Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

New King James Version

Moses Forbidden to Enter the Land

²³“Then ^(A)I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: ²⁴‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant ^(B)Your greatness and Your ^[a]mighty hand, for ^(C)what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? ²⁵I pray, let me cross over and see ^(D)the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’

²⁶“But the Lord ^(E)was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. ²⁷^(F)Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸But ^(G)command^[b] Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see.’

²⁹“So we stayed in ^(H)the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Moses Commands Obedience

4 “Now, O Israel, listen to ^(I)the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and ^[c]possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. ²^(J)You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at ^(K)Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. ⁴But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. ⁶Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is ^(L)your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁷“For ^(M)what great nation is there that has ^(N)God^[d] so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? ⁸And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? ⁹Only take heed to yourself, and diligently ^(O)keep yourself, lest you ^(P)forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And ^(Q)teach them to your children and your grandchildren, ¹⁰especially concerning ^(R)the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

¹¹“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ¹²^(S)And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no ^[e]form; ^(T)you only heard a voice. ¹³^(U)So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, ^(V)the Ten Commandments; and ^(W)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴And ^(X)the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might ^[f]observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

Beware of Idolatry

¹⁵^(Y)“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no ^(Z)form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶lest you ^(AA)act corruptly and ^(AB)make for yourselves a carved image in the ^[g]form of any figure: ^(AC)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. ¹⁹And take heed, lest you ^(AD)lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^(AE)all the host of heaven, you feel driven to ^(AF)worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has ^[h]given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. ²⁰But the Lord has taken you and ^(AG)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be ^(AH)His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹Furthermore ^(AI)the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that ^(AJ)I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²²But ^(AK)I must die in this land, ^(AL)I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and ^[i]possess ^(AM)that good land. ²³Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, ^(AN)and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴For ^(AO)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(AP)a jealous God.

²⁵“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(AQ)do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, ²⁶^(AR)I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not ^[j]prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And the Lord ^(AS)will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸And ^(AT)there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, ^(AU)which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. ²⁹^(AV)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in ^[k]distress, and all these things come upon you in the ^(AW)latter days, when you ^(AX)turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice ³¹(for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor ^(AY)destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

³²“For ^(AZ)ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask ^(BA)from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. ³³^(BB)Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? ³⁴Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, ^(BC)by trials, ^(BD)by signs, by wonders, by war, ^(BE)by a mighty hand and ^(BF)an outstretched arm, ^(BG)and by great ^[l]terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; ^(BH)there is none other besides Him. ³⁶^(BI)Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because ^(BJ)He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their ^[m]descendants after them; and ^(BK)He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, ³⁸^(BL)driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. ³⁹Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that ^(BM)the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰^(BN)You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that ^[n]it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may ^[o]prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

⁴¹Then Moses ^(BO)set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, ⁴²^(BP)that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ⁴³^(BQ)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Introduction to God’s Law

⁴⁴Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. ⁴⁵These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶on this side of the Jordan, ^(BR)in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel ^(BS)defeated^[p] after they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took possession of his land and the land ^(BT)of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the ^[q]rising of the sun, ⁴⁸^(BU)from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount ^[r]Sion (that is, ^(BV)Hermon), ⁴⁹and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the ^(BW)slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments Reviewed^(BX)

5 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. ²^(BY)The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³The Lord ^(BZ)did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. ⁴^(CA)The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. ⁵^(CB)I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for ^(CC)you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:

⁶^(CD)‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[s]bondage.

⁷^(CE)‘You shall have no other gods ^[t]before Me.

⁸^(CF)‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁹you shall not ^(CG)bow^[u] down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ^[v]visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ¹⁰^(CH)but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and ^[w]keep My commandments.

¹¹^(CI)‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him ^[x]guiltless who takes His name in vain.

¹²^(CJ)‘Observe the Sabbath day, to ^[y]keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³^(CK)Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴but the seventh day is the ^(CL)Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵^(CM)And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there ^(CN)by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶^(CO)‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(CP)that your days may be long, and that it may be well with ^(CQ)you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷^(CR)‘You shall not murder.

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

¹⁹^(CT)‘You shall not steal.

²⁰^(CU)‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹^(CV)‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

²²“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And ^(CW)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

The People Afraid of God’s Presence^(CX)

²³^(CY)“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and ^(CZ)we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he ^(DA)still lives. ²⁵Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; ^(DB)if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. ²⁶^(DC)For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ²⁷You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and ^(DD)tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸“Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. ^(DE)They are right in all that they have spoken. ²⁹^(DF)Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and ^(DG)always keep all My commandments, ^(DH)that it might be well with them and with their children forever! ³⁰Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹But as for you, stand here by Me, ^(DI)and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

³²“Therefore you shall ^[z]be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; ^(DJ)you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³³You shall walk in ^(DK)all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live ^(DL)and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(DM)the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, ²^(DN)that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, ^(DO)and that your days may be prolonged. ³Therefore hear, O Israel, and ^[aa]be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may ^(DP)multiply greatly ^(DQ)as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—^(DR)‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

⁴^(DS)“Hear, O Israel: ^[ab]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ⁵^(DT)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, ^(DU)with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶“And ^(DV)these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷^(DW)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸^(DX)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹^(DY)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Caution Against Disobedience

¹⁰“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He ^[ac]swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities ^(DZ)which you did not build, ¹¹houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—^(EA)when you have eaten and are full— ¹²then beware, lest you forget the ^(EB)Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³You shall ^(EC)fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and ^(ED)shall take oaths in His name. ¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, ^(EE)the gods of the peoples who are all around you ¹⁵(for ^(EF)the Lord your God is a jealous God ^(EG)among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶^(EH)“You shall not ^[ad]tempt the Lord your God ^(EI)as you ^[ae]tempted Him in Massah. ¹⁷You shall ^(EJ)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸And you ^(EK)shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, ¹⁹^(EL)to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

²⁰^(EM)“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(EN)with a mighty hand; ²²and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. ²³Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He ^[af]swore to our fathers. ²⁴And the Lord commanded us to ^[ag]observe all these ^[ah]statutes, ^(EO)to fear the Lord our God, ^(EP)for our good always, that ^(EQ)He might preserve us alive, as it is ^[ai]this day. ²⁵Then ^(ER)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

A Chosen People^(ES)

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to ^(ET)possess, and has cast out many ^(EU)nations before you, ^(EV)the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, ²and when the Lord your God delivers ^(EW)them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. ^(EX)You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. ³^(EY)Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. ⁴For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; ^(EZ)so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. ⁵But thus you shall deal with them: you shall ^(FA)destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their ^[aj]wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.

⁶“For you are a ^[ak]holy people to the Lord your God; ^(FB)the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. ⁷The Lord did not set His ^(FC)love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were ^(FD)the least of all peoples; ⁸but ^(FE)because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep ^(FF)the oath which He swore to your fathers, ^(FG)the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of ^[al]bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, ^(FH)the faithful God ^(FI)who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; ¹⁰and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not ^[am]be ^(FJ)slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. ¹¹Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.