Bible in 90 Days

²⁰ So Moses told them, “If you do all these things, this land will belong to you. But your soldiers must go before the Lord into battle. ²¹ Your soldiers must cross the Jordan River and be ready to fight for the Lord until he forces the enemy to leave. ²² After the Lord helps us all take the land, you can go back home. Then the Lord and Israel will not think that you are guilty. And the Lord will let you have this land. ²³ But if you don’t do these things, you will be sinning against the Lord. And know for sure that you will be punished for your sin. ²⁴ Build cities for your children and barns for your animals. But then, you must do what you promised.”

²⁵ Then the people from the tribes of Gad and Reuben said to Moses, “We are your servants. You are our master, so we will do what you say. ²⁶ Our wives, children, and all our animals will stay in the cities of Gilead. ²⁷ But we, your servants, will cross the Jordan River. We will march before the Lord into battle, as our master says.”

²⁸ So Moses, Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and all the leaders of the tribes of Israel heard them make that promise. ²⁹ Moses said to them, “The people of Gad and Reuben will cross the Jordan River. They will march before the Lord into battle. They will help you take the land. And you will give the land of Gilead as their part of the country. ³⁰ But if they do not cross the river with you ready to fight, they will not get any land on this side. They will get only a share of the land of Canaan with the rest of you.”

³¹ The people of Gad and Reuben answered, “We promise to do what the Lord commanded. ³² We will cross the Jordan River and march before the Lord into the land of Canaan. And our part of the country is the land east of the Jordan River.”

³³ So Moses gave that land to the people of Gad, to the people of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. (Manasseh was Joseph’s son.) That land included the kingdom of Sihon the Amorite and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan and all the cities around that area.

³⁴ The people of Gad built the cities of Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶ Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran. They built cities with strong walls, and they built barns for their animals.

³⁷ The people of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸ Nebo, Baal Meon, and Sibmah. They used the names of the cities that they rebuilt. But they changed the names of Nebo and Baal Meon.

³⁹ People from Makir’s family group went to Gilead.^[a] (Makir was Manasseh’s son.) They defeated the city. They defeated the Amorites who lived there. ⁴⁰ So Moses gave Gilead to Makir from the tribe of Manasseh, and his family settled there. ⁴¹ Jair, from the family of Manasseh, defeated the small towns there. Then he called them Towns of Jair. ⁴² Nobah defeated Kenath and the small towns near it. Then he called that place by his own name.

Israel’s Journey From Egypt

33 Here is a list of the places the Israelites went when they left Egypt. They were organized in groups like an army and were led by Moses and Aaron. ² Following the Lord’s command, Moses kept a record of each place they stayed before moving on to the next place. These are all the places they went:

³ On the 15th day of the first month, they left Rameses. That morning after Passover, the Israelites marched out of Egypt with their arms raised in victory. All the people of Egypt saw them. ⁴ The Egyptians were burying all the people the Lord killed. They were burying all their firstborn sons. The Lord had shown his judgment against the gods^[b] of Egypt.

⁵ The Israelites left Rameses and traveled to Succoth. ⁶ From Succoth they traveled to Etham. They camped there at the edge of the desert. ⁷ They left Etham and went to Pi Hahiroth. This was near Baal Zephon. They camped near Migdol.

⁸ They left Pi Hahiroth and walked through the middle of the sea. They went toward the desert. Then they traveled for three days through the desert of Etham. The people camped at Marah.

⁹ They left Marah and went to Elim and camped there. There were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees there.

¹⁰ They left Elim and camped near the Red Sea.^[c]

¹¹ They left the Red Sea and camped in the western Sinai desert.^[d]

¹² They left there and camped at Dophkah.

¹³ They left Dophkah and camped at Alush.

¹⁴ They left Alush and camped at Rephidim. There was no water for the people to drink at that place.

¹⁵ They left Rephidim and camped in the desert of Sinai.

¹⁶ They left the desert of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah.

¹⁷ They left Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.

¹⁸ They left Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.

¹⁹ They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez.

²⁰ They left Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah.

²¹ They left Libnah and camped at Rissah.

²² They left Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.

²³ They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.

²⁴ They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.

²⁵ They left Haradah and camped at Makheloth.

²⁶ They left Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

²⁷ They left Tahath and camped at Terah.

²⁸ They left Terah and camped at Mithcah.

²⁹ They left Mithcah and camped at Hashmonah.

³⁰ They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.

³¹ They left Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan.

³² They left Bene Jaakan and camped at Hor Haggidgad.

³³ They left Hor Haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.

³⁴ They left Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.

³⁵ They left Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber.

³⁶ They left Ezion Geber and camped at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin.

³⁷ They left Kadesh and camped at Hor. This was the mountain at the border of the country of Edom. ³⁸ Aaron the priest obeyed the Lord and went up Mount Hor. Aaron died at that place on the first day of the fifth month. That was the 40th year after the Israelites had left Egypt. ³⁹ Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰ Arad was a town in the Negev, in the land of Canaan. The Canaanite king in that place heard that the Israelites were coming. ⁴¹ The people left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

⁴² They left Zalmonah and camped at Punon.

⁴³ They left Punon and camped at Oboth.

⁴⁴ They left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim. This was at the border of the country of Moab.

