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor of ^(KM)Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let the blessing come ^(KN)‘on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’
¹⁷His glory is like a ^(KO)firstborn bull,
And his horns like the ^(KP)horns of the wild ox;
Together with them
^(KQ)He shall push the peoples
To the ends of the earth;
^(KR)They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said:

^(KS)“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
And Issachar in your tents!
¹⁹They shall ^(KT)call the peoples to the mountain;
There ^(KU)they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness;
For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas
And of treasures hidden in the sand.”

²⁰And of Gad he said:

“Blessed is he who ^(KV)enlarges Gad;
He dwells as a lion,
And tears the arm and the crown of his head.
²¹^(KW)He provided the first part for himself,
Because a lawgiver’s portion was reserved there.
^(KX)He came with the heads of the people;
He administered the justice of the Lord,
And His judgments with Israel.”

²²And of Dan he said:

“Dan is a lion’s whelp;
^(KY)He shall leap from Bashan.”

²³And of Naphtali he said:

“O Naphtali, ^(KZ)satisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the Lord,
^(LA)Possess the west and the south.”

²⁴And of Asher he said:

^(LB)“Asher is most blessed of sons;
Let him be favored by his brothers,
And let him ^(LC)dip his foot in oil.
²⁵Your sandals shall be ^(LD)iron and bronze;
As your days, so shall your strength be.

²⁶“There is ^(LE)no one like the God of ^(LF)Jeshurun,
^(LG)Who rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds.
²⁷The eternal God is your ^(LH)refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
^(LI)He will thrust out the enemy from before you,
And will say, ‘Destroy!’
²⁸Then ^(LJ)Israel shall dwell in safety,
^(LK)The fountain of Jacob ^(LL)alone,
In a land of grain and new wine;
His ^(LM)heavens shall also drop dew.
²⁹^(LN)Happy are you, O Israel!
^(LO)Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
^(LP)The shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies ^(LQ)shall submit to you,
And ^(LR)you shall tread down their ^[av]high places.”

Moses Dies on Mount Nebo

34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab ^(LS)to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, ²all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the ^[aw]Western Sea, ³the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, ^(LT)the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, ^(LU)“This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ^(LV)I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

⁵^(LW)So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. ⁶And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but ^(LX)no one knows his grave to this day. ⁷^(LY)Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. ^(LZ)His ^[ax]eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor ^[ay]diminished. ⁸And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab ^(MA)thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

⁹Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the ^(MB)spirit of wisdom, for ^(MC)Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁰But since then there ^(MD)has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, ^(ME)whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹in all ^(MF)the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, ¹²and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

God’s Commission to Joshua

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ ^(MG)assistant, saying: ²^(MH)“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. ³^(MI)Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. ⁴^(MJ)From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. ⁵^(MK)No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; ^(ML)as I was with Moses, so ^(MM)I will be with you. ^(MN)I will not leave you nor forsake you. ⁶^(MO)Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall ^[az]divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law ^(MP)which Moses My servant commanded you; ^(MQ)do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may ^[ba]prosper wherever you go. ⁸^(MR)This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but ^(MS)you^[bb] shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ⁹^(MT)Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; ^(MU)do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The Order to Cross the Jordan

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹“Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for ^(MV)within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

¹²And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, ¹³“Remember ^(MW)the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’ ¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall ^[bc]pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, ¹⁵until the Lord has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them. ^(MX)Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶So they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God ^(MY)be with you, as He was with Moses. ¹⁸Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

Rahab Hides the Spies^(MZ)

2 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men ^(NA)from ^[bd]Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”

So they went, and ^(NB)came to the house of a harlot named ^(NC)Rahab, and ^[be]lodged there. ²And ^(ND)it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”

³So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”

⁴^(NE)Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ⁶(But ^(NF)she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) ⁷Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹and said to the men: ^(NG)“I know that the Lord has given you the land, that ^(NH)the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land ^(NI)are fainthearted because of you. ¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord ^(NJ)dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and ^(NK)what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you ^(NL)utterly destroyed. ¹¹And as soon as we ^(NM)heard these things, ^(NN)our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for ^(NO)the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹²Now therefore, I beg you, ^(NP)swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to ^(NQ)my father’s house, and ^(NR)give me ^[bf]a true token, ¹³and ^(NS)spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”

¹⁴So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that ^(NT)we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵Then she ^(NU)let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. ¹⁶And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.”

¹⁷So the men said to her: “We will be ^(NV)blameless^[bg] of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ¹⁸^(NW)unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, ^(NX)and unless you ^[bh]bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. ¹⁹So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be ^[bi]guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, ^(NY)his ^[bj]blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be ^[bk]free from your oath which you made us swear.”

²¹Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

²²They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. ²³So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴And they said to Joshua, “Truly ^(NZ)the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out ^(OA)from ^[bl]Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. ²So it was, ^(OB)after three days, that the officers went through the camp; ³and they commanded the people, saying, ^(OC)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, ^(OD)and the priests, the Levites, ^[bm]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ⁴^(OE)Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵And Joshua said to the people, ^(OF)“Sanctify^[bn] yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” ⁶Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, ^(OG)“Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

⁷And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(OH)exalt^[bo] you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, ^(OI)as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ⁸You shall command ^(OJ)the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, ^(OK)you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”

⁹So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that ^(OL)the living God is among you, and that He will without fail ^(OM)drive out from before you the ^(ON)Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: ¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(OO)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. ¹²Now therefore, ^(OP)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. ¹³And it shall come to pass, ^(OQ)as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, ^(OR)the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they ^(OS)shall stand as a heap.”

¹⁴So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ^(OT)ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and ^(OU)the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the ^(OV)Jordan overflows all its banks ^(OW)during the whole time of harvest), ¹⁶that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away ^[bp]at Adam, the city that is beside ^(OX)Zaretan. So the waters that went down ^(OY)into the Sea of the Arabah, ^(OZ)the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; ^(PA)and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

The Memorial Stones

4 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed ^(PB)over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: ²^(PC)“Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, ³and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where ^(PD)the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in ^(PE)the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ”

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; ⁵and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, ⁶that this may be ^(PF)a sign among you ^(PG)when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷Then you shall answer them that ^(PH)the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for ^(PI)a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

⁸And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ^(PJ)ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹²And ^(PK)the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. ¹³About forty thousand ^[bq]prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴On that day the Lord ^(PL)exalted^[br] Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ¹⁶“Command the priests who bear ^(PM)the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place ^(PN)and overflowed all its banks as before.

¹⁹Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped ^(PO)in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰And ^(PP)those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: ^(PQ)“When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²²then you shall let your children know, saying, ^(PR)‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on ^(PS)dry land’; ²³for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, ^(PT)which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, ²⁴^(PU)that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is ^(PV)mighty, that you may ^(PW)fear the Lord your God ^[bs]forever.”