Deuteronomy 18-34

Good News Translation

The Share of the Priests

18 “The priestly tribe of Levi is not to receive any share of land in Israel; instead, they are to live on the offerings and other sacrifices given to the Lord. ^2 (A)They are to own no land, as the other tribes do; their share is the privilege of being the Lord's priests, as the Lord has promised.

³ “Whenever cattle or sheep are sacrificed, the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach. ⁴ They are to receive the first share of the grain, wine, olive oil, and wool. ⁵ The Lord chose from all your tribes the tribe of Levi to serve him as priests forever.

⁶ “Any Levite who wants to may come from any town in Israel to the one place of worship ⁷ and may serve there as a priest of the Lord his God, like the other Levites who are serving there. ⁸ He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.^[a]

Warning against Pagan Practices

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, don't follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there. ^10 (B)Don't sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don't let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells ^11 (C)or charms, and don't let them consult the spirits of the dead. ¹² The Lord your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance. ^13 (D)Be completely faithful to the Lord.”

The Promise to Send a Prophet

¹⁴ Then Moses said, “In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but the Lord your God does not allow you to do this. ^15 (E)Instead, he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.^[b]

¹⁶ “On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the Lord speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die. ¹⁷ So the Lord said to me, ‘They have made a wise request. ¹⁸ I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he^[c] will tell the people everything I command. ^19 (F)He will speak in my name, and I^[d] will punish anyone who refuses to obey him. ²⁰ But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.’

²¹ “You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord. ²² If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.

The Cities of Refuge^(G)

19 ^(H)“After the Lord your God has destroyed the people whose land he is giving you and after you have taken their cities and houses and settled there, ^2-3 divide the territory into three parts, each with a city that can be easily reached. Then any of you that kill will be able to escape to one of them for protection. ⁴ If you accidentally kill someone who is not your enemy, you may escape to any of these cities and be safe. ⁵ For example, if two of you go into the forest together to cut wood and if, as one of you is chopping down a tree, the ax head comes off the handle and kills the other, you can run to one of those three cities and be safe. ⁶ If there were only one city, the distance to it might be too great, and the relative who is responsible for taking revenge for the killing might catch you and angrily kill an innocent person. After all, it was by accident that you killed someone who was not your enemy. ⁷ This is why I order you to set aside three cities.

⁸ “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he told your ancestors he would, and gives you all the land he has promised, ⁹ then you are to select three more cities. (He will give you this land if you do everything that I command you today and if you love the Lord your God and live according to his teachings.) ¹⁰ Do this, so that innocent people will not die and so that you will not be guilty of putting them to death in the land that the Lord is giving you.

¹¹ “But suppose you deliberately murder your enemy in cold blood and then escape to one of those cities for protection. ¹² In that case, the leaders of your own town are to send for you and hand you over to the relative responsible for taking revenge for the murder, so that you may be put to death. ¹³ No mercy will be shown to you. Israel must rid itself of murderers, so that all will go well.

Ancient Property Lines

^14 (I)“Do not move your neighbor's property line, established long ago in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Concerning Witnesses

^15 (J)“One witness is not enough to convict someone of a crime; at least two witnesses are necessary to prove that someone is guilty. ¹⁶ If any of you try to harm another by false accusations, ¹⁷ both of you are to go to the one place of worship and be judged by the priests and judges who are then in office. ¹⁸ The judges will investigate the case thoroughly; and if you have made a false accusation, ¹⁹ you are to receive the punishment the accused would have received. In this way your nation will get rid of this evil. ²⁰ Then everyone else will hear what happened; they will be afraid, and no one will ever again do such an evil thing. ^21 (K)In such cases show no mercy; the punishment is to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Concerning War

20 “When you go out to fight against your enemies and you see chariots and horses and an army that outnumbers yours, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, will be with you. ² Before you start fighting, a priest is to come forward and say to the army, ³ ‘Men of Israel, listen! Today you are going into battle. Do not be afraid of your enemies or lose courage or panic. ⁴ The Lord your God is going with you, and he will give you victory.’

⁵ “Then the officers will address the men and say, ‘Is there any man here who has just built a house, but has not yet dedicated it? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will dedicate his house. ⁶ Is there any man here who has just planted a vineyard, but has not yet had the chance to harvest its grapes? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will enjoy the wine. ⁷ Is there anyone here who is engaged to be married? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will marry the woman he is engaged to.’

⁸ “The officers will also say to the men, ‘Is there any man here who has lost his nerve and is afraid? If so, he is to go home. Otherwise, he will destroy the morale of the others.’ ⁹ When the officers have finished speaking to the army, leaders are to be chosen for each unit.

