Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[c]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[d]kills his friend ^[e]unintentionally, ^[f]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[g]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[h]handle and ^[i]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[j]him ^[k]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[l]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[m]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[n]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(F)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(G)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[o]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 [p](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

¹⁴ “^(K)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to ^[q]possess.

¹⁵ “^(L)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin ^[r]that he commits; on the ^[s]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. ^16 (M)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both people who have the dispute shall stand ^(N)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges ^(O)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(P)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. ²⁰ And ^(Q)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ So ^[t](R)you shall not show pity: ^(S)life for life, ^(T)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see ^(U)horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, ^(V)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. ² When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. ³ He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. ^(W)Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, ⁴ for the Lord your God ^(X)is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ ⁵ The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not ^(Y)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. ⁶ And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not ^[u]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man ^[v]would put it to use. ^7 (Z)And who is the man that is ^[w]betrothed to a woman and has not ^[x]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would ^[y]marry her.’ ⁸ Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘^(AA)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that ^[z]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’ ⁹ And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰ “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall ^[aa]offer it terms of peace. ¹¹ And if it ^[ab]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your ^(AB)forced labor and serve you. ¹² However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(AC)you shall strike all the ^[ac]men in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ However, the women, the children, ^(AD)the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall ^[ad]use the spoils of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations ^[ae]nearby. ^16 (AE)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. ¹⁷ Instead, you shall ^[af]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they will not teach you to do ^[ag](AF)all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, ^[ah]by which you would ^(AG)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For ^[ai]is the tree of the field a human, that it should ^[aj]be besieged by you? ²⁰ Only the trees that you know ^[ak]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.

Expiation of a Crime

21 “If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[al]possess, and it is not known who struck him, ² then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed. ³ And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the person killed, that is, that the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked ^[am]and has not pulled in a yoke; ⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then ^(AH)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and ^[an]violent crime shall be ^[ao]settled by them. ⁶ And all the elders of that city ^[ap]which is nearest to the person killed shall ^(AI)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷ and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. ^8 [aq]Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Lord, and do not place the guilt for ^(AJ)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be ^[ar]forgiven them. ^9 (AK)So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Domestic Relations

¹⁰ “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and ^(AL)the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and are strongly attracted to her and would take her as a wife for yourself, ¹² then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall ^(AM)shave her head and ^[as]trim her nails. ¹³ She shall also ^[at]remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and ^(AN)weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may have relations with her and become her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ But it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go ^[au]wherever she wishes; and you certainly shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as merchandise, since you have ^[av](AO)humiliated her.

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, the one loved and ^(AP)the other ^[aw]unloved, and both the loved and the ^[ax]unloved have borne him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the ^[ay]unloved, ¹⁶ then it shall be on the day that he wills what he owns as an inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, ^[az]at the expense of the son of the ^[ba]unloved, who actually is the firstborn son. ¹⁷ On the contrary, he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the ^[bb]unloved wife, by giving him a double ^[bc]portion of everything that ^[bd]he owns, for he was the ^(AQ)beginning of his ^[be]strength; ^(AR)to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

¹⁸ “If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does ^(AS)not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city ^[bf]at the gateway of his hometown. ²⁰ And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’ ^21 (AT)Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so ^(AU)you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and ^(AV)all Israel will hear about it and fear.

²² “Now if ^[bg]a person has committed a sin carrying ^(AW)a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on ^[bh]a tree, ^23 (AX)his body is not to be left overnight on the ^[bi]tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for ^(AY)he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you ^(AZ)do not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Various Laws

22 “^(BA)You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and avoid them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. ² And if your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him. ³ You shall also do this with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with any lost property of your countryman, which has been lost by him and you have found. You are not allowed to avoid them. ⁴ You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fallen down on the road, and avoid them; you shall certainly help him raise them up.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs in it, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(BB)you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷ you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, ^(BC)in order that it may go well for you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you shall make a ^[bj]parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring guilt for bloodshed on your house if anyone falls from it.

