Bible in 90 Days
12 You must choose a special place outside the camp. Use that place as your toilet. 13 Always carry a small spade with your other tools. When you go to the toilet, dig a hole with your spade. Then bury your dung in it and cover it with earth. 14 For the Lord your God moves among you in your camp. He keeps you safe from your enemies so that you win against them. So make sure that your camp is a holy place. The Lord must not see anything that would bring shame on you. Do not make him turn away from you.
15 Someone's slave may escape from his master and come to you. If that happens, do not send him back to his master. 16 He can live anywhere among you. He may choose to live in any of your towns that he likes. Do not be cruel to him.
17 No Israelite man or woman must ever become a prostitute at places where people worship their gods. 18 You must not bring the money that people pay to these prostitutes into the Lord's temple. Do not use it to offer a gift that you have promised to the Lord your God. He hates prostitutes, both men and women.
19 You may lend money or food or anything else to another Israelite. But do not ask him to give you back more than you lent to him. 20 You can ask a foreign person to pay back more, but not an Israelite. If you obey this command, the Lord your God will bless you. When you live in your new land, God will bless everything that you do.
21 If you promise to give something to the Lord your God, be careful to bring your gift soon. If you do not bring it, that is a sin. The Lord will certainly demand it from you. 22 You may choose not to promise any gift. That is not a sin. 23 But whatever you promise to do, you must be careful to do it. If you choose to promise a gift to the Lord your God, give it soon.
24 If you go into your neighbour's vineyard, you may eat some of the grapes. You may eat as many grapes as you want, but do not carry any away in a basket. 25 If you go into your neighbour's field of grain, you may eat some of it. You may pick some grain with your hands, but do not use a knife to cut it down.[a]
Rules about marriage and other things
24 Perhaps a man will marry a woman and then he discovers something that brings shame on her. So she does not please him any more. He must write a letter to say that they are no longer married. He gives the letter to his wife. Then he can send her away from his house. 2 After she has left his house, she might marry another man.
3 Later, her second husband may also not like her any more. So he also gives her a letter to finish the marriage. He sends her away from his house too. Or perhaps her second husband dies. 4 If that happens, her first husband must not marry her again. That is because she has had sex with another man. To marry her again would be a sin that the Lord hates. You must not do sins like that in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as your new home.
5 When a man has just married, do not send him away to fight in the army. Do not make him work at jobs in other places. He should stay at home for one year. Then he can make his new wife very happy.
6 When you lend money to people, you may take something from them as a guarantee. But do not take the stones that they use to make grain into flour. Do not take either of the stones. People need both those stones to make food to stay alive. So do not take away their life.
7 A man might take hold of another Israelite and make him his slave. He might try to sell him as a slave. Anyone who does that must die. You must remove evil things from among you.
8 If you have leprosy, be very careful! Do everything that the Levite priests tell you to do. You must obey everything that I have commanded them. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam after you left Egypt.[b]
10 If you lend something to your neighbour you may take something from him as a guarantee.[c] But do not go into his house to take it. 11 You must wait outside the house. Then your neighbour can bring out what he has chosen to give you. 12 If the person is poor, do not take his coat and keep it with you all night. 13 You must always give his coat back to him before sunset. Then he can sleep in it to keep himself warm. He will ask God to bless you because you have been kind. The Lord your God will know that you have done the right thing.
14 Do not be cruel to any poor or helpless person who works for you. Be kind to him, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives in one of your towns. 15 You must pay him for his work every day before sunset. Remember that he is poor. He needs the money to stay alive. If you do not pay him, he may complain against you to the Lord. The Lord would say that you are guilty of a sin.
16 You must not punish fathers with death for the sins that their children do. You must not punish children with death for the sins that their fathers do. Each person must die only because of his own sins.
17 Remember to be completely fair to foreigners and to children who have no family. If you lend money to a widow, do not take her coat as a guarantee. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God rescued you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do these things.
19 At harvest time, you might forget to bring in all the crops from your fields. Do not go back to pick up all the grain. Leave it there for foreigners, widows and children who have no family. If you do that, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.
20 When you knock the olives off your trees, shake each branch only once. Leave the olives that remain for foreigners, widows and children who have no family. 21 When you pick your grapes, pick only once from each vine. Leave the grapes that remain for foreigners, widows and children who have no family. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I am commanding you to do all these things.
25 When there is an argument between two people, they must both go to the judges. Then the judges will decide which of the two people is right. They will decide the punishment for the guilty person. 2 The judge may decide that his officers should beat the guilty person as punishment. The judge will make him lie down on the ground. Then he will watch as his officers beat the guilty person. They will hit him as many times as he deserves because of his wicked act. 3 But they must not hit him more than 40 times as his punishment. If it is more than that, nobody would respect him any more.
