Bible in 90 Days
12 You must also have a place outside the camp where one may go outside. 13 You must have a spade among your equipment, and it must be, when you relieve yourself outside, you must dig there and turn and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you, and to defeat your enemies before you. Therefore, your camp must be holy, so that He does not see any indecent thing among you, and turn away from you.
Various Laws
15 You must not deliver back to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He is to dwell with you, even among you, in a place which he shall choose in one of your towns, where he prefers. You must not oppress him.
17 There must never be a cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel nor a cult prostitute among the sons of Israel. 18 You must never bring the wage of a prostitute or the wage of a dog into the house of the Lord your God for any vow, for both of these are abominations to the Lord your God.
19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your brother: interest on money, interest on food, or on anything that may be lent with interest. 20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your brother you may not lend with interest so that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you must not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be a sin to you. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be a sin to you. 23 That which goes out of your lips you must keep and do, even a freewill offering, just as you have vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised with your mouth.
24 When you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes to your fill at your own pleasure, but you may not put any in your basket. 25 When you enter into the standing grain of your neighbor, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you may not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Laws About Marriage and Divorce
24 When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, then let him write her a bill of divorce and put it in her hand and send her out of his house. 2 When she departs out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 If the second husband rejects her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the second husband who took her to be his wife dies, 4 her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, since she is defiled, for that is abomination before the Lord, and you must not bring sin on the land, which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
5 When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he is to be free at home one year, and must bring joy to his wife which he has taken.
Various Laws
6 No man shall take a lower or upper millstone as a pledge, for he would be taking a man’s life as a pledge.
7 If a man is found kidnapping any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and makes property of him or sells him, then that kidnapper must die, and you must remove the evil from among you.
8 Be careful with an outbreak of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests instruct you. As I have commanded them, so you must carefully do. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way, after you came out of Egypt.
10 When you do lend your brother anything, you may not go into his house to take his pledge. 11 You must stand outside, and the man to whom you lend must bring the pledge outside to you. 12 If the man is poor, you may not sleep with his pledge. 13 In any case, you must return the pledge to him when the sun goes down, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and it will be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
14 You may not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of your foreigners who are in your land within your towns. 15 You must give him his wages on that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor, and sets his heart on it, lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it be a sin to you.
16 Fathers may not be put to death for the sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 You must not pervert the justice of the foreigner or of the fatherless, nor take a widow’s cloak as a pledge. 18 On the contrary, you must remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you there. Therefore, I command you to do this.
19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you may not go back to get it. It will be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you may not go over the boughs again. It will be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it again. It will be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.
25 If there is a controversy between men, they are to go to court for judgment, so that the judges may judge them. Then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. 2 It must be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, then the judge must make him lie down and be beaten in his presence, with the number of strikes his guilt deserves. 3 He may give him forty stripes, but no more, lest, if he should exceed and beat him more with numerous stripes, then your brother may appear contemptible to you.
4 You must not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
Levirate Marriage
5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies without having had a child, the wife of the deceased may not marry outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother must go to her and take her to himself as a wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 It shall be, that the firstborn whom she bears shall continue in the name of his brother who is deceased, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel.
7 If the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to raise up his brother’s name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.” 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him, and if he persists and says, “I do not want to take her,” 9 then his brother’s wife must come to him in the presence of the elders and remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and answer and say, “So shall it be done to that man who will not build up his brother’s house.” 10 His name will be called in Israel, “The house of him who has his sandal removed.”
Various Laws
11 When a man and his brother fight one another, and the wife of the one draws near in order to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who fights him, and reaches out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you must cut off her hand. You must not pity her.
13 You must not have in your bag different weights, a large and a small. 14 You must not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 But you must have a perfect and just weight—a perfect and just measure you must have, so that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things and all who act unjustly are an abomination to the Lord your God.
17 Remember what Amalek did to you by the road when you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you by the way and attacked at your rear all that were stragglers behind you, when you were exhausted and weary. He did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, that you must blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You must not forget it.
