The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, ^(A)the servant of the Lord, ^(B)who addressed the words of this ^(C)song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

Moses Commands Obedience

4 “And now, O Israel, listen to ^(A)the statutes and the rules^[a] that I am teaching you, and do them, ^(B)that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 (C)You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. ³ Your eyes have seen what the Lord did ^(D)at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. ⁴ But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. ⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^6 (E)Keep them and do them, for ^(F)that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For ^(G)what great nation is there that has ^(H)a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? ⁸ And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so ^(I)righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

^9 (J)“Only take care, and ^(K)keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. ^(L)Make them known to your children and your children's children— ¹⁰ how on ^(M)the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ^(N)‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, ^(O)so that they may learn to fear ^(P)me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ ¹¹ And ^(Q)you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while ^(R)the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. ¹² Then ^(S)the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, ^(T)but saw no form; ^(U)there was only a voice. ^13 (V)And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, ^(W)the Ten Commandments,^{[b] (X)}and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ And ^(Y)the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (Z)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(AA)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ beware ^(AB)lest you act corruptly ^(AC)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(AD)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹ And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see ^(AE)the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(AF)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and ^(AG)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, ^(AH)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹ Furthermore, ^(AI)the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. ²² For I must die in this land; ^(AJ)I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of ^(AK)that good land. ^23 (AL)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and ^(AM)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For ^(AN)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(AO)a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, ^(AP)if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(AQ)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(AR)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ And the Lord ^(AS)will scatter you among the peoples, ^(AT)and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ And ^(AU)there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, ^(AV)that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ^29 (AW)But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you ^(AX)in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is ^(AY)a merciful God. ^(AZ)He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

The Lord Alone Is God

³² “For ^(BA)ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. ^33 (BB)Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? ³⁴ Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, ^(BC)by signs, by wonders, and ^(BD)by war, ^(BE)by a mighty hand and ^(BF)an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ To you it was shown, ^(BG)that you might know that the Lord is God; ^(BH)there is no other besides him. ^36 (BI)Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and ^(BJ)you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ And because ^(BK)he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them^[c] and brought you out of Egypt ^(BL)with his own presence, by his great power, ^38 (BM)driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, ³⁹ know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that ^(BN)the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; ^(BO)there is no other. ^40 (BP)Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, ^(BQ)that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Cities of Refuge

⁴¹ Then Moses ^(BR)set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, ⁴² that ^(BS)the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life: ^43 (BT)Bezer in the wilderness on the ^(BU)tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Introduction to the Law

⁴⁴ This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. ⁴⁵ These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ beyond the Jordan ^(BV)in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, ^(BW)whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And they took possession of his land and the land ^(BX)of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; ^48 (BY)from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount ^(BZ)Sirion^[d] (that is, ^(CA)Hermon), ⁴⁹ together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as ^(CB)the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 ^(A)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, ^(B)all the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (C)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces ^(E)their pillars and burn their ^(F)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and ^(G)destroy their name out of that place. ^4 (H)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek ^(I)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[a] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(J)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(K)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(L)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(M)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ^(N)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for you have not as yet come to ^(O)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when ^(P)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ^(Q)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, ¹¹ then to ^(R)the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(T)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since ^(U)he has no portion or inheritance with you. ^13 (V)Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, ¹⁴ but at ^(W)the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

¹⁵ “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, ^(X)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. ^(Y)The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. ^16 (Z)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your towns ^(AA)the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, ¹⁸ but ^(AB)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^(AC)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And ^(AD)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. ^19 (AE)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(AF)enlarges your territory, ^(AG)as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. ²¹ If ^(AH)the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, ^(AI)then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. ²² Just ^(AJ)as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. ^(AK)The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. ^23 (AL)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(AM)for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(AN)that all may go well with you and with your children after you, ^(AO)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ But the ^(AP)holy things that are due from you, and ^(AQ)your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to ^(AR)the place that the Lord will choose, ²⁷ and ^(AS)offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, ^(AT)that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Warning Against Idolatry

²⁹ “When ^(AU)the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, ³⁰ take care ^(AV)that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ ^31 (AW)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every ^(AX)abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for ^(AY)they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

^32 [b] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. ^(AZ)You shall not add to it or take from it.