¹⁰ “When you go to attack a city, first give its people a chance to surrender. ¹¹ If they open the gates and surrender, they are all to become your slaves and do forced labor for you. ¹² But if the people of that city will not surrender, but choose to fight, surround it with your army. ¹³ Then, when the Lord your God lets you capture the city, kill every man in it. ¹⁴ You may, however, take for yourselves the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city. You may use everything that belongs to your enemies. The Lord has given it to you. ¹⁵ That is how you are to deal with those cities that are far away from the land you will settle in.

¹⁶ “But when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, kill everyone. ¹⁷ Completely destroy all the people: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the Lord ordered you to do. ¹⁸ Kill them, so that they will not make you sin against the Lord by teaching you to do all the disgusting things that they do in the worship of their gods.

¹⁹ “When you are trying to capture a city, do not cut down its fruit trees, even though the siege lasts a long time. Eat the fruit, but do not destroy the trees; the trees are not your enemies. ²⁰ You may cut down the other trees and use them in the siege mounds until the city is captured.

Concerning Unsolved Murders

21 “Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you, and you do not know who killed him. ² Your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the place where the body was found to each of the nearby towns. ³ Then the leaders of the town nearest to where the body was found are to select a young cow that has never been used for work. ⁴ They are to take it down to a spot near a stream that never runs dry and where the ground has never been plowed or planted, and there they are to break its neck. ⁵ The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name. ⁶ Then all the leaders from the town nearest the place where the murdered person was found are to wash their hands over the cow ⁷ and say, ‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it. ⁸ Lord, forgive your people Israel, whom you rescued from Egypt. Forgive us and do not hold us responsible for the murder of an innocent person.’ ⁹ And so, by doing what the Lord requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder.

Concerning Women Prisoners of War

¹⁰ “When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners, ¹¹ you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry. ¹² Take her to your home, where she will shave her head,^[e] cut her fingernails, ¹³ and change her clothes. She is to stay in your home and mourn for her parents for a month; after that, you may marry her. ¹⁴ Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her.

Concerning the First Son's Inheritance

¹⁵ “Suppose a man has two wives and they both bear him sons, but the first son is not the child of his favorite wife. ¹⁶ When the man decides how he is going to divide his property among his children, he is not to show partiality to the son of his favorite wife by giving him the share that belongs to the first-born son. ¹⁷ He is to give a double share of his possessions to his first son, even though he is not the son of his favorite wife. A man must acknowledge his first son and give him the share he is legally entitled to.

Concerning a Disobedient Son

¹⁸ “Suppose someone has a son who is stubborn and rebellious, a son who will not obey his parents, even though they punish him. ¹⁹ His parents are to take him before the leaders of the town where he lives and make him stand trial. ²⁰ They are to say to them, ‘Our son is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey us; he wastes money and is a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then the men of the city are to stone him to death, and so you will get rid of this evil. Everyone in Israel will hear what has happened and be afraid.

Various Laws

²² “If someone has been put to death for a crime and the body is hung on a post, ^23 (L)it is not to remain there overnight. It must be buried the same day, because a dead body hanging on a post brings God's curse on the land. Bury the body, so that you will not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

22 ^(M)“If you see an Israelite's cow or sheep running loose, do not ignore it; take it back. ² But if its owner lives a long way off or if you don't know who owns it, then take it home with you. When its owner comes looking for it, give it to him. ³ Do the same thing if you find a donkey, a piece of clothing, or anything else that an Israelite may have lost.

⁴ “If an Israelite's donkey or cow has fallen down, don't ignore it; help him get the animal to its feet again.

⁵ “Women are not to wear men's clothing, and men are not to wear women's clothing; the Lord your God hates people who do such things.

⁶ “If you happen to find a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground with the mother bird sitting either on the eggs or with her young, you are not to take the mother bird. ⁷ You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go, so that you will live a long and prosperous life.

⁸ “When you build a new house, be sure to put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you will not be responsible if someone falls off and is killed.

^9 (N)“Do not plant any crop in the same field with your grapevines; if you do, you are forbidden to use either the grapes or the produce of the other crop.

¹⁰ “Do not hitch an ox and a donkey together for plowing.

¹¹ “Do not wear cloth made by weaving wool and linen together.

^12 (O)“Sew tassels on the four corners of your clothes.

Laws concerning Sexual Purity

¹³ “Suppose a man marries a young woman and later he decides he doesn't want her. ¹⁴ So he makes up false charges against her, accusing her of not being a virgin when they got married.