First Fruits and Tithes
26 And it must be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and you possess it, and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take from the first of all the produce of the ground which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 3 You shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I profess this day to the Lord your God that I have come into the land which the Lord promised to our fathers to give us.” 4 The priest will take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must answer and say before the Lord your God, “A wandering Aramean[a] was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with only a few in number, but there he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 However, the Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us, and laid upon us harsh labor. 7 And when we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, our labor, and our oppression. 8 And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror, and with signs and wonders. 9 Then He brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land that flows with milk and honey. 10 Now, indeed, I have brought the first fruits of the land, which you, O Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 You must rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner who is among you.
12 When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your income the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, that they may eat within your towns and be satisfied, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred things out of my house and also have given them to the Levite, and to the foreigner, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commandments or forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten anything when in mourning, nor have I removed anything while unclean, nor offered anything to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
An Exhortation to Obey
16 Today the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes and judgments. You must therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have affirmed today that the Lord is your God and vowed to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and to listen to His voice. 18 And the Lord has affirmed today that you are His special people, just as He has promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments. 19 He will exalt you above all nations which He has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.
The Altar on Mount Ebal
27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying: Keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today. 2 On the day when you cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you must set up for yourself great stones, and cover them with plaster. 3 Then you must write all the words of this law on them, when you cross over, so that you may enter into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you. 4 Therefore, when you cross over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5 There you must build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them. 6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones, and you must offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 You must offer peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 You must write all the words of this law very clearly on the stones.
9 Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Be silent and listen, O Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Therefore, you must obey the voice of the Lord your God and do His commandments and His statutes, which I am commanding you today.
11 Moses commanded the people the same day, saying:
12 These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you cross over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these must stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
14 The Levites will answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice:
15 “Cursed is the man who makes any graven or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place.” And all the people shall answer and say, “Amen.”
16 “Cursed is he who disrespects his father or his mother.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
17 “Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
18 “Cursed is he who misleads the blind man on the road.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
19 “Cursed is he who perverts justice for the foreigner, orphan, and widow.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
20 “Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
21 “Cursed is he who lies with any kind of beast.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
22 “Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
23 “Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
24 “Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor secretly.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
25 “Cursed is he who receives pay to slay an innocent person.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
26 “Cursed is he who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.”
Blessings for Obedience
28 Now it will be, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.
4 Your offspring will be blessed, and the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your livestock, the increase of your herd and the flocks of your sheep.
5 Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you set your hand to do, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9 The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 All people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 The Lord will make you overflow in prosperity, in the offspring of your body, in the offspring of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord will open up to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you will only be above and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe and to do them. 14 Also, you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Warnings Against Disobedience
15 But it will happen, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, by being careful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.
17 Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed.
18 Your offspring will be cursed along with the fruit of your land, the produce of your herd, and the flocks of your sheep.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send cursing, vexation, and rebuke on you in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly because of the wickedness of your doings, by which you have forsaken Me. 21 The Lord will make pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you from the land, which you are going to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with a wasting disease, with a fever, with an inflammation, with an extreme heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 The heavens which are over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come from heaven down on you until you are destroyed.
25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies, and you will go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and will be become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your carcass will be meat for all the fowls of the air and beasts of the earth, and no man will frighten them away. 27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with madness, and blindness, and bewilderment of heart. 29 You will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and continually robbed, and no man will save you.
30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man shall rape her. You will build a house, but you will not dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not gather its grapes. 31 Your ox will be killed before your eyes, and you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before you and will not be returned to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to rescue them. 32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long, but there will be nothing you can do. 33 A nation that you do not know will consume the produce of your land and all your labors, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed all the time. 34 You will go insane because of what your eyes will see. 35 The Lord will strike you in the knees and legs with sore boils that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 The Lord will bring you and your king, which you will set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods, wood and stone. 37 You will become a horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule among all nations where the Lord shall lead you.
38 You will carry a lot of seed out into the field but will gather but little in, for the locust will consume it. 39 You will plant vineyards and dress them, but will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olive will drop off. 41 You will give birth to sons and daughters, but you will not enjoy them, for they will go into captivity. 42 The locust will consume all of your trees and fruit of your land.
