The Sacred Bible: The Book of Deuteronomy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
{1:1} These are the words which Moses spoke to all of Israel, across the Jordan, in the plain of the wilderness opposite the Red Sea, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth, where gold is very plentiful,
{1:2} eleven days from Horeb, by way of Mount Seir as far as Kadesh-barnea.
{1:3} In the fortieth year, on the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses told the sons of Israel all that the Lord had instructed him. And so he spoke to them,
{1:4} after he had struck down Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, who resided at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,
{1:5} across the Jordan in the land of Moab. And so, Moses began to explain the law, and to say:
{1:6} “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: ‘You have remained long enough on this mountain.
{1:7} Turn back and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and to the other places which are near it: the plains as well as the mountainous regions, and the low-lying places opposite the south and along the shore of the sea, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates.’
{1:8} ‘Lo,’ he said, ‘I have delivered it to you. Enter and possess that which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their offspring after them.’
{1:9} And I said to you, at that time:
{1:10} ‘I alone am not able to sustain you. For the Lord, your God, has multiplied you, and you are today like the stars of heaven, very many.
{1:11} May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to this number many thousands more, and may he bless you, just as he has said.
{1:12} Alone, I do not have the strength to endure your arbitrations and judgments and disputes.
{1:13} Offer, from among you, wise and experienced men, those whose conversation has been proven within your tribes, so that I may appoint them as your rulers.’
{1:14} Then you responded to me: ‘What you intend to do is a good thing.’
{1:15} And so, I took from your tribes men, wise and noble, and I appointed them as rulers, as tribunes and centurions, and as leaders over fifty and over ten, who would teach you each thing.
{1:16} And I instructed them, saying: ‘Listen to them, and judge what is just, whether he is one of your citizens or a sojourner.
{1:17} There shall be no favoritism to any persons. So you shall listen to the little as well as to the great. And you shall not accept anyone’s reputation, for this is the judgment of God. But if anything seems difficult to you, then refer it to me, and I will hear it.’
{1:18} And I instructed you in all that you were obliged to do.
{1:19} Then, setting out from Horeb, we crossed through a terrible and great wasteland, which you saw along the way of the mountain of the Amorite, just as the Lord our God had instructed us. And when we had arrived at Kadesh-barnea,
{1:20} I said to you: ‘You have arrived at the mountain of the Amorite, which the Lord our God will give to us.
{1:21} Gaze upon the land that the Lord your God gives to you. Ascend and possess it, just as the Lord our God has spoken to your fathers. Do not be afraid, and do not become terrified by anything.’
{1:22} And you all approached me and said: ‘Let us send men who may consider the land, and who may report as to the way by which we ought to ascend, and as to which cities we ought to travel.’
{1:23} And since the word was pleasing to me, I sent from among you twelve men, one from each tribe.
{1:24} These, when they had set out and had ascended the mountains, arrived as far as the valley of the cluster of grapes. And having considered the land,
{1:25} having taken from its fruits in order to show its fertility, they brought these to us, and they said: ‘The land that the Lord our God will give to us is good.’
{1:26} Yet you were not willing to go there. Instead, being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God,
{1:27} you murmured in your tents, and you said: ‘The Lord hates us, and therefore he has led us away from the land of Egypt, so that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorite and destroy us.
{1:28} To where should we ascend? The messengers have terrified our heart by saying: “The multitude is very great, and taller than us. And the cities are great, and the walls extend even to the sky. We have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’
{1:29} And I said to you: ‘Do not be apprehensive, nor should you fear them.
{1:30} The Lord God himself, who is your leader, will fight on your behalf, just as he did in Egypt in the sight of all.
{1:31} And in the wilderness (as you yourselves saw), the Lord your God carried you, like a man who is accustomed to carrying his little son, along all the way that you walked, until you arrived at this place.’
{1:32} And yet, despite all of this, you did not believe the Lord your God,
{1:33} who went before you on the way, and who marked out the place where you should pitch your tents, showing you the way by fire in the night, and by a pillar of cloud in the day.
{1:34} And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, becoming angry, he swore and said:
{1:35} ‘None of the men of this wicked generation will see the good land, which I have promised by oath to your fathers,
{1:36} except Caleb the son of Jephuneh. For he himself will see it, and I will give the land on which he has walked to him and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord.’
{1:37} Neither is his indignation with the people a wonder, since the Lord also became angry with me because of you, and so he said: ‘Neither will you enter into that place.
{1:38} But Joshua, the son of Nun, your minister, shall himself enter on your behalf. Exhort and strengthen this man, and he himself shall divide the land by lot to Israel.
{1:39} Your little ones, about whom you said that they would be led away as captives, and your sons, who to this day are ignorant of the difference between good and evil, they shall enter. And I will give the land to them, and they will possess it.
{1:40} But as for you, turn back and go out to the wilderness, by way of the Red Sea.’
{1:41} And you responded to me: ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will ascend and fight, just as the Lord our God has instructed.’ And having been equipped with weapons, when you were setting out for the mountain,
{1:42} the Lord said to me: ‘Say to them: Do not ascend and do not fight. For I am not with you. Otherwise, you may fall in the sight of your enemies.’
{1:43} I spoke, and you did not listen. But, opposing the order of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you ascended onto the mountain.
{1:44} And so, having gone forth, the Amorite, who was living in the mountains, came against you and pursued you, just as a swarm of bees would do. And he struck you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.
{1:45} And when you returned and were weeping in the sight of the Lord, he would not hear you, nor was he willing to agree to your voice.
{1:46} Therefore, you camped at Kadesh-barnea for a long time.”
{2:1} “And setting out from there, we arrived at the wilderness which leads to the Red Sea, just as the Lord had spoken to me. And we encompassed Mount Seir for a long time.
{2:2} And the Lord said to me:
{2:3} ‘You have encompassed this mountain for long enough. Go forth, toward the north.
{2:4} And instruct the people, saying: You shall cross through the borders of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live at Seir, and they will fear you.
{2:5} Therefore, take care diligently, lest you be moved against them. For I will not give to you from their land even as much as the step that one foot can tread upon, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
{2:6} You shall buy food from them for money, and you shall eat. You shall draw water for money, and you shall drink.
{2:7} The Lord your God has blessed you in every work of your hands. The Lord your God, dwelling with you, knows your journey, how you crossed through this great wilderness over forty years, and how you have been lacking in nothing.’
{2:8} And when we had passed through our brothers, the sons of Esau, who were living at Seir by the way of the plain from Elath and from Eziongeber, we arrived at the way which leads to the desert of Moab.
