Deuteronomy 2-8

New American Standard Bible

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^[a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, ^4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the ^(D)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and ^(E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; ⁵ do not ^[b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a ^[c]footprint, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[d]that you have done; He has known your ^[e]wandering through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

⁸ “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the ^(I)Arabah road, away from Elath and ^(J)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[f]their land as a possession, because I have given ^(K)Ar to ^(L)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰ (The ^(M)Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as ^(N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before ^[g]them, and settled in their place; ^(P)just as Israel did to the land of ^[h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[j]Wadi Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[l]Wadi Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as ^(S)the Lord had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

¹⁶ “So it came about, when ^(U)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you shall cross over ^(V)Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the ^(W)sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(X)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the ^(Y)Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before ^[m]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who ^(Z)live in Seir, when He destroyed ^(AA)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. ²³ And as for the ^(AB)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the ^[n](AC)Caphtorim, who came from ^[o](AD)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the ^[p](AE)Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put ^(AF)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of ^[q]people everywhere, ^[r]who, when they hear the news of you, ^(AG)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “^(AH)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will ^[s]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(AI)only let me pass through on ^[t]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(AJ)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But ^(AK)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[u]through his land; for the ^(AL)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^[v]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out ^[w]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(AM)the Lord our God turned him over ^[x]to us, and we ^[y](AN)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[z](AO)utterly destroyed ^[aa]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(AP)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From ^(AQ)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^[ab]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^[ac]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too ^[ad]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over ^[ae]to us. ^37 (AR)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^[af]river ^(AS)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.

Conquests Recounted

3 “^(AT)Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out ^[ag]with all his people to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God also handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, with all his people, and we struck ^[ah]them until no survivor was ^[ai]left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of ^(AU)Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many ^[aj]unwalled towns. ⁶ We ^[ak]utterly destroyed them, as we did to ^(AV)Sihon king of Heshbon, ^[al](AW)utterly destroying ^[am]the men, women, and children of every city. ^7 (AX)But all the animals and the spoils of the cities we took as our plunder.

⁸ “^(AY)So at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the ^[an]Valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (Sidonians ^(AZ)call Hermon ^(BA)Sirion, and the Amorites call it ^(BB)Senir): ¹⁰ all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and ^(BC)all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the ^(BD)Rephaim. Behold, his ^[ao]bed was a ^[ap]bed of iron; it is in ^(BE)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by ^[aq]the usual cubit.)

¹² “So we took possession of this land at that time. From ^(BF)Aroer, which is by the ^[ar]Valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of ^(BG)Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As to all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. ^14 (BH)Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is, Bashan, and named ^[as]it after his own name: ^[at]Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) ^15 (BI)To Machir I gave Gilead. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the ^[au]Valley of Arnon, the middle of the ^[av]valley ^[aw]as a border, and as far as the ^[ax]river ^(BJ)Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹⁷ the Arabah also, with the Jordan ^[ay]as a border, from ^[az](BK)Chinnereth ^(BL)even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^(BM)the Salt Sea, ^[ba]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ “Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘^(BN)The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; ^(BO)all you ^[bb]valiant men shall cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the sons of Israel. ^19 (BP)However, your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have ^(BQ)much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, ^20 (BR)until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. ^(BS)Then you may return, each man to his possession which I have given you.’ ²¹ And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; the Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²² Do not fear them, for the Lord your God ^(BT)is the One fighting for you.’

²³ “I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘Lord ^[bc]God, You have begun to show Your servant ^(BU)Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what ^(BV)god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? ²⁵ Please let me cross over and see the ^(BW)good land that is beyond the Jordan, ^[bd]that good hill country, and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But ^(BX)the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; instead, the Lord said to me, ‘^[be]Enough! Do not speak to Me any more about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of ^(BY)Pisgah and raise your eyes to the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see it with your eyes; ^(BZ)for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ^28 (CA)But commission Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, ^(CB)for he shall go across ^[bf]leading this people, and he will give to them, as an inheritance, the land which you will see.’ ²⁹ So we remained in the valley opposite ^(CC)Beth-peor.

Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which ^(CD)I am teaching you to perform, so that ^(CE)you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 (CF)You shall not add to the word which ^(CG)I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. ^3 (CH)Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed ^[bg]them from among you. ⁴ But you who clung to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵ “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments ^(CI)just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you are to do these things in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶ So keep and do them, ^(CJ)for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For ^(CK)what great nation is there that has a god ^(CL)so near to it as is the Lord our God ^(CM)whenever we call on Him? ⁸ Or what great nation is there that has ^(CN)statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole Law which I am setting before you today?

⁹ “Only ^(CO)be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart ^(CP)all the days of your life; but ^(CQ)make them known to your sons and your grandsons. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words ^(CR)so that they may learn to ^[bh]fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may ^(CS)teach their children.’ ¹¹ You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, ^(CT)and the mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. ¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice. ¹³ So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, ^(CU)the Ten ^[bi]Commandments; and ^(CV)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so that you would perform them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it.