4 Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain to prepare it for you.[d]
5 Perhaps two brothers live together in the same place. One of the brothers may die before he has any son. If that happens, his widow must not marry anyone who does not belong to the family. Instead, the other brother must marry her. That is the right thing for him to do for his dead brother. 6 The first son that the widow gives birth to will be the son of her first husband. His family's name will not disappear from Israel.
7 But the man may not want to marry his brother's widow. If so, this is what the widow must do: She must go to the leaders when they meet at the town gate. She must say, ‘My dead husband's brother refuses to do his duty for me. He does not want his brother to have any descendants so that his family's name will continue.’
8 Then the town's leaders must call the man to come to them. They must talk to him. Perhaps he will continue to say, ‘I do not want to marry her!’
9 If that happens, his brother's widow must go near him, as the leaders watch. She must pull off one of his shoes and then she must spit in his face. She must say, ‘This is what we do to a man who will not give descendants to his dead brother!’ 10 After that, people will call that man's family, ‘the family of the man who lost his shoe.’
11 Perhaps two men are fighting each other. The wife of one of them comes to help him. She tries to save him from his enemy who is attacking him. Perhaps she takes hold of the man's sex parts. 12 If she does that, you must cut off her hand as punishment. Do not be sorry for her.
13 Do not try to cheat people when you weigh or measure things. Do not carry with you two different stone weights, one light one and one heavy one. 14 Do not keep in your house two different bowls to measure things, one big one and one small one. 15 You must keep true and honest weights. You must have bowls that measure things correctly. If you do that you will live for a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. 16 The Lord your God hates anyone who cheats other people and is not honest.
The Amalekites
17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt.[e] 18 They attacked you when you were tired and weak. They killed all the people who were walking slowly at the back of your group. They were not afraid of God. 19 But the Lord your God will chase away all your enemies. He will give you a safe place to rest in the land that he is giving to you as your new home. When he does that, do not forget to destroy all the Amalekites. Make sure that nobody in the whole world will remember them any more.
Harvest gifts
26 You will soon go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It will belong to you as your home. 2 This is what you must do the first time that the land provides food for you: At harvest time, when you bring in your crops, put some in a basket. Take it to the special place that the Lord your God will choose for people to worship him. 3 Go to the priest who has authority at that time. Say to him, ‘Today, I say to the Lord our God that I am now living in the land that he promised to us. He made that promise to our ancestors.’
4 Then the priest will take the basket from you. He will put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must say this, so that the Lord your God hears you: ‘My ancestor was an Aramean who moved from place to place. He went to Egypt to live there as a foreigner. At that time, his family was small. But while he lived in Egypt, his family became a great nation of many powerful people. 6 But the Egyptian people were cruel to us. They made us work very hard for them. 7 So we prayed to the Lord, the God of our ancestors. He heard our prayers. He saw that we were in trouble. He saw that we had to do very hard work for cruel people. 8 So the Lord used his great strength and power to bring us out of Egypt. He did powerful miracles which caused the Egyptians to be afraid. 9 Then he brought us to this place. He gave us this land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. 10 So now I am bringing the first food that has grown in my fields. You, Lord, have given it to me.’
Then you must put the basket down in front of the Lord's altar. Worship him there. 11 In that way, you will enjoy a meal to say ‘thank you’ for all the good things that the Lord your God has given to you and your family. Share your meal with the Levites and the foreign people who live among you.
12 Every third year you must keep safe a tenth part of all your crops. In the third year, you must give that tithe to the Levites, the foreigners who live among you, widows and the children who have no family. Then everyone who lives in your towns can eat all the food that they need.[f]
13 Then you can say to the Lord your God, ‘None of the tithe that belongs to you remains in my house. I have done what you commanded me to do. I have given it to the Levites, foreigners, widows and the children who have no family. I have not forgotten to obey your commands. 14 I have not eaten any of this special food when I was weeping for someone who had died. I did not touched any of it while I was unclean. I have not offered any of it to give honour to a dead person. I have obeyed you completely. I have done everything that you commanded me to do. 15 Please look down from your home in heaven and bless your people, Israel. Please bless the land that you have given to us. You promised our ancestors that you would do that. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone.’
Moses warns the people
16 Today, the Lord your God commands you to obey these laws and these rules. So be careful to obey them with all your mind and with all your strength. 17 Today, you have said clearly that the Lord is your God. You have agreed to live in a way that pleases him. You have agreed that you will obey his rules, his commands and his laws. You will do everything that he has told you to do. 18 Today the Lord has accepted you to be his own special people. He already promised that he would do that. As his people, you must obey all his commands. 19 If you do that, he will make you greater than all the other nations that he has made. Other nations will see that you are great. They will praise you and give you honour. You will be a nation that belongs to the Lord your God as his own special people. He has promised to do this.
