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Parashah 46: ‘Ekev (Because) 7:12–11:25

12 “Because you are listening to these rulings, keeping and obeying them, Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you, bless you and increase your numbers; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground — your grain, wine, olive oil and the young of your cattle and sheep — in the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you. 14 You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a sterile male or female among you, and the same with your livestock. 15 Adonai will remove all illness from you — he will not afflict you with any of Egypt’s dreadful diseases, which you have known; instead, he will lay them on those who hate you. 16 You are to devour all the peoples that Adonai your God hands over to you — show them no pity, and do not serve their gods, because that will become a trap for you. 17 If you think to yourselves, ‘These nations outnumber us; how can we dispossess them?’ 18 nevertheless, you are not to be afraid of them; you are to remember well what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt — 19 the great ordeals which you yourself saw, and the signs, wonders, strong hand and outstretched arm by which Adonai your God brought you out. Adonai will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, Adonai your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and those who hide themselves perish ahead of you. 21 You are not to be frightened of them, because Adonai your God is there with you, a God great and fearsome. 22 Adonai your God will expel those nations ahead of you little by little; you can’t put an end to them all at once, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you. 23 Nevertheless, Adonai your God will give them over to you, sending one disaster after another upon them until they have been destroyed. 24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their name from under heaven; none of them will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 You are to burn up completely the carved statues of their gods. Don’t be greedy for the silver or gold on them; don’t take it with you, or you will be trapped by it; for it is abhorrent to Adonai your God. 26 Don’t bring something abhorrent into your house, or you will share in the curse that is on it; instead, you are to detest it completely, loathe it utterly; for it is set apart for destruction.

“All the mitzvot I am giving you today you are to take care to obey, so that you will live, increase your numbers, enter and take possession of the land Adonai swore about to your ancestors. You are to remember everything of the way in which Adonai led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart — whether you would obey his mitzvot or not. He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry, and then fed you with man, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of Adonai. During these forty years the clothing you were wearing didn’t grow old, and your feet didn’t swell up. Think deeply about it: Adonai was disciplining you, just as a man disciplines his child. So obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God, living as he directs and fearing him. For Adonai your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs and water welling up from the depths in valleys and on hillsides. It is a land of wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food in abundance and lack nothing in it; a land where the stones contain iron and the hills can be mined for copper. 10 So you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless Adonai your God for the good land he has given you.

(ii) 11 “Be careful not to forget Adonai your God by not obeying his mitzvot, rulings and regulations that I am giving you today. 12 Otherwise, after you have eaten and are satisfied, built fine houses and lived in them, 13 and increased your herds, flocks, silver, gold and everything else you own, 14 you will become proud-hearted. Forgetting Adonai your God — who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves; 15 who led you through the vast and fearsome desert, with its poisonous snakes, scorpions and waterless, thirsty ground; who brought water out of flint rock for you; 16 who fed you in the desert with man, unknown to your ancestors; all the while humbling and testing you in order to do you good in the end — 17 you will think to yourself, ‘My own power and the strength of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 No, you are to remember Adonai your God, because it is he who is giving you the power to get wealth, in order to confirm his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as is happening even today. 19 If you forget Adonai your God, follow other gods and serve and worship them, I am warning you in advance today that you will certainly perish. 20 You will perish just like the nations that Adonai is causing to perish ahead of you, because you will not have heeded the voice of Adonai your God.”

“Listen, Isra’el! You are to cross the Yarden today, to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, great cities fortified up to the sky; a people great and tall, the ‘Anakim, whom you know about and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of ‘Anak?’ Therefore understand today that Adonai your God will himself cross ahead of you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them and bring them down before you. Thus will you drive them out and cause them to perish quickly, as Adonai has said to you.

(iii) “Don’t think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you, ‘It is to reward my righteousness that Adonai has brought me in to take possession of this land.’ No, it is because these nations have been so wicked that Adonai is driving them out ahead of you. It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that Adonai your God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word which Adonai swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov. Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that Adonai your God is giving you this good land to possess.