⁹ “^(BD)You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, otherwise ^[bk]all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will be ^[bl]forfeited to the sanctuary.

¹⁰ “^(BE)You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

¹¹ “^(BF)You shall not wear a material of wool and linen combined together.

¹² “^(BG)You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

Laws on Morality

¹³ “^(BH)If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then ^[bm]turns against her, ¹⁴ and he charges her with shameful behavior and ^[bn]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her to have evidence of virginity,’ ¹⁵ then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶ And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he ^[bo]turned against her; ¹⁷ and behold, he has charged her with shameful behavior, saying, “I did not find your daughter to have evidence of virginity.” But ^[bp]this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then ^(BI)the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke him, ¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he ^[bq]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to ^[br]divorce her all his days.

²⁰ “But if this ^[bs](BJ)charge is true, and they did not find the girl to have evidence of virginity, ²¹ then they shall bring the girl out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her ^[bt]to death, because she has ^(BK)committed a disgraceful sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house; so ^(BL)you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

²² “^(BM)If a man is found sleeping with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who slept with the woman, and the woman; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel.

²³ “^(BN)If there is a girl who is a virgin ^[bu]betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and sleeps with her, ²⁴ then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them ^[bv]to death: the girl, because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

²⁵ “But if the man finds the girl who is betrothed in the field, and the man seizes her and ^[bw]rapes her, then only the man who ^[bx]raped her shall die. ²⁶ And you are not to do anything to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, ^[by]so is this case. ²⁷ When he found her in the field, the betrothed girl ^[bz]cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “^(BO)If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and has sexual relations with her, and they are discovered, ²⁹ then the man who had sexual relations with her shall give the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he has violated her; he is not allowed to divorce her all his days.

³⁰ “^[ca](BP)A man shall not take ^[cb]his father’s wife in marriage, so that he does not ^[cc]uncover his father’s garment.

Persons Excluded from the Assembly

23 “^(BQ)No one who is ^[cd]emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the Lord. ² No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the assembly of the Lord. ^3 (BR)No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the Lord, ^4 (BS)because they did not meet you with ^[ce]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you ^(BT)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[cf]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ Nevertheless, the Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God ^(BU)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God ^(BV)loves you. ^6 (BW)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

⁷ “You shall not loathe an ^[cg]Edomite, for ^(BX)he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian, ^(BY)because you were a stranger in his land. ⁸ The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

⁹ “When you go out as ^[ch]an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.

¹⁰ “^(BZ)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ^[ci]reenter the camp. ¹¹ But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ^[cj]reenter the camp.

¹² “You shall also have a place allocated outside the camp, so that you may go out there to relieve yourself, ¹³ and you shall have a ^[ck]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ Since ^(CA)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to ^[cl]defeat your enemies before you, your camp must be ^(CB)holy; so He must not see ^[cm]anything indecent among you ^[cn]or He will turn away from you.

¹⁵ “^(CC)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ^[co]escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He shall live with you in your midst, in the place that he chooses in one of your ^[cp]towns where it pleases him; ^(CD)you shall not mistreat him.

¹⁷ “^(CE)None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, ^(CF)nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the money for a ^[cq](CG)dog into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vowed offering, because both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “^(CH)You are not to charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned on interest. ^20 (CI)You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that ^(CJ)the Lord your God may bless you in all ^[cr]that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to ^[cs]possess.

²¹ “^(CK)When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly require it of you, and it will be a sin ^[ct]for you. ²² However, if you refrain from making vows, it will not be a sin ^[cu]for you. ²³ You shall be careful and perform what goes out of your lips, since in fact you have vowed a ^[cv]voluntary offering to the Lord your God, whatever you have ^[cw]promised.

²⁴ “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes ^[cx]until you are satisfied; but you are not to put any in your ^[cy]basket.

²⁵ “^(CL)When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you are not to ^[cz]use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law of Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^(CM)indecency in her, that ^(CN)he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and ^[da]sends her away from his house, ² and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ and the latter husband ^[db]turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand, and ^[dc]sends her away from his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies, ⁴ then her ^(CO)former husband who ^[dd]sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, after ^[de]she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ “^(CP)When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army, nor be assigned any duty; he shall be free at home for one year and shall ^(CQ)make his wife whom he has taken happy.

