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Deuteronomy

1 These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against the Red Sea, between Par-an, and To-phel, and Laban, and Ha-ze-roth, and Di-za-hab. ²It is eleven days’ journey from Hor-eb by the way of mount Se-ir unto Ka-desh-bar-ne-a. ³And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, according unto all that Jehovah had given him in commandment unto them; ⁴after he had struck Si-hon the king of the Am-or-ites, who dwelt in Hesh-bon, and Og the king of Ba-shan, who dwelt in Ash-ta-roth, at Ed-re-i. ⁵Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, ⁶Jehovah our God spoke unto us in Hor-eb, saying, you have dwelt long enough in this mountain: ⁷turn yourselves, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Am-or-ites, and unto all the places near unto there, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Leb-a-non, as far as the great river, the river Eu-phre-tes. ⁸Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

⁹And I spoke unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: ¹⁰Jehovah your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ¹¹Jehovah, the God of your fathers, made you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! ¹²How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? ¹³Take yourselves men, wise and understanding, and known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. ¹⁴And you answered me, and said, The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do. ¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. ¹⁶And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner that is with him. ¹⁷you shall not respect persons in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it. ¹⁸And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

¹⁹And we journeyed from Hor-eb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Am-or-ites, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we came to Ka-desh-bar-ne-a. ²⁰And I said unto you, you are come unto the hill-country of the Am-or-ites, which Jehovah our God gives unto us. ²¹Behold, Jehovah your God has set the land before you: go up, take possession, as Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has spoken unto you; fear not, neither be dismayed. ²²And you came near unto me every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come. ²³And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe: ²⁴and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came unto the valley of Esh-col, and spied it out. ²⁵And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which Jehovah our God gives unto us. ²⁶Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God: ²⁷and you murmured in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Am-or-ites, to destroy us. ²⁸Where are we going up? Our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. ²⁹Then I said unto you, Do not dread, neither be afraid of them. ³⁰Jehovah your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Jehovah your God bares you, as a man does bear his son, in all the ways that you went, until you came unto this place. ³²Yet in this thing you did not believe Jehovah your God, ³³who went before you in the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. ³⁴And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, ³⁵Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I swore to give unto your fathers, ³⁶save Caleb the son of Je-phun-neh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he has trodden upon, and to his children, because he has wholly followed Jehovah. ³⁷Also Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, saying, you also shall not go in there: ³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there: and you encourage him; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹Moreover your little ones, that you said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰But as for you, turn yourself, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. ⁴¹Then you answered and said unto me, We have sinned against Jehovah, we will go up and fight, according to all that Jehovah our God commanded us. And you girded on every man his weapons of war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country. ⁴²And Jehovah said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; unless you be struck before your enemies. ⁴³So I spoke unto you, and you listened not; but you rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country. ⁴⁴And the Am-or-ites, that dwelt in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Se-ir, even unto Hor-mah. ⁴⁵And you returned and wept before Jehovah; but Jehovah listened not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. ⁴⁶So you abode in Ka-desh many days, according unto the days that you abode there.

2 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Jehovah spoke unto me; and we compassed mount Se-ir many days. ²And Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, ³you have compassed this mountain long enough: turn yourselves northward. ⁴And command the people, saying, you are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Se-ir; and they will be afraid of you: but you take good heed unto yourselves therefore; ⁵contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Se-ir unto Esau for a possession. ⁶You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink. ⁷For Jehovah your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Jehovah your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

⁸So we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Se-ir, from the way of the Arabah from E-lath and from E-zion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹And Jehovah said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. ¹⁰(The E-mim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims: ¹¹these also are accounted Reph-a-im, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them E-mim. ¹²The Hor-ites also dwelt in Se-ir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave unto them.) ¹³Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zar-ed. And we went over the brook Zar-ed. ¹⁴And the days in which we came from Ka-desh-bar-ne-a, until we were come over the brook Zar-ed, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah swore unto them. ¹⁵Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. ¹⁶So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, ¹⁷that Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, ¹⁸you are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab: ¹⁹and when you come near over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. ²⁰(That also is accounted a land of Reph-a-im: Reph-a-im dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them Zam-zum-mims, ²¹a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but Jehovah destroyed them from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead; ²²as he did for the children of Esau, that dwell in Se-ir, when he destroyed the Hor-ites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: ²³and the A-vites, that dwelt in villages as far as Ga-za, the Caph-to-rim, that came forth out of Caph-tor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

