Provision for Priests and Levites
DEUTERONOMY 18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, n shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They o shall eat the LORD’s food offerings [1] as their [2] inheritance. 2They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them. 3And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: p they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 q The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes r to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time.
6“And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, s where he lives—and he may come when he desires [3]— t to the place that the LORD will choose, 7and ministers in the name of the LORD his God, u like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the LORD, 8then he may have equal v portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony. [4]
Abominable Practices
9“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, w you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you anyone x who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, [5] anyone who y practices divination or z tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a a sorcerer 11or a charmer or b a medium or a necromancer or c one who inquires of the dead, 12 d for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And e because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, 14for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.
A New Prophet like Moses
15 f “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb g on the day of the assembly, when you said, h ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17And the LORD said to me, i ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 f I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. j And I will put my words in his mouth, and k he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 l And whoever will m not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 n But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or [6] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 o when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; n the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge
DEUTERONOMY 19 “When p the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 q you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3You shall measure the distances [1] and divide into three parts the area of the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.
4“This is the provision for r the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— 5as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, 6lest s the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. 7Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. 8 t And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, u as he has sworn to your fathers, and v gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— 9provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the LORD your God and by walking ever in his ways— w then you shall add three other cities to these three, 10lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.
11“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him x and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, 12then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 y Your eye shall not pity him, z but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood [2] from Israel, so that it may be well with you.
Property Boundaries
14 a “You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
Laws Concerning Witnesses
15“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. b Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16If c a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, d before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18The judges shall e inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 f then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil [3] from your midst. 20And the rest g shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 y Your eye shall not pity. h It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Laws Concerning Warfare
DEUTERONOMY 20 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see i horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is j with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2And when you draw near to the battle, k the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4for the LORD your God is he who goes with you l to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ 5Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not m enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. 7 n And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’ 8And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, o ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ 9And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.
10“When you draw near to a city to fight against it, p offer terms of peace to it. 11And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. 12But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13And when the LORD your God gives it into your hand, q you shall put all its males to the sword, 14 r but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you s shall take as plunder for yourselves. And t you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you. 15Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. 16But u in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17but v you shall devote them to complete destruction, [1] the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded, 18that w they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you x sin against the LORD your God.
19“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, y you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? 20Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
Atonement for Unsolved Murders
DEUTERONOMY 21 “If in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. 3And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer z that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. 4And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen a them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and b by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. 6And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man c shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. 8Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and d do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ 9So e you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.
Marrying Female Captives
10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, 12and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and f lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14But if you no longer delight in her, you shall g let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you h treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn
15“If a man has two wives, i the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, [1] 16then on the day when j he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, 17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is k the firstfruits of his strength. l The right of the firstborn is his.
A Rebellious Son
18“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 m Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. n So you shall purge the evil from your midst, o and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed
22“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 p his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for q a hanged man is cursed by God. r You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Various Laws
DEUTERONOMY 22 “You s shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. 2And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. 3And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. 4 t You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
5“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, u for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
6“If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, v you shall not take the mother with the young. 7You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, w that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
8“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.
9 x “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, [1] the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
12 y “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.
Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality
13“If any man takes a wife and z goes in to her and then hates her 14and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip [2] him, 19and they shall fine him a hundred shekels [3] of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin [4] of Israel. And she shall be his wife. a He may not divorce her all his days. 20But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and b the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has c done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. d So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
22 e “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. d So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23“If there is a f betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. d So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
25“But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, 27because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
28 g “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.
30 [5] h “A man shall not take his father’s wife, so that he does not i uncover his father’s nakedness. [6]
Those Excluded from the Assembly
DEUTERONOMY 23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
2 j “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.
3 k “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever, 4 l because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they m hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of n Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned o the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you. 6You p shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.
7“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for q he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because r you were a sojourner in his land. 8Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Uncleanness in the Camp
9“When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.
10“If any man among you becomes s unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, 11but when evening comes, he shall t bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.
12“You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. 13And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. 14Because u the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15 v “You shall not give up to his master a slave [1] who has escaped from his master to you. 16He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.
17“None of the w daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none x of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. 18You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog [2] into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.
19 y “You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, z interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 20 a You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, b that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
21 c “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
24“If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. 25If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, d you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.