“For you are a stiffnecked people! Remember, don’t forget, how you made Adonai your God angry in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt till you arrived at this place, you have been rebelling against Adonai. Also in Horev you made Adonai angry — Adonai was angry enough with you to destroy you! I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenant Adonai had made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights without eating food or drinking water. 10 Then Adonai gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God; and on them was written every word Adonai had said to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly. 11 Yes, after forty days and nights Adonai gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then Adonai said to me, ‘Get up, and hurry down from here, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt. So quickly have they turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have made themselves a metal image!’ 13 Moreover, Adonai said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and what a stiffnecked people they are! 14 Let me alone, so that I can put an end to them and blot out their name from under heaven! I will make out of you a nation bigger and stronger than they.’ 15 I came down from the mountain. The mountain was blazing fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and there, you had sinned against Adonai your God! You had made yourselves a metal calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way Adonai had ordered you to follow. 17 I seized the two tablets, threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I fell down before Adonai, as I had the first time, for forty days and nights, during which time I neither ate food nor drank water, all because of the sin you committed by doing what was evil in the sight of Adonai and thus provoking him. 19 I was terrified that because of how angry Adonai was at you, of how heatedly displeased he was, that he would destroy you. But Adonai listened to me that time too. 20 In addition, Adonai was very angry with Aharon and would have destroyed him; but I prayed for Aharon also at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it up in the fire, beat it to pieces, and ground it up still smaller, until it was as fine as dust; then I threw its dust into the stream coming down from the mountain.

22 “Again at Tav‘erah, Massah and Kivrot-HaTa’avah you made Adonai angry; 23 and when Adonai sent you off from Kadesh-Barnea by saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,’ you rebelled against the order of Adonai your God — you neither trusted him nor heeded what he said. 24 You have been rebelling against Adonai from the day I first knew you!

25 “So I fell down before Adonai for those forty days and nights; and I lay there; because Adonai had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to Adonai ; I said, ‘Adonai Elohim! Don’t destroy your people, your inheritance! You redeemed them through your greatness, you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand! 27 Remember your servants Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov! Don’t focus on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or on their sin. 28 Otherwise, the land you brought us out of will say, “It is because Adonai wasn’t able to bring them into the land he promised them and because he hated them that he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” 29 But in fact they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.’

10 (iv) “At that time Adonai said to me, ‘Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood. I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia-wood and cut two stone tablets like the first, then climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. He inscribed the tablets with the same inscription as before, the Ten Words which Adonai proclaimed to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly; and Adonai gave them to me. I turned, came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made; and there they remain; as Adonai ordered me.

“The people of Isra’el traveled from the wells of B’nei-Ya‘akan to Moserah, where Aharon died and was buried; and El‘azar his son took his place, serving in the office of cohen. From there they traveled to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Yotvatah, a region with running streams. At that time Adonai set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark for the covenant of Adonai and to stand before Adonai to serve him and to bless in his name, as they still do today. This is why Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers; Adonai is his inheritance, as Adonai your God had said to him.

10 “I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as previously; and Adonai listened to me that time too — Adonai would not destroy you. 11 Then Adonai said to me, ‘Get up, and go on your way at the head of the people, so that they can enter and take possession of the land I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.’

(v) 12 “So now, Isra’el, all that Adonai your God asks from you is to fear Adonai your God, follow all his ways, love him and serve Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being; 13 to obey, for your own good, the mitzvot and regulations of Adonai which I am giving you today. 14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong to Adonai your God. 15 Only Adonai took enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them — yourselves — above all peoples, as he still does today. 16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don’t be stiffnecked any longer! 17 For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. 18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You are to fear Adonai your God, serve him, cling to him and swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which you have seen with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors went down into Egypt with only seventy people, but now Adonai your God has made your numbers as many as the stars in the sky!

11 “Therefore, you are to love Adonai your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot. Today it is you I am addressing — not your children, who haven’t known or experienced the discipline of Adonai your God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm, his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country. They didn’t experience what he did to Egypt’s army, horses and chariots — how Adonai overwhelmed them with the water of the Sea of Suf as they were pursuing you, so that they remain destroyed to this day. They didn’t experience what he kept doing for you in the desert until you arrived at this place; or what he did to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli’av the descendant of Re’uven — how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing in their company, there in front of all Isra’el. But you have seen with your own eyes all these great deeds of Adonai. Therefore, you are to keep every mitzvah I am giving you today; so that you will be strong enough to go in and take possession of the land you are crossing over to conquer; and so that you will live long in the land Adonai swore to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