¹⁵ “If this happens, the young woman's parents are to take the blood-stained wedding sheet that proves she was a virgin, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders. ¹⁶ Her father will say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn't want her. ¹⁷ He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a virgin when he married her. But here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!’ ¹⁸ Then the town leaders are to take the husband and beat him. ¹⁹ They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the young woman's father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ “But if the charge is true and there is no proof that she was a virgin, ²¹ then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²² “If a man is caught having intercourse with another man's wife, both of them are to be put to death. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²³ “Suppose a man is caught in a town having intercourse with a young woman who is engaged to someone else. ²⁴ You are to take them outside the town and stone them to death. She is to die because she did not cry out for help, although she was in a town, where she could have been heard. And the man is to die because he had intercourse with someone who was engaged. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

²⁵ “Suppose a man out in the countryside rapes a young woman who is engaged to someone else. Then only the man is to be put to death; ²⁶ nothing is to be done to the woman, because she has not committed a sin worthy of death. This case is the same as when one man attacks another man and murders him. ²⁷ The man raped the engaged woman in the countryside, and although she cried for help, there was no one to help her.

^28 (P)“Suppose a man is caught raping a young woman who is not engaged. ²⁹ He is to pay her father the bride price of fifty pieces of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he forced her to have intercourse with him. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

^30 (Q)“No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.

Exclusion from the Lord's People

23 “No man who has been castrated or whose penis has been cut off may be included among the Lord's people.

² “No one born out of wedlock or any descendant of such a person, even in the tenth generation, may be included among the Lord's people.

^3 (R)“No Ammonite or Moabite—or any of their descendants, even in the tenth generation—may be included among the Lord's people. ^4 (S)They refused to provide you with food and water when you were on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor, from the city of Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse you. ^5 (T)But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead he turned the curse into a blessing, because he loved you. ⁶ As long as you are a nation, never do anything to help these nations or to make them prosperous.

⁷ “Do not despise the Edomites; they are your relatives. And do not despise the Egyptians; you once lived in their land. ⁸ From the third generation onward their descendants may be included among the Lord's people.

Keeping the Military Camp Clean

⁹ “When you are in camp in time of war, you are to avoid anything that would make you ritually unclean. ¹⁰ If a man becomes unclean because he has had a wet dream during the night, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. ¹¹ Toward evening he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may come back into camp.

¹² “You are to have a place outside the camp where you can go when you need to relieve yourselves. ¹³ Carry a stick as part of your equipment, so that when you have a bowel movement you can dig a hole and cover it up. ¹⁴ Keep your camp ritually clean, because the Lord your God is with you in your camp to protect you and to give you victory over your enemies. Do not do anything indecent that would cause the Lord to turn his back on you.

Various Laws

¹⁵ “If slaves run away from their owners and come to you for protection, do not send them back. ¹⁶ They may live in any of your towns that they choose, and you are not to treat them harshly.

^17 (U)“No Israelite, man or woman, is to become a temple prostitute. ¹⁸ Also, no money earned in this way may be brought into the house of the Lord your God in fulfillment of a vow. The Lord hates temple prostitutes.

^19 (V)“When you lend money or food or anything else to Israelites, do not charge them interest. ²⁰ You may charge interest on what you lend to foreigners, but not on what you lend to Israelites. Obey this rule, and the Lord your God will bless everything you do in the land that you are going to occupy.

^21 (W)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not put off doing what you promised; the Lord will hold you to your vow, and it is a sin not to keep it. ²² It is no sin not to make a vow to the Lord, ²³ but if you make one voluntarily, be sure that you keep it.

²⁴ “When you walk along a path in someone else's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but you must not carry any away in a container. ²⁵ When you walk along a path in someone else's grainfield, you may eat all the grain you can pull off with your hands, but you must not cut any grain with a sickle.

Divorce and Remarriage

24 ^(X)“Suppose a man marries a woman and later decides that he doesn't want her, because he finds something about her that he doesn't like.^[f] So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. ² Then suppose she marries another man, ³ and he also decides that he doesn't want her, so he also writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. Or suppose her second husband dies. ⁴ In either case, her first husband is not to marry her again; he is to consider her defiled. If he married her again, it would be offensive to the Lord. You are not to commit such a terrible sin in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Various Laws

⁵ “When a man is newly married, he is not to be drafted into military service or any other public duty; he is to be excused from duty for one year, so that he can stay at home and make his wife happy.^[g]

⁶ “When you lend someone something, you are not to take as security his millstones used for grinding his grain. This would take away the family's means of preparing food to stay alive.

^7 (Y)“If any of you kidnap Israelites and make them your slaves or sell them into slavery, you are to be put to death. In this way your nation will get rid of this evil.