The altar on Mount Ebal
27 Moses and the leaders of Israel said to the people, ‘Obey all these commands that I am giving you today. 2 You will soon go across the Jordan River and go into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. When you are there, you must put up some large stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with thick white paint. 3 Then write on them all these laws and teaching. You must do that when you go across the river into the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. He promised your ancestors that he would give it to you. 4 After you go across the Jordan River, you must put these stones on Mount Ebal. Cover them with white paint. Do as I am telling you today.
5 Then you must build an altar there to worship the Lord your God. Do not use iron tools to cut the stones for the altar. 6 Use whole stones that you find to build it. Then offer burnt offerings to the Lord your God on the altar. 7 You must also offer friendship offerings there. Eat them with joy as you meet with the Lord your God. 8 Write all the words of this law on the stones that you will put there. Be sure to write them very clearly.’
The messages from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim
9 Then Moses and the Levite priests said to all the Israelites, ‘Be quiet and listen carefully! Today, you have become the people who belong to the Lord your God. 10 Obey him. Obey his commands and his rules that I am giving you today.’
11 On the same day, Moses commanded the people, 12 ‘After you have gone across the Jordan River, these tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. They will bless the people. 13 These tribes must stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. They will speak aloud God's curses.’
Curses
14 The Levites will shout this with a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15 ‘God will curse anyone who makes any image of a god and who worships it secretly. The Lord hates all idols that people make with metal or with wood.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
16 ‘God will curse anyone who does not respect his parents.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
17 ‘God will curse anyone who moves the stones at the edge of his neighbour's land.’[g] Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
18 ‘God will curse anyone who leads a blind person along the wrong path.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
19 ‘God will curse anyone who stops foreigners, widows or children who have no family from receiving justice.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
20 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his father's wife. That would bring shame on his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
21 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with any animal.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
22 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his sister, whether she is his father's daughter or his mother's daughter.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
23 ‘God will curse any man who has sex with his wife's mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
24 ‘God will curse anyone who murders anyone secretly.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
25 ‘God will curse anyone who receives a bribe to kill someone who has done nothing wrong.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
26 ‘God will curse anyone who refuses to obey all the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
Blessings
28 Today I am giving you the commands of the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey all of them completely. If you do that, he will make you greater than any other nation of people in the world.
2 If you obey the Lord your God, he will bless you in very many ways.
3 God will bless you in your cities and in your fields.
4 God will bless your children and the crops that you grow. Your cows and your sheep will have many babies.
5 God will bless you with lots of grain to make bread.
6 God will bless you in your homes and when you go outside.
7 When your enemies attack you, the Lord will knock them down. They will come from one direction to attack you, but they will run away from you in seven different directions!
8 The Lord will bless you with lots of food to store. He will bless all the work that you do. He will bless you very much in the land that he is giving to you.
9 The Lord will continue to help you as his special people, as he has promised to do. But you must obey his commands. You must live in a way that pleases him. 10 If you do that, everyone in the world will see that you belong to the Lord. They will respect you with fear. 11 The Lord will give you many children. Your animals will have many babies. Your fields will give you a lot of food. The Lord will do this in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give you.
12 The Lord will send rain from the clouds where he stores it. He will cause the rain to fall at the time when the land needs it. He will bless all the work that you do. You will lend money to the people of many nations. But you will not need anyone to lend money to you. 13 The Lord will make you the leaders of other people. You will not have to follow at the back. You will become more powerful, not weaker. But you must obey the commands of the Lord your God. I am telling you today, you must be very careful to do that. 14 You must continue to obey all the commands that I am giving you today. Do not turn away from them to do anything else. Do not try to worship other gods.
Curses
15 But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God, all these curses will happen to you. So be careful to obey all his commands and rules that I am giving you today. If you do not obey the Lord, these curses will happen to you:
16 God will curse you in your cities and in your fields.
17 God will curse you so that you have no grain to make bread.
18 God will curse your children and the crops that you grow. Your cows and your sheep will not give birth to healthy babies.
19 God will curse you in your homes and when you go outside.
Illness
20 If you do evil things and you turn away from the Lord, he will curse you. He will confuse your thoughts in everything that you do. He will turn against you so that you quickly come to an end. 21 The Lord will make you very ill so that you do not get better again. He will completely remove you from the land that you are now going into. 22 The Lord will give you many kinds of disease. Your bodies will become weak and very hot. They will grow big and have a lot of pain. He will send great heat and there will be no rain. Your crops will all become spoiled. You will have all this pain until you die. 23 There will be no clouds in the sky above to give any rain. The ground under your feet will be as hard as iron. 24 There will be clouds of dust instead of rain. Dirt will come down from the sky until it has destroyed you.
