Beginning
11 1 An exhortation to love God, and keep his law. 10 The praises of Canaan. 18 To meditate continually the word of God. 19 To teach it unto the children. 26 Blessing and cursing.
1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and shalt keep that, which he commandeth to be kept: that is, his ordinances, and his laws and his commandments always.
2 And [a]consider this day (for I speak not to your children, which have neither known nor seen) the chastisements of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,
3 And his signs, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the King of Egypt and unto all his land:
4 And what he did unto the host of the Egyptians, unto their horses, and to their chariots, when he caused the waters of the red Sea to overflow them, as they pursued after you, and the Lord destroyed them unto this day:
5 And [b]what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place:
6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them with their households, and their tents, and all their substance that [c]they had in the midst of all Israel.
7 For your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.
8 Therefore shall ye keep [d]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:
9 Also that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers, to give unto them and to their seed, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
10 ¶ For the land whither thou goest to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy [e][f]feet as a garden of herbs:
11 But the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.
12 This land doth the Lord thy God care 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 ¶ If ye shall hearken therefore unto my commandments, which I command you this day, that ye love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul,
14 I also will give rain unto your land in due time, [g]the first rain and the latter, that thou mayest gather in thy wheat, and thy wine, and thine oil.
15 Also I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat, and have enough.
16 But beware lest your heart [h]deceive you, and lest ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them.
17 And so the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that your land yield not her fruit, and ye perish quickly from 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 (A)bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as a frontlet between your eyes,
19 And ye shall (B)teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the 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 long as [i]the heavens are above the earth.
22 ¶ For if ye keep diligently all these Commandments, which I command you to do: that is, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him,
23 Then will the Lord cast out all these nations before you, and ye shall possess great nations and mightier than you.
24 (C)All the places whereon the soles of [j]your feet shall tread, shall be yours: your coast shall be from the wilderness and from Lebanon, and from the River even the river Perath, unto the uttermost [k]Sea.
25 No man shall stand against you: for the Lord your God shall cast the fear and dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
26 ¶ Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:
27 (D)The blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:
28 And the (E)curse, if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God, but turn out of the way, which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not [l]known.
29 ¶ When the Lord thy God therefore hath brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, then thou shalt put the (F)blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
30 Are they not beyond Jordan on that part, [m]where the Sun goeth down in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the plain over against Gilgal, beside [n]the grove of Moreh?
31 For ye shall pass over Jordan, to go in to possess that land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32 Take heed therefore that ye (G)do all the commandments and the laws, which I set before you this day.
12 3 To destroy the idolatrous places. 5, 8 To serve God where he commandeth, and as he commandeth, and not as men fantasize. 19 The Levites must be nourished. 31 Idolaters burnt their children to their gods, to add nothing to God’s word.
1 These are the ordinances and the laws, which ye shall observe and do in the land, (which the Lord God [o]of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it) as long as ye live upon the earth.
2 (H)Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess, served their gods upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree.
3 (I)Also ye shall overthrow their altars, and break down their pillars, and burn their [p]groves with fire: and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and abolish their names out of that place.
4 Ye shall [q]not do so unto the Lord your God,
5 But ye shall seek the place which the Lord your God shall (J)choose out of your tribes, to put his Name there, and there to dwell, and thither thou shalt come,
6 And ye shall bring thither your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the [r]offering of your hands, and your vows, and your free offerings, and the firstborn of your kine and of your sheep.
7 And there ye shall eat [s]before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, both ye, and your households, because the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.
8 Ye shall not do after all these things that we do [t]here this day: that is, every man whatsoever seemeth him good in his own eyes.
9 For ye are not yet come to rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land, which the Lord your God hath given you to inherit, and when he hath given you [u]rest from all your enemies round about, and ye dwell in safety,
11 When there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offering of your hands, and all your [v]special vows which ye vow unto the Lord:
12 And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons and your daughters, and your servants, and your maidens, and the Levite that is within your gates: (K)for he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
13 Take heed that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
14 But in the place which the Lord shall [w]choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thine heart desireth, according to the [x]blessing of the Lord thy God which he had given thee: both the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, [y]as of the roebuck, and of the hart.
16 Only ye shall not eat the blood, but pour it upon the earth as water.
17 ¶ Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the [z]tithe of thy corn, nor of thy wine, nor of thine oil, nor the firstborn of thy kine, nor of thy sheep, neither any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy free offerings, nor the offering of thine hands,
18 But thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy servant, and thy maid, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, in all that thou puttest thine hand to.
19 Beware, that thou forsake not the Levite, as long as thou livest upon the earth.
20 ¶ When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as (L)he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh (because thine heart longeth to eat flesh) thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thine heart desireth.
21 If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his Name there, be far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy bullocks, and of thy sheep which the Lord hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates, whatsoever thine heart desireth.
22 But as the roebuck, and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
23 Only be [aa]sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood [ab]is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
24 Therefore thou shalt not eat it, but pour it upon the earth as water.
25 Thou shalt not eat it, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord:
26 But thine [ac]holy things which thou hast, and thy vows thou shalt take up, and come unto the place which the Lord shall choose.
27 And thou shalt make thy burnt offerings of the flesh, and of the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and the blood of thine offerings shall be poured upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
28 Take heed, and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go [ad]well with thee, and with thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.
29 ¶ When the Lord thy God shall destroy the nations before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou shalt possess them and dwell in their land,
30 Beware, lest thou be taken in [ae]snare after them, after that they be destroyed before thee, and lest thou ask after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods, that I may do so likewise?
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for all abomination, which the Lord hateth, have they done unto their gods: for they have [af]burned both their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods.
32 Therefore whatsoever I command you, take heed you do it: (M)thou shalt put nothing thereto, nor take ought therefrom.
13 5 The enticers to idolatry must be slain, seem they never so holy. 6 So near of kindred or of friendship. 12 Or great in multitude or power.
1 If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of [ag]dreams, (and give thee a sign or wonder,
2 And the sign and the wonder, which he hath told thee, come to pass) saying, [ah]Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them,
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of the prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God [ai]proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and shall keep his commandments, and hearken unto his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 But that Prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, he shall [aj]be slain, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God (which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and delivered you out of the house of bondage) to thrust thee out of the way, wherein the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk: so shalt thou take the evil away forth of the midst of thee.
6 ¶ If [ak]thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thine own son, or thy daughter, or the wife, that lieth in thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own [al]soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, (which thou hast not known, thou I say, nor thy fathers)
7 Any of the gods of the people which are round about you, near unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth unto the other:
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hear him, neither shall thine eye pity him, nor show mercy, nor keep him secret:
9 But thou shalt even kill him: [am]thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and then the hands of the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die (because he hath gone about to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: from the house of bondage)
11 (N)That all Israel may hear and fear, and do no more any such wickedness as this among you.
12 ¶ If thou shalt hear say (concerning any of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in)
13 [an]Wicked men are gone out from among you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known,
14 Then [ao]thou shalt seek, and make search and inquire diligently: and if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you,
15 Thou shalt even slay the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword: destroy it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof with the edge of the sword,
16 And [ap]thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and burn with fire the city and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap forever, it shall not be built again.
17 And there shall cleave nothing of the [aq]damned thing to thine hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his wrath, and show thee mercy, and have compassion on thee, and multiply thee as he hath sworn unto thy fathers:
18 When thou shalt obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments which I command thee this day: that thou do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.