⁴⁵ They left Iye Abarim and camped at Dibon Gad.

⁴⁶ They left Dibon Gad and camped at Almon Diblathaim.

⁴⁷ They left Almon Diblathaim and camped on the mountains of Abarim near Nebo.

⁴⁸ They left the mountains of Abarim and camped in the Jordan Valley in Moab. This was near the Jordan River across from Jericho. ⁴⁹ They camped by the Jordan River in the Jordan Valley in Moab. Their camp went from Beth Jeshimoth to Acacia Field.

⁵⁰ There, the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ⁵¹ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them this: You will cross the Jordan River. You will go into the land of Canaan. ⁵² You will take the land from the people you find there. You must destroy all of their carved statues and idols. You must destroy all of their high places. ⁵³ You will take the land and you will settle there, because I am giving this land to you. It will belong to your family groups. ⁵⁴ Each of your family groups will get part of the land. You will throw lots to decide which family group gets each part of the country. Large family groups will get large parts of the land. Small family groups will get small parts of the land. The lots will show which family group gets which part of the land. Each tribe will get its part of the land.

⁵⁵ “You must force these other people to leave the country. If you let them stay in your country, they will bring many troubles to you. They will be like a needle^[e] in your eye and a thorn in your side. They will bring many troubles to the country where you will be living. ⁵⁶ I showed you what I would do—and I will do that to you!”

The Borders of Canaan

34 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them this: You will soon enter the land of Canaan. I am giving you that land to be your very own. These will be its borders: ³ On the south, you will get part of the desert of Zin near Edom. Your southern border will start at the south end of the Dead Sea. ⁴ It will cross south of Scorpion Pass. It will go through the town of Zin to Kadesh Barnea and then to Hazar Addar, and then it will pass through Azmon. ⁵ From Azmon the border will go to the River of Egypt,^[f] and it will end at the Mediterranean Sea. ⁶ Your western border will be the Mediterranean Sea. ⁷ Your northern border will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and go to Mount Hor. ⁸ From Mount Hor it will go to Lebo Hamath, and then to Zedad. ⁹ Then that border will go to Ziphron and it will end at Hazar Enan. So that will be your northern border. ¹⁰ Your eastern border will begin at Enan and it will go to Shepham. ¹¹ From Shepham the border will go east of Ain to Riblah. The border will continue along the hills by Lake Galilee.^{[g] 12} Then the border will continue along the Jordan River. It will end at the Dead Sea. These are the borders around your country.”

¹³ So Moses gave this command to the Israelites, “That is the land that you will get. You will throw lots to divide the land among the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh, as the Lord commanded. ¹⁴ The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already taken their land. ¹⁵ These two and a half tribes took the land near Jericho—they took the land east of the Jordan River.”

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ¹⁷ “These are the men who will help you divide the land: Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, ¹⁸ and the leaders of all the tribes. There will be one leader from each tribe. These men will divide the land. ¹⁹ These are the names of the leaders:

²⁹ The Lord chose these men to divide the land of Canaan among the Israelites.

The Levites’ Towns

35 The Lord spoke to Moses. This was in the Jordan Valley in Moab, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. He said, ² “Tell the Israelites that they should give some of the cities in their part of the land to the Levites. The Israelites should give these cities and the pastures around them to the Levites. ³ The Levites will be able to live in them. And all the cattle and other animals that belong to the Levites will be able to eat from the pastures around these cities. ⁴ How much of your land should you give to the Levites? From the walls of the cities, go out 1500 feet^[h]—all of that land will belong to the Levites. ⁵ Measure off an area around the city for the Levites. Start at the northeast corner and measure 3000 feet^[i] to the south. Then from this corner, measure 3000 feet to the west. From there measure 3000 feet to the north and from that corner, 3000 feet to the east. The city will be in the center of this area. ⁶ Six of those cities will be cities of safety. If a person accidentally kills someone, that person can run to those towns for safety. In addition to those six cities, you will also give 42 more cities to the Levites. ⁷ So you will give a total of 48 cities to the Levites. You will also give them the land around those cities. ⁸ The large tribes of Israel will get large pieces of land. The small tribes of Israel will get small pieces of land. So the large tribes will give more cities and the small tribes will give fewer cities to the Levites.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Tell the people this: You will cross the Jordan River and go into the land of Canaan. ¹¹ You must choose towns to be cities of safety. If someone accidentally kills another person, that person can run to one of those towns for safety. ¹² That person will be safe from anyone from the dead man’s family who wants to punish the killer until that person is judged in court. ¹³ There will be six cities of safety. ¹⁴ Three of them will be east of the Jordan River and three of them will be in the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan River. ¹⁵ These cities will be places of safety for citizens of Israel and for foreigners and travelers. Any of these people will be able to run to one of these cities if they accidentally kill someone.

¹⁶ “If you use an iron weapon^[j] to kill someone, you are a murderer, and you must die. ¹⁷ If you use a rock large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die. ¹⁸ If you use a piece of wood large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die. ¹⁹ A member of the dead person’s family^[k] can chase you and kill you.

^20-21 “You might hit someone with your hand or push someone or throw something at them and kill them. If you did that from hate, you are a murderer, and you must be killed. A member of the dead person’s family can chase you and kill you.