²⁴Rise yourselves up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Ar-non: behold, I have given into your hand Si-hon the Amorite, king of Hesh-bon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. ²⁵This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you. ²⁶And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Ke-de-moth unto Si-hon king of Hesh-bon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither unto the right hand nor to the left. ²⁸you shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only let me pass through on my feet, ²⁹as the children of Esau that dwell in Se-ir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did unto me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah our God gives us. ³⁰But Si-hon king of Hesh-bon would not let us pass by him; for Jehovah your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day. ³¹And Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Si-hon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land. ³²Then Si-hon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Ja-haz. ³³And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people. ³⁴And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: ³⁵only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. ³⁶From A-ro-er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Ar-non, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gil-e-ad, there was not a city too high for us; Jehovah our God delivered up all before us: ³⁷only to the land of the children of Ammon you came not near; all the side of the river Jab-bok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever Jehovah our God had forbidden us.

3 Then we turned, and went up the way to Ba-shan: and Og the king of Ba-shan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Ed-re-i. ²And Jehovah said unto me, Fear him not; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do unto him as you did unto Si-hon king of the Am-or-ites, who dwelt at Hesh-bon. ³So Jehovah our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Ba-shan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left remaining to him. ⁴And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them; sixty cities, all the region of Ar-gob, the kingdom of Og in Ba-shan. ⁵All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides a great many unwalled towns. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Si-hon king of Hesh-bon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. ⁷But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey unto ourselves. ⁸And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Am-or-ites that were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Ar-non unto mount Her-mon; ⁹(which Her-mon the Si-do-ni-ans call Si-ri-on, and the Am-or-ites call it She-nir;) ¹⁰all the cities of the plain, and all Gil-e-ad, and all Ba-shan, unto Sal-chah and Ed-re-i, cities of the kingdom of Og in Ba-shan. ¹¹(For only Og king of Ba-shan remained of the remnant of the Reph-a-ims; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rab-bah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.)

¹²And this land we took in possession at that time: from A-ro-er, which is by the valley of the Ar-non, and half the hill-country of Gil-e-ad, and the cities thereof, I gave unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites: ¹³and the rest of Gil-e-ad, and all Ba-shan, the kingdom of Og, I gave unto the half-tribe of Ma-nas-seh; all the region of Ar-gob, even all Ba-shan. (The same is called the land of Reph-a-im. ¹⁴Ja-ir the son of Ma-nas-seh took all the region of Ar-gob, unto the border of the Ge-shu-rites and the Ma-ach-a-thites, and called them, even after his own name, Ba-shan-Ha-voth-ja-ir, unto this day.) ¹⁵And I gave Gil-e-ad unto Ma-chir. ¹⁶And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gil-e-ad even unto the valley of the Ar-non, the middle of the valley, and the border thereof, even unto the river Jab-bok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; ¹⁷the Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border thereof, from Chin-ne-reth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pis-gah eastward. ¹⁸And I commanded you at that time, saying, Jehovah your God has given you this land to possess it: you shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the men of valor. ¹⁹But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (I know that you have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you, ²⁰until Jehovah give rest unto your brethren, as unto you, and they also possess the land which Jehovah your God gives them beyond the Jordan: then shall you return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.

²¹And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, your eyes have seen all that Jehovah your God has done unto these two kings: so shall Jehovah do unto all the kingdoms where you go over. ²²you shall not fear them; for Jehovah your God, it is he that fights for you. ²³And I besought Jehovah at that time, saying, ²⁴O Lord Jehovah, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your mighty acts? ²⁵Let me go over, I pray you, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Leb-a-non. ²⁶But Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, and listened not unto me; and Jehovah said to me, Let it suffice you; speak no more unto me of this matter. ²⁷Get yourself up unto the top of Pis-gah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan. ²⁸But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see. ²⁹So we abode in the valley over against Beth-pe-or.