^8 (Z)“When you are suffering from a dreaded skin disease, be sure to do exactly what the levitical priests tell you; follow the instructions that I have given them. ^9 (AA)Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.

^10 (AB)“When you lend someone something, do not go into his house to get the garment he is going to give you as security; ¹¹ wait outside and let him bring it to you himself. ¹² If he is poor, do not keep it overnight; ¹³ return it to him each evening, so that he can have it to sleep in. Then he will be grateful, and the Lord your God will be pleased with you.

^14 (AC)“Do not cheat poor and needy hired servants, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Each day before sunset pay them for that day's work; they need the money and have counted on getting it. If you do not pay them, they will cry out against you to the Lord, and you will be guilty of sin.

^16 (AD)“Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for a crime they themselves have committed.

^17 (AE)“Do not deprive foreigners and orphans of their rights; and do not take a widow's garment as security for a loan. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God set you free; that is why I have given you this command.

^19 (AF)“When you gather your crops and fail to bring in some of the grain that you have cut, do not go back for it; it is to be left for the foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. ²⁰ When you have picked your olives once, do not go back and get those that are left; they are for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. ²¹ When you have gathered your grapes once, do not go back over the vines a second time; the grapes that are left are for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. ²² Never forget that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I have given you this command.

25 “Suppose two Israelites go to court to settle a dispute, and one is declared innocent and the other guilty. ² If the guilty one is sentenced to be beaten, the judge is to make him lie face downward and have him whipped. The number of lashes will depend on the crime he has committed. ^3 (AG)He may be given as many as forty lashes, but no more; more than that would humiliate him publicly.

^4 (AH)“Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh grain.

Duty to a Dead Brother

^5 (AI)“If two brothers live on the same property and one of them dies, leaving no son, then his widow is not to be married to someone outside the family; it is the duty of the dead man's brother to marry her. ⁶ The first son that they have will be considered the son of the dead man, so that his family line will continue in Israel. ^7 (AJ)But if the dead man's brother does not want to marry her, she is to go before the town leaders and say, ‘My husband's brother will not do his duty; he refuses to give his brother a descendant among the people of Israel.’ ⁸ Then the town leaders are to summon him and speak to him. If he still refuses to marry her, ⁹ his brother's widow is to go up to him in the presence of the town leaders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face, and say, ‘This is what happens to the man who refuses to give his brother a descendant.’ ¹⁰ His family will be known in Israel as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’

Other Laws

¹¹ “If two men are having a fight and the wife of one tries to help her husband by grabbing hold of the other man's genitals, ¹² show her no mercy; cut off her hand.

^13-14 (AK)“Do not cheat when you use weights and measures. ¹⁵ Use true and honest weights and measures, so that you may live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ The Lord hates people who cheat.

The Command to Kill the Amalekites

^17 (AL)“Remember what the Amalekites did to you as you were coming from Egypt. ¹⁸ They had no fear of God, and so they attacked you from the rear when you were tired and exhausted, and killed all who were straggling behind. ¹⁹ So then, when the Lord your God has given you the land and made you safe from all your enemies who live around you, be sure to kill all the Amalekites, so that no one will remember them any longer. Do not forget!

Harvest Offerings

26 “After you have occupied the land that the Lord your God is giving you and have settled there, ^2 (AM)each of you must place in a basket the first part of each crop that you harvest and you must take it with you to the one place of worship. ³ Go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, ‘I now acknowledge to the Lord my God that I have entered the land that he promised our ancestors to give us.’

⁴ “The priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ Then, in the Lord's presence you will recite these words: ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean, who took his family to Egypt to live. They were few in number when they went there, but they became a large and powerful nation. ⁶ The Egyptians treated us harshly and forced us to work as slaves. ⁷ Then we cried out for help to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He heard us and saw our suffering, hardship, and misery. ⁸ By his great power and strength he rescued us from Egypt. He worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen. ⁹ He brought us here and gave us this rich and fertile land. ¹⁰ So now I bring to the Lord the first part of the harvest that he has given me.’

“Then set the basket down in the Lord's presence and worship there. ¹¹ Be grateful for the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family; and let the Levites and the foreigners who live among you join in the celebration.

^12 (AN)“Every third year give the tithe—a tenth of your crops—to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, so that in every community they will have all they need to eat. When you have done this, ¹³ say to the Lord, ‘None of the sacred tithe is left in my house; I have given it to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows, as you commanded me to do. I have not disobeyed or forgotten any of your commands concerning the tithe. ¹⁴ I have not eaten any of it when I was mourning; I have not taken any of it out of my house when I was ritually unclean; and I have not given any of it as an offering for the dead.^[h] I have obeyed you, O Lord; I have done everything you commanded concerning the tithe. ¹⁵ Look down from your holy place in heaven and bless your people Israel; bless also the rich and fertile land that you have given us, as you promised our ancestors.’