²² “You might accidentally kill someone, maybe by pushing or by accidentally hitting them with a tool or weapon. ²³ Perhaps you threw a rock that was large enough to kill, but it hit someone you didn’t see and killed them. You didn’t plan to kill anyone. You didn’t hate the person you killed—it was only an accident. ²⁴ If that happens, the community must decide what to do. The court must decide if a member of the dead person’s family can kill you. ²⁵ If the community decides to protect you from the dead person’s family, the community must take you back to your city of safety. You must stay there until the official high priest^[l] dies.

^26-27 “You must never go outside the limits of your city of safety. If you do and if a member of the dead person’s family catches you and kills you, that family member will not be guilty of murder. ²⁸ Whoever accidentally killed someone must stay in their city of safety until the high priest dies. After the high priest dies, that person can go back to their own land. ²⁹ These rules will be the law forever in all the towns of your people.

³⁰ “A killer should be put to death as a murderer only if there are witnesses. No one can be put to death if there is only one witness.

³¹ “A murderer must be put to death. Don’t take money to change the punishment. That murderer must be killed.

³² “If a person killed someone and then ran to one of the cities of safety, don’t take money to let that person go home. That person must stay in that city until the high priest dies.

³³ “Don’t let your land be polluted with innocent blood. If a person murders someone, the only payment for that crime is that the murderer must be killed! There is no other payment that will free the land from that crime. ³⁴ I am the Lord. I will be living in your country with the Israelites, so don’t make it unclean with the blood of innocent people.”

The Land of Zelophehad’s Daughters

36 Manasseh was Joseph’s son. Makir was Manasseh’s son. Gilead was Makir’s son. The leaders of Gilead’s family went to talk to Moses and the leaders of the tribes of Israel. ² They said, “Sir, the Lord commanded us to get our land by throwing lots. And sir, the Lord commanded that the land of Zelophehad our brother be given to his daughters. ³ Maybe a man from one of the other tribes will marry one of Zelophehad’s daughters. Will that land leave our family? Will the people of that other tribe get the land? Will we lose the land that we got by throwing lots? ⁴ People might sell their land, but in the Jubilee year, all the land is returned to the tribe that really owns it. At that time who will get the land that belongs to Zelophehad’s daughters? Will our tribe lose that land forever?”

⁵ Moses gave this command from the Lord to the Israelites: “These men from the tribe of Joseph are right. ⁶ This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: If you want to marry someone, you must marry someone from your own tribe. ⁷ In this way land will not be passed from tribe to tribe among the Israelites. Each Israelite will keep the land that belonged to their own ancestors. ⁸ And if a woman gets her father’s land, she must marry someone from her own tribe. That way everyone will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors. ⁹ So the land must not be passed from tribe to tribe among the Israelites. Each Israelite will keep the land that belonged to their own ancestors.”

¹⁰ So Zelophehad’s daughters obeyed the Lord’s command to Moses. ¹¹ Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—married their cousins on their father’s side of the family. ¹² Their husbands were from Manasseh’s family groups, so their land remained within their father’s family group and tribe.

¹³ So these are the laws and commands that the Lord gave to Moses in the Jordan Valley in Moab by the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Moses Talks to the Israelites

1 These are the commands that Moses gave the Israelites while they were in the Jordan Valley, in the desert east of the Jordan River. This was across from Suph, between the desert of Paran and the cities Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

² The trip from Mount Horeb through the mountains of Seir to Kadesh Barnea takes only eleven days. ³ But it was 40 years from the time the Israelites left Egypt until the time they came to this place. On the first day of the eleventh month of the 40th year, Moses spoke to the people and told them everything the Lord commanded. ⁴ This was after he defeated Sihon and Og. (Sihon was the king of the Amorites and lived in Heshbon. Og was the king of Bashan and lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.) ⁵ The Israelites were in Moab on the east side of the Jordan River when Moses began to explain what God had commanded:

⁶ “At Mount Horeb the Lord our God spoke to us. He said, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. ⁷ Go to the hill country where the Amorites live and to all the neighboring areas in the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western slopes, the Negev, and the seacoast. Go throughout the land of Canaan and Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ Look, I am giving you this land. Go and take it. It is the land that I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised to give this land to them and to their descendants.’

Moses Chooses Leaders

⁹ “At that time I told you, ‘I can’t take care of you by myself. ¹⁰ And now, there are even more of you. The Lord your God has added more and more people, so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, give you 1000 times more people than you are now! May he bless you as he promised. ¹² But I cannot take care of you and solve all your arguments by myself. ¹³ So choose some men from each tribe, and I will make them leaders over you. Choose wise men with experience who understand people.’

¹⁴ “And you said, ‘That is a good thing to do.’

¹⁵ “So I took the wise, experienced men you chose from your tribes, and I made them your leaders. In this way I gave you leaders over 1000 people, over 100 people, over 50 people, and over 10 people. I also gave you officers for each of your tribes.

¹⁶ “At that time I told these judges, ‘Listen to the arguments between your people. Be fair when you judge each case. It doesn’t matter if the problem is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner. You must judge each case fairly. ¹⁷ You must treat everyone the same when you judge. You must listen carefully to everyone—whether they are important or not. Don’t be afraid of anyone, because your decision is from God. But if there is a case too hard for you to judge, bring it to me and I will judge it.’ ¹⁸ At that same time I also told you everything you must do.