4 And now, O Israel, listen unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, gives you. ²You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Ba-al-pe-or; for all the men that followed Ba-al-pe-or, Jehovah your God has destroyed them from the midst of you. ⁴But you that did cleave unto Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day. ⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it. ⁶Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. ⁷For what great nation is there, that has a god so near unto them, as Jehovah our God is whensoever we call upon him? ⁸And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? ⁹Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, unless you forget the things which your eyes saw, and unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known unto your children and your children’s children; ¹⁰the day that you stood before Jehovah your God in Hor-eb, when Jehovah said unto me, Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. ¹¹And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ¹²And Jehovah spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; only you heard a voice. ¹³And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. ¹⁴And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you these statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. ¹⁵Take therefore good heed unto yourselves; for you saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spoke unto you in Hor-eb out of the midst of the fire. ¹⁶Lest you corrupt yourselves, and you make a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; ¹⁹and unless you lift up your eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah your God has allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰But Jehovah has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day. ²¹Furthermore Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which Jehovah your God gives you for an inheritance: ²²but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that good land.        *** ²³Take heed unto yourselves, unless you forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and you make a graven image in the form of anything which Jehovah your God has forbidden you. ²⁴For Jehovah your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. ²⁵When you shall beget children, and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah your God, to provoke him to anger; ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where Jehovah shall lead you away. ²⁸And there you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from there you shall seek Jehovah your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in tribulation, and all these things are come upon you, in the latter days you shall return to Jehovah your God, and listen unto his voice: ³¹for Jehovah your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he sware unto them. ³²For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is, or has been heard like it? ³³Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? ³⁴Or has God appraised to go and take to himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵Unto you it was showed, that you might know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none other besides him. ³⁶Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and upon earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; ³⁸to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day. ³⁹Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Jehovah, he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none other. ⁴⁰And you shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah your God gives you, for ever.

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; ⁴²that the manslayer might flee there, that slays his neighbor unwittingly, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: ⁴³namely, Be-zer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ra-moth in Gil-e-ad, for the Gadites; and Go-lan in Ba-shan, for the Man-nas-sites. ⁴⁴And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: ⁴⁵these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, ⁴⁶beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-pe-or, in the land of Si-hon king of the Am-or-ites, who dwelt at Hesh-bon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck, when they came forth out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Ba-shan, the two kings of the Am-or-ites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; ⁴⁸from A-ro-er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Ar-non, even unto mount Sion (the same is Her-mon), ⁴⁹and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pis-gah.

5 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and observe to do them. ²Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Hor-eb. ³Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. ⁴Jehovah spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, ⁵(I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to show you the word of Jehovah: for you were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

⁶I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ⁷you shall have no other gods before me. ⁸you shall not make unto yourselves any graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: ⁹you shall not bow down yourself unto them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me; ¹⁰and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. ¹¹you shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain: for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. ¹²Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah your God commanded you. ¹³Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; ¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto Jehovah your God: in it, you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; that your man-servant and your maid-servant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Jehovah your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. ¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as Jehovah your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Jehovah your God gives you. ¹⁷you shall not kill. ¹⁸Neither shall you commit adultery. ¹⁹Neither shall you steal. ²⁰Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. ²¹Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife; neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s. ²²These words Jehovah spoke unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me.

²³And it came to pass, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; ²⁴and you said, Behold, Jehovah our God has showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does speak with man, and he lives. ²⁵Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, then we shall die. ²⁶For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ²⁷You go near, and hear all that Jehovah our God shall say: and then you speak unto us all that Jehovah our God shall speak unto you; and we will hear it, and do it. ²⁸And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when you spoke unto me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto you: they have well said all that they have spoken. ²⁹Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! ³⁰Go say to them, Return yourselves to your tents. ³¹But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak unto you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. ³²You shall observe to do therefore as Jehovah your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³³You shall walk in all the ways which Jehovah your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

6 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it; ²that you might fear Jehovah your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has promised unto you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ⁵and you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; ⁷and you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lay down, and when you rise up. ⁸And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. ⁹And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates. ¹⁰And it shall be, when Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land which he sware unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto you, great and goodly cities, which you build not, ¹¹and houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and cisterns hewn out, which you hewed not, vineyards and olive-trees, which you planted not, and you shall eat and be full; ¹²then beware unless you forget Jehovah, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹³You shall fear Jehovah your God; and him shall you serve, and shall swear by his name. ¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you; ¹⁵for Jehovah your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; unless the anger of Jehovah your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. ¹⁶You shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as you tempted him in Mas-sah.