Laws Concerning Divorce
DEUTERONOMY 24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and e he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4then f her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Miscellaneous Laws
5 g “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year h to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.
6“No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.
7 i “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he j treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. k So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
8“Take care, in l a case of leprous [1] disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9Remember what the LORD your God did to m Miriam n on the way as you came out of Egypt.
10“When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. 11You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. 12And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. 13 o You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and p bless you. And q it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.
14“You shall not r oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 s You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), t lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.
16 u “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 v “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, w or take a widow’s garment in pledge, 18but x you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
19 y “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, z that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 x You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
DEUTERONOMY 25 “If there is a a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, b acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, 2then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. 3 c Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
4 d “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage
5 e “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her f husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that g his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall h go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, i ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and j pull his sandal off his foot and k spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not l build up his brother’s house.’ 10And the name of his house [1] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
Miscellaneous Laws
11“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12then you shall cut off her hand. m Your eye shall have no pity.
13“You n shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15A full and fair [2] weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, o that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16For p all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, q are an abomination to the LORD your God.
17 r “Remember what Amalek did to you s on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and t cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19Therefore u when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall v blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes
DEUTERONOMY 26 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 w you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall x go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land y that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5“And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A z wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, a few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6And b the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7Then c we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8And d the LORD brought us out of Egypt e with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, [1] with signs and wonders. 9And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, f a land flowing with milk and honey. 10And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11And g you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
12“When you have finished paying all h the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is i the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, j nor have I forgotten them. 14 k I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it l to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 m Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
16“This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 n You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. 18And the LORD has declared today that you are o a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor p high above all nations q that he has made, and that you shall be r a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.”
The Altar on Mount Ebal
DEUTERONOMY 27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. 2And on the day s you cross over the Jordan to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 t And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, u a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, v on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. w You shall wield no iron tool on them; 6you shall build an altar to the LORD your God of uncut [1] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God, 7and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and x shall eat there, and you x shall rejoice before the LORD your God. 8And y you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Curses from Mount Ebal
9Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: z this day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10You shall therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”
11That day Moses charged the people, saying, 12“When you have crossed over the Jordan, a these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14And b the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:
15 c “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ d And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
16 e “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
17 f “‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
18 g “‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
19 h “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
20 i “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has j uncovered his father’s nakedness.’ [2] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
21 k “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
22 l “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
23 m “‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
24 n “‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
25 o “‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
26 p “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Blessings for Obedience
DEUTERONOMY 28 “And q if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you r high above all the nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings shall come upon you and s overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. 3Blessed shall you be in the city, and t blessed shall you be in the field. 4Blessed shall be u the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5Blessed shall be your basket and your v kneading bowl. 6Blessed shall you be w when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7“The LORD x will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8The LORD y will command the blessing on you in your barns and z in all that you undertake. a And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 9 b The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10And c all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are d called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be e afraid of you. 11And f the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in u the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, g to give the rain to your land in its season and h to bless all the work of your hands. And i you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13And the LORD will make you j the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 k and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses for Disobedience
15“But l if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and m overtake you. 16Cursed shall you be n in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20“The LORD o will send on you curses, confusion, and p frustration in all that you undertake to do, q until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21The LORD will make r the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 s The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought [1] and with t blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23And u the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25 v “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 w shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26And x your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and y there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27The LORD will strike you z with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and a scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28The LORD will strike you with b madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29and you shall c grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. [2] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 d You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. e You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. f You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 g Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, h but you shall be helpless. 33A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34so that you are driven mad i by the sights that your eyes see. 35The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs j with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36“The LORD will k bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you l nor your fathers have known. And m there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37And you shall become n a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. 38 o You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for p the locust shall consume it. 39 q You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you r shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for s they shall go into captivity. 42 p The cricket [3] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 t The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 u He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. t He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45 v “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46They shall be w a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 x Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he y will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 z The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, a swooping down like the eagle, a nation b whose language you do not understand, 50a hard-faced nation c who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51It shall d eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52“They shall e besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. 53And f you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, g in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54The man who is the most tender and refined among you will h begrudge food to his brother, to i the wife he embraces, [4] and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, j in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 k The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, [5] to her son and to her daughter, 57her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, j in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
58“If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, l the LORD your God, 59then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60And he will bring upon you again all m the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62Whereas n you were as numerous o as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63And as the LORD p took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will q take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
64“And the LORD r will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and s there you shall serve other gods t of wood and stone, u which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65And v among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but w the LORD will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and x a languishing soul. 66Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. 67 y In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and z the sights that your eyes shall see. 68And the LORD a will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that b you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
DEUTERONOMY 29 [1] These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel c in the land of Moab, besides d the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.