Various Laws

⁶ “No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s ^[df]means of life as a pledge.

⁷ “^(CR)If someone is ^[dg]caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he treats him as merchandise and sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

⁸ “^(CS)Be careful about an infestation of leprosy, that you are very attentive and act in accordance with everything that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, you shall be careful to act. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did ^(CT)to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “^(CU)When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the person to whom you are making the loan shall bring the pledge outside to you. ¹² And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. ^13 (CV)When the sun goes down you shall certainly return the pledge to him, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and ^(CW)it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “^(CX)You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your strangers who are in your land in your ^[dh]towns. ^15 (CY)You shall give him his wages on his day ^[di]before the sun sets—for he is poor and sets his ^[dj]heart on it—so that ^(CZ)he does not cry out against you to the Lord, and it becomes a sin in you.

¹⁶ “^(DA)Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin alone.

¹⁷ “^(DB)You shall not pervert the justice ^[dk]due a stranger or ^[dl]an orphan, nor ^(DC)seize a widow’s garment as a ^[dm]pledge. ¹⁸ But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹ “^(DD)When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong ^(DE)to the stranger, the ^[dn]orphan, and to the widow, in order that the Lord your God ^(DF)may bless you in all the work of your hands. ^20 (DG)When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches ^[do]again; that shall be left ^(DH)for the stranger, the ^[dp]orphan, and for the widow.

²¹ “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to ^[dq]go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the ^[dr]orphan, and the widow. ²² And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Various Laws

25 “^(DI)If there is a dispute between people and they go to ^[ds]court, and ^[dt]the judges decide their case, ^(DJ)and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty, ² then it shall be if the wicked person ^[du](DK)deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his ^[dv]wrongful act. ^3 (DL)He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not ^(DM)become contemptible in your eyes.

⁴ “^(DN)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

⁵ “When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. ^(DO)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall ^[dw]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that ^(DP)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. ^7 (DQ)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ^9 (DR)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and ^(DS)spit in his face; and she shall ^[dx]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ ¹⁰ And in Israel ^[dy]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

¹¹ “If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight ^[dz]with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps ^[ea]that man’s genitals, ¹² then you shall cut off her ^[eb]hand; ^[ec](DT)you shall not show pity.

¹³ “^(DU)You shall not have in your bag ^[ed]differing weights, a large and a small. ¹⁴ You shall not have in your house ^[ee]differing measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵ You shall have a correct and honest ^[ef]weight; you shall have a correct and honest ^[eg]measure, ^(DV)so that your days may be prolonged ^[eh]in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For ^(DW)everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁷ “^(DX)Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he ^(DY)did not ^[ei]fear God. ¹⁹ So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you ^(DZ)rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to ^[ej]possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Offering First Fruits

26 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it, ² that you shall take some of ^(EA)the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and ^(EB)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. ³ And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ^[ek]my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ And you shall respond and say before the Lord your God, ‘^(EC)My father was a ^[el]wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and ^[em]resided there, ^(ED)few in number; but there he became a ^(EE)great, mighty, and populous nation. ⁶ And the ^(EF)Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us. ⁷ Then ^(EG)we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our wretched condition, our trouble, and our oppression; ^8 (EH)and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs and wonders; ⁹ and He has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, ^(EI)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground ^(EJ)which You, Lord have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; ¹¹ and you, ^(EK)the Levite, and the stranger who is among you shall ^(EL)rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

¹² “^(EM)When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the ^[en]orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your ^[eo]towns and be satisfied. ¹³ And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have also given it to the Levite, the stranger, the ^[ep]orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments which You have commanded me; ^(EN)I have not violated or forgotten any of Your commandments. ¹⁴ I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have acted in accordance with everything that You have commanded me. ^15 (EO)Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, ^(EP)a land flowing with milk and honey just as You swore to our fathers.’