¹⁵ “So ^(CW)be very careful ^[bj]yourselves, since you did not see any ^(CX)form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not ^(CY)act corruptly and ^(CZ)make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female, ¹⁷ a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of ^(DA)any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^(DB)all the heavenly ^[bk]lights, ^(DC)and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of ^(DD)the iron furnace, from Egypt, to ^(DE)be a people of His own possession, as today.

²¹ “^(DF)Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² For ^(DG)I am going to die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you will take possession of this ^(DH)good land. ²³ So be careful ^[bl]yourselves, ^(DI)that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and ^(DJ)make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a ^(DK)consuming fire, a ^(DL)jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and have ^[bm]grandchildren, and you grow old in the land, and you ^(DM)act corruptly, and ^(DN)make ^[bn]an idol in the form of anything, and ^(DO)do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(DP)call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will ^(DQ)certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not ^[bo]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will ^(DR)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. ^28 (DS)There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, ^(DT)wood and stone, ^(DU)which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything. ^29 (DV)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him ^(DW)with all your heart and all your soul. ³⁰ When you ^(DX)are in distress and all these things happen to you, ^(DY)in the latter days ^(DZ)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a ^(EA)compassionate God; ^(EB)He will not abandon you nor ^(EC)destroy you, nor ^(ED)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

³² “Indeed, ^(EE)ask now about the earlier days that were ^[bp]before your time, since the ^(EF)day that God created ^[bq]mankind on the earth, and inquire ^(EG)from one end of the heavens to the other. ^(EH)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? ^33 (EI)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? ^34 (EJ)Or has a god ventured to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation ^(EK)by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, ^(EL)by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, ^[br]just as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord, He is God; ^(EM)there is no other besides Him. ^36 (EN)Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice ^(EO)to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. ^37 (EP)Because He loved your fathers, He chose ^[bs]their descendants after them. And He ^[bt](EQ)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, ³⁸ driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and ^(ER)to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today. ³⁹ Therefore know today, and take it to your heart, that ^(ES)the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. ^40 (ET)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am ^[bu]giving you today, so that ^(EU)it may go well for you and for your children after you, and ^(EV)that you may ^[bv]live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

^41 (EW)Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the ^[bw]east, ⁴² for ^[bx]one to flee there who unintentionally killed his neighbor, without having hatred for him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ^43 (EX)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴ Now this is the Law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; ⁴⁵ these are the testimonies and the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ across the Jordan, in the valley ^(EY)opposite Beth-peor, in the land of ^(EZ)Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel ^[by]defeated when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And they took possession of his land and the land of ^(FA)Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the ^[bz]east, ⁴⁸ from ^(FB)Aroer, which is on the edge of the ^[ca]Valley of Arnon, even as far as ^(FC)Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹ with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^[cb]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments Repeated

5 Now Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:

“Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today ^[cc]for you to hear, so that you may learn them and be careful to do them. ² The Lord our God made ^(FD)a covenant with us at Horeb. ^3 (FE)The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all ^[cd]of us who are alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you ^(FF)face to face at the mountain ^(FG)from the midst of the fire, ⁵ while ^(FH)I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; ^(FI)for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain. ^[ce]He said,

⁶ ‘^(FJ)I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[cf]slavery.

⁷ ‘^(FK)You shall have no other gods besides Me.

⁸ ‘^(FL)You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any ^[cg]likeness of what is in heaven above ^[ch]or on the earth beneath ^[ci]or in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ^(FM)inflicting the ^[cj]punishment of the fathers on the children, ^[ck]even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ¹⁰ but ^(FN)showing ^[cl]favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹ ‘^(FO)You shall not take the name of the Lord your God ^[cm]in vain, for the Lord will not ^[cn]leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.

¹² ‘^(FP)Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ For six days you ^[co]shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but ^(FQ)the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your ^[cp]resident who ^[cq]stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. ^15 (FR)And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to ^[cr]celebrate the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ ‘^(FS)Honor your father and your mother, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(FT)so that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well for you on the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ ‘^(FU)You shall not murder.

¹⁸ ‘^(FV)You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ ‘^(FW)You shall not steal.

²⁰ ‘^(FX)You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ ‘^(FY)You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

Moses Interceded

²² “These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. ^(FZ)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴ You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives. ^25 (GA)Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die! ²⁶ For ^(GB)who is there of ^[cs]humanity who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ^27 [ct]Go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says; then speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’

²⁸ “Now the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, ^(GC)and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ^29 (GD)If only they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and ^(GE)keep all My commandments always, so that ^(GF)it would go well with them and with their sons forever! ³⁰ Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” ^31 (GG)But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may ^[cu]follow them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’ ³² So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; ^(GH)you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. ^33 (GI)You shall walk ^[cv]entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(GJ)so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Obey God and Prosper