The Spies Go to Canaan

¹⁹ “So we obeyed the Lord our God. We left Mount Horeb and went to the hill country of the Amorites. You remember that big, terrible desert that we walked through. We came as far as Kadesh Barnea. ²⁰ Then I said to you, ‘You have now come to the hill country of the Amorites. The Lord our God will give us this country. ²¹ Look, there it is! Go up and take the land for your own. The Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you to do this, so don’t be afraid or worry about anything.’

²² “But all of you came to me and said, ‘Let’s send some men to look at the land first. They can spy out the land and come back and tell us the way we should go and which cities we will come to.’

²³ “I thought that was a good idea. So I chose twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ Then they left and went up to the hill country. They came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. ²⁵ They took some of the fruit from that land and brought it back to us. They told us about the land and said, ‘The Lord our God is giving us a good land.’

²⁶ “But you refused to go into the land. You refused to obey the Lord your God. ²⁷ You went to your tents and began to complain. You said, ‘The Lord hates us! He brought us out of the land of Egypt just to let the Amorites destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go now? The men we sent have frightened us with their report. They said, “The people there are bigger and taller than we are. The cities are big and have walls as high as the sky. And we saw giants^[m] there!”’

²⁹ “So I said to you, ‘Don’t be upset or afraid of those people. ³⁰ The Lord your God is in front, leading you. He will fight for you just as he did in Egypt. ³¹ You saw what happened in the desert. You saw how the Lord your God carried you like a man carries his child. He brought you safely all the way to this place.’

³² “But you didn’t trust the Lord your God then either. ³³ But he was always in front, going ahead to find a place for you to camp. At night, he was in the fire that showed you where to go. And during the day, he was in the cloud.

People Not Allowed to Enter Canaan

³⁴ “The Lord heard what you said, and he was angry. He made a vow. He said, ³⁵ ‘Not one of you evil people who are alive now will go into the good land that I promised to your ancestors. ³⁶ Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will see that land. I will give Caleb the land he walked on, and I will give that land to his descendants, because he did all that I, the Lord, commanded.’

³⁷ “The Lord was also angry with me because of you. He said to me, ‘Moses, you cannot enter the land, either. ³⁸ But your helper, Joshua son of Nun, will go into the land. Encourage Joshua, because he will lead the Israelites to take the land for their own. ³⁹ You thought your little children would be taken by your enemies. But those children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will go into the land. I will give it to them. Your children will take the land for their own. ⁴⁰ But you—you must turn around, take the road to the Red Sea and go back into the desert.’

⁴¹ “Then you said, ‘Moses, we sinned against the Lord, but now we will do what the Lord our God commanded us before—we will go and fight.’

“Then each of you put on your weapons. You thought it would be easy to go and take the hill country. ⁴² But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell the people not to go up there and fight, because I will not be with them. Their enemies will defeat them!’

⁴³ “I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You refused to obey the Lord’s command. You thought you could use your own power, so you went up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who lived there came out like a swarm of bees and chased you all the way from Seir to Hormah. ⁴⁵ Then you came back crying to the Lord for help, but the Lord refused to listen to you. ⁴⁶ So you stayed at Kadesh for such a long time.

Israel Wanders Through the Desert

2 “Then we did what the Lord told me to do. We went back into the desert on the road that leads to the Red Sea. We traveled for many days to go around the mountains of Seir.^{[n] 2} Then the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have traveled around these mountains long enough. Turn north. ⁴ Tell the people this: You will pass through the land of Seir. This land belongs to your relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you. Be very careful. ⁵ Don’t fight them. I will not give you any of their land—not even a foot of it, because I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau to keep as his own. ⁶ You must pay the people of Esau for any food you eat or water you drink there. ⁷ Remember that the Lord your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He knows about everything that happened on the trip through this great desert. The Lord your God has been with you these 40 years. You have always had everything you needed.’

⁸ “So we passed by our relatives, the people of Esau living there in Seir. We left the road that leads from the Jordan Valley to the towns of Elath and Ezion Geber. We turned onto the road that goes to the desert in Moab.

Israel at Ar

⁹ “The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t bother the Moabites. Don’t start a war against them. I will not give you any of their land. They are the descendants of Lot,^[o] and I gave them the city of Ar.’”

¹⁰ (In the past, the Emites lived in Ar. They were strong people, and there were many of them. They were very tall, like the Anakites. ¹¹ The Anakites were part of the Rephaites. People thought the Emites were also Rephaites, but the people of Moab called them Emites. ¹² The Horites also lived in Seir in the past. Then Esau’s people destroyed the Horites, took their land, and settled there, just as the Israelites did to the people in the land that the Lord gave them.)

¹³ “The Lord told me, ‘Now, go to the other side of Zered Valley.’ So we crossed Zered Valley. ¹⁴ It was 38 years from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until the time we crossed Zered Valley. As the Lord had promised, all the fighting men in our camp from that generation had died. ¹⁵ The Lord had opposed those men until they were all dead and gone from our camp.