{2:9} And the Lord said to me: ‘You should not fight against the Moabites, nor should you go to battle against them. For I will not give to you anything from their land, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
{2:10} The Emim were the first of its inhabitants, a people great and strong, and of such great height, like the race of the Anakim.
{2:11} They were considered to be like giants, and they were like the sons of the Anakim. And, indeed, the Moabites call them: the Emim.
{2:12} The Horites also formerly lived at Seir. When these had been driven out and destroyed, the sons of Esau lived there, just as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to him.
{2:13} Then, rising up so as to cross over the torrent Zered, we arrived at the place.
{2:14} Then, from the time that we advanced from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the torrent Zered, there were thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of the men who were fit for war had been consumed out of the camp, just as the Lord had sworn.
{2:15} For his hand was against them, so that they would pass away from the midst of the camp.
{2:16} Then, after all the fighting men had fallen,
{2:17} the Lord spoke to me, saying:
{2:18} ‘Today, you shall cross the borders of Moab, at the city named Ar.
{2:19} And when you have arrived in the vicinity of the sons of Ammon, be careful that you do not fight against them, nor should you be moved to battle. For I will not give to you from the land of the sons of Ammon, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
{2:20} It was reputed to be a land of giants. And giants lived there in times past, those whom the Ammonites call the Zamzummim.
{2:21} They are a people, great and numerous, and of lofty stature, like the Anakim, whom the Lord wiped away before their face. And he caused them to live there in place of them,
{2:22} just as he had done for the sons of Esau, who live at Seir, wiping out the Horites and delivering their land to them, which they possess even to the present time.
{2:23} Likewise the Hevites, who were living in small villages as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians, who went forth from Cappadocia, and they wiped them out and lived in their place.
{2:24} ‘Rise up and cross the torrent Arnon! Behold, I have delivered Sihon, the king of Heshbon, the Amorite, into your hand, and so, begin to possess his land and to engage in battle against him.
{2:25} Today I will begin to send the terror and dread of you among the peoples who are living under all of heaven, so that, when they hear your name, they may be afraid, and may tremble in the manner of a woman giving birth, and may be gripped by anguish.’
{2:26} Therefore, I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, with peaceful words, saying:
{2:27} ‘We will cross through your land. We will advance by the public way. We will not turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left.
{2:28} Sell us food for a price, so that we may eat. Provide us with water for money, and so we will drink. We only ask that you allow us to pass through,
{2:29} just as the sons of Esau have done, who live at Seir, and the Moabites, who abide in Ar, until we arrive at the Jordan, and we cross to the land which the Lord our God will give to us.’
{2:30} And Sihon, the king of Heshbon, was not willing to grant passage to us. For the Lord your God had hardened his spirit, and had fastened his heart, so that he would be delivered into your hands, just as you now see.
{2:31} And the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land to you. Begin to possess it.’
{2:32} And Sihon went out to meet us with all his people, to battle at Jahaz.
{2:33} And the Lord our God delivered him to us. And we struck him down, with his sons and all his people.
{2:34} And we seized all his cities at that time, putting to death their inhabitants: men as well as women and children. We left nothing of them,
{2:35} except the cattle, which went to the share of those who plundered them. And we seized the spoils of the cities,
{2:36} from Aroer, which is above the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town which is situated in a valley, all the way to Gilead. There was not a village or city which escaped from our hands. The Lord our God delivered everything to us,
{2:37} except the land of the sons of Ammon, which we did not approach, and all that is adjacent to the torrent Jabbok, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God prohibited to us.”
{3:1} “And so, having turned back, we ascended by the way of Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, went forth with his people to meet us in warfare at Edrei.
{3:2} And the Lord said to me: ‘You should not fear him. For he has been delivered into your hand, with all his people as well as his land. And you shall do to him just as you have done to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’
{3:3} Therefore, the Lord our God delivered into our hands, now Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. And we struck them down unto utter annihilation,
{3:4} laying waste to all his cities at one time. There was not a village which escaped from us: sixty cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og, in Bashan.
{3:5} All the cities were fortified with very high walls, and with gates and bars, in addition to innumerable villages which had no walls.
{3:6} And we wiped them out, just as we had done to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, destroying every city, and its men, as well as women and children.
{3:7} But the cattle and the spoils of the cities, we plundered.
{3:8} And at that time, we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan: from the torrent Arnon as far as Mount Hermon,
{3:9} which the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call Senir,
{3:10} all the cities that are situated in the plain, and the entire land of Gilead and Bashan, all the way to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
{3:11} For only Og, the king of Bashan, was left behind out of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is on display, (it is in Rabbah, among the sons of Ammon) being nine cubits in length, and four in width, according to the measure of the cubit of a man’s hand.
{3:12} And we possessed the land, at that time, from Aroer, which is above the bank of the torrent Arnon, as far as the middle of Mount Gilead. And I gave its cities to Ruben and Gad.
{3:13} Then I delivered the remaining part of Gilead, and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, which is the entire region of Argob, to one half of the tribe of Manasseh. And all of Bashan is called the land of the giants.
{3:14} Jair, the son of Manasseh, possessed all the region of Argob, as far as the borders of Geshur and Maacath. And he called Bashan by his own name, Havvoth Jair, that is, the villages of Jair, even to the present day.
{3:15} Likewise, to Machir, I gave Gilead.
{3:16} And to the tribes of Ruben and Gad, I gave from the land of Gilead as far as the torrent Arnon, one half of the torrent and its confines, even to the torrent Jabbok, which is along the border of the sons of Ammon,
{3:17} and the plain of the wilderness, as well as the Jordan, and the borders of Chinnereth, all the way to the sea of the desert, which is very salty, to the base of Mount Pisgah toward the east.
{3:18} And I instructed you at that time, saying: ‘The Lord your God gives to you this land as an inheritance. Having armed yourselves, go before your brothers, the sons of Israel, all you strong men.
{3:19} Leave behind your wives and little ones, as well as the cattle. For I know that you have many cattle, and they should remain in the cities which I have delivered to you,
{3:20} until the Lord provides rest to your brothers, just as he has provided for you. And they, too, shall possess the land, which he will give to them beyond the Jordan. Then each one shall return to his possession, which I have allotted to you.’
{3:21} Likewise, I instructed Joshua at that time, saying: ‘Your eyes have seen what the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So also will he do to all the kingdoms through which you shall pass.
{3:22} You should not fear them. For the Lord your God will fight on your behalf.’
{3:23} And I beseeched the Lord at that time, saying:
{3:24} ‘Lord God, you have begun to reveal your greatness and your very strong hand to your servant. For there is no other god, either in heaven or on earth, who is able to accomplish your works, or to be compared to your strength.