The Lord's Own People

¹⁶ “Today the Lord your God commands you to obey all his laws; so obey them faithfully with all your heart. ¹⁷ Today you have acknowledged the Lord as your God; you have promised to obey him, to keep all his laws, and to do all that he commands. ^18 (AO)Today the Lord has accepted you as his own people, as he promised you; and he commands you to obey all his laws. ¹⁹ He will make you greater than any other nation that he has created, and you will bring praise and honor to his name.^[i] You will be his own people, as he promised.”

God's Laws Written on Stones

27 Then Moses, together with the leaders of Israel, said to the people, “Obey all the instructions that I am giving you today. ^2 (AP)On the day you cross the Jordan River and enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you are to set up some large stones, cover them with plaster, ³ and write on them all these laws and teachings. When you have entered the rich and fertile land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you, ⁴ and you are on the other side of the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I am instructing you today, and cover them with plaster. ^5 (AQ)Build an altar there made of stones that have had no iron tools used on them, ⁶ because any altar you build for the Lord your God must be made of uncut stones. There you are to offer the sacrifices that are to be burned, ⁷ and there you are to sacrifice and eat your fellowship offerings and be grateful in the presence of the Lord your God. ⁸ On the stones covered with plaster write clearly every word of God's laws.”

⁹ Then Moses, together with the levitical priests, said to all the people of Israel, “Give me your attention, people of Israel, and listen to me. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God; ¹⁰ so obey him and keep all his laws that I am giving you today.”

The Curses on Disobedience

¹¹ Then Moses said to the people of Israel, ^12 (AR)“After you have crossed the Jordan, the following tribes are to stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessings are pronounced on the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And the following tribes will stand on Mount Ebal when the curses are pronounced: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ The Levites will speak these words in a loud voice:

^15 (AS)“‘God's curse on anyone who makes an idol of stone, wood, or metal and secretly worships it; the Lord hates idolatry.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^16 (AT)“‘God's curse on anyone who dishonors his father or mother.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^17 (AU)“‘God's curse on anyone who moves a neighbor's property line.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^18 (AV)“‘God's curse on anyone who leads a blind person in the wrong direction.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^19 (AW)“‘God's curse on anyone who deprives foreigners, orphans, and widows of their rights.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^20 (AX)“‘God's curse on anyone who disgraces his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^21 (AY)“‘God's curse on anyone who has sexual relations with an animal.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^22 (AZ)“‘God's curse on anyone who has intercourse with his sister or half sister.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^23 (BA)“‘God's curse on anyone who has intercourse with his mother-in-law.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

²⁴ “‘God's curse on anyone who secretly commits murder.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

²⁵ “‘God's curse on anyone who accepts money to murder an innocent person.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

^26 (BB)“‘God's curse on anyone who does not obey all of God's laws and teachings.’

“And all the people will answer, ‘Amen!’

The Blessings of Obedience^(BC)

28 ^(BD)“If you obey the Lord your God and faithfully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, he will make you greater than any other nation on earth. ² Obey the Lord your God and all these blessings will be yours:

³ “The Lord will bless your towns and your fields.

⁴ “The Lord will bless you with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep.

⁵ “The Lord will bless your grain crops and the food you prepare from them.

⁶ “The Lord will bless everything you do.

⁷ “The Lord will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack from one direction, but they will run from you in all directions.

⁸ “The Lord your God will bless your work and fill your barns with grain. He will bless you in the land that he is giving you.

⁹ “If you obey the Lord your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that the Lord has chosen you to be his own people, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹ The Lord will give you many children, many cattle, and abundant crops in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you. ¹² He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work, so that you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any. ¹³ The Lord your God will make you the leader among the nations and not a follower; you will always prosper and never fail if you obey faithfully all his commands that I am giving you today. ¹⁴ But you must never disobey them in any way, or worship and serve other gods.

The Consequences of Disobedience^(BE)

¹⁵ “But if you disobey the Lord your God and do not faithfully keep all his commands and laws that I am giving you today, all these evil things will happen to you:

¹⁶ “The Lord will curse your towns and your fields.

¹⁷ “The Lord will curse your grain crops and the food you prepare from them.

¹⁸ “The Lord will curse you by giving you only a few children, poor crops, and few cattle and sheep.

¹⁹ “The Lord will curse everything you do.