¹⁶ “After all the fighting men were dead and gone, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ ‘Today you must cross the border at Ar and go into Moab. ¹⁹ You will be just across from the Ammonites. Don’t bother them or fight with them, because I will not give you their land. They are descendants of Lot, and I have given that land to them.’”

²⁰ (That country is also known as the Land of Rephaim. The Rephaites lived there in the past. The people of Ammon called them the Zamzummites. ²¹ There were many Rephaites, and they were very strong and tall like the Anakites. But the Lord helped the Ammonites destroy them. The Ammonites took that land and live there now. ²² God did the same thing for Esau’s people. In the past the Horites lived in Seir.^[p] But Esau’s people destroyed the Horites, and Esau’s descendants still live there today. ²³ God did the same thing for some people from Crete. The Avvites lived in the towns around Gaza, but the Cretans destroyed them, took the land, and live there now.)

Fighting the Amorites

²⁴ “The Lord told me, ‘Get ready to go across Arnon Valley. I will let you defeat Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon. I will let you take his country. So fight against him and take his land. ²⁵ Today I will make all people everywhere afraid of you. They will hear the news about you, and they will be afraid and shake with fear.’

²⁶ “While we were in the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon. The messengers offered peace to Sihon. They said, ²⁷ ‘Let us go through your land. We will stay on the road. We will not turn off the road to the right or to the left. ²⁸ We will pay you in silver for any food we eat or any water we drink. We only want to march through your country. ²⁹ Let us go through your land until we go across the Jordan River into the land that the Lord our God is giving us. Other people have let us go through their land—the people of Esau living in Seir and the Moabites living in Ar.’

³⁰ “But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him very stubborn and ready to fight. The Lord did this so that he could help you defeat King Sihon. And today we know that is what happened.

³¹ “The Lord said to me, ‘I am giving King Sihon and his country to you. Now, go take his land!’

³² “Then King Sihon and all his people came out to fight against us at Jahaz. ³³ But the Lord our God gave him to us. We defeated King Sihon, his sons, and all his people. ³⁴ We captured all the cities that belonged to King Sihon at that time. We completely destroyed the people in every city—the men, women, and children. We did not leave anyone alive! ³⁵ We took only the cattle and the valuable things from those cities. ³⁶ We defeated the town of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley and the other town in the middle of that valley. The Lord let us defeat all the cities between the Arnon Valley and Gilead. No city was too strong for us. ³⁷ But you did not go near the land that belongs to the people of Ammon. You did not go near the shores of the Jabbok River or the cities of the hill country. You did not go near any place that the Lord our God would not let us have.

Fighting the People of Bashan

3 “We turned and went on the road to Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his men came out to fight against us at Edrei. ² The Lord said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of Og. I have decided to give him to you. I will give you all his men and his land. You will defeat him just as you defeated Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.’

³ “So the Lord our God let us defeat King Og of Bashan. We destroyed him and all his men. Not one of them was left. ⁴ Then we took all the cities that belonged to Og at that time. We took all the cities from Og’s people—60 cities in the area of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were very strong. They had high walls, gates, and strong bars on the gates. There were also many towns that did not have walls. ⁶ We destroyed them just as we destroyed the cities of King Sihon of Heshbon. We completely destroyed every city and all the people in them, even the women and the babies. ⁷ But we kept all the cattle and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves.

⁸ “In that way we took the land from the two Amorite kings. We took that land on the east side of the Jordan River, from Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon. ⁹ (The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon, Sirion, but the Amorites called it Senir.) ¹⁰ We took all the cities in the high plain and all of Gilead. We took all of Bashan, all the way to Salecah and Edrei. Salecah and Edrei were cities of Og’s kingdom of Bashan.”

¹¹ (Og was the king of Bashan. He was one of the few Rephaites still alive. His bed was made from iron, and it was over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide.^[q] The bed is still in the city of Rabbah, where the Ammonites live.)

The Land East of the Jordan River

¹² “So we took that land to be ours. I gave part of this land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. I gave them the land from Aroer in the Arnon Valley to the hill country of Gilead with the cities in it. They got half of the hill country of Gilead. ¹³ I gave the other half of Gilead and the whole area of Bashan to half the tribe of Manasseh.”

(Bashan was Og’s kingdom. Part of Bashan was called Argob. It was also called the Land of Rephaim. ¹⁴ Jair, from the tribe of Manasseh, took the whole area of Argob. That area went all the way to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. It was named for Jair, and even today, people call Bashan the Towns of Jair.)

¹⁵ “I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶ And to the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad, I gave the land that begins at Gilead and goes from the Arnon Valley to the Jabbok River. The middle of the valley is one border. The Jabbok River is the border for the Ammonites. ¹⁷ The Jordan River near the desert is their western border. Lake Galilee^[r] is north of this area and the Dead Sea^[s] is to the south. It is at the bottom of the cliffs of Pisgah, which are to the east.

¹⁸ “At that time I gave those tribes this command: ‘The Lord your God has given you the land on this side of the Jordan River to live in. But now your fighting men must take their weapons and lead the other Israelite tribes across the river. ¹⁹ Your wives, your little children, and your cattle (I know you have many cattle) will stay here in the cities I have given you. ²⁰ But you must help your Israelite relatives until they take the land that the Lord is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Help them until the Lord gives them peace there, just as he did for you here. Then you may come back to this land that I have given you.’