¹⁷You shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ¹⁸And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of Jehovah; that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers, ¹⁹to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Jehovah has spoken. ²⁰When your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God has commanded you? ²¹Then you shall say unto your son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt: and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; ²²and Jehovah showed signs and wonders, great and greatly, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes; ²³and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. ²⁴And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. ²⁵And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as he has commanded us.

7 When Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Gir-gash-ite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Pe-riz-zite, and the Hi-vite, and the Jeb-u-site, seven nations greater and mightier than you; ²and when Jehovah your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; ³neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son. ⁴For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly. ⁵But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their images, and burn their graven images with fire. ⁶For you are a holy people unto Jehovah your God: Jehovah your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. ⁷Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: ⁸but because Jehovah loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore unto your fathers, has Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know therefore that Jehovah your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, ¹⁰and repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will repay him to his face. ¹¹You shall therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.

¹²And it shall come to pass, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah your God will keep the covenant with you and the lovingkindness which he swore unto your fathers: ¹³and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore unto your fathers to give you. *** ¹⁴You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. ¹⁵And Jehovah will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will he put upon you, but will lay them upon all them that hate you. ¹⁶And you shall consume all the peoples that Jehovah your God shall deliver unto you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto you. ¹⁷If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? ¹⁸You shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Jehovah your God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; ¹⁹the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Jehovah your God brought you out: so shall Jehovah your God do unto all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰Moreover Jehovah your God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. ²¹You shall not be frightened at them; for Jehovah your God is in the midst of you, a great and a terrible God. ²²And Jehovah your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, unless the beasts of the field increase upon you. ²³But Jehovah your God will deliver them up before you, and will confound them with a great vexation, until they be destroyed. ²⁴And he will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them. ²⁵The graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire: you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto you, unless you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. ²⁶And you shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

8 All the commandment which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers. ²And you shall remember all the ways which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. ³And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Jehovah does man live. ⁴Your raiment did not become old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. ⁵And you shall consider in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so Jehovah your God chastens you. ⁶And you shall keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. ⁷For Jehovah your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; ⁸a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; ⁹a land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.

¹⁰And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Jehovah your God for the good land which he has given you. ¹¹Beware unless you forget Jehovah your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: ¹²lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; ¹³and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and a thirsty ground where  no water was; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; ¹⁶who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end: ¹⁷and unless you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. ¹⁸But you shall remember Jehovah your God, for it is he that gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers, as at this day. ¹⁹And it shall be, if you shall forget Jehovah your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. ²⁰As the nations that Jehovah makes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you would not listen unto the voice of Jehovah your God.

9 Hear, O Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ²a people great and tall, the sons of the Ana-kims, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? ³Know therefore this day, that Jehovah your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Jehovah has spoken unto you. ⁴Speak not in your heart, after that Jehovah your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah does drive them out from before you. ⁵Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Jehovah swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ⁶Know therefore, that Jehovah your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiffnecked people.

⁷Remember, do not forget, how you provoked Jehovah your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came unto this place, you have been rebellious against Jehovah. ⁸Also in Hor-eb you provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you. ⁹When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. ¹⁰And Jehovah delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which Jehovah spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. ¹¹And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. ¹²And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, get you down quickly from here; for your people that you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. ¹³Furthermore Jehovah spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: ¹⁴let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. ¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶And I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Jehovah your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you. ¹⁷And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith Jehovah was angry against you to destroy you. But Jehovah listened unto me that time also. ²⁰And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. ²²And at Tab-e-rah, and at Mas-sah, and at Kib-roth-hat-ta-a-vah, you provoked Jehovah to wrath. ²³And when Jehovah sent you from Ka-desh-bar-ne-a, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and you believed him not, nor listened to his voice. ²⁴You have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you. ²⁵So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you. ²⁶And I prayed unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, destroy not your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, ²⁸lest the land where you brought us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. ²⁹Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.