(vi) 10 “For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn’t like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which soaks up water when rain falls from the sky. 12 It is a land Adonai your God cares for. The eyes of Adonai your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

13 “So if you listen carefully to my mitzvot which I am giving you today, to love Adonai your God and serve him with all your heart and all your being; 14 then, [says Adonai,] ‘I will give your land its rain at the right seasons, including the early fall rains and the late spring rains; so that you can gather in your wheat, new wine and olive oil; 15 and I will give your fields grass for your livestock; with the result that you will eat and be satisfied.’ 16 But be careful not to let yourselves be seduced, so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them. 17 If you do, the anger of Adonai will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky, so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce, and you will quickly pass away from the good land Adonai is giving you. 18 Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead; 19 teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up; 20 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates — 21 so that you and your children will live long on the land Adonai swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth.

(vii & Maftir) 22 “For if you will take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you, to do them, to love Adonai your God, to follow all his ways and to cling to him, 23 then Adonai will expel all these nations ahead of you; and you will dispossess nations bigger and stronger than you are. 24 Wherever the sole of your foot steps will be yours; your territory will extend from the desert to the L’vanon and from the River, the Euphrates River, to the Western Sea. 25 No one will be able to withstand you; Adonai your God will place the fear and dread of you on all the land you step on, as he told you.

Haftarah ‘Ekev: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 49:14–51:3

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah ‘Ekev: Mattityahu (Matthew) 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13; Ya‘akov (James) 5:7–11

12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors.(A) 13 He will love you and bless you(B) and increase your numbers.(C) He will bless the fruit of your womb,(D) the crops of your land—your grain, new wine(E) and olive oil(F)—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.(G) 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.(H) 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease.(I) He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt,(J) but he will inflict them on all who hate you.(K) 16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you.(L) Do not look on them with pity(M) and do not serve their gods,(N) for that will be a snare(O) to you.

17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?(P) 18 But do not be afraid(Q) of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.(R) 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand(S) and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.(T) 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet(U) among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you,(V) is a great and awesome God.(W) 22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little.(X) You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.(Y) 24 He will give their kings(Z) into your hand,(AA) and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you;(AB) you will destroy them.(AC) 25 The images of their gods you are to burn(AD) in the fire. Do not covet(AE) the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared(AF) by it, for it is detestable(AG) to the Lord your God. 26 Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.(AH) Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

Do Not Forget the Lord

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live(AI) and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.(AJ) Remember how the Lord your God led(AK) you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test(AL) you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled(AM) you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,(AN) which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach(AO) you that man does not live on bread(AP) alone but on every word that comes from the mouth(AQ) of the Lord.(AR) Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.(AS) Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.(AT)

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him(AU) and revering him.(AV) For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land(AW)—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;(AX) a land with wheat and barley,(AY) vines(AZ) and fig trees,(BA) pomegranates, olive oil and honey;(BB) a land where bread(BC) will not be scarce and you will lack nothing;(BD) a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.(BE)

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied,(BF) praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget(BG) the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,(BH) 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget(BI) the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness,(BJ) that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes(BK) and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.(BL) 16 He gave you manna(BM) to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known,(BN) to humble and test(BO) you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself,(BP) “My power and the strength of my hands(BQ) have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,(BR) and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods(BS) and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.(BT) 20 Like the nations(BU) the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.(BV)

Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness

Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan(BW) to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you,(BX) with large cities(BY) that have walls up to the sky.(BZ) The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”(CA) But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you(CB) like a devouring fire.(CC) He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly,(CD) as the Lord has promised you.

After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself,(CE) “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness(CF) of these nations(CG) that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity(CH) that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness(CI) of these nations,(CJ) the Lord your God will drive them out(CK) before you, to accomplish what he swore(CL) to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.(CM) 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.(CN)

The Golden Calf

Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger(CO) of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious(CP) against the Lord.(CQ) At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath(CR) so that he was angry enough to destroy you.(CS) When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant(CT) that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days(CU) and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.(CV) 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.(CW) On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.(CX)

11 At the end of the forty days and forty nights,(CY) the Lord gave me the two stone tablets,(CZ) the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt.(DA) They have turned away quickly(DB) from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

13 And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people(DC), and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14 Let me alone,(DD) so that I may destroy them and blot out(DE) their name from under heaven.(DF) And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