²¹ “Then I told Joshua, ‘You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same thing to all the kingdoms you will enter. ²² Don’t fear the kings of these lands, because the Lord your God will fight for you.’

Moses Not Allowed in Canaan

²³ “Then I begged the Lord to do something special for me. I said, ²⁴ ‘Lord God, I am your servant. I know that you have shown me only a small part of the wonderful and powerful things you will do. There is no god in heaven or earth that can do the great and powerful things you have done. ²⁵ Please let me go across the Jordan River and see the good land on the other side. Let me see the beautiful hill country and Lebanon.’

²⁶ “But the Lord was angry with me because of you and refused to listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Don’t say another word about this. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Mount Pisgah. Look to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. You may see these things with your eyes, but you can never go across the Jordan River. ²⁸ You must give instructions to Joshua. Encourage him. Make him strong, because Joshua must lead the people across the Jordan River. You can see the land, but Joshua will lead them into that land. He will help them take the land and live in it.’

²⁹ “So we stayed in the valley across from Beth Peor.

Moses’ Warning to Obey God’s Laws

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the laws and to the commands that I teach you. Obey them and you will live. Then you can go in and take the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ² You must not add to what I command you. And you must not take anything away. You must obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you.

³ “You have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed all your people who followed the false god Baal at that place. ⁴ But all of you who stayed with the Lord your God are alive today.

⁵ “I taught you the laws and rules that the Lord my God commanded me. I did this so you could obey them in the land you are ready to enter and take for your own. ⁶ Obey these laws carefully. This will show the people of the other nations that you are wise and sensible. They will hear about these laws and say, ‘Truly, the people of this great nation are wise and sensible.’

⁷ “The Lord our God is near when we ask him to help us. No other nation has a god like that! ⁸ And no other nation is great enough to have laws and rules as good as the teachings I give you today. ⁹ But you must be careful! Be sure that as long as you live you never forget what you have seen. You must teach these things to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Horeb. The Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people together to listen to what I have to say. Then they will learn to respect me as long as they live on earth. And they will teach these things to their children.’ ¹¹ You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire that reached up to the sky. There were thick black clouds and darkness. ¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of someone speaking, but you did not see any form. There was only a voice. ¹³ The Lord told you about his agreement, which he commanded you to obey. He told you about the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets. ¹⁴ At that time the Lord also commanded me to teach you the other laws and rules that you must follow in the land you are going to take and live in.

¹⁵ “On the day the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb, you did not see him—there was no shape for God. ¹⁶ So be careful! Don’t sin and destroy yourselves by making false gods or statues in the shape of any living thing. Don’t make an idol that looks like a man or a woman, ¹⁷ or like an animal on the earth, or like a bird that flies in the sky. ¹⁸ And don’t make an idol that looks like anything that crawls on the ground or like a fish in the sea. ¹⁹ And be careful when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the many things in the sky. Be careful that you are not tempted to worship and serve them. The Lord your God lets the other people in the world do this. ²⁰ But the Lord brought you out of Egypt to make you his own special people. He saved you from Egypt. It was as if he pulled you from a hot furnace.^[t] And now you are his people.

²¹ “The Lord was angry with me because of you. He swore that I could not go across the Jordan River into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you. ²² So I must die here in this land. I cannot go across the Jordan River, but you will soon go across it and take that good land and live there. ²³ You must be careful not to forget the agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord’s command. Don’t make any idols in any form, ²⁴ because the Lord your God hates for his people to worship other gods. And he can be like a fire that destroys!

²⁵ “You will live in the country a long time. You will have children and grandchildren there. After all that time, be sure that you do not then ruin your lives by making any kind of idol! That is something the Lord your God considers evil, and it would make him very angry! ²⁶ So I am warning you now. Heaven and earth are my witnesses! If you do such an evil thing, you will quickly be destroyed! You are crossing the Jordan River now to take that land. But if you make any idols, you will not live there very long. No, you will be destroyed completely! ²⁷ The Lord will scatter you among the nations. And only a few of you will be left alive to go to the countries where the Lord will send you. ²⁸ There you will serve gods made by men—things made of wood and stone that cannot see or hear or eat or smell! ²⁹ But there in these other lands you will look for the Lord your God. And if you look for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. ³⁰ When you are in trouble—when all these things happen to you—then you will come back to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹ The Lord your God is a merciful God! He will not leave you there or destroy you completely. He will not forget the agreement that he made with your ancestors.

Think About the Great Things God Did

³² “Has anything this great ever happened before? Never! Look at the past. Think about everything that happened before you were born. Go all the way back to the time when God made people on the earth. Look at everything that has happened anywhere in the world. Has anyone ever heard about anything as great as this? No! ³³ You people heard God speaking to you from a fire, and you are still alive. Has that ever happened to anyone else? No! ³⁴ Has any other god ever tried to go and take a people for himself from inside another nation? No! But you yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God did for you. He showed you his power and strength. You saw the troubles that tested the people. You saw miracles and wonders. You saw war and the terrible things that happened. ³⁵ The Lord showed you all this so that you would know that he is God. There is no other god like him. ³⁶ He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could teach you a lesson. On earth he let you see his great fire, and he spoke to you from it.