10 At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew yourself two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make yourself an ark of wood. ²And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark. ³So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. ⁴And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Jehovah spoke unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Jehovah gave them unto me. ⁵And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Jehovah commanded me. ⁶(And the children of Israel journeyed from Beer-oth Ben-e-ja-a-kan to Mo-se-ra. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and El-e-a-zar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead. ⁷From there they journeyed unto Gud-go-dah; and from Gud-go-dah to Jot-ba-thah, a land of brooks of water. ⁸At that time Jehovah set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. ⁹Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah your God spoke unto him.) ¹⁰And I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Jehovah listened unto me that time also; Jehovah would not destroy you. ¹¹And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, take your journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them.

¹²And now, Israel, what does Jehovah your God require of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good? ¹⁴Behold, unto Jehovah your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. ¹⁵Only Jehovah had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day. ¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be stiffnecked no more. ¹⁷For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who regards not persons, nor takes reward. ¹⁸He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner, in giving him food and raiment. ¹⁹Love therefore, the sojourner; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰You shall fear Jehovah your God; him shall you serve; and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear. ²¹He is your praise, and he is your God, that has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen. ²²Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Jehovah your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.

11 Therefore you shall love Jehovah your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway. ²And know for yourself this day: for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, ³and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; ⁴and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Jehovah has destroyed them unto this day; ⁵and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until you came unto this place; ⁶and what he did unto Da-than and A-bi-ram, the sons of E-li-ab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: ⁷but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did.

⁸Therefore shall you keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you go over to possess it; ⁹and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; ¹¹but the land, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven, ¹²a land which Jehovah your God cares for: the eyes of Jehovah your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. ¹³And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil. ¹⁵And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶Take heed to yourselves, unless your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; ¹⁷and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah gives you.

¹⁸Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lay down, and when you rise up. ²⁰And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates; ²¹that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. ²²For if you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; ²³then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. ²⁴Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Leb-a-non, from the river, the river Eu-phre-tes, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. ²⁵There shall no man be able to stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he has spoken unto you.

²⁶Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: ²⁷the blessing, if you shall listen unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; ²⁸and the curse, if you shall not listen unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. ²⁹And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing upon mount Ge-ri-zim, and the curse upon mount E-bal. ³⁰Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gil-gal, beside the oaks of Mo-reh? ³¹For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell therein. ³²And you shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.

12 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live upon the earth. ²You shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: ³and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their images with fire; and you shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place. ⁴You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God.

⁵But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come; ⁶and there you shall bring your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill-offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock: ⁷and there you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto, you and your households, wherein Jehovah your God has blessed you. ⁸You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes; ⁹for you are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Jehovah your God gives you. ¹⁰But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God will cause you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety; ¹¹then it shall come to pass that to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there shall you bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow unto Jehovah. ¹²And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite that is within your gates, forasmuch as he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed to yourself that you offer not your burnt-offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt-offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. ¹⁵Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. ¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out upon the earth as water. ¹⁷You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstlings of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill-offerings, nor the heave-offering of your hand; ¹⁸but you shall eat them before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man-servant, and your maid-servant, and the Levite that is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all that you put your hand unto. ¹⁹Take heed to yourself that you forsake not the Levite as long as you live in your land. ²⁰When Jehovah your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh, because your soul desires to eat flesh; you may eat flesh, after all the desire of your soul. ²¹If the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, to put his name there, be too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Jehovah has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. ²²Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat thereof: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof alike. ²³Only be sure that you eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out upon the earth as water. ²⁵You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. ²⁶Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go unto the place which Jehovah shall choose: ²⁷and you shall offer your burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah your God; and you shall eat the flesh. ²⁸Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you for ever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah your God. ²⁹When Jehovah your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; ³⁰take heed to yourself that you be not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you inquire not after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. ³¹You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God: for every abomination to Jehovah, which he hates, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods. ³²What thing soever I command you, that shall you observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

13 If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder, ²and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; ³you shall not listen unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams: for Jehovah your God proves you, to knows whether you love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him. ⁵And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Jehovah your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you.

⁶If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, that is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers; ⁷of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near unto you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; ⁸you shall not consent unto him, nor listen unto him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him: ⁹but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰And you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹¹And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more such wickedness as this is in the midst of you.