{3:25} Therefore, I will cross over, and I will view this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this singular mountain, and Lebanon.’
{3:26} And the Lord became angry with me because of you, and he would not heed me. But he said to me: ‘It is enough for you. You shall no longer speak to me at all about this matter.
{3:27} Ascend to the summit of Pisgah, and look around with your eyes to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it. For you shall not cross this Jordan.
{3:28} Instruct Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him. For he shall go before this people, and he shall distribute to them the land that you will see.’
{3:29} And we remained in the valley, opposite the shrine of Peor.”
{4:1} “And now, O Israel, listen to the precepts and judgments which I am teaching to you, so that, by doing these, you may live, and you may enter and possess the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you.
{4:2} You shall not add to the word which I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it. Preserve the commandments of the Lord your God which I am teaching to you.
{4:3} Your eyes have seen all that the Lord has done against Baal-peor, in what manner he has crushed all of his worshippers from among you.
{4:4} But you who adhere to the Lord your God are all still alive, to the present day.
{4:5} You know that I have taught you precepts as well as justices, just as the Lord my God has commanded me. And so shall you do in the land that you will possess.
{4:6} And you shall observe and fulfill these in practice. For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, so that, upon hearing all these precepts, they may say: ‘Lo, a wise and understanding people, a great nation.’
{4:7} Neither is there any other nation so great, which has its gods so near to them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
{4:8} For what other nation is there so renowned as to have ceremonies, and just judgments, and the entire law that I will set forth today before your eyes?
{4:9} And so, guard yourself and your soul carefully. You should not forget the words that your eyes have seen, and do not let them be cut away from your heart, throughout all the days of your life. You shall teach them to your sons and to your grandsons,
{4:10} from the day on which you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Gather the people to me, so that they may listen to my words, and may learn to fear me, throughout all the time that they are alive on earth, and so that they may teach their children.’
{4:11} And you approached the base of the mountain, which was burning even toward heaven. And there was a darkness upon it, and a cloud, and a mist.
{4:12} And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you did not see any form at all.
{4:13} And he revealed his covenant to you, which he instructed you to carry out, and the ten words which he wrote on two tablets of stone.
{4:14} And he commanded me, at that time, that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you must carry out, in the land that you shall possess.
{4:15} And so, guard your souls carefully. You saw no likeness on the day that the Lord God spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of fire.
{4:16} Otherwise, perhaps being deceived, you might have made a graven image, or an image of male or female,
{4:17} a likeness of any of the beasts, which are upon the earth, or of birds, which fly under heaven,
{4:18} or of reptiles, which move across the earth, or of fish, which abide in the waters under the earth.
{4:19} Otherwise, perhaps lifting up your eyes to heaven, you might look upon the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error, you might adore and worship these things, which the Lord your God created for the service of all the nations, which are under heaven.
{4:20} But the Lord has taken you up, and led you away from the iron furnaces of Egypt, in order to have a people of inheritance, just as it is to the present day.
{4:21} And the Lord became angry against me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give to you.
{4:22} Behold, I shall die on this soil. I shall not cross over the Jordan. You shall cross it, and you shall possess the singular land.
{4:23} Be careful, lest you at some time forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he has formed with you, and lest you make for yourselves a graven likeness of those things which the Lord has prohibited to be made.
{4:24} For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
{4:25} When you will have conceived sons and grandsons while abiding in the land, and if, having been deceived, you make for yourselves any likeness, accomplishing evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to wrath,
{4:26} I call heaven and earth as witnesses this day, that you shall quickly perish from the land, which, when you have crossed over the Jordan, you will possess. You will not live in it for a long time; instead, the Lord will destroy you.
{4:27} And he will scatter you among all the nations, and few of you will remain among those nations, to which the Lord will lead you.
{4:28} And there, you will serve gods which were fabricated by the hands of men: gods of wood and of stone, who neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
{4:29} And when you will seek the Lord your God in that place, you shall find him, if only you seek him with all your heart, and in all the tribulation of your soul.
{4:30} After all these things which have been foretold have found you, in the end time, you shall return to the Lord your God, and you will hear his voice.
{4:31} For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you, nor will he entirely destroy you, nor will he forget the covenant, which he swore to your fathers.
{4:32} Inquire concerning the days of antiquity, which were before you, from the day when God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to another, if anything similar has ever occurred, or whether any such thing has ever been known,
{4:33} that a people would hear the voice of God, speaking from the midst of fire, just as you have heard it, and live,
{4:34} whether God has acted so as to enter and take for himself a nation from the midst of the nations, by means of tests, signs, and wonders, by means of fighting, and a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, and terrible visions, in accord with all the things which the Lord your God has accomplished for you in Egypt, in the sight of your eyes.
{4:35} So may you know that the Lord himself is God, and there is no other beside him.
{4:36} He has caused you to hear his voice from heaven, so that he might teach you. And he showed you his exceedingly great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire.
{4:37} For he loved your fathers, and he chose their offspring after them. And he led you away from Egypt, advancing before you with his great power,
{4:38} so as to wipe away, upon your arrival, nations, very great and stronger than you, and so as to lead you in, and to present to you their land as a possession, just as you discern in the present day.
{4:39} Therefore, know on this day and consider in your heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and on earth below, and there is no other.
{4:40} Keep his precepts and commandments, which I am teaching to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, and so that you may remain for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.”
{4:41} Then Moses set aside three cities, across the Jordan toward the eastern region,
{4:42} so that anyone might flee to these if he has killed his neighbor unwillingly, who was not his enemy a day or two earlier, and so that he would be able to escape to one of these cities:
{4:43} Bezer in the wilderness, which is situated in the plains of the tribe of Ruben; and Ramoth in Gilead, which is in the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, which is in the tribe of Manasseh.
{4:44} This is the law, which Moses set forth before the sons of Israel.
{4:45} And these are the testimonies and ceremonies as well as judgments, which he spoke to the sons of Israel, when they departed from Egypt,
{4:46} across the Jordan, in the valley opposite the shrine of Peor, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses struck down. Accordingly, the sons of Israel, having departed from Egypt,
{4:47} possessed his land, and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the land of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun:
{4:48} from Aroer, which is situated above the bank of the torrent Arnon, as far as Mount Zion, which is also called Hermon,
{4:49} the entire plain across the Jordan, from its eastern region, as far as the sea of the wilderness, and even to the base of Mount Pisgah.