2 [2] And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: e “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, 3the great f trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4But to this day g the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 h I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 i You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. 7And when you came to this place, j Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8We took their land and k gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 l Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper [3] in all that you do.
10“You are standing today all of you before the LORD your God: the heads of your tribes, [4] your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11your little ones, your wives, and the m sojourner who is in your camp, from n the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12so that you may enter into the o sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God is making with you today, 13that he may p establish you today as his people, and that q he may be your God, as he promised you, and r as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14It is not with you alone s that I am making this sworn covenant, 15but with whoever is standing here with us today before the LORD our God, t and with whoever is not here with us today.
16“You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you u a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather v the anger of the LORD and w his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD x will blot out his name from under heaven. 21And the LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, y will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick— 23the whole land burned out with brimstone and z salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, a an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, b Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath— 24all the nations c will say, d ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, e bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28and the LORD f uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and g cast them into another land, as they are this day.’
29“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Repentance and Forgiveness
DEUTERONOMY 30 h “And i when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and j you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2and k return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3then the LORD your God l will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will m gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 n If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. o And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6And p the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, q so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 r The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. s For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life and Death
11“For this commandment that I command you today t is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 u It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13Neither 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. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
15“See, v I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God [1] that I command you today, w by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, [2] then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17But if x your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 y I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, z blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice a and holding fast to him, for b he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in c the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Joshua to Succeed Moses
DEUTERONOMY 31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2And he said to them, “I am d 120 years old today. I am no longer able to e go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, f ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3The LORD your God g himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, h as the LORD has spoken. 4And the LORD will do to them i as he did to Sihon j and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them k according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 l Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, m for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. n He will not leave you or forsake you.”
7Then o Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, l “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8It is the LORD p who goes before you. He will be with you; n he will not leave you or forsake you. q Do not fear or be dismayed.”
The Reading of the Law
9Then Moses r wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, s who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10And Moses commanded them, t “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at u the Feast of Booths, 11when all Israel comes v to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, w you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 x Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13and that their children, y who have not known it, z may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, a as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel
14And the LORD said to Moses, b “Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that c I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15And d the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.
16And the LORD said to Moses, b “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and e whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will f forsake me and g break my covenant that I have made with them. 17Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and h I will forsake them and i hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, j ‘Have not these evils come upon us because k our God is not among us?’ 18And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because l they have turned to other gods.
19“Now therefore write m this song and n teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be o a witness for me against the people of Israel. 20For when I have brought them into the land p flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and q grown fat, r they will turn to other gods and serve them, and s despise me and g break my covenant. 21And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as t a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For u I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” 22So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.
23 v And the LORD [1] commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, w “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. x I will be with you.”
24When Moses had finished y writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25Moses commanded z the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, 26“Take this Book of the Law a and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for b a witness against you. 27For I know how rebellious and c stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, d you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death! 28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak e these words in their ears and f call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death g you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And h in the days to come i evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, j provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”
The Song of Moses
30Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:
DEUTERONOMY 32 “Give ear, k O heavens, and I will speak,
and let l the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May m my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and n like showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe o greatness to our God!
4 p “The Rock, q his work is perfect,
for r all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and s without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children t because they are blemished;
they are u a crooked and twisted generation.
6 Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he v your father, who w created you,
who x made you and established you?
7 y Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
z ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High a gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he b divided mankind,
he fixed the borders [1] of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God. [2]
9 But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
10 “He found him c in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he d encircled him, he cared for him,
he e kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 f Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
12 g the LORD alone guided him,
h no foreign god was with him.
13 i He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with j honey out of the rock,
and k oil out of l the flinty rock.
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat [3] of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest [4] of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from m the blood of the grape.
15 “But n Jeshurun grew fat, and o kicked;
p you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
q then he forsook God r who made him
and scoffed at s the Rock of his salvation.
16 t They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 u They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to v new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of w the Rock that bore [5] you,
and you x forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 y “The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of z his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, a ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 b They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger c with their idols.