³⁷ “He loved your ancestors. That is why he chose you, their descendants. And that is why he brought you out of Egypt. He was with you and brought you out with his great power. ³⁸ When you moved forward, he forced out nations that were greater and more powerful than you. And he led you into their land. He gave you their land to live in, as he is still doing today.

³⁹ “So today you must remember and accept that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god! ⁴⁰ And you must obey his laws and commands that I give you today. Then everything will go well with you and your children who live after you. And you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you—it will be yours forever.”

Moses Chooses the Cities of Safety

⁴¹ Then Moses chose three cities on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁴² Any person who killed someone by accident and not out of hate could run away to one of these three cities and not be put to death. ⁴³ The three cities that Moses chose were Bezer in the high plains for the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.

Introduction to the Law of Moses

⁴⁴ Moses gave God’s law to the Israelites. ⁴⁵ Moses gave these teachings, laws, and rules to the people after they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁶ He gave them these laws while they were on the east side of the Jordan River, in the valley across from Beth Peor. They were in the land of Sihon, the Amorite king who lived at Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites had defeated Sihon when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took Sihon’s land to keep. They also took the land of King Og of Bashan. These two Amorite kings lived on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁴⁸ This land goes from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sirion,^[u] that is, Mount Hermon. ⁴⁹ This land also included the whole Jordan Valley on the east side of the Jordan River. To the south, this land reached to the Dead Sea.^[v] To the east, it reached to the foot of Mount Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments

5 Moses called together all the Israelites and said to them, “Israelites, listen to the laws and rules that I tell you today. Learn these laws and be sure to obey them. ² The Lord our God made an agreement with us at Mount Horeb. ³ The Lord did not make this agreement with our ancestors, but with us—yes, with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you face to face at that mountain. He spoke to you from the fire. ⁵ But you were afraid of the fire. And you did not go up the mountain. So I stood between you and the Lord to tell you what the Lord said. He said,

⁶ ‘I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

⁷ ‘You must not worship any other gods except me.

⁸ ‘You must not make any idols. Don’t make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water. ⁹ Don’t worship or serve idols of any kind, because I am the Lord your God. I hate for my people to worship other gods.^[w] People who sin against me become my enemies. And I will punish them, and their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren. ¹⁰ But I will be very kind to people who love me and obey my commands. I will be kind to their families for thousands of generations!^[x]

¹¹ ‘You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.

¹² ‘You must keep the Sabbath a special day like the Lord your God commanded. ¹³ Work six days a week and do your job, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. So on that day no one should work—not you, your sons and daughters, foreigners living in your cities or your men and women slaves. Not even your cattle, donkeys, and other animals should do any work! Your slaves should be able to rest just as you do. ¹⁵ Don’t forget that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. The Lord your God brought you out of Egypt with his great power and made you free. That is why the Lord your God commands you to always make the Sabbath a special day.

¹⁶ ‘You must honor your father and your mother. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. If you follow this command, you will live a long time, and everything will go well for you in the land that the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁷ ‘You must not murder anyone.

¹⁸ ‘You must not commit the sin of adultery.

¹⁹ ‘You must not steal.

²⁰ ‘You must not tell lies about other people.^[y]

²¹ ‘You must not want another man’s wife. You must not want his house, his fields, his men and women servants, his cattle, or his donkeys. You must not want to take anything that belongs to another person.’”

The People Were Afraid of God

²² Moses said, “The Lord gave these commands to all of you when you were together there at the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice that came from the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness. After he gave us these commands, he didn’t say any more. He wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³ “You heard the voice from the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire. Then all the elders and the other leaders of your tribes came to me. ²⁴ They said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us his Glory and his greatness! We heard him speak from the fire. We have seen today that it is possible to continue living even after God speaks to us. ²⁵ But if we hear the Lord our God speak to us again, surely we will die! That terrible fire will destroy us. We don’t want to die. ²⁶ No one has ever heard the living God speak from the fire like we have and still lived! ²⁷ Moses, you go near and hear everything the Lord our God says. Then tell us everything the Lord tells you. We will listen to you, and we will do everything you say.’

The Lord Speaks to Moses

²⁸ “The Lord heard what you said and told me, ‘I heard what the people said. And that is fine. ²⁹ I only wanted to change their way of thinking—I wanted them to respect me and obey all my commands from the heart. Then everything would be fine with them and with their descendants forever.

³⁰ “‘Go and tell the people to go back to their tents, ³¹ but you stand here near me. I will tell you all the commands, laws, and rules that you must teach them. They must do these things in the land that I am giving them to live in.’

³² “So you people must be careful to do everything the Lord commanded you. Do not stop following God! ³³ You must live the way the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will continue to live, and everything will be fine with you. You will live a long life in the land that will belong to you.

Always Love and Obey God

6 “These are the commands, the laws, and the rules that the Lord your God told me to teach you. Obey these laws in the land that you are entering to live in. ² You and your descendants must respect the Lord your God as long as you live. You must obey all his laws and commands that I give you. If you do this, you will have a long life in that new land. ³ Israelites, listen carefully and obey these laws. Then everything will be fine with you. You will have many children, and you will get the land filled with many good things^[z]—just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised.