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to perform these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you shall be careful to perform them ^(EQ)with all your heart and with all your soul. ^17 (ER)Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and ^[eq]that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. ¹⁸ And the Lord has today declared you to be ^(ES)His people, His personal possession, just as He promised you, and ^[er]that you are to keep all His commandments; ¹⁹ and ^[es]that He will ^(ET)put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor; and that you shall be ^(EU)a consecrated people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”

The Curses at Mount Ebal

27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today. ^2 (EV)So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime ³ and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(EW)a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^[et]promised you. ⁴ So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones ^(EX)on Mount Ebal, ^[eu]as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. ⁵ Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you ^(EY)shall not wield an iron tool on them. ⁶ You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of ^[ev]uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; ⁷ and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and ^(EZ)rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ You shall write on the ^[ew]stones all the words of this Law very clearly.”

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God. ¹⁰ So you shall ^[ex]obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today.”

¹¹ Moses also commanded the people on that day, saying, ¹² “When you cross the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on ^(FA)Mount Gerizim to bless the people: ^(FB)Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ For the curse, these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ The Levites shall then respond and say to all the people of Israel with a loud voice,

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is the person who makes ^(FC)a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And ^(FD)all the people shall reply and say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁶ ‘^(FE)Cursed is one who treats his father or mother contemptuously.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁷ ‘^(FF)Cursed is one who displaces his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁸ ‘^(FG)Cursed is one who misleads a person who is blind on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁹ ‘^(FH)Cursed is one who distorts the justice due a stranger, an ^[ey]orphan, or a widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰ ‘^(FI)Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, because he has ^[ez]uncovered his father’s garment.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²¹ ‘^(FJ)Cursed is one who has sexual intercourse with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²² ‘^(FK)Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²³ ‘^(FL)Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁴ ‘^(FM)Cursed is he who attacks his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵ ‘^(FN)Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to attack an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶ ‘^(FO)Cursed is anyone who does not fulfill the words of this Law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

The Blessings at Mount Gerizim

28 “^(FP)Now it shall be, if you diligently ^[fa]obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God ^(FQ)will put you high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings will come to you and ^(FR)reach you if you ^[fb]obey the Lord your God:

³ “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be ^(FS)in the ^[fc]country.

⁴ “Blessed will be the ^[fd]children of your womb, the ^[fe]produce of your ground, and the ^[ff]offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.

⁵ “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

⁶ “Blessed will you be ^(FT)when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be ^[fg]defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. ⁸ The Lord will command the blessing for you in your ^[fh]barns and in ^(FU)everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (FV)The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ So all the peoples of the earth will see that ^[fi](FW)you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. ^11 (FX)And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the ^[fj]children of your womb, in the ^[fk]offspring of your livestock, and in the ^[fl]produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and ^(FY)you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. ^13 (FZ)And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to ^[fm]follow them carefully, ¹⁴ and ^(GA)do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them.

Consequences of Disobedience

¹⁵ “^(GB)But it shall come about, if you do not ^[fn]obey the Lord your God, to be careful to ^[fo]follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶ “^(GC)Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the ^[fp]country.

¹⁷ “^(GD)Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

¹⁸ “^(GE)Cursed will be the ^[fq]children of your womb, the ^[fr]produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.

¹⁹ “^(GF)Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.

²⁰ “^(GG)The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and ^(GH)rebuke, in ^[fs]everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until ^(GI)you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me. ^21 (GJ)The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (GK)The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with ^[ft]the sword, ^(GL)with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until ^(GM)you perish. ^23 [fu]The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. ^24 (GN)The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

²⁵ “^(GO)The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will ^(GP)be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ^26 (GQ)Your dead bodies will ^[fv]serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

²⁷ “^(GR)The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with ^(GS)tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of ^[fw]mind; ²⁹ and you will be ^(GT)groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be ^[fx]oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you. ^30 (GU)You will ^[fy]betroth a woman, but another man will ^[fz]violate her; ^(GV)you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not ^[ga]be restored to you; your ^[gb]sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. ^32 (GW)Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing ^[gc]you can do. ^33 (GX)A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually. ³⁴ You will also be driven insane by the sight of ^[gd]what you see. ^35 (GY)The Lord will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, and strike you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. ^36 (GZ)The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of ^(HA)wood and stone. ³⁷ And ^(HB)you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.