43 The foreigner who resides with you will get up higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.
45 Moreover, all of these curses will come on you and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 They will be a perpetual sign and wonder in regard to you and your descendants, 47 because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. 48 Therefore, you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and need of all things, and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation with a fierce countenance, which will not respect the old or show favor to the young. 51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, wine, or oil, or the offspring of your herd or the offspring of your sheep, until they have destroyed you. 52 He will lay siege on you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land, and he will lay siege on you in all your towns throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you.
53 You will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and distress in which your enemies will persecute you. 54 The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be hostile toward his brother and toward his beloved wife and toward the rest of his children who remain, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, because he has nothing left to him because of the siege and the distress by which your enemies will persecute you in all your towns. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, will be hostile toward her beloved husband, and toward her son and her daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth that comes out from between her legs, and toward her children whom she will bear. For she will secretly eat them because of lack during the siege and distress in which your enemy will persecute you in your towns.
58 If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law that are written in this book so that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even great long-lasting plagues, and severe and long-lasting sicknesses. 60 Moreover, He will bring all the diseases of Egypt upon you, which you were afraid of, and they will cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the Book of the Law will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. 62 You will be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 It will be that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the Lord will take pleasure over you to destroy you and to bring you to nothing. You will be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
64 The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from the one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 Among these nations you will find no ease, nor will the sole of your foot have rest. But there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread day and night and will have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “Would to God it were evening!” And at evening you will say, “Would to God it were morning!” because of the fear of your heart and because of the sights your eyes will see. 68 The Lord will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way by which I spoke to you, “You will not see it ever again.” And there you will be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
Renewal of the Covenant
29 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.
2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel, and said to them:
You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great temptations which your eyes have seen, those signs and great wonders. 4 Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.
7 When you came to this place, Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to half of the tribe of Manasseh.
9 Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may prosper in all you do. 10 Today all of you stand before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and your foreigners who are in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 so that you should enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today. 13 Today He will establish that you are His people and that He is your God, just as He has said to you and He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, and with him who is not here with us today 16 (for you know that we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them); 18 lest there be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations, and lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit; 19 and it happens that, when he hears the words of this covenant, he blesses himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” thus destroying the watered ground with the dry. 20 The Lord will not spare him; rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will smolder against that man. All the curses that are written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single him out for disaster out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.
22 The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you and the foreigner who will come from a far land, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it, will say, 23 “The whole land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath.” 24 All nations will say, “Why has the Lord done such to this land? What does the heatedness of this great anger mean?”
25 Then men will say, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods which they did not know and which He had not given to them. 27 The anger of the Lord burned against this land, bringing on it all the curses that are written in this book. 28 The Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation, and threw them into another land, as it is today.”
29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may keep all the words of this law.
The Promise of Restoration
30 When all these things happen to you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you remember them among all the nations, where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 then you must return to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul. 3 Then the Lord your God will overturn your captivity and have compassion on you and will return and gather you from all the nations, where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the outmost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord your God gather you, and from there He will get you. 5 The Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on them who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 You will return and obey the voice of the Lord, and obey all His commandments which I am commanding you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you prosper in every work of your hand, in the offspring of your body, and in the offspring of your livestock, and in the produce of your land, for good. For the Lord will once again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, by keeping His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you return to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life or Death
11 This commandment which I am commanding you today is not hidden from you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?” 13 It is not beyond the sea, so that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?” 14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, so that you may do it.
15 See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, and death and disaster. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. Then the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away, so that you do not obey, but are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 then I declare to you today that you will surely perish and that you will not prolong your days in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witnesses against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
Joshua to Succeed Moses
31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer come and go. Also, the Lord has said to me, ‘You may not cross over the Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, you will possess them, and Joshua will cross over before you, just as the Lord has said. 4 The Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which He destroyed. 5 The Lord will give them up before you, so that you may do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and of a good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, it is He who goes with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you.”
7 Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will enable them to inherit it. 8 The Lord, He goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Do not fear, nor be dismayed.”