⁴ “Listen, people of Israel! The Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God. ⁵ You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶ Always remember these commands that I give you today. ⁷ Be sure to teach them to your children. Talk about these commands when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road. Talk about them when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads to help you remember my teachings. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ “The Lord your God made a promise to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised to give you this land, and he will give it to you. He will give you great and rich cities that you did not build. ¹¹ He will give you houses full of good things that you did not put there. He will give you wells that you did not dig. He will give you vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you will have plenty to eat.

¹² “But be careful! Don’t forget the Lord. You were slaves in Egypt, but he brought you out of the land of Egypt. ¹³ Respect the Lord your God and serve only him. You must use only his name to make promises. ¹⁴ You must not follow other gods. You must not follow the gods of the people who live around you. ¹⁵ The Lord your God is always with you, and he hates for his people to worship other gods!^[aa] So if you follow those other gods, the Lord will become very angry with you. He will destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “You must not test the Lord your God like you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You must be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God. You must follow all the teachings and laws he has given you. ¹⁸ You must do what is right and good—what pleases the Lord. Then everything will go well for you, and you can go in and take the good land that the Lord promised your ancestors. ¹⁹ And you will force out all your enemies, just as the Lord said.

Teach Your Children the Things God Did

²⁰ “In the future, your children might ask you, ‘The Lord our God gave you teachings, laws, and rules. What do they mean?’ ²¹ Then you will say to them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power. ²² The Lord did great and amazing things. We saw him do these things to the Egyptian people, to Pharaoh, and to the people in Pharaoh’s house. ²³ He brought us out of Egypt so that he could give us the land that he promised our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to follow all these teachings. We must respect the Lord our God. Then he will always keep us alive and doing well, as we are today. ²⁵ If we carefully obey the whole law, exactly as the Lord our God told us to, he will say that we have done a very good thing.’^[ab]

Israel, God’s Special People

7 “The Lord your God will lead you into the land that you are entering to take for your own. He will force out many nations for you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations greater and more powerful than you. ² The Lord your God will put these nations under your power. And you will defeat them. You must destroy them completely. Don’t make an agreement with them or show them mercy. ³ Don’t marry any of them, and don’t let your sons or daughters marry any of the people from those other nations. ⁴ If you do, they will turn your children away from following me. Then your children will serve other gods, and the Lord will be very angry with you. He will quickly destroy you!

Destroy False Gods

⁵ “This is what you must do to those nations: You must smash their altars and break their memorial stones into pieces. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their statues. ⁶ Do this because you are the Lord’s own people. From all the people on earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his special people—people who belong only to him. ⁷ Why did the Lord love and choose you? It was not because you are such a large nation. You had the fewest of all people! ⁸ But the Lord brought you out of Egypt with great power and made you free from slavery. He freed you from the control of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord did this because he loves you and he wanted to keep the promise he made to your ancestors.

⁹ “So remember that the Lord your God is the only God, and you can trust him! He keeps his agreement. He shows his love and kindness to all people who love him and obey his commands. He continues to show his love and kindness through a thousand generations, ¹⁰ but the Lord punishes people who hate him. He will destroy them. He will not be slow to punish those who hate him. ¹¹ So you must be careful to obey the commands, laws, and rules that I give you today.

¹² “If you listen to these laws, and if you are careful to obey them, the Lord your God will keep his agreement of love with you. He promised this to your ancestors. ¹³ He will love you and bless you. He will make your nation grow. He will bless your children. He will bless your fields with good crops and will give you grain, new wine, and oil. He will bless your cows with calves and your sheep with lambs. You will have all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you.

¹⁴ “You will be blessed more than all people. Every husband and wife will be able to have children. Your cows will be able to have calves. ¹⁵ The Lord will take away all sickness from you and he will not let you catch any of the terrible diseases that you had in Egypt. But he will make your enemies catch those diseases. ¹⁶ You must destroy all the people the Lord your God helps you defeat. Don’t feel sorry for them, and don’t worship their gods! They will trap you—they will ruin your life.

The Lord Promises to Help His People

¹⁷ “Don’t say in your heart, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we force them out?’ ¹⁸ You must not be afraid of them. You must remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the people of Egypt. ¹⁹ You saw the great troubles he gave them and the amazing things he did. You saw the Lord use his great power and strength to bring you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use that same power against all the people you fear.

²⁰ “The Lord your God will send the hornet^[ac] against them. He will do this until he destroys all the people who escaped and tried to hide. ²¹ Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God is with you. He is a great and awesome God. ²² The Lord your God will force those nations to leave your country little by little. You will not destroy them all at once. If you did, the wild animals would grow to be too many for you. ²³ But the Lord your God will let you defeat those nations. He will confuse them in battle, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will help you defeat their kings. You will kill them, and the world will forget they ever lived. No one will be able to stop you. You will destroy them all!

²⁵ “You must throw the statues of their gods into the fire and burn them. You must not want to keep the silver or the gold that is on those statues for yourselves. It will be like a trap to you—it will ruin your life. The Lord your God hates those idols. ²⁶ You must not bring any of those disgusting idols into your homes, or you will be destroyed just as they will be. You must treat them as the disgusting things they are! They are to be destroyed.