{5:1} And Moses summoned all of Israel, and he said to them: “Listen, O Israel, to the ceremonies and judgments, which I am speaking to your ears on this day. Learn them, and fulfill them in deed.
{5:2} The Lord our God formed a covenant with us at Horeb.
{5:3} He did not make the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are alive and in the present time.
{5:4} He spoke to us face to face on the mountain, from the midst of fire.
{5:5} I was the mediator, for I was in the middle between the Lord and you, at that time, to announce his words to you. For you were afraid of the fire, and so you did not ascend to the mountain. And he said:
{5:6} ‘I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude.
{5:7} You shall not have strange gods in my sight.
{5:8} You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor the likeness of anything, which is in heaven above, or on earth below, or which abides in the waters under the earth.
{5:9} You shall not adore and you shall not worship these things. For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation to those who hate me,
{5:10} and acting with mercy in thousands of ways to those who love me and keep my precepts.
{5:11} You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. For he will not go unpunished who takes up his name over an unimportant matter.
{5:12} Observe the day of the Sabbath, so that you may sanctify it, just as the Lord your God has instructed you.
{5:13} For six days, you shall labor and do all your work.
{5:14} The seventh is the day of the Sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it, nor shall your son, nor daughter, nor man servant, nor woman servant, nor ox, nor donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor the sojourner who is within your gates, so that your men and woman servants may rest, just as you do.
{5:15} Remember that you also were servants in Egypt, and the Lord your God led you away from that place with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Because of this, he has instructed you so that you would observe the Sabbath day.
{5:16} Honor your father and mother, just as the Lord your God has instructed you, so that you may live a long time, and so that it may be well with you in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.
{5:17} You shall not murder.
{5:18} And you shall not commit adultery.
{5:19} And you shall not commit theft.
{5:20} Neither shall you speak false testimony against your neighbor.
{5:21} You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his house, nor his field, nor his man servant, nor his woman servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything out of all that is his.’
{5:22} The Lord spoke these words to the entire multitude of you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire and the cloud and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, which he delivered to me.
{5:23} Then, after you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and you saw the mountain burning, you approached me, all you leaders of the tribes and those greater by birth. And you said:
{5:24} ‘Behold, the Lord our God has revealed to us his majesty and his greatness. We have heard his voice from the midst of fire, and we have proven today that, though God is speaking with man, man has lived.
{5:25} Therefore, why should we die, and why should this very great fire devour us? For if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we will die.
{5:26} What is all flesh, that it would hear the voice of the living God, who speaks from the midst of fire, just as we have heard it, and be able to live?
{5:27} Instead, you should approach and listen to all the things that the Lord our God will say to you. And you will speak to us, and we will listen and do these things.’
{5:28} But when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to you. All this, they have spoken well.
{5:29} Who will grant to them to have such a mind, so that they may fear me, and may keep all my commandments at all times, so that it may be well with them and with their sons forever?
{5:30} Go and say to them: Return to your tents.
{5:31} But as for you, stand here with me, and I will speak to you all my commandments and ceremonies, as well as judgments. These, you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land, which I will give to them as a possession.
{5:32} And so, keep and do the things which the Lord God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside, neither to the right, nor to the left.
{5:33} For you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God has instructed, so that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be extended in the land of your possession.’ ”
{6:1} “These are the precepts and ceremonies, as well as the judgments, which the Lord your God has commanded that I teach to you, which you shall do in the land to which you will travel in order to possess it.
{6:2} So may you fear the Lord your God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I am entrusting to you, and to your sons and grandsons, all the days of your life, so that your days may be prolonged.
{6:3} Listen and observe, O Israel, so that you may do just as the Lord has instructed you, and it may be well with you, and you may be multiplied all the more, for the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.
{6:4} Listen, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.
{6:5} You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
{6:6} And these words, which I instruct to you this day, shall be in your heart.
{6:7} And you shall explain them to your sons. And you shall meditate upon them sitting in your house, and walking on a journey, when lying down and when rising up.
{6:8} And you shall bind them like a sign on your hand, and they shall be placed and shall move between your eyes.
{6:9} And you shall write them at the threshold and on the doors of your house.
{6:10} And when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, about which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when he will have given to you great and excellent cities, which you did not build;
{6:11} houses full of goods, which you did not amass; cisterns, which you did not dig; vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant;
{6:12} and when you will have eaten and been satisfied:
{6:13} take care diligently, lest you forget the Lord, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude. You shall fear the Lord your God, and you shall serve him alone, and you shall swear by his name.
{6:14} You shall not go after the strange gods of all the Gentiles, who are around you.
{6:15} For the Lord your God is a jealous God in your midst. Otherwise, at some time, the fury of the Lord your God may be enraged against you, and he may take you away from the face of the earth.
{6:16} You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted him in the place of temptation.
{6:17} Keep the precepts of the Lord your God, as well as the testimonies and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.
{6:18} And do what is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may be well with you, and so that, when you enter, you may possess the excellent land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers
{6:19} that he would wipe away all your enemies before you, just as he has spoken.
{6:20} And when your son will ask you tomorrow, saying: ‘What do these testimonies and ceremonies and judgments mean, which the Lord our God has entrusted to us?’
{6:21} You shall say to him: ‘We were servants of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord led us away from Egypt with a strong hand.
{6:22} And he wrought signs and wonders, great and very grievous, in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his house, in our sight.
{6:23} And he led us away from that place, so that he might lead us in and give us the land, about which he swore to our fathers.
{6:24} And the Lord instructed us that we should do all these ordinances, and that we should fear the Lord our God, so that it may be well with us all the days of our life, just as it is today.
{6:25} And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and perform all his precepts, in the sight of the Lord our God, just as he has commanded us.’ ”
{7:1} “When the Lord your God will have led you to the land, which you will enter so as to possess it, and when he will have destroyed many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than you, and more robust than you,
{7:2} and when the Lord your God will have delivered them to you, you shall strike them down unto utter annihilation. You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor shall you show any pity to them.
{7:3} And you shall not associate with them in marriage. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor accept his daughter for your son.
{7:4} For she will seduce your son, so that he will not follow me, and so that he will instead serve foreign gods. And the fury of the Lord will be enraged, and he will quickly destroy you.
{7:5} So instead, you shall do this to them: overturn their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their sacred groves, and burn up their graven images.
{7:6} For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you so that you would be his particular people out of all the peoples who are upon the earth.
{7:7} It is not because you surpass all the nations in number that the Lord has joined with you and has chosen you, for you are the least numerous of any people.