15 So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.(DG) 16 When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.(DH) You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

18 Then once again I fell(DI) prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water,(DJ) because of all the sin you had committed,(DK) doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. 19 I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.(DL) But again the Lord listened to me.(DM) 20 And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. 21 Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust(DN) and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.(DO)

22 You also made the Lord angry(DP) at Taberah,(DQ) at Massah(DR) and at Kibroth Hattaavah.(DS)

23 And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea,(DT) he said, “Go up and take possession(DU) of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled(DV) against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust(DW) him or obey him. 24 You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.(DX)

25 I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights(DY) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.(DZ) 26 I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,(EA) your own inheritance(EB) that you redeemed(EC) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.(ED) 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness(EE) of this people, their wickedness and their sin. 28 Otherwise, the country(EF) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,(EG) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’(EH) 29 But they are your people,(EI) your inheritance(EJ) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.(EK)

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets(EL) like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark.[a] I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”(EM)

So I made the ark out of acacia wood(EN) and chiseled(EO) out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments(EP) he had proclaimed(EQ) to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.(ER) And the Lord gave them to me. Then I came back down the mountain(ES) and put the tablets in the ark(ET) I had made,(EU) as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.(EV)

(The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah.(EW) There Aaron died(EX) and was buried, and Eleazar(EY) his son succeeded him as priest.(EZ) From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.(FA) At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi(FB) to carry the ark of the covenant(FC) of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister(FD) and to pronounce blessings(FE) in his name, as they still do today.(FF) That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,(FG) as the Lord your God told them.)

10 Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.(FH) 11 “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the Lord

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you(FI) but to fear(FJ) the Lord your God, to walk(FK) in obedience to him, to love him,(FL) to serve the Lord(FM) your God with all your heart(FN) and with all your soul,(FO) 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands(FP) and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?(FQ)

14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens,(FR) even the highest heavens,(FS) the earth and everything in it.(FT) 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved(FU) them, and he chose you,(FV) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.(FW) 16 Circumcise(FX) your hearts,(FY) therefore, and do not be stiff-necked(FZ) any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods(GA) and Lord of lords,(GB) the great God, mighty and awesome,(GC) who shows no partiality(GD) and accepts no bribes.(GE) 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,(GF) and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.(GG) 19 And you are to love(GH) those who are foreigners,(GI) for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.(GJ) 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him.(GK) Hold fast(GL) to him and take your oaths in his name.(GM) 21 He is the one you praise;(GN) he is your God, who performed for you those great(GO) and awesome wonders(GP) you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all,(GQ) and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.(GR)

Love and Obey the Lord

11 Love(GS) the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.(GT) Remember today that your children(GU) were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God:(GV) his majesty,(GW) his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;(GX) the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;(GY) what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots,(GZ) how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea[b](HA) as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did(HB) to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened(HC) its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.(HD)

Observe therefore all the commands(HE) 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,(HF) and so that you may live long(HG) in the land the Lord swore(HH) to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.(HI) 10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt,(HJ) from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys(HK) that drinks rain from heaven.(HL) 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes(HM) of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

13 So if you faithfully obey(HN) the commands I am giving you today—to love(HO) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul(HP) 14 then I will send rain(HQ) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,(HR) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass(HS) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.(HT)

16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.(HU) 17 Then the Lord’s anger(HV) will burn against you, and he will shut up(HW) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,(HX) and you will soon perish(HY) from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.(HZ) 19 Teach them to your children,(IA) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.(IB) 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,(IC) 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many(ID) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.(IE)

22 If you carefully observe(IF) all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love(IG) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast(IH) to him— 23 then the Lord will drive out(II) all these nations(IJ) before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you.(IK) 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours:(IL) Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River(IM) 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(IN) and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.(IO)

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 10:1 That is, a chest
  2. Deuteronomy 11:4 Or the Sea of Reeds

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

15 And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?

18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;

19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.

20 Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.

22 And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

23 But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.

24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.

25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.

Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee.

Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.

Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you.

When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:

10 And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

12 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

13 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.

17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also.

20 And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath.

23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

24 Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.

10 At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me.

And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me.

And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him.

10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy thee.

11 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13 To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15 Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

11 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day;

And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.

Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

12 A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23 Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.