²⁰ “If you do evil and reject the Lord, he will bring on you disaster, confusion, and trouble in everything you do, until you are quickly and completely destroyed. ²¹ He will send disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land that you are about to occupy. ²² The Lord will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever; he will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die. ²³ No rain will fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron. ²⁴ Instead of rain, the Lord will send down duststorms and sandstorms until you are destroyed.

²⁵ “The Lord will give your enemies victory over you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in all directions, and all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you. ²⁶ When you die, birds and wild animals will come and eat your bodies, and there will be no one to scare them off. ²⁷ The Lord will send boils on you, as he did on the Egyptians. He will make your bodies break out with sores. You will be covered with scabs, and you will itch, but there will be no cure. ²⁸ The Lord will make you lose your mind; he will strike you with blindness and confusion. ²⁹ You will grope about in broad daylight like someone blind, and you will not be able to find your way. You will not prosper in anything you do. You will be constantly oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to help you.

³⁰ “You will be engaged to a young woman—but someone else will marry her. You will build a house—but never live in it. You will plant a vineyard—but never eat its grapes. ³¹ Your cattle will be butchered before your very eyes, but you will not eat any of the meat. Your donkeys will be dragged away while you look on, and they will not be given back to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given as slaves to foreigners while you look on. Every day you will strain your eyes, looking in vain for your children to return. ³³ A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment. ³⁴ Your sufferings will make you lose your mind. ³⁵ The Lord will cover your legs with incurable, painful sores; boils will cover you from head to foot.

³⁶ “The Lord will take you and your king away to a foreign land, where neither you nor your ancestors ever lived before; there you will serve gods made of wood and stone. ³⁷ In the countries to which the Lord will scatter you, the people will be shocked at what has happened to you; they will make fun of you and ridicule you.

³⁸ “You will plant plenty of seed, but reap only a small harvest, because the locusts will eat your crops. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will not gather their grapes or drink wine from them, because worms will eat the vines. ⁴⁰ Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will not have any olive oil, because the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, because they will be taken away as prisoners of war. ⁴² All your trees and crops will be devoured by insects.

⁴³ “Foreigners who live in your land will gain more and more power, while you gradually lose yours. ⁴⁴ They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers.

⁴⁵ “All these disasters will come on you, and they will be with you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and keep all the laws that he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be the evidence of God's judgment on you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ The Lord blessed you in every way, but you would not serve him with glad and joyful hearts. ⁴⁸ So then, you will serve the enemies that the Lord is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked—in need of everything. The Lord^[j] will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed. ⁴⁹ The Lord will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle. ⁵⁰ They will be ruthless and show no mercy to anyone, young or old. ⁵¹ They will eat your livestock and your crops, and you will starve to death. They will not leave you any grain, wine, olive oil, cattle, or sheep; and you will die. ⁵² They will attack every town in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and the high, fortified walls in which you trust will fall.

⁵³ “When your enemies are besieging your towns, you will become so desperate for food that you will even eat the children that the Lord your God has given you. ^54-55 Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left. ^56-57 (BF)Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way. When the enemy besieges her town, she will become so desperate for food that she will secretly eat her newborn child and the afterbirth as well. She will not share them with the husband she loves or with any of her children.

⁵⁸ “If you do not obey faithfully all of God's teachings that are written in this book and if you do not honor the wonderful and awesome name of the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ he will send on you and on your descendants incurable diseases and horrible epidemics that can never be stopped. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you once again all the dreadful diseases you experienced in Egypt, and you will never recover. ⁶¹ He will also send all kinds of diseases and epidemics that are not mentioned in this book of God's laws and teachings, and you will be destroyed. ⁶² Although you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, only a few of you will survive, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as the Lord took delight in making you prosper and in making you increase in number, so he will take delight in destroying you and in bringing ruin on you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are about to occupy.

⁶⁴ “The Lord will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have ever worshiped before. ⁶⁵ You will find no peace anywhere, no place to call your own; the Lord will overwhelm you with anxiety, hopelessness, and despair. ⁶⁶ Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror, and you will live in constant fear of death. ⁶⁷ Your hearts will pound with fear at everything you see. Every morning you will wish for evening; every evening you will wish for morning. ⁶⁸ The Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he^[k] said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will want to buy you.”

The Lord's Covenant with Israel in the Land of Moab

29 These are the terms of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab; all this was in addition to the covenant which the Lord had made with them at Mount Sinai.

² Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “You saw for yourselves what the Lord did to the king of Egypt, to his officials, and to his entire country. ³ You saw the terrible plagues, the miracles, and the great wonders that the Lord performed. ⁴ But to this very day he has not let you understand what you have experienced. ⁵ For forty years the Lord led you through the desert, and your clothes and sandals never wore out. ⁶ You did not have bread to eat or wine or beer to drink, but the Lord provided for your needs in order to teach you that he is your God. ^7 (BG)And when we came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us. But we defeated them, ^8 (BH)took their land, and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do.