Enemies and other troubles
25 The Lord will let your enemies knock you down. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run away from them in seven directions. When the people of other nations see what has happened to you, they will see it is a terrible thing. 26 Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and the wild animals. No one will be there to chase them away. 27 The Lord will cause you to have boils on your bodies. That is what he did to the Egyptians. He will also cause you to have tumours and other bad diseases on your skin.[h] You will not be able to get well again. 28 The Lord will make you crazy and blind. He will confuse your thoughts. 29 Even at midday, you will not see your way. You will be in the dark, like a blind person. You will not be able to go anywhere, whatever you do. Every day, people will be cruel to you. People will rob you. No one will be there to save you.
30 A woman will promise to marry you. But another man will take her and have sex with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a garden, but you will never eat the fruit that grows in it. 31 Someone will kill your bull while you watch. But you will not eat any of the meat. As you watch, someone will take your donkey from you. He will never give it back to you. Your enemies will take your sheep for themselves. There will be no one there to help you.
32 Foreign people will take your children away to be their slaves. Every day, you will look for them to come back to you. But you will have no power to do anything. 33 Strangers will eat the food that you have worked hard to grow in your fields. People will be cruel to you for the rest of your lives. 34 When you see what is happening to you, you will become crazy. 35 The Lord will cause you to have boils on your knees and on your legs. They will give you much pain and they will never get better. They will soon cover your whole body, from your toes to the top of your head.
36 When you choose a king for yourselves, the Lord will send you and him away to a foreign country. It will be a place that neither you nor your ancestors have ever heard about. There you will serve gods that people have made from stone and wood. 37 The Lord will send you away to live among foreign people. When they see what has happened to you, they will all see that it is terrible. They will tell stories about you and they will laugh at you.
38 You will plant many seeds in your fields, but you will not have much food at harvest time. Instead, locusts will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards to grow grapes. You will take care of the plants. But you will not drink any wine or bring in any grapes. Instead, worms will eat them. 40 Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will never use any oil from them. The olives will drop off the trees before they are ready to pick.
41 You will give birth to sons and daughters, but you will lose them. Enemies will take them away as prisoners. 42 Crowds of locusts will eat all your trees and the food from your fields.
43 Foreign people who live among you will become stronger and stronger. They will have more and more power over you, as you become weaker. 44 They will lend money to you, but you will not lend money to them. They will become your leaders. You will have to follow behind them.
45 All these curses will happen to you. They will be like an enemy that chases after you, catches you, and destroys you. That will happen to you, if you refuse to obey the Lord your God. If you do not obey his commands and his rules that he has given to you, these troubles will happen to you. 46 They will show that God is very angry with you. You and your descendants will know that for ever.
47 The Lord has given you many good things. But you have not agreed to serve the Lord your God with joy. 48 So you will serve your enemies that the Lord will send to attack you. You will be hungry and thirsty. You will be so poor that you do not even have clothes to wear. Your enemies will make you work so hard that they will destroy you.
49 The Lord will bring a nation from far away in the world to attack you. You will not understand their language. They will come quickly to attack you, like an eagle that comes down from the sky. 50 They will have angry faces. They will not be kind to anyone, even old people and young children. 51 They will eat your young animals and the crops from your fields, until they have destroyed you. They will not leave any food for you. You will have no grain, no wine, no olive oil, no young cows, no lambs. They will take everything from you until they destroy you.
52 They will attack all your towns, everywhere in the land that the Lord your God has given to you. They will knock down the strong walls that you thought would keep you safe. They will make their camps around your towns until they can take the towns for themselves. 53 When that happens, you will have no food, because your enemy's soldiers are all around your town. You will be so hungry that you eat your own children. Those are the sons and daughters that the Lord your God has given to you. 54 Even the best and kindest man among you will turn against his brother. He will turn against the wife that he loves and against his children who are still alive. 55 He will be so hungry that he eats meat from his own child, because there is no other food. He will not share it with any of his own family. He will do that because your enemy is so strong. The soldiers will stop any food from coming into your towns. 56 Even the best and kindest woman among you will turn against the husband that she loves. She will turn against her sons and daughters. She has been rich enough to have everything that she needs. 57 But now she will be so hungry that she will eat her new baby and the afterbirth.[i] She will eat them secretly because there is nothing else for her to eat. She will not share anything with her family because your enemy will be too strong. The soldiers will stop any food from coming into your towns.
Moses warns the people again
58 Be careful to obey all the words of this law that I have written in this scroll. Always respect the Lord your God. Give him the honour that his great name deserves. 59 If you refuse to do that, the Lord will punish you and your descendants more and more. You will have lots of pain and many kinds of terrible disease that will not get better. 60 He will cause you to have all the same diseases that hurt the Egyptians and that made you very afraid. Those diseases will never leave you alone. 61 The Lord will also cause you to have many other terrible diseases. This scroll of God's Law does not say anything about those diseases, but they will destroy you completely.