9 Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the cancellation of debts, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel has come to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He will choose, you must read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men, women, children, and your foreigner who is within your towns, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”
Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Indeed, your days draw near when you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.
15 The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the tent. 16 The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to lie down with your fathers, and this people will rise up and begin to prostitute themselves after the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they are going to be among them, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger will burn against them on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they will be devoured, and many disasters and troubles will befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil things which they shall have done, in that they turned to other gods.
19 “Now therefore write yourself this song and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it on their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten, and filled themselves, and become fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and provoke Me, and break My covenant. 21 Then when many disasters and troubles have fallen on them, this song will testify against them as a witness, for it must not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants. For I know their intention which they are developing even now, before I have brought them into the land which I promised.” 22 Therefore, Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.
23 He gave Joshua, the son of Nun, an exhortation, and said, “Be strong and of a good courage, for you will bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were completed, 25 then Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it inside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Even now, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death? 28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and disaster will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”
The Song of Moses
30 Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel:
32 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My teaching will drop like the rain,
my sayings will distill as the dew,
as the droplets on the grass,
and as the showers on the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord:
Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 He is the Rock; His work is perfect;
for all His ways are just.
He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice;
righteous and upright is He.
5 They have acted corruptly to Him;
they are not His children, but blemished;
they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your father, who has bought you?
Has He not made you, and established you?
7 Remember the days of old,
consider the years of previous generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
your elders, and they will tell you:
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when He separated the sons of man,[b]
He set the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land
and in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He led him about, He instructed him,
He protected him like the pupil of His eye.
11 Like an eagle stirs up her nest,
that flutters over her young,
He spread out his wings and took him;
He lifted him on His pinions;
12 the Lord alone guided him,
and there was no foreign god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
and he ate of the produce of the fields;
He made him suck honey out of the rock
and oil out of the flinty rock,
14 butter from the herd,
and milk from the flock,
along with the fat of lambs,
and rams of the breed from Bashan,
and goats,
with the best of the kernels of wheat;
you drank the pure blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
you grew fat, you grew thick;
you are covered with fat.
Then he forsook God who made him,
and devalued the Rock of his salvation.
16 They made Him jealous with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
to gods whom they knew not,
to new gods that recently came along,
whom your fathers did not fear.
18 You have forgotten the Rock who begot you;
you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who gave you birth.
19 When the Lord saw it, He despised them,
because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 He said: I will hide My face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a very perverse generation,
children in whom there is no loyalty.
21 They have made Me jealous with that which is not God;
they have provoked Me to anger with their empty things.
And I will make them jealous of those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire has been inflamed by My anger,
and it will burn to the lowest part of Sheol,[c]
and shall consume the earth and its produce,
and ignite the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap misfortunes on them;
I will use My arrows on them.
24 They will be starved by famine,
and consumed by plague and bitter destruction;
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them,
with the poison of crawling creatures in the dust.
25 The sword outside and terror within will destroy both the young man and the virgin,
the infant along with the man of gray hair.
26 I said, “I want to cut them into pieces,
I will cause the memory of them to disappear from among men,”
27 however, I feared the wrath of the enemy,
that their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, “Our hand is victorious,
and the Lord has not done all this.”
28 For they are a nation devoid of counsel;
there is no understanding in them.
29 Would that they were wise,
so that they understood this,
so that they would comprehend their future!
30 How should one chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the Lord had given them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock;
even our enemies themselves concede this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons
and the deadly venom of cobras.
34 Is not this laid up in store with Me
and sealed up among My treasures?
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
their foot will slip in due time;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and the things to come hasten upon them.
36 For the Lord will judge His people,
and relent in regard to His servants,
when He sees that their power is gone
and there is no one left, whether restrained or free.
37 He will say: Where are their gods,
their rock in whom they trusted,
38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you
and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am He,
and there is no god besides Me;
I kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal;
there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.
