Deuteronomy 24-32

English Standard Version

Laws Concerning Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and ^(A)he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, ² and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, ³ and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴ then ^(B)her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5 (C)“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year ^(D)to be happy with his wife^[a] whom he has taken.

⁶ “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

^7 (E)“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he ^(F)treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. ^(G)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ “Take care, in ^(H)a case of leprous^[b] disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to ^(I)Miriam ^(J)on the way as you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. ^13 (K)You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and ^(L)bless you. And ^(M)it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(N)oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ^15 (O)You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), ^(P)lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

^16 (Q)“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17 (R)“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, ^(S)or take a widow's garment in pledge, ¹⁸ but ^(T)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

^19 (U)“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, ^(V)that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ^22 (W)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

25 “If there is a ^(X)dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, ^(Y)acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, ² then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. ^3 (Z)Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

^4 (AA)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

^5 (AB)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her ^(AC)husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(AD)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall ^(AE)go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ^(AF)‘I do not wish to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and ^(AG)pull his sandal off his foot and ^(AH)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not ^(AI)build up his brother's house.’ ¹⁰ And the name of his house^[c] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Miscellaneous Laws

¹¹ “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, ¹² then you shall cut off her hand. ^(AJ)Your eye shall have no pity.

¹³ “You ^(AK)shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. ¹⁴ You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵ A full and fair^[d] weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, ^(AL)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For ^(AM)all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, ^(AN)are an abomination to the Lord your God.

^17 (AO)“Remember what Amalek did to you ^(AP)on the way as you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and ^(AQ)cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(AR)when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall ^(AS)blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, ^2 (AT)you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall ^(AU)go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 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 your God that I have come into the land ^(AV)that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵ “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A ^(AW)wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, ^(AX)few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶ And ^(AY)the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷ Then ^(AZ)we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸ And ^(BA)the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(BB)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror,^[e] with signs and wonders. ⁹ And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, ^(BC)a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹ And ^(BD)you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

¹² “When you have finished paying all ^(BE)the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is ^(BF)the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, ¹³ then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, ^(BG)nor have I forgotten them. ^14 (BH)I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it ^(BI)to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. ^15 (BJ)Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. ^17 (BK)You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. ¹⁸ And the Lord has declared today that you are ^(BL)a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, ¹⁹ and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor ^(BM)high above all nations ^(BN)that he has made, and that you shall be ^(BO)a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. ² And on the day ^(BP)you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. ^3 (BQ)And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(BR)a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, ^(BS)on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵ And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. ^(BT)You shall wield no iron tool on them; ⁶ you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut^[f] stones. And you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, ⁷ and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and ^(BU)shall eat there, and you ^(BV)shall rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸ And ^(BW)you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Curses from Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: ^(BX)this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

¹¹ That day Moses charged the people, saying, ¹² “When you have crossed over the Jordan, ^(BY)these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And ^(BZ)the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

^15 (CA)“‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ ^(CB)And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

^16 (CC)“‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^17 (CD)“‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^18 (CE)“‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^19 (CF)“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^20 (CG)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife, because he has ^(CH)uncovered his father's nakedness.’^[g] And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^21 (CI)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^22 (CJ)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^23 (CK)“‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^24 (CL)“‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^25 (CM)“‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

^26 (CN)“‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(CO)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(CP)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(CQ)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(CR)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(CS)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(CT)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(CU)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(CV)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(CW)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(CX)in all that you undertake. ^(CY)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (CZ)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(DA)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(DB)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(DC)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(DD)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(DE)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(DF)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(DG)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(DH)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(DI)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (DJ)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(DK)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(DL)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(DM)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(DN)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(DO)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(DP)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(DQ)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (DR)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[h] and with ^(DS)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(DT)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (DU)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(DV)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(DW)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(DX)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(DY)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ^(DZ)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(EA)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(EB)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[i] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (EC)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(ED)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(EE)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (EF)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(EG)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(EH)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(EI)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶ “The Lord will ^(EJ)bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you ^(EK)nor your fathers have known. And ^(EL)there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become ^(EM)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. ^38 (EN)You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for ^(EO)the locust shall consume it. ^39 (EP)You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you ^(EQ)shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for ^(ER)they shall go into captivity. ^42 (ES)The cricket^[j] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ^43 (ET)The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ^44 (EU)He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. ^(EV)He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