62 At one time, you were as many people as the stars in the sky. But if you do not obey the Lord your God, only a few of you will remain alive. 63 At one time, the Lord was happy to help you with good things. He gave you many children. But if you do not obey him, he will be happy to destroy you. He will remove you from the land that will soon become your new home.
64 If that happens, the Lord will send you away to live among many other nations, all over the world. There you will worship other gods. They are gods that people have made from wood and from stone. Neither you nor your ancestors have ever known those gods before. 65 When you live among those nations, you will not be happy. You will not find a home where you can live safely in peace. The Lord will cause you to have troubles in your mind. Your eyes will not see well. You will be sad and upset. 66 You will be in danger of death all the time. You will be afraid in the day and at night. You will never know if you will live for one more day. 67 Every morning you will say, ‘I want the night to come quickly!’ And every evening you will say, ‘I want the morning to come quickly!’ You will say that because of all the terrible things that you see. 68 The Lord told you that you must never travel on the road back to Egypt. But he will send you back to Egypt in ships. In Egypt, you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies, as slaves. But no one will agree to buy you.
God's covenant with his people
29 The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites the words of his covenant with them. He made this covenant with them in Moab's country, as well as the covenant that he had made with them at Sinai. 2 This is what Moses said to all the Israelites when they met together:
You have seen everything that the Lord did in Egypt. You saw how he punished Egypt's king, his officers and his whole country. 3 You saw the miracles which the Lord did to show his great power. 4 But until now the Lord has not let you understand why he did that. You saw and you heard those things, but you did not understand. 5 The Lord says, ‘I led you through this desert for 40 years. In all that time, your clothes and your shoes have not become spoiled. 6 You did not eat any bread. You did not drink any wine or beer. I helped you so that you would know that I am the Lord your God.’
7 When we arrived here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan attacked us. But we won against them. 8 We took their land and we gave it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh. That would be their new home.[j]
9 So be careful to obey the words of this covenant. If you are faithful, everything that you do will go well.
10 The Lord your God sees all of you today as you stand here. He sees your leaders, your important men, your officers and all Israelite men. 11 He sees your children and your wives. He sees the foreign people who live among you and who cut wood and carry water for you. 12 You are standing here to agree to the covenant that the Lord your God is making with you today. You must promise to obey it. 13 By this covenant, the Lord says again today that you are his people and he is your God. He has already made that promise to you and to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14-15 The Lord our God is making this strong covenant with you people who are standing here with him today. But it is not only with you. He also makes this covenant with those people who are not here today.[k]
16 You remember how we lived when we were in Egypt. You remember how we travelled through other countries as we came here. 17 You saw the useless gods that people of other nations worship. They worship idols that they make from wood, stone, silver and gold. 18 So be very careful that you do not turn away from the Lord our God to worship the gods of those nations. No man, woman, clan or tribe among you must ever want to do that. That would be like the root of a plant that gives fruits which are full of poison.
19 Nobody who hears the message of this covenant should think that they can go against it. Someone might say to himself, ‘I do not have to obey this covenant. I will be safe, whatever happens. God will still bless me.’ A person who thinks like that will bring trouble on everyone and on everything. 20 The Lord will never forgive that person. He will be very angry with him. The Lord will punish him in all the terrible ways that are written in this book. The Lord will destroy him completely so that his family name comes to an end. 21 The Lord will make that person separate from all the Israelite tribes and he will punish him very much. All the troubles that the Lord promises in this covenant will happen to that person, as this book of God's Law says.
22 Then, in future years, your descendants will see that many troubles have come to your land. They will see that the Lord has made people very ill. Foreign people who come from countries far away will also see what has happened. 23 The whole land will become spoiled with salt and sulphur. No one will plant seed in it, because nothing will grow there. Even grass will not grow on it. The land will be useless, like the cities that the Lord destroyed when he was very angry with them. Those cities were Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim.
24 The people of all other nations who see this will ask, ‘Why has the Lord destroyed this land? Why was he so angry with the people who lived there?’ 25 People will answer, ‘Because these people turned away from the covenant that the Lord had made with them. He is the God that their ancestors worshipped. He made a covenant with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 But they turned away from him and they worshipped other gods. They served gods that they had not known before. They were gods that the Lord did not give them to worship. 27 So the Lord was angry with the people in this land. He punished them with all the terrible troubles that are written in this book. 28 That is why the Lord removed them from their land. He was very angry with them. So he threw them out to a foreign country. We see that they are still there today.’
29 Some secret things belong to the Lord our God. He does not let us understand everything. But he has shown us many things clearly. Those things belong to us and to our descendants for all time. They are the words of his Law that we need to obey.