40 For I lift up My hand to heaven,
and say: As I live forever,
41 if I sharpen My flashing sword
and My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance on My enemies
and will repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
and My sword shall devour flesh,
with the blood of the slain and of the captives,
from the heads of the leaders of the enemies.
43 Rejoice, O you nations, with His people;
for He will avenge the blood of His servants
and will render vengeance on His adversaries
and will be merciful to His land and people.
44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua, the son of Nun. 45 When Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe, all the words of this law. 47 For it is no idle word for you, because it is your life, and by this word you will prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Die on Mount Nebo
48 The Lord spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49 “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for a possession. 50 Die on the mount where you go up, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 Nevertheless, you will see the land before you, but you may not go there, to the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”
Moses Blesses Israel(A)
33 Now this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 He said:
The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir to them;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
and He came with ten thousands of holy ones;
from His right hand went a fiery law[d] for them.
3 Surely, He loved the people;
all His holy ones are in Your hand,
and they sit down at Your feet;
everyone receives Your words.
4 Moses decreed to us a law,
the inheritance of the assembly of Jacob.
5 He was king over Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die,
and let not his men be few.
7 This is the blessing to Judah. He said:
Listen, O Lord, to the voice of Judah,
and bring him to his people;
may his hands contend for them,
and may You help him against his enemies.
8 Of Levi he said:
Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your godly one,
whom You tested at Massah,
and with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,
9 who said to his father and to his mother,
“I have not seen him,”
and he did not acknowledge his brothers
or know his own children,
for they have kept Your word
and guarded Your covenant.
10 They will teach Jacob Your judgments
and Israel Your law.
They will put incense before You
and the whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands;
run through the loins of them that rise against him
and of them that hate him,
so that they rise never again.
12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord
will dwell in safety by Him,
and the Lord will protect him all day long;
he will dwell between His shoulders.
13 Of Joseph he said:
May his land be blessed of the Lord,
from the harvest of the heavens,
by the dew,
and by the deep crouching beneath,
14 by the precious fruits brought forth by the sun,
and by the choice things put forth by the moon,
15 by the finest things of the ancient mountains,
and by the choice things of the everlasting hills,
16 by the best things of the earth and its fullness,
and by the goodwill of Him who dwelt in the bush.
May the blessing rest on the head of Joseph,
on top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.
17 His glory is like the firstborn of his bull,
and his horns are like the horns of a wild ox;
with them he will push the peoples together to the ends of the earth;
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
18 Of Zebulun he said:
Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going outside,
and Issachar in your tents.
19 They will call the peoples to the mountain;
there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness,
for they will draw out the abundance of the seas
and the treasures hid in the sand.
20 Of Gad he said:
Blessed be he who enlarges Gad;
he dwells as a lion
and tears an arm and the crown of a head.
21 He provided the first part for himself,
because there, in a portion of the ruler, he was seated.
He came with the heads of the people.
He executed the justice of the Lord,
and His ordinances with Israel.
22 Of Dan he said:
Dan is a lion’s whelp;
he will leap forth from Bashan.
23 Of Naphtali he said:
O Naphtali, satisfied with favor
and full with the blessing of the Lord,
possess the west and the south.
24 Of Asher he said:
May Asher be blessed with children;
may he be acceptable to his brothers,
and may he dip his foot in oil.[e]
25 Your sandals will be iron and brass;
according to your days, so shall be your strength.
26 There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to help you,
and in His majesty through the skies.
27 The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath you are the everlasting arms;
He will drive out the enemy before you,
and will say, “Destroy them.”
28 Israel dwells in safety;
the fountain of Jacob will be secluded
in a land of grain and new wine;
its heavens will rain down dew.
29 Blessed are you, O Israel!
Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
who is the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies will cringe before you,
and you will tread upon their high places.
The Death of Moses
34 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. Then the Lord showed him all the land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the Mediterranean Sea, 3 and the Negev and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”
5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows of his burial place to this day. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor was his vitality diminished. 8 The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 Now Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. And the children of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord commanded Moses.
10 Since then there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land, 12 and by all that mighty power and by all the great terror which Moses displayed in the sight of all Israel.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.