{7:8} But it is because the Lord has loved you, and has kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers. And he has led you away with a strong hand, and he has redeemed you from the house of servitude, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
{7:9} And you shall know that the Lord your God himself is a strong and faithful God, preserving his covenant and his mercy for those who love him and those who keep his precepts for a thousand generations,
{7:10} and promptly repaying those who hate him, so as to utterly ruin them, without further delay, quickly rendering to them what they deserve.
{7:11} Therefore, keep the precepts and ceremonies as well as the judgments, which I command to you this day, so that you may do them.
{7:12} If, after you have heard these judgments, you keep and do them, the Lord your God will also keep his covenant with you and the mercy that he swore to your fathers.
{7:13} And he will love you and multiply you. And he will bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land: your grain as well as your vintage, oil, and herds, and the flocks of your sheep, upon the land about which he swore to your fathers that he would give it to you.
{7:14} Blessed shall you be among all peoples. No one will be barren among you of either gender, as much among men as among your herds.
{7:15} The Lord will take all sickness away from you. And the very grievous infirmities of Egypt, which you have known, he will not bring upon you, but upon your enemies.
{7:16} You shall devour all the peoples, which the Lord your God will deliver to you. Your eye shall not spare them, neither shall you serve their gods, lest they be your ruin.
{7:17} If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more than I am, so how will I be able to destroy them?’
{7:18} do not be apprehensive. Instead, recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians:
{7:19} the very great plagues, which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the powerful hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God led you away. So will he do to all the peoples, whom you dread.
{7:20} Moreover, the Lord your God will also send hornets among them, until he destroys and scatters all who have escaped from you, or who have been able to hide.
{7:21} You shall not fear them, for the Lord your God is in your midst: a great and terrible God.
{7:22} He himself will consume these nations in your sight, a little at a time, by degrees. You will not be able to destroy them all at once. Otherwise, the wild beasts of the earth might increase against you.
{7:23} And so, the Lord your God will present them in your sight, and you shall slay them until they are thoroughly wiped away.
{7:24} And he shall deliver their kings into your hands, and you shall abolish their names from under heaven. No one will be able to withstand you, until you crush them.
{7:25} Their graven images, you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold from which they have been made. And you shall not take for yourself anything from these, lest you offend, because this is an abomination to the Lord your God.
{7:26} Neither shall you carry anything of the idol into your house, lest you become accursed, just as it also is. You shall detest it like dung, and you shall abominate it like defilement and filth, because it is an accursed thing.”
{8:1} “All the commandments which I am entrusting to you this day, take care to observe them diligently, so that you may live and be multiplied, and so that, upon entering, you may possess the land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers.
{8:2} And you shall remember the entire journey along which the Lord your God led you, for forty years through the desert, to afflict you, and to test you, and to make known the things that were turning in your soul, whether or not you would keep his commandments.
{8:3} He afflicted you with need, and he gave you Manna as your food, which neither you nor your fathers knew, so as to reveal to you that it is not by bread alone that man lives, but by every word that goes forth from the mouth of God.
{8:4} Your garment, with which you were covered, has by no means decayed due to age, and your foot has not been worn down, even to this fortieth year,
{8:5} so that you would recognize in your heart that, just as a man educates his son, so has the Lord your God educated you.
{8:6} So may you keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.
{8:7} For the Lord your God will lead you into a good land: a land of brooks and waters and fountains, in which deep rivers burst forth from its plains and mountains,
{8:8} a land of crops, barley, and vineyards, in which fig and pomegranate and olive trees spring up, a land of oil and honey.
{8:9} In that place, without any need, you shall eat your bread and enjoy an abundance of all things: where the stones are like iron, and where ore for brass is dug out of its mountains.
{8:10} So then, when you have eaten and been satisfied, you should bless the Lord your God for the excellent land which he has given to you.
{8:11} Be observant and cautious, lest at some time you may forget the Lord your God, and neglect his commandments, as well as the judgments and ceremonies, which I instruct to you this day.
{8:12} Otherwise, after you have eaten and been satisfied, and have built beautiful houses and have lived in them,
{8:13} and have obtained herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep, and a plentitude of gold and silver and all things,
{8:14} your heart might be lifted up, and you might not remember the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude,
{8:15} and who was your leader in the great and terrible wilderness, in which there was the serpent with a burning breath, and the scorpion, and the snake of thirst, and no waters at all. He led streams out of the hardest rock,
{8:16} and he nourished you in the wilderness with Manna, which your fathers had not known. And after he had afflicted and tested you, in the very end, he took pity on you.
{8:17} Otherwise, you might say in your heart: ‘My own strength, and the power of my own hand, have brought forth all these things for me.’
{8:18} But remember the Lord your God, that he himself has provided you with strength, so that he may fulfill his covenant, about which he swore to your fathers, just as the present day reveals.
{8:19} But if you forget the Lord your God, so that you follow foreign gods, and serve and adore them: behold, I now foretell to you that you shall utterly perish.
{8:20} Just like the nations, which the Lord destroyed upon your arrival, so shall you also perish, if you have been disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”
{9:1} “Listen, O Israel: You shall cross over the Jordan today, in order to possess nations, very great and stronger than yourself, cities vast and walled even to the sky,
{9:2} a people great and lofty, the sons of the Anakim, whom you yourselves have seen and heard, against whom no one is able to stand.
{9:3} Therefore, you shall know today that the Lord your God himself will pass over before you, like a devouring and consuming fire, to crush and to wipe away and to utterly ruin them before your face, quickly, just as he has spoken to you.
{9:4} You should not say in your heart, when the Lord your God will have destroyed them in your sight: ‘It is because of my justice that the Lord led me in, so that I might possess this land, while these nations have been destroyed because of their impiety.’
{9:5} For it is not because of your justices or the uprightness of your heart that you will enter, so that you may possess their lands. Instead, it is because they have acted wickedly that they are destroyed upon your arrival, and so that the Lord may accomplish his word, which he promised under oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
{9:6} Therefore, know that the Lord your God will not give you this excellent land as a possession due to your justices, for you are a very stiff-necked people.
{9:7} Remember, and never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness. You have always contended against the Lord, from the day that you went forth from Egypt, even to this place.
{9:8} For at Horeb also, you provoked him, and, becoming angry, he was willing to destroy you,
{9:9} when I ascended onto the mountain, so that I might receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord formed with you. And I persevered on the mountain for forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water.
{9:10} And the Lord gave me two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God and containing all the words that he spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of fire, while the people, being stirred up, were assembled together.
{9:11} And when forty days, and as many nights, had passed, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
{9:12} And he said to me: ‘Rise up, and descend quickly from here. For your people, whom you led away from Egypt, have quickly abandoned the way that you have shown to them, and they have made a molten idol for themselves.’