God will bless his people again
30 I have told you about the ways that God may bless you and the ways that he may curse you. If you do not obey the Lord your God, he will send you away to live in many foreign countries. When that happens, you will think about what I have said. 2 Then you and your children may decide to turn back to the Lord. You may choose to obey him completely in everything that you think and in everything that you do. That is what I am commanding you to do today. 3 If you do that, the Lord your God will bring you back home and he will forgive you. He will turn to help you again. He will bring you back from the countries where he sent you to live. 4 He will bring back even those of you who live in countries that are very far away. You will all come back to live together again. 5 He will bring you back to the land that belonged to your ancestors. It will belong to you as your home. He will help you even more than he helped your ancestors. He will make you more in number than your ancestors were. 6 The Lord your God will change you so that you want to serve him. He will do that for your descendants too. Then you will love him completely in everything that you think and in everything that you do. You will continue to live in your land.
7 When that happens, the Lord your God will punish your enemies with all these terrible troubles, instead of you. He will punish the people who hate you and do cruel things to you. 8 You will turn back to the Lord. You will obey all his commands that I am giving you today. 9 The Lord your God will cause all your work to go very well. He will give you many children. Your animals will give birth to many babies. Lots of crops will grow in your fields. The Lord will be happy to help you again, as he was happy to help your ancestors. 10 But you must obey his commands and his rules that are written in this book of his Law. You must turn back to him. You must serve him in everything that you think and in everything that you do.
God offers life or death
11 The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult for you. It is not too far away from you. 12 God does not keep it in heaven. So you do not have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven to find it and bring it down to us? Who will explain it to us so that we can obey it?’
13 It is not far away across the sea. So you do not have to ask, ‘Who will go across the sea to fetch it for us? Who will explain it to us so that we can obey it?’
14 No! God's message is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your mind. So you must do what it teaches you to do.
15 Look! You must choose between the things that I am offering you today. You may choose to have life and many good things. Or you may choose to have death and many troubles. 16 I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God. Live in a way that pleases him. Obey his commands, his rules and his laws. If you do that, you will live. You will become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are going into as your new home.
17 But you will have trouble if you turn away from God and you do not obey him. If you decide to serve other gods and to worship them, 18 you will certainly come to an end. After you go across the Jordan River, you will not live very long in that land. That is what I am telling you today.
19 Today, I want the sky and the earth to hear what I have said to you. I have told you what you may choose. You may choose life or death. You may choose the Lord to bless you or to curse you. Choose life today, so that you and your descendants will live! 20 Yes, love the Lord your God. Obey him and serve him faithfully. He is the one who gives you life. He will let you live for a long time in the land that he is giving to you. That is the land that he promised to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Joshua will become the new leader
31 Then Moses went out and he spoke to all the Israelites. 2 He said to them, ‘I am now 120 years old. I can no longer continue to lead you. The Lord has told me that I will not go across the Jordan River. 3 But the Lord your God himself will go across the river in front of you. He will destroy the nations who live in that land. Then you will live there instead of them. Joshua will lead you across the river, as the Lord has said. 4 The Lord will do to those nations the same things that he did to Sihon and to Og, the Amorite kings. He destroyed them and their land. 5 The Lord will give you power over them. Then you must do to them everything that I have told you to do. 6 Be strong and be brave! Do not be afraid of those people, because the Lord your God goes with you. He will always be there to help you. He will never leave you.’
7 Then Moses fetched Joshua. While all the Israelites listened, Moses said this to Joshua:
‘Be strong and very brave! You will go with these people into the land that the Lord promised to give to their ancestors. You will give them the land which will be their new home. 8 The Lord himself goes in front of you. He will always be with you, to help you. He will never leave you. So do not be afraid. Be brave!’
Do not forget God's Law
9 Moses wrote down all the rules of God's Law. He gave them to the Levite priests who carry the Lord's Covenant Box. He also gave them to the leaders of the Israelites. 10-11 Then Moses said to them, ‘You must read this Law to all the Israelites. Read it every seven years at the Feast of Huts, in the year when you forgive people's debts.[l] At that time all the Israelites will go to the place that the Lord your God will choose. When they meet there to worship the Lord, they must listen to this Law. 12 Bring all the men, women and children together. Also bring the foreign people who live in your towns. They must all hear God's Law as it is read to them. Then they can learn to respect and obey the Lord your God. They will be careful to obey all the teaching of his Law. 13 Their children will hear this Law for the first time. They will learn to respect and obey the Lord your God. You must do this for as long as you live in the land. You will soon go across the Jordan River to live there.’
Joshua becomes the new leader
14 The Lord said to Moses, ‘You will soon die. Fetch Joshua and come with him to the Tent of Meeting. When you meet with me there, I will give Joshua authority to be the leader of my people.’
So Moses and Joshua went to meet the Lord at his special tent.