So d I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with e a foolish nation.
22 For f a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to g the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
h I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send i the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of j things that crawl in the dust.
25 k Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 l I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
m I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, n “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this.”’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is o no understanding in them.
29 p If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would q discern their latter end!
30 How could r one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock s had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up?
31 For t their rock is not as our Rock;
u our enemies are by themselves.
32 For their vine v comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of w poison;
their clusters are bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of x serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
y sealed up in my treasuries?
35 z Vengeance is mine, and recompense, [6]
a for the time when their foot shall slip;
for b the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
36 For c the LORD will vindicate [7] his people
d and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, e bond or free.
37 Then he will say, f ‘Where are their gods,
g the rock in which they took refuge,
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
39 “‘See now that h I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
i I kill and I make alive;
j I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For k I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
41 if I l sharpen my flashing sword [8]
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and m my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the n long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 o “Rejoice with him, O heavens; [9]
bow down to him, all gods, [10]
for he p avenges the blood of his children [11]
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him [12]
and cleanses [13] his people’s land.” [14]
44Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and q Joshua [15] the son of Nun. 45And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46he said to them, r “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, s that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47For it is no empty word for you, t but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses’ Death Foretold
48That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49“Go up u this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as v Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 w because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52For x you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel
DEUTERONOMY 33 This is the blessing with which Moses y the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2He said,
z “The LORD came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us; [1]
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came a from the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire [2] at his right hand.
3 Yes, b he loved his people, [3]
c all his holy ones were in his [4] hand;
d so they followed [5] in your steps,
receiving direction from you,
4 when e Moses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 Thus the LORD [6] f became king in g Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.
6 h “Let Reuben live, and not die,
but let his men be few.”
7And this he said of Judah:
“Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend [7] for him,
and be a help against his adversaries.”
8And i of Levi he said,
“Give to Levi [8] j your Thummim,
and your Urim to your godly one,
k whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother,
‘I regard them not’;
l he disowned his brothers
and ignored his children.
For m they observed your word
and kept your covenant.
10 n They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law;
o they shall put incense before you
and p whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O LORD, his substance,
and q accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
12 r Of Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety.
The High God [9] surrounds him all day long,
and dwells between his shoulders.”
13And s of Joseph he said,
t “Blessed by the LORD be his land,
with the choicest gifts of heaven u above, [10]
and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
and the abundance of v the everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and w its fullness
and the favor of x him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 y A firstborn bull [11]—he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a z wild ox;
with them a he shall gore the peoples,
all of them, to the ends of the earth;
b they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18And of Zebulun he said,
c “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call peoples d to their mountain;
there they offer e right sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.”
20And f of Gad he said,
“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
Gad crouches g like a lion;
he tears off arm and scalp.
21 h He chose the best of the land for himself,
for there a commander’s portion was reserved;
and i he came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the justice of the LORD,
and his judgments for Israel.”
22And j of Dan he said,
k “Dan is a lion’s cub
l that leaps from Bashan.”
23And m of Naphtali he said,
“O Naphtali, sated with favor,
and full of the blessing of the LORD,
n possess the lake [12] and the south.”
24And o of Asher he said,
“Most blessed of sons be Asher;
let him be the favorite of his brothers,
and let him p dip his foot in oil.
25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
and as your days, so shall your strength be.
26 q “There is none like God, O r Jeshurun,
s who rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your t dwelling place, [13]
and underneath are the everlasting arms. [14]
And he thrust out the enemy before you
and said, ‘Destroy.’
28 So Israel lived in safety,
in a land of grain and wine,
whose heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel! w Who is like you,
a people x saved by the LORD,
y the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs.”
The Death of Moses
DEUTERONOMY 34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab a to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah b as far as the western sea, 3 c the Negeb, and d the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho e the city of palm trees, as far as f Zoar. 4And the LORD said to him, g “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ h I have let you see it with your eyes, but i you shall not go over there.” 5So 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 the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but j no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 k Moses was 120 years old when he died. l His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8And the people of Israel m wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9And Joshua the son of Nun was full of n the spirit of wisdom, for o Moses had laid his hands on him. So p the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10And there has not q arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, r whom the LORD knew face to face, 11none like him for all s the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.