^45 (EW)“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ They shall be ^(EX)a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. ^47 (EY)Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he ^(EZ)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. ^49 (FA)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(FB)swooping down like the eagle, a nation ^(FC)whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation ^(FD)who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. ⁵¹ It shall ^(FE)eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵² “They shall ^(FF)besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ And ^(FG)you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, ^(FH)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will ^(FI)begrudge food to his brother, to ^(FJ)the wife he embraces,^[k] and to the last of the children whom he has left, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, ^(FK)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. ^56 (FL)The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,^[l] to her son and to her daughter, ⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, ^(FM)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, ^(FN)the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. ⁶⁰ And he will bring upon you again all ^(FO)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Whereas ^(FP)you were as numerous ^(FQ)as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And as the Lord ^(FR)took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will ^(FS)take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

⁶⁴ “And the Lord ^(FT)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^(FU)there you shall serve other gods ^(FV)of wood and stone, ^(FW)which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ And ^(FX)among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but ^(FY)the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and ^(FZ)a languishing soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. ^67 (GA)In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and ^(GB)the sights that your eyes shall see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord ^(GC)will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that ^(GD)you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

The Covenant Renewed in Moab

29 ^[m] These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel ^(GE)in the land of Moab, besides ^(GF)the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [n] And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ^(GG)“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³ the great ^(GH)trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ But to this day ^(GI)the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. ^5 (GJ)I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. ^6 (GK)You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ And when you came to this place, ^(GL)Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and ^(GM)gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (GN)Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper^[o] in all that you do.

¹⁰ “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,^[p] your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the ^(GO)sojourner who is in your camp, from ^(GP)the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so that you may enter into the ^(GQ)sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ that he may ^(GR)establish you today as his people, and that ^(GS)he may be your God, as he promised you, and ^(GT)as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴ It is not with you alone ^(GU)that I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵ but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, ^(GV)and with whoever is not here with us today.

¹⁶ “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. ¹⁷ And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. ¹⁸ Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ^(GW)a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹ one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather ^(GX)the anger of the Lord and ^(GY)his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord ^(GZ)will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. ²² And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ^(HA)will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— ²³ the whole land burned out with brimstone and ^(HB)salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, ^(HC)an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, ^(HD)Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— ²⁴ all the nations ^(HE)will say, ^(HF)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶ and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ^(HG)bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, ²⁸ and the Lord ^(HH)uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and ^(HI)cast them into another land, as they are this day.’

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 ^(HJ)“And ^(HK)when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and ^(HL)you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, ² and ^(HM)return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ then the Lord your God ^(HN)will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will ^(HO)gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ^4 (HP)If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. ⁵ And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. ^(HQ)And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶ And ^(HR)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, ^(HS)so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷ And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. ^9 (HT)The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. ^(HU)For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰ when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

¹¹ “For this commandment that I command you today ^(HV)is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ^12 (HW)It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ “See, ^(HX)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God^[q] that I command you today, ^(HY)by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,^[r] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if ^(HZ)your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (IA)I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^(IB)blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^(IC)and holding fast to him, for ^(ID)he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^(IE)the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(IF)120 years old today. I am no longer able to ^(IG)go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ^(IH)‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God ^(II)himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, ^(IJ)as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them ^(IK)as he did to Sihon ^(IL)and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵ And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them ^(IM)according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. ^6 (IN)Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, ^(IO)for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. ^(IP)He will not leave you or forsake you.”

⁷ Then ^(IQ)Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(IR)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸ It is the Lord ^(IS)who goes before you. He will be with you; ^(IT)he will not leave you or forsake you. ^(IU)Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Reading of the Law

⁹ Then Moses ^(IV)wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(IW)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, ^(IX)“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at ^(IY)the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(IZ)to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, ^(JA)you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ^12 (JB)Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, ¹³ and that their children, ^(JC)who have not known it, ^(JD)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ^(JE)as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(JF)“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ^(JG)I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ And ^(JH)the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(JI)“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ^(JJ)whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ^(JK)forsake me and ^(JL)break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^(JM)I will forsake them and ^(JN)hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ^(JO)‘Have not these evils come upon us because ^(JP)our God is not among us?’ ¹⁸ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because ^(JQ)they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now therefore write ^(JR)this song and ^(JS)teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(JT)a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰ For when I have brought them into the land ^(JU)flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ^(JV)grown fat, ^(JW)they will turn to other gods and serve them, and ^(JX)despise me and ^(JY)break my covenant. ²¹ And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ^(JZ)a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ^(KA)I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” ²² So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

^23 (KB)And the Lord^[s] commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ^(KC)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ^(KD)I will be with you.”

²⁴ When Moses had finished ^(KE)writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, ²⁵ Moses commanded ^(KF)the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law ^(KG)and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ^(KH)a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know how rebellious and ^(KI)stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, ^(KJ)you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! ²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ^(KK)these words in their ears and ^(KL)call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death ^(KM)you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And ^(KN)in the days to come ^(KO)evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(KP)provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

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