15 The Lord appeared in a pillar of cloud. The cloud was above the door of the tent. 16 The Lord said to Moses, ‘You will soon die. After you die, the people will soon go away from me. They will start to worship foreign gods of the land where they are going. They will turn against me. They will not obey the covenant that I made with them. 17 When that happens, I will be very angry with them. I will leave them. I will refuse to help them until they are destroyed. Many bad things will happen to them so that they are in great trouble. Then they will say, “These bad things have happened to us because our God is no longer with us.”
18 But at that time I will certainly refuse to help them. That is because of all the wicked things that they will have done. They will start to worship other gods.
19 Now write down this song that I will give to you. Teach the Israelites to sing it. Its words will show them that they are guilty because they have not obeyed me. 20 I will take them into this land, where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. It is the land that I promised to give to their ancestors. When they live there, they will eat as much food as they want. They will be fat and healthy. But then they will start to worship other gods. They will turn against me. They will not obey the covenant that I made with them. 21 Many bad things will happen to them so that they are in great trouble. Then this song will show them that they are guilty. Their descendants will never forget it. Even now, I know what they are thinking. I know what they want to do, even before I take them into the land that I have promised to them.’
22 So Moses wrote down this song on that same day. He taught it to the Israelites.
23 Then the Lord made Joshua, the son of Nun, the new leader. He said to Joshua, ‘Be strong and very brave! You will lead the Israelites into the land that I have promised to give them. I will be with you to help you.’
24 Moses finished writing all the words of God's Law in a book. 25 Then he said to the Levites who carried the Lord's Covenant Box, 26 ‘Take this book of God's Law. Put it next to the Covenant Box of the Lord your God. It must remain there, so that the Israelites will know when they are guilty. 27 I know that they are a proud people who do not want to obey me. All the time that I have been living among them, they have turned against the Lord. After my death, they will turn against him even more! 28 Now bring to me all the leaders and officers of your tribes. I want to tell them about all these things. And I want the sky and the earth to hear what I will say to them. 29 I know that, after my death, you will do more and more wicked things. You will turn away from the good things that I have commanded you to do. In future days, you will do wicked things against the Lord. Because of that, you will have great trouble. You will make the Lord angry because of the things that you do.’
30 Then Moses spoke the words of this song, from the beginning to the end. All the Israelites met together and they listened to him.
Moses' song
32 Sky and earth, listen to my words! Hear what I am saying!
2 My teaching will be like the rain that falls.
My messages will help the people who hear them,
as rain helps new grass to grow.
3 I will praise the Lord's name.
Everyone must know that our God is very great!
4 He is the strong Rock where we can be safe.
Everything that he does is perfect.
He only does what is right and fair.
We can trust him to be faithful.
5 But you, his people, have not served him faithfully.
Because of your sins, you cannot continue to be his children.
You have turned against him.
You enjoy doing bad things.
6 You are fools who do not understand what is right.
You should not do these things against the Lord.
He is your Father, the one who created you.
He made you become a strong nation.
7 Remember what happened a long time ago.
Think about the lives of your ancestors.
Ask your father or the old men.
They will tell you what happened in the past.
8 The Most High God gave land to be the home of each nation.
When he made people into separate groups,
he decided where their borders should be.[m]
He did that to match the number of angels in heaven.[n]
9 But the Lord himself takes care of his own people.
Jacob's descendants are his special people.
10 The Lord found them in a desert place.
It was a place where strong winds blew and nobody lived.
He took care of them and he kept them safe.
He protected them, like someone protects their own eyes.
11 The Lord took care of his people,
like an eagle takes care of its babies.
As an eagle flies with its babies on its back,
the Lord helped his people to be safe.
12 The Lord alone was a guide for his people.
He needed no foreign god to help him.
13 The Lord helped them to travel over the high places in the land.
He fed them with food from the fields.
He made them strong with honey from the rocks.
He gave them olive oil from trees in ground with many stones.
14 Their cows and their goats gave them plenty of milk and butter.
Their lambs, sheep and goats became fat,
so they ate the best meat.
They ate the best bread from their wheat.
They drank the best wine from their grapes.
15 The Israelites became rich and fat.[o]
They turned against God.
They were full of good food, but they turned away from God.
He was the one who made them.
He was the strong Rock who kept them safe.
But they no longer respected him.
16 They worshipped foreign gods.
So the Lord became angry and jealous.
They made idols which he hated.
17 They offered sacrifices to demons, instead of to God.
They worshipped new gods which they had not known before.
Your ancestors had never respected those gods.
18 You forgot about your strong Rock,
the God who gave you life.
19 When the Lord saw this, he turned away from them.
His sons and daughters had made him angry.
20 He said, ‘I will not continue to help them.
I will see what happens to them when I leave them alone.