³⁸ “^(HC)You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because ^(HD)the locust will devour it. ^39 (HE)You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it. ^40 (HF)You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely. ^41 (HG)You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ^42 (HH)The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. ^43 (HI)The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. ^44 (HJ)He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; ^(HK)he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵ “So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you ^(HL)until you are destroyed, because you would not ^[ge]obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they will become ^(HM)a sign and a wonder ^[gf]against you and your ^[gg]descendants forever.

⁴⁷ “^(HN)Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, ^(HO)in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He ^(HP)will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ “^(HQ)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(HR)as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation ^[gh]with a defiant attitude, who will ^(HS)have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ Furthermore, it will eat the ^[gi]offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed; a nation that will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the newborn of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have eliminated you. ^52 (HT)And it will besiege you in all your ^[gj]towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your ^[gk]towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. ^53 (HU)Then you will eat the ^[gl]offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will ^[gm]oppress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is ^[gn]refined and very delicate among you ^[go]will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife ^[gp]he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will ^[gq]oppress you in all your ^[gr]towns. ^56 (HV)The ^[gs]refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, ^[gt]will be hostile toward the husband ^[gu]she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, ⁵⁷ and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her ^[gv]legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because ^(HW)she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will ^[gw]oppress you in your ^[gx]towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to ^[gy]follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to ^[gz](HX)fear this honored and awesome ^(HY)name, ^[ha]the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and ^[hb]your descendants, ^[hc]severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ^60 (HZ)And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you ^(IA)until you are destroyed. ⁶² Then you will be left few in ^[hd]number, ^(IB)whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not ^[he]obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ And it will come about that, just as the Lord ^(IC)rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord ^(ID)rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be ^(IE)torn away from the land which you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ Furthermore, the Lord will ^(IF)scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to ^[hf]the other; and there you will ^(IG)serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. ^65 (IH)Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there ^(II)the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. ⁶⁶ So your lives will be ^[hg]hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. ^67 (IJ)In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes which you will see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

The Covenant in Moab

29 ^[hh](IK)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(IL)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [hi]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; ^3 (IM)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴ Yet to this day ^(IN)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵ And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; ^(IO)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ^6 (IP)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ^7 (IQ)When you ^[hj]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[hk]defeated them; ⁸ and we took their land and ^(IR)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (IS)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(IT)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

¹⁰ “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(IU)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that ^(IV)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ “Now it is not with you alone that I am ^(IW)making this covenant and this oath, ^15 (IX)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today ¹⁶ (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷ moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(IY)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ^18 (IZ)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(JA)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹ And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[hl]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(JB)His wrath will ^[hm](JC)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(JD)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹ Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(JE)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²² “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(JF)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, ²³ ‘All its land is ^(JG)brimstone and salt, ^(JH)burned debris, ^[hn]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(JI)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(JJ)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[ho]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is ^(JK)because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[hp]assigned to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(JL)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(JM)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹ “^(JN)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(JO)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[hq]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, ^(JP)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you ^[hr]call them to mind ^(JQ)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, ² and you ^(JR)return to the Lord your God and ^[hs]obey Him ^(JS)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, ³ then the Lord your God will ^(JT)restore ^[ht]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(JU)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has ^(JV)scattered you. ⁴ If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ^[hu]ends of the earth, ^(JW)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[hv]bring you back. ^5 (JX)The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and ^(JY)make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶ “Moreover, ^(JZ)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your ^[hw]descendants, ^(KA)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. ^7 (KB)And the Lord your God will ^[hx]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸ And you will again ^[hy]obey the Lord, and ^[hz]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. ^9 (KC)Then the Lord your God will prosper you ^[ia]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the ^[ib]children of your womb, the ^[ic]offspring of your cattle, and in the ^[id]produce of your ground, for ^(KD)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ^10 [ie]if you ^[if]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which ^(KE)are written in this Book of the Law, ^[ig]if you turn to the Lord your God ^(KF)with all your heart and soul.