¹⁰ “Today you are standing in the presence of the Lord your God, all of you—your leaders and officials, your men, ¹¹ women, and children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood and carry water for you. ¹² You are here today to enter into this covenant that the Lord your God is making with you and to accept its obligations, ¹³ so that the Lord may now confirm you as his people and be your God, as he promised you and your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ You are not the only ones with whom the Lord is making this covenant with its obligations. ¹⁵ He is making it with all of us who stand here in his presence today and also with our descendants who are not yet born.

¹⁶ “You remember what life was like in Egypt and what it was like to travel through the territory of other nations. ¹⁷ You saw their disgusting idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. ^18 (BI)Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the Lord our God to worship the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant. ¹⁹ Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike. ²⁰ The Lord will not forgive such a man. Instead, the Lord's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the Lord has destroyed him completely. ²¹ The Lord will make an example of him before all the tribes of Israel and will bring disaster on him in accordance with all the curses listed in the covenant that is written in this book of the Lord's teachings.

²² “In future generations your descendants and foreigners from distant lands will see the disasters and sufferings that the Lord has brought on your land. ^23 (BJ)The fields will be a barren waste, covered with sulfur and salt; nothing will be planted, and not even weeds will grow there. Your land will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed when he was furiously angry. ²⁴ Then the whole world will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to their land? What was the reason for his fierce anger?’ ²⁵ And the answer will be, ‘It is because the Lord's people broke the covenant they had made with him, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They served other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that the Lord had forbidden them to worship. ²⁷ And so the Lord became angry with his people and brought on their land all the disasters written in this book. ²⁸ The Lord became furiously angry, and in his great anger he uprooted them from their land and threw them into a foreign land, and there they are today.’

²⁹ “There are some things that the Lord our God has kept secret; but he has revealed his Law, and we and our descendants are to obey it forever.

Conditions for Restoration and Blessing

30 “I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you. ² If you and your descendants will turn back to the Lord and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today, ³ then the Lord your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again. ⁴ Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together and bring you back, ⁵ so that you may again take possession of the land where your ancestors once lived. And he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors ever were. ⁶ The Lord your God will give you and your descendants obedient hearts, so that you will love him with all your heart, and you will continue to live in that land. ⁷ He will turn all these curses against your enemies, who hated you and oppressed you, ⁸ and you will again obey him and keep all his commands that I am giving you today. ⁹ The Lord will make you prosperous in all that you do; you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous, ¹⁰ but you will have to obey him and keep all his laws that are written in this book of his teachings. You will have to turn to him with all your heart.

¹¹ “The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach. ^12 (BK)It is not up in the sky. You do not have to ask, ‘Who will go up and bring it down for us, so that we can hear it and obey it?’ ¹³ Nor is it on the other side of the ocean. You do not have to ask, ‘Who will go across the ocean and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ ¹⁴ No, it is here with you. You know it and can quote it, so now obey it.

^15 (BL)“Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death. ¹⁶ If you obey the commands of the Lord your God,^[l] which I give you today, if you love him, obey him, and keep all his laws, then you will prosper and become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy. ¹⁷ But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods, ¹⁸ you will be destroyed—I warn you here and now. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. ¹⁹ I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life. ^20 (BM)Love the Lord your God, obey him and be faithful to him, and then you and your descendants will live long in the land that he promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Joshua Becomes Moses' Successor

31 Moses continued speaking to the people of Israel, ^2 (BN)and said, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to be your leader. And besides this, the Lord has told me that I will not cross the Jordan. ³ The Lord your God himself will go before you and destroy the nations living there, so that you can occupy their land; and Joshua will be your leader, as the Lord has said. ^4 (BO)The Lord will destroy those people, just as he defeated Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and destroyed their country. ⁵ The Lord will give you victory over them, and you are to treat them exactly as I have told you. ⁶ Be determined and confident. Do not be afraid of them. Your God, the Lord himself, will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.”

⁷ Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the presence of all the people of Israel, “Be determined and confident; you are the one who will lead these people to occupy the land that the Lord promised to their ancestors. ^8 (BP)The Lord himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid.”

The Law Is to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote down God's Law and gave it to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box, and to the leaders of Israel. ^10 (BQ)He commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, when the year that debts are canceled comes around, read this aloud at the Festival of Shelters. ¹¹ Read it to the people of Israel when they come to worship the Lord your God at the one place of worship. ¹² Call together all the men, women, and children, and the foreigners who live in your towns, so that everyone may hear it and learn to honor the Lord your God and to obey his teachings faithfully. ¹³ In this way your descendants who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God will hear it. And so they will learn to obey him as long as they live in the land that you are about to occupy across the Jordan.”