¹²If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Jehovah your God gives you to dwell there, saying, ¹³Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known; ¹⁴then shall you inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is worked in the midst of you, ¹⁵you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah your God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again. ¹⁷And there shall cleave nothing of the devoted thing to your hand; that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion upon you, and multiply you, as he has sworn unto your fathers; ¹⁸when you shall listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah your God.

14 You are the children of Jehovah your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. ²For you are a holy people unto Jehovah your God, and Jehovah has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. ³You shall not eat any abominable thing. ⁴These are the beasts which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, ⁵the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the chamois. ⁶And every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you eat. ⁷Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the coney; because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean unto you. ⁸And the swine, because he parts the hoof but chews not the cud, he is unclean unto you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. ⁹These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever has fins and scales may you eat; ¹⁰and whatsoever has not fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean unto you. ¹¹Of all clean birds you may eat. ¹²But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the ospray, ¹³and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind, ¹⁴and every raven after its kind, ¹⁵and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, ¹⁶the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, ¹⁷and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, ¹⁸and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. ¹⁹And all winged creeping things are unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. ²⁰Of all clean birds you may eat. ²¹you shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it unto the sojourner that is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it unto a foreigner: for you are a holy people unto Jehovah your God. you shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²²You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year. ²³And you shall eat before Jehovah your God, in the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always. ²⁴And if the way be too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which Jehovah your God shall choose, to set his name there, when Jehovah your God shall bless you; ²⁵then shall you turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose: ²⁶and you shall bestow the money for whatsoever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷And the Levite that is within your gates, you shall not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ²⁸At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates: ²⁹and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

15 At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. ²And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent unto his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because Jehovah’s release has been proclaimed. ³Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatsoever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. ⁴Howbeit there shall be no poor with you; (for Jehovah will surely bless you in the land which Jehovah your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it;) ⁵if only you diligently listen unto the voice of Jehovah your God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day. ⁶For Jehovah your God will bless you, as he promised you: and you shall lend unto many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. ⁷If there be with you a poor man, one of your brethren, within any of your gates in your land which Jehovah your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; ⁸but you shall surely open your hand unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wants. ⁹Beware that there be not a base thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry unto Jehovah against you, and it be sin unto you. ¹⁰You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give unto him; because that for this thing Jehovah your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand unto. ¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, you shall surely open your hand unto your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

¹²If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: ¹⁴you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing-floor, and out of your winepress; as Jehovah your God has blessed you, you shall give unto him. ¹⁵And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶And it shall be, if he say unto you, I will not go out from you; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; ¹⁷then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be your servant for ever. And also unto your maid-servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸It shall not seem hard unto you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and Jehovah your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹All the firstling males that are born of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify unto Jehovah your God: you shall do no work with the firstling of your herd, nor shear the firstling of your flock. ²⁰You shall eat it before Jehovah your God year by year in the place which Jehovah shall choose, you and your household. ²¹And if it have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, you shall not sacrifice it unto Jehovah your God. ²²You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. ²³Only you shall not eat the blood thereof; you shall pour it out upon the ground as water.

16 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto Jehovah your God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. ²And you shall sacrifice the Passover unto Jehovah your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Jehovah shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ³You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in a hurry: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. ⁴And there shall be no leaven seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. ⁵You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Jehovah your God gives you; ⁶but at the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt. ⁷And you shall roast and eat it in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go unto your tents. ⁸Six days you shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Jehovah your God; you shall do no work therein. ⁹Seven weeks shall you number unto you: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain shall you begin to number seven weeks. ¹⁰And you shall keep the feast of weeks unto Jehovah your God with a tribute of a freewill-offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Jehovah your God blesses you: ¹¹and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man-servant, and your maid-servant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of you, in the place which Jehovah your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ¹²And you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. ¹³You shall keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress: ¹⁴and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man-servant, and your maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates. ¹⁵Seven days shall you keep a feast unto Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah shall choose; because Jehovah your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. ¹⁶Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Jehovah your God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah empty: ¹⁷every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Jehovah your God which he has given you.

¹⁸Judges and officers shall you make for yourselves in all your gates, which Jehovah your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with a righteous judgment. ¹⁹You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. ²⁰That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which Jehovah your God gives you. ²¹You shall not plant yourselves an As