¹¹ “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, ^[ih]that you could say, ‘^(KG)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ii]follow it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[ij]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ik]follow it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[il]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵ “See, ^(KH)I have placed before you today life and ^[im]happiness, and death and ^[in]adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today ^(KI)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(KJ)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that ^(KK)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[io]and take possession of it. ^19 (KL)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(KM)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[ip]descendants, ^20 (KN)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(KO)by holding close to Him; ^(KP)for ^[iq]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[ir]so that you may live in ^(KQ)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Moses’ Last Counsel

31 So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(KR)120 years old today; ^(KS)I am no longer able to ^[is]go out and come in, and the Lord has told me, ‘^(KT)You shall not cross this Jordan.’ ^3 (KU)It is the Lord your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^(KV)Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. ^5 (KW)The Lord will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you. ^6 (KX)Be strong and courageous, ^(KY)do not be afraid or in dread of them, for ^(KZ)the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. ^(LA)He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷ Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “^(LB)Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. ⁸ And ^(LC)the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. ^(LD)He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

⁹ So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ^(LE)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of ^(LF)the year of the release of debts, at the ^(LG)Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(LH)to appear before the Lord your God at ^(LI)the place which He will choose, ^(LJ)you shall read this Law before all Israel ^[it]so that they hear it. ¹² Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your ^[iu]town, so that they may hear and ^(LK)learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to ^[iv]follow all the words of this Law. ¹³ And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land ^[iw]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[ix]possess.”

Israel Will Fall Away

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^[iy](LL)the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” ^(LM)So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ^15 (LN)And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. ¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^(LO)you are about to ^[iz]lie down with your fathers; and ^(LP)this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and ^(LQ)they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ^17 (LR)Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and ^(LS)I will abandon them and ^(LT)hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘^(LU)Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’ ¹⁸ But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now then, ^(LV)write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it ^[ja]on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. ^20 (LW)For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and ^(LX)become ^[jb]prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. ²¹ Then it will come about, ^(LY)when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their ^[jc]descendants); for ^(LZ)I know their inclination which they are ^[jd]developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.” ^22 (MA)So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

^23 (MB)Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “^(MC)Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and ^(MD)I will be with you.”

²⁴ It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete, ²⁵ that Moses commanded the Levites ^(ME)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, ²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may ^[je]remain there as a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know ^(MF)your rebellion and ^(MG)your ^[jf]stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death? ²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ^(MH)call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death you will ^(MI)behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

³⁰ Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

The Song of Moses

⁴⁴ Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with ^[kb](PW)Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵ When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶ he said to them, “^(PX)Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command ^(PY)your sons to ^[kc]follow carefully, all the words of this Law. ⁴⁷ For it is not a ^[kd]trivial matter for you; indeed ^(PZ)it is your life. And ^(QA)by this word you will prolong your days in the land, ^[ke]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[kf]possess.”

⁴⁸ Now ^(QB)the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, ⁴⁹ “^(QC)Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab ^[kg]opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession. ⁵⁰ Then you are to die on the mountain where you ascend, and be ^(QD)gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, ^51 (QE)because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the ^(QF)wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. ^52 (QG)For you will see the land at a distance but ^(QH)you will not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

The Blessing by Moses

33 Now this is the blessing with which Moses ^(QI)the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. ² He said,

^7 (QV)And this was regarding Judah; so he said:

