³² So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you;^(A) do not turn aside to the right or to the left.^{(B) 33} Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you,^(C) so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days^(D) in the land that you will possess.

⁴ After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself,^(A) “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness^(B) of these nations^(C) that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity^(D) that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness^(E) of these nations,^(F) the Lord your God will drive them out^(G) before you, to accomplish what he swore^(H) to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.^{(I) 6} Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(J)

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands^(A) I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,^{(B) 9} and so that you may live long^(C) in the land the Lord swore^(D) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(E)

²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,^{(A) 21} so that your days and the days of your children may be many^(B) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.^(C)

²² If you carefully observe^(D) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love^(E) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast^(F) to him— ²³ then the Lord will drive out^(G) all these nations^(H) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.^{(I) 24} Every place where you set your foot will be yours:^(J) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River^(K) to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror^(L) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.^(M)

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing^(N) and a curse^(O)— ²⁷ the blessing^(P) if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey^(Q) the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods,^(R) which you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim^(S) the blessings, and on Mount Ebal^(T) the curses.^(U)

The One Place of Worship

12 These are the decrees^(A) and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land.^{(B) 2} Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains,^(C) on the hills and under every spreading tree,^(D) where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. ³ Break down their altars, smash^(E) their sacred stones and burn^(F) their Asherah^(G) poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names^(H) from those places.

⁴ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.^{(I) 5} But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name^(J) there for his dwelling.^(K) To that place you must go;

Occult Practices

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate^(A) the detestable ways^(B) of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,^(C) who practices divination^(D) or sorcery,^(E) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,^{(F) 11} or casts spells,^(G) or who is a medium or spiritist^(H) or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.^{(I) 13} You must be blameless^(J) before the Lord your God.^(K)

The Prophet

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.^(L) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(M) You must listen to him.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,^{(A) 2} your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke^{(B) 4} and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings^(C) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.^{(D) 6} Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands^(E) over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,^{(F) 9} and you will have purged^(G) from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

⁵¹ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan,^{(A) 52} drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.^{(B) 53} Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.^(C)

⁵⁵ “‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns^(A) in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. ⁵⁶ And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.^(B)’”