{9:13} And again, the Lord said to me: ‘I discern that this people is stiff-necked.
{9:14} Depart from me, so that I may crush them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and appoint you over a nation, which will be greater and stronger than this one.’
{9:15} And as I was descending from the burning mountain, and I held the two tablets of the covenant with both hands,
{9:16} and I had seen that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made a molten calf for yourselves, and had quickly abandoned his way, which he had revealed to you,
{9:17} I threw down the tablets from my hands, and I broke them in your sight.
{9:18} And I fell prostrate before the Lord, just as before, for forty days and nights, not eating bread, and not drinking water, because of all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and because you provoked him to anger.
{9:19} For I feared his indignation and wrath, which had been stirred up against you, so that he was willing to destroy you. And the Lord heeded me at this time also.
{9:20} Likewise, he became vehemently angry against Aaron, and he was willing to destroy him, and I prayed for him similarly.
{9:21} But as for your sin which you committed, that is, the calf, taking hold of it, I burned it with fire. And breaking it into pieces, and reducing it entirely to dust, I threw it into the torrent that descends from the mountain.
{9:22} Likewise, at the Burning, and at the Temptation, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked the Lord.
{9:23} And when he sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Ascend and possess the land, which I have given to you,’ even so, you spurned the command of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him, nor were you willing to listen to his voice.
{9:24} Instead, you were ever rebellious, from the day when I first began to know you.
{9:25} And so, I lay prostrate before the Lord for forty days and nights, as I humbly begged him, lest he destroy you, just as he had threatened to do.
{9:26} And praying, I said: ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed in your greatness, whom you have led away from Egypt with a strong hand.
{9:27} Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look upon the stubbornness of this people, nor upon their wickedness and sinfulness.
{9:28} Otherwise, perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which you have led us, may say: “The Lord was not able to lead them into the land, which he promised to them. And he hated them; therefore, he led them out, so that he might put them to death in the wilderness.”
{9:29} These are your people and your inheritance, whom you have led out by your great strength, and with your outstretched arm.’ ”
{10:1} “At that time, the Lord said to me: ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone, like those that were before, and ascend to me on the mountain. And you shall make an ark of wood.
{10:2} And I will write on the tablets the words which were on those that you broke before, and you shall place them in the ark.’
{10:3} And so, I made an ark of setim wood. And when I had hewn two tablets of stone like the former, I ascended onto the mountain, having them in my hands.
{10:4} And he wrote on the tablets, according to that which he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of fire, when the people were assembled. And he gave them to me.
{10:5} And returning from the mountain, I descended and placed the tablets in the ark, which I had made, and they are still there even now, just as the Lord instructed me.
{10:6} Then the sons of Israel moved their camp, from Beeroth among the sons of Jaakan, into Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and where his son Eleazar was installed in the priesthood in his place.
{10:7} From there, they went into Gudgodah. From that place, they set out and camped at Jotbathah, in a land of waters and torrents.
{10:8} At that time, he separated the tribe of Levi, so that he would carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and stand before him in the ministry, and speak blessings in his name, even to the present day.
{10:9} As a result, Levi has no portion or possession with his brothers. For the Lord himself is his possession, just as the Lord your God promised him.
{10:10} Then I stood on the mountain, as before, for forty days and nights. And the Lord heeded me at this time also, and he was not willing to destroy you.
{10:11} And he said to me: ‘Go forth and walk before the people, so that they may enter and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would deliver to them.’
{10:12} And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only that you fear the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul,
{10:13} and that you keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I am instructing to you this day, so that it may be well with you.
{10:14} Lo, heaven belongs to the Lord your God, and the heaven of heaven, and the earth, and all the things that are within these.
{10:15} Now the Lord was closely joined to your fathers, and he loved them, and he chose their offspring after them, that is, you yourselves, out of all the nations, just as is being proven today.
{10:16} Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and no longer stiffen your neck.
{10:17} For the Lord your God himself is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, a God great and powerful and terrible, who favors no person and accepts no bribe.
{10:18} He accomplishes judgment for the orphan and the widow. He loves the sojourner, and he gives him food as well as clothing.
{10:19} Therefore, you also should love sojourners, for you also were new arrivals in the land of Egypt.
{10:20} You shall fear the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve. You shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.
{10:21} He is your praise and your God. He has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen.
{10:22} As seventy souls, your fathers descended into Egypt. And now, behold, the Lord your God has multiplied you to be like the stars of heaven.”
{11:1} “And so, love the Lord your God, and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments, at all times.
{11:2} Acknowledge, on this day, the things that your sons did not know. For they did not see the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great acts, and powerful hand, and outstretched arm,
{11:3} the signs and works that he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king, and to his entire land,
{11:4} and to the entire army of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord wiped them away, even to the present day;
{11:5} and the things that he accomplished for you in the wilderness, until you arrived at this place;
{11:6} and to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, who was the son of Reuben, those whom the earth, opening its mouth, engulfed with their households and tents, and with their entire substance which they had in the midst of Israel.
{11:7} Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, which he has accomplished,
{11:8} so that you would keep all his commandments, which I entrust to you this day, and so that you would be able to enter and possess the land, toward which you are advancing,
{11:9} and so that you may live, for a long time, in the land which the Lord promised under oath to your fathers, and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.
{11:10} For the land, which you shall enter and possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from which you departed, where, when seed has been sown, waters are brought in by irrigation, in the manner of gardens.
{11:11} Rather, it has mountainous regions and plains, which lay waiting for rain from heaven.
{11:12} And the Lord your God always visits it, and his eyes are upon it, from the beginning of the year, all the way to its end.
{11:13} So then, if you obey my commandments, which I am instructing to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with your whole heart and your whole soul,
{11:14} he will give to your land the early rain and the late rain, so that you may gather your grain, and your wine, and your oil,
{11:15} and your hay from the fields in order to feed your cattle, and so that you yourselves may eat and be satisfied.
{11:16} Be careful, lest perhaps your heart may be deceived, and you might withdraw from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them.
{11:17} And the Lord, becoming angry, might close up heaven, so that the rain would not descend, nor would the earth produce her seedlings, and then you would quickly perish from the excellent land, which the Lord will give to you.
{11:18} Place these words of mine in your hearts and minds, and hang them as a sign on your hands, and arrange them between your eyes.
{11:19} Teach your sons to meditate on them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down or rise up.
{11:20} You shall write them upon the doorposts and the gates of your house,
{11:21} so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your sons, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, that he would give it to them for as long as heaven is suspended above the earth.