⁸ Of Levi he said,

¹² Of Benjamin he said,

¹³ Of Joseph he said,

^18 (RM)Of Zebulun he said,

^20 (RQ)Of Gad he said,

^22 (RW)Of Dan he said,

²³ Of Naphtali he said,

^24 (RZ)Of Asher he said,

The Death of Moses

34 ^(ST)Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord ^(SU)showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ² and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the ^[lc](SV)western sea, ³ and the ^[ld]Negev and the territory in the Valley of Jericho, ^(SW)the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which ^(SX)I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your ^[le]descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there.” ⁵ So Moses ^(SY)the servant of the Lord ^(SZ)died there in the land of Moab, in accordance with the ^[lf]word of the Lord. ⁶ And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, ^(TA)opposite Beth-peor; but ^(TB)no one knows his burial place to this day. ⁷ Although Moses was ^(TC)120 years old when he died, ^(TD)his eyesight was not dim, nor had his vigor left him. ⁸ So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

⁹ Now Joshua the son of Nun was ^(TE)filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ Since that time ^(TF)no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom ^(TG)the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land— ¹² and for all the mighty ^[lg]power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

God’s Orders to Joshua

1 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ ^[a]servant, saying, ² “Moses ^(A)My servant is dead; so now arise, ^(B)cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. ^3 (C)Every place on which the sole of your foot steps, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. ^4 (D)From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. ^5 (E)No one will be able to oppose you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; ^(F)I will not desert you nor abandon you. ^6 (G)Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous; ^[b](H)be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may ^[c]achieve success wherever you go. ^8 (I)This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may ^[d]be careful to do according to all that is written in it; ^(J)for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will ^[e]achieve success. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? ^(K)Be strong and courageous! ^(L)Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua Assumes Command

¹⁰ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹ “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within ^(M)three days you are going to cross this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it.’”

¹² But ^(N)to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua ^[f]said, ¹³ “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘^(O)The Lord your God is giving you rest, and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross ahead of your brothers in battle formation, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He is giving you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them. ^(P)Then you may return to ^[g]your own land, and take possession of ^[h]that which Moses ^(Q)the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only ^(R)may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. ¹⁸ Anyone who rebels against your ^[i]command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”

Rahab Shelters Spies

2 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from ^(S)Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of ^(T)a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there. ² But it was told to the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.” ³ And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to spy out all the land.” ⁴ But the ^(U)woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ It came about, when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” ⁶ But ^(V)she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the crossing places; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ Now before ^[j]the spies lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹ and said to the men, “^(W)I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the ^(X)terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of you. ^10 (Y)For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the ^[k]Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and ^(Z)what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you ^[l]utterly destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard these reports, ^(AA)our hearts melted and no ^[m]courage remained in anyone any longer because of you; for the ^(AB)Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. ¹² Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a ^(AC)pledge of ^[n]truth, ¹³ and ^[o]spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and save our ^[p]lives from death.” ¹⁴ So the men said to her, “Our ^[q]life ^[r]for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will ^(AD)deal kindly and ^[s]faithfully with you.”

The Promise to Rahab

¹⁵ Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. ¹⁶ And she said to them, “^(AE)Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not encounter you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way.” ¹⁷ And the men said to her, “^(AF)We shall be exempt from this oath ^[t]to you which you have made us swear, ^18 [u]unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and ^(AG)gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. ¹⁹ And it shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house outside will have ^[v]his blood on his own head, and we will be innocent; but anyone who is with you in the house, ^(AH)his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be exempt from the oath which you have made us swear.” ²¹ She then said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

²² So they departed and came to the hill country, and remained there for three days, until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had searched for them ^[w]all along the road, but had not found them. ²³ Then the two men returned and came down from the hill country, and they crossed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun. Then they reported to him all that had happened to them. ²⁴ And they said to Joshua, “The Lord has indeed handed over to us all the land; furthermore, ^(AI)all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of us.”

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua got up early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from ^(AJ)Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed. ² Then ^(AK)at the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ^(AL)ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ⁴ However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about ^[x]two thousand cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ Then Joshua said to the people, “^(AM)Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do miracles among you.” ⁶ And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

⁷ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(AN)exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ⁸ So you shall command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹ Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you will know that ^(AO)the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly ^(AP)drive out from you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(AQ)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. ¹² Now then, ^(AR)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. ¹³ And it will come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, that is, the waters which are ^[y]flowing down from above; and they will ^(AS)stand in one heap.”