They are children who do not obey me.
They have not served me faithfully.
21 They have made me jealous as they serve false gods.
They have made me angry as they worship useless idols.
So I will make them jealous as I help a useless nation.
I will make them angry as I bless a foolish nation.
22 I will become so angry that I punish them very much.
I will destroy them like a hot fire.
It will be like a fire that reaches deep down into the place of dead people.
It will destroy the ground and everything that grows on it.
It will burn deep down to the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will cause them to have many kinds of trouble.
I will attack them like a soldier who shoots all his arrows.
24 They will become weak and hungry.
They will have bad diseases that give them much pain.
I will cause wild animals to attack them.
Snakes will bite them and they will die.
25 If they go out of their homes, their enemies will kill them.
If they stay at home, they will die from fear.
Young men and young women will die.
Babies and old men will also die.
26 I wanted to remove my people completely,
so that nobody would ever remember them.
27 But then their enemies would boast.
They would not understand.
They would say, “We have destroyed these people with our own strength!
The Lord has not done this!” ’
28 Israel is a nation without wisdom.
They do not understand what will happen to them.
29 If they were wise, they would understand.
They would know what would happen to them in the end.
30 One man can chase away 1,000 of my people!
Two men can chase away 10,000 of them!
How can that happen? God, their strong Rock, has left them.
The Lord has given their enemies power over them.
31 The gods of our enemies are not strong like our Rock.
Even our enemies know that their own gods are weak.
32 Our enemies are like grapes full of poison.
They are like grapes that have grown in the fields of Sodom and Gomorrah.[p]
33 The wine from their grapes kills people,
like dangerous poison from snakes.
34 The Lord says, ‘I will not forget to punish Israel's enemies.
I have already decided what I will do, and I will do it!
35 When the right time comes,
I will punish them as they deserve.
They will suddenly fall
and great trouble will quickly destroy them.’
36 At that time, the Lord will bring justice for his people.
He will forgive his servants.
He will rescue them when he sees that they are weak,
and very few of them remain, as slaves or free people.
37 Then the Lord will ask his people,
‘Why could your gods not help you?
Those were the gods that you thought would keep you safe.
38 You fed them with the best part of your sacrifices.
You let them drink the wine from your offerings.
So they should be there to help you!
They should keep you safe!
39 Realize the truth! I alone am God.
There is no other god as well as me.
I can kill and I can give life.
I can hurt people and I can make them well again.
Nobody can stop me doing what I choose to do.
40 I lift up my hand to heaven and I make this strong promise:
“I promise you this, as surely as I live for ever:
41 I will make my sword very sharp.
It will move like lightning as I hold it in my hand.
I will punish my enemies as they deserve.
I will pay back everyone who hates me.
42 My arrows will have blood all over them.
My sword will cut into the bodies of my enemies.
Everyone that I take hold of will die.
I will cut off the heads of their leaders.” ’
43 So you people of other nations,
join with God's people to praise him!
He will punish those who have killed his servants.
He will punish all his enemies.
But he will forgive the sins of his people,
and he will make their land clean again.
Moses and Joshua warn the people
44 Moses went and he spoke all the words of this song to the Israelites. He did this together with Joshua, son of Nun. 45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words, 46 he said to the people, ‘Remember carefully the message that I have spoken to you today. You must teach these words to your children. They must learn to obey all the words of God's Law. 47 These are not just useless words. This is a message that gives life! If you obey it, you will live for many years in the land on the other side of the Jordan River. That is the land that will be your new home.’
Moses will die on Mount Nebo
48 On the same day, the Lord said to Moses, 49 ‘Go up into the hill country of Abarim in Moab's land. Climb Mount Nebo where you can see Jericho city on the other side of the river. Look at the land of Canaan. I am giving this land to the Israelites as their new home. 50 You will die on Mount Nebo, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor.[q] 51 Both of you refused to obey me at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Zin desert. You did not show the Israelites that you respected me as God. 52 So you will not go into the land that I am giving to the Israelites. You will only see it from far away.’
The last words of Moses
33 Before his death, God's servant Moses spoke this blessing to all the Israelites. 2 He said this:
‘The Lord came from Sinai.
He appeared to his people
like the sun that rises over the hills of Edom.
He shone on his people from Mount Paran.
Thousands of angels came with him.
In his right hand, he held his Law that burned with fire.
3 Yes, the Lord loves his people.
He takes care of all his holy people.
They sit near to him and they listen to his teaching.
4 Moses gave us the Lord's teaching.
It is very valuable to us, the descendants of Jacob.
5 When the leaders of the people and all the tribes met together,
the Lord became king of Israel.[r]
6 I pray this for the tribe of Reuben:
May they continue to live and have many descendants.
7 I pray this for the tribe of Judah:
Lord, please listen to their prayers