{11:22} For if you keep the commandments which I am entrusting to you, and if you do them, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, clinging to him,
{11:23} the Lord will scatter all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, though they are greater and stronger than you.
{11:24} Every place upon which your foot shall tread will be yours. From the desert, and from Lebanon, from the great river Euphrates, as far as the western sea, shall be your borders.
{11:25} No one will stand against you. The Lord your God will spread the terror and dread of you over all the land upon which you shall tread, just as he has spoken to you.
{11:26} Behold, I am setting forth in your sight today a blessing and a curse.
{11:27} It will be a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am instructing to you this day.
{11:28} It will be a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but instead you withdraw from the way, which I am revealing to you now, and you walk after foreign gods that you have not known.
{11:29} Yet truly, when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, to which you are traveling for a habitation, you shall place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, the curse upon Mount Ebal,
{11:30} which are across the Jordan, behind the way which slopes toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who lives in the plains opposite Gilgal, which is near the valley extending toward and entering a distant place.
{11:31} For you shall cross over the Jordan, so that you may possess the land which the Lord your God will give you, so that you may have it and possess it.
{11:32} Therefore, see to it that you fulfill the ceremonies and judgments, which I am placing in your sight this day.”
{12:1} “These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the soil.
{12:2} Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy tree.
{12:3} Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places.
{12:4} But you shall not do the same to the Lord your God.
{12:5} Instead, you shall approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place.
{12:6} And you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep.
{12:7} And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for you.
{12:8} You shall not do there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good to himself.
{12:9} For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to you.
{12:10} You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear,
{12:11} in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow to the Lord.
{12:12} In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you.
{12:13} Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that you see.
{12:14} Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct you.
{12:15} So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag.
{12:16} Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water.
{12:17} You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands.
{12:18} But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand.
{12:19} Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at any time while you are living in the land.
{12:20} When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,
{12:21} but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you.
{12:22} Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike.
{12:23} Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh.
{12:24} Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water,
{12:25} so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
{12:26} But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose.
{12:27} And you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh.
{12:28} Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.
{12:29} When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land,
{12:30} be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’
{12:31} You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.
{12:32} What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.”
{13:1} “If there will have arisen in your midst a prophet, or someone who claims that he had seen a dream, and if he will have predicted sign and portent,
{13:2} and if what he has spoken happens, and he says to you, ‘Let us go and follow strange gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’
{13:3} you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you, so that it may become clear whether or not you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
{13:4} Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and listen to his voice. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling.
{13:5} But that prophet or forger of dreams shall be put to death. For he has spoken so as to turn you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt and who redeemed you from the house of servitude, and so as to cause you to wander from the way that the Lord your God has entrusted to you. And so shall you remove the evil from your midst.
{13:6} If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or your wife who is in your bosom, or your friend, whom you love like your own soul, were willing to persuade you secretly, saying: ‘Let us go, and serve foreign gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,
{13:7} gods from any of the surrounding nations, whether these are near or far away, from the beginning even to the end of the earth,
{13:8} you should neither agree with him, nor listen to him. And your eye should not spare him so that you take pity on him and conceal him.
{13:9} Instead, you shall put him to death promptly. Let your hand be upon him first, and after that, let the hands of all the people be sent forth.
{13:10} He shall be killed by being overwhelmed with stones. For he was willing to draw you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude.
{13:11} So may all of Israel, upon hearing this, be afraid, so that nothing like this will ever be done again.
{13:12} If, in one of your cities which the Lord your God will give to you as a habitation, you hear someone say:
{13:13} ‘The sons of Belial have departed from your midst, and they have persuaded the inhabitants of their city, and they have said: “Let us go, and serve strange gods,” ’ which you have not known:
{13:14} inquire carefully and diligently, seeking the truth of the matter. And if you find that what was said is certain, and that this abomination is a work which has been perpetrated,
{13:15} you shall promptly strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. And you shall destroy it, along with all the things that are in it, even the flocks.
{13:16} Then all the household goods which are there, you shall gather together in the midst of its streets, and you shall set fire to these, along with the city itself, so that you may consume everything for the Lord your God, and so that it may be an everlasting tomb. It shall no longer be built up.
{13:17} And there shall remain nothing of that anathema in your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may take pity on you, and may multiply you, just as he swore to your fathers,
{13:18} when you will heed the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his precepts, which I am entrusting to you this day, so that you may do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.”
{14:1} “Be sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make yourselves bald, because of the dead.
{14:2} For you are a holy people, for the Lord your God. And he chose you, so that you may be a people particularly his, out of all the nations on earth.
{14:3} You shall not eat the things that are unclean.
{14:4} These are the animals which you ought to eat: the ox, and the sheep, and the goat,
{14:5} the stag and the roe deer, the gazelle, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope, the giraffe.
{14:6} Every beast which has a hoof divided into two parts and which also chews the cud, you shall eat.
{14:7} But those which chew over again, but do not have a divided hoof, you must not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the hyrax. Since these chew the cud, but do not have a divided the hoof, they shall be unclean to you.
{14:8} The pig also, since it has a divided hoof, but does not chew over again, shall be unclean. Their flesh shall not be eaten, and you shall not touch their carcasses.
{14:9} These you shall eat out of all that dwells in the waters: whatever has fins and scales, you shall eat.
{14:10} Whatever is without fins and scales, you shall not eat, for these are unclean.
{14:11} All the clean birds, you shall eat.
{14:12} You shall not eat those that are unclean: such as the eagle, and the griffin, and the osprey,
{14:13} the crane, and the vulture, and the kite, according to their kind,
{14:14} and any kind of raven,
{14:15} and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk, according to their kind,
{14:16} the heron, and the swan, and the ibis,
{14:17} and the sea bird, the marsh hen, and the night raven,
{14:18} the pelican and the plover, each in their kind, likewise the crested hoopoe and the bat.
{14:19} And anything which crawls and also has little wings shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.
{14:20} All that is clean, you shall eat.
{14:21} But whatever has died of itself, you shall not eat from it. Give it to the sojourner, who is within your gates, so that he may eat, or sell it to him. For you are the holy people of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of his mother.
{14:22} Each year, you shall separate the tithes out of all your crops which spring forth from the earth.
{14:23} And you shall eat these in the sight of the Lord your God, in the place which he will choose, so that his name may be invoked there: the tenth part of your grain and wine and oil, and the firstborn from the herds and your sheep. So may you learn to fear the Lord your God at all times.