6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may do them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it, ² so that you, your son, and your grandson will ^(GK)fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, ^(GL)all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ Now Israel, you shall listen and be careful to do them, so that ^(GM)it may go well for you and that you may increase greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has ^[cw]promised you, in ^(GN)a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “^(GO)Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the ^(GP)Lord is one! ⁵ And ^(GQ)you shall love the Lord your God ^(GR)with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ^6 (GS)These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ And ^(GT)you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. ^8 (GU)You shall also tie them as a ^[cx]sign to your ^[cy]hand, and they shall be as ^[cz]frontlets ^[da]on your forehead. ^9 (GV)You shall also write them on the ^[db]doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, ^(GW)great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and carved cisterns which you did not carve out, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and ^(GX)you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be ^[dc]careful that ^(GY)you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[dd]slavery. ^13 (GZ)You shall ^[de]fear only the Lord your God; and you shall ^[df]worship Him and ^(HA)swear by His name. ^14 (HB)You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, ¹⁵ for the Lord your God who is in the midst of you is a ^(HC)jealous God; so follow Him, or else the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will ^[dg]wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “^(HD)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(HE)as you tested Him at Massah. ^17 (HF)You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His provisions and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸ You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that ^(HG)it may go well for you and that you may go in and take possession of the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, ¹⁹ by driving out all your enemies from you, as the Lord has spoken.

²⁰ “^(HH)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the provisions and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Moreover, the Lord provided great and terrible signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household; ²³ He brought us out of there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord commanded us to ^[dh]follow all these statutes, ^(HI)to fear the Lord our God for our own good always and ^(HJ)for our survival, as it is today. ²⁵ And ^(HK)it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to ^[di]follow all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.

Warnings

7 “^(HL)When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to take possession of it, and He drives away many nations from before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, ^(HM)seven nations greater and mightier than you, ² and when the Lord your God turns them over to you and you ^[dj]defeat them, ^(HN)you shall ^[dk]utterly destroy them. ^(HO)You shall not make a covenant with them ^(HP)nor be gracious to them. ³ Furthermore, ^(HQ)you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your ^[dl]daughters to ^[dm]their sons, nor shall you take ^[dn]their daughters for your ^[do]sons. ⁴ For ^[dp]they will turn your ^[dq]sons away from ^[dr]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and ^(HR)He will quickly destroy you. ⁵ But this is what you shall do to them: ^(HS)you shall tear down their altars, smash their memorial stones, cut their ^[ds]Asherim to pieces, and burn their carved images in the fire. ⁶ For you are ^(HT)a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(HU)a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[dt]earth.

⁷ “^(HV)The Lord did not ^[du]make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because the Lord loved you and kept the ^(HW)oath which He swore to your forefathers, ^(HX)the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of ^[dv]slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God, ^(HY)He is God, ^(HZ)the faithful God, ^(IA)who keeps ^[dw]His covenant and ^[dx]His faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who ^(IB)love Him and keep His commandments; ¹⁰ but He ^(IC)repays those who hate Him to ^[dy]their faces, to eliminate ^[dz]them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. ¹¹ Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

Promises of God

¹² “^(ID)Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep ^[ea]His covenant with you and ^[eb]His faithfulness which He swore to your forefathers. ¹³ And He will ^(IE)love you, bless you, and ^(IF)make you numerous; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the newborn of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, ^[ec]in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no sterile male or ^(IG)infertile female among you or among your cattle. ¹⁵ And ^(IH)the Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not inflict upon you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will give them to all who hate you. ¹⁶ You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will turn over to you; ^(II)your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(IJ)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I ^(IK)dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ you are not to be afraid of them; you shall ^(IL)remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: ^19 (IM)the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders, and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Indeed, the Lord your God will send ^(IN)the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish. ²¹ You are not to be terrified of them, because ^(IO)the Lord your God is in your midst, ^(IP)a great and awesome God. ^22 (IQ)And the Lord your God will drive away these nations from you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, otherwise the ^[ed]wild animals would become too numerous for you. ^23 (IR)But the Lord your God will turn them over to you, and will ^[ee]throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ^24 (IS)And He will hand over their kings to you, so that you will eliminate their name from under heaven; ^(IT)no one will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods you are to ^(IU)burn with fire; you shall ^(IV)not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be ^(IW)trapped by it; for it is an ^(IX)abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become ^(IY)designated for destruction, like it; you are to utterly detest it, and you are to utterly loathe it, for it is something designated for destruction.

God’s Gracious Dealings

8 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you ^(IZ)may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. ^2 (JA)And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has ^(JB)led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, ^(JC)putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you ^[ef]understand that ^(JD)man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (JE)Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. ^5 (JF)So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to ^[eg]fear Him. ⁷ For ^(JG)the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ When ^(JH)you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful that you do not ^(JI)forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; ¹² otherwise, ^(JJ)when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, ¹⁴ then your heart will ^[eh]become proud and you will ^(JK)forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[ei]slavery; ¹⁵ He who led you through ^(JL)the great and terrible wilderness, with its ^(JM)fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who ^(JN)brought water for you out of the rock of flint. ¹⁶ In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna ^(JO)which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to ^(JP)put you to the test, to do good for you ^[ej]in the end. ¹⁷ Otherwise, ^(JQ)you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ But you are to remember the Lord your God, for ^(JR)it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, ^(JS)I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so ^(JT)you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.