The Lord's Last Instructions to Moses

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “You do not have much longer to live. Call Joshua and bring him to the Tent, so that I may give him his instructions.” Moses and Joshua went to the Tent, ¹⁵ and the Lord appeared to them there in a pillar of cloud that stood by the door of the Tent.

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “You will soon die, and after your death the people will become unfaithful to me and break the covenant that I made with them. They will abandon me and worship the pagan gods of the land they are about to enter. ¹⁷ When that happens, I will become angry with them; I will abandon them, and they will be destroyed. Many terrible disasters will come upon them, and then they will realize that these things are happening to them because I, their God, am no longer with them. ¹⁸ And I will refuse to help them then, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods.

¹⁹ “Now, write down this song. Teach it to the people of Israel, so that it will stand as evidence against them. ²⁰ I will take them into this rich and fertile land, as I promised their ancestors. There they will have all the food they want, and they will live comfortably. But they will turn away and worship other gods. They will reject me and break my covenant, ²¹ and many terrible disasters will come on them. But this song will still be sung, and it will stand as evidence against them. Even now, before I take them into the land that I promised to give them, I know what they are thinking.”

²² That same day Moses wrote down the song and taught it to the people of Israel.

^23 (BR)Then the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun and told him, “Be confident and determined. You will lead the people of Israel into the land that I promised them, and I will be with you.”

²⁴ Moses wrote God's Law in a book, taking care not to leave out anything. ²⁵ When he finished, he said to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box, ²⁶ “Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the Lord your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people. ²⁷ I know how stubborn and rebellious they are. They have rebelled against the Lord during my lifetime, and they will rebel even more after I am dead. ²⁸ Assemble all your tribal leaders and officials before me, so that I can tell them these things; I will call heaven and earth to be my witnesses against them. ²⁹ I know that after my death the people will become wicked and reject what I have taught them. And in time to come they will meet with disaster, because they will have made the Lord angry by doing what he has forbidden.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰ Then Moses recited the entire song while all the people of Israel listened.

32 “Earth and sky, hear my words,

⁴⁴ Moses and Joshua son of Nun recited this song, so that the people of Israel could hear it.

Moses' Final Instructions

⁴⁵ When Moses had finished giving God's teachings to the people, ⁴⁶ he said, “Be sure to obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all of God's teachings. ⁴⁷ These teachings are not empty words; they are your very life. Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy.”

^48 (BY)That same day the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹ “Go to the Abarim Mountains in the land of Moab opposite the city of Jericho; climb Mount Nebo and look at the land of Canaan that I am about to give the people of Israel. ⁵⁰ You will die on that mountain as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor, ⁵¹ because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonored me in the presence of the people. ⁵² You will look at the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land that I am giving the people of Israel.”

Moses Blesses the Tribes of Israel

33 These are the blessings that Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the people of Israel before he died.

⁶ Moses said about the tribe of Reuben:

⁷ About the tribe of Judah he said:

^8 (BZ)About the tribe of Levi he said:

¹² About the tribe of Benjamin he said:

¹³ About the tribe of Joseph he said:

¹⁸ About the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar he said:

²⁰ About the tribe of Gad he said:

²² About the tribe of Dan he said:

²³ About the tribe of Naphtali he said:

²⁴ About the tribe of Asher he said:

The Death of Moses

34 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah east of Jericho, and there the Lord showed him the whole land: the territory of Gilead as far north as the town of Dan; ² the entire territory of Naphtali; the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh; the territory of Judah as far west as the Mediterranean Sea; ³ the southern part of Judah; and the plain that reaches from Zoar to Jericho, the city of palm trees. ^4 (CA)Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land that I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob I would give to their descendants. I have let you see it, but I will not let you go there.”

⁵ So Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said he would. ⁶ The Lord buried him in a valley in Moab, opposite the town of Bethpeor, but to this day no one knows the exact place of his burial. ⁷ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; he was as strong as ever, and his eyesight was still good. ⁸ The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days in the plains of Moab.

⁹ Joshua son of Nun was filled with wisdom, because Moses had appointed him to be his successor. The people of Israel obeyed Joshua and kept the commands that the Lord had given them through Moses.

^10 (CB)There has never been a prophet in Israel like Moses; the Lord spoke with him face-to-face. ¹¹ No other prophet has ever done miracles and wonders like those that the Lord sent Moses to perform against the king of Egypt, his officials, and the entire country. ¹² No other prophet has been able to do the great and terrifying things that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.