{14:24} But when the way and the place which the Lord your God will have chosen is further away, and he will have blessed you, so that you are not able to carry all these things to it,
{14:25} you shall sell them all, so as to turn them into money, and you shall carry it in your hand, and you shall set out for the place which the Lord will choose.
{14:26} And you shall buy with the same money whatever pleases you, either from the herds or from the sheep, and also wine and liquor, and all that your soul desires. And you shall eat in the sight of the Lord your God, and you shall feast: you and your household.
{14:27} As for the Levite, who is within your gates, take care that you do not abandon him, for he has no other portion within your possession.
{14:28} In the third year, you shall separate another tenth part of all the things which spring forth for you at that time, and you shall store it within your gates.
{14:29} And the Levite, who has no other portion or possession with you, and the sojourner as well as the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, shall approach and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands which you shall do.”
{15:1} “In the seventh year, you shall perform a remission,
{15:2} which shall be celebrated according to this order. Anyone to whom anything is owed, by his friend or neighbor or brother, will not be able to request its return, because it is the year of remission of the Lord.
{15:3} From the sojourner and the new arrival, you may require its return. From your fellow countryman and neighbor, you will not have the power to request its return.
{15:4} And there shall not be anyone indigent or begging among you, so that the Lord your God may bless you in the land which he will deliver to you as a possession.
{15:5} But only if you heed the voice of the Lord your God, and keep to all that he has ordered, that which I am entrusting to you this day, will he bless you, just as he has promised.
{15:6} You shall lend money to many nations, and you yourselves shall borrow in return from no one. You shall rule over very many nations, and no one shall rule over you.
{15:7} If one of your brothers, who dwells within the gates of your city, in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, falls into poverty, you shall not harden your heart, nor tighten your hand.
{15:8} Instead, you shall open your hand to the poor, and you shall lend to him whatever you perceive him to need.
{15:9} Take care, lest perhaps an impious thought might creep within you, and you might say in your heart: ‘The seventh year of remission approaches.’ And so you might turn your eyes away from your poor brother, unwilling to lend to him what he has asked. If so, then he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it will be a sin for you.
{15:10} Instead, you shall give to him. Neither shall you do anything craftily while assisting him in his needs, so that the Lord your God may bless you, at all times and in all things to which you will put your hand.
{15:11} The poor will not be absent from the land of your habitation. For this reason, I instruct you to open your hand to your indigent and poor brother, who lives among you in the land.
{15:12} When your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, has been sold to you, and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you shall set him free.
{15:13} And when you grant his freedom, you shall by no means permit him to go away empty.
{15:14} Instead, you shall give to him, for his journey, from your flocks and threshing floor and winepress, with which the Lord your God has blessed you.
{15:15} Remember that you yourself also served in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God set you free. And therefore, I now command this of you.
{15:16} But if he will say, ‘I am not willing to depart,’ because he loves you and your household, and because he feels that it would be good for him to stay with you,
{15:17} then you shall take an awl and pierce his ear, at the door of your house. And he shall serve you even forever. You shall also act similarly toward your woman servant.
{15:18} You should not avert your eyes from them when you set them free, because he has served you for six years, in a manner deserving of the pay of a hired hand. So may the Lord your God bless you in all the works that you do.
{15:19} Of the firstborn, those born from your herds and sheep, you shall sanctify to the Lord your God whatever is of the male sex. You shall not put the firstborn of the oxen to work, nor shall you shear the firstborn of the sheep.
{15:20} In the sight of the Lord your God, you shall eat these, each year, in the place which the Lord will choose, you and your household.
{15:21} But if it has a blemish, or is lame, or is blind, or if it is in any part deformed or debilitated, it shall not be immolated to the Lord your God.
{15:22} Instead, you shall eat it within the gates of your city. The clean as well as the unclean alike shall feed on these, such as the roe deer and the stag.
{15:23} This alone shall you observe: that you do not eat their blood, but pour it upon the ground like water.”
{16:1} “Observe the month of new grain, at the beginning of springtime, so that you may accomplish the Passover to the Lord your God. For in this month, the Lord your God led you away from Egypt in the night.
{16:2} And you shall immolate the Passover to the Lord your God, from sheep and from oxen, in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there.
{16:3} You shall not eat it with leavened bread. For seven days you shall eat, without leaven, the bread of affliction. For you departed from Egypt in fear. So may you remember the day of your departure from Egypt, throughout all the days of your life.
{16:4} No leaven shall be present in all your confines for seven days. And by morning, there shall not remain any of the flesh which was immolated on the first day in the evening.
{16:5} You cannot immolate the Passover in any of your cities, which the Lord your God will give to you, that you wish,
{16:6} but only in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there. You shall immolate the Passover in the evening, upon the setting of the sun, which is the time when you departed from Egypt.
{16:7} And you shall cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God will choose, and, rising up in the morning, you shall go into your tent.
{16:8} For six days, you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of the Lord your God, you shall do no work.
{16:9} You shall number for yourself seven weeks from that day, the day on which you put the sickle to the grain field.
{16:10} And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, to the Lord your God, with a voluntary oblation from your hand, which you shall offer according to the blessing of the Lord your God.
{16:11} And you shall feast in the sight of the Lord your God: you, your son and your daughter, your man servant and your woman servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the new arrival as well as the orphan and the widow, who abide with you, in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may dwell there.
{16:12} And you shall recall that you were a servant in Egypt. And you shall preserve and carry out the things that have been instructed.
{16:13} Likewise, you shall celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days, when you will have gathered your fruits from the orchard and the winepress.
{16:14} And you shall feast at the time of your festival: you, your son and daughter, your man servant and woman servant, likewise the Levite and the new arrival, the orphan and the widow, who are within your gates.
{16:15} For seven days you shall celebrate feasts to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord will choose. And the Lord your God will bless you in all your crops, and in every work of your hands. And you shall be joyful.
{16:16} Three times a year, all your males shall appear in the sight the Lord your God in the place which he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. No one shall appear before the Lord empty.
{16:17} But each one shall offer according to what he will have, according to the blessing of the Lord his God, which he will give to him.
{16:18} You shall appoint judges and magistrates at all your gates, which the Lord your God will give to you, throughout each of your tribes, so that they may judge the people with a just judgment,
{16:19} and not so as to show favoritism to either side. You shall not accept a person’s reputation, nor gifts. For gifts blind the eyes of the wise and alter the words of the just.
{16:20} You shall justly pursue what is just, so that you may live and possess the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.
{16:21} You shall not plant a sacred grove, nor shall you plant any tree near the altar of the Lord your God;
{16:22} you shall neither make nor set up for yourself a statue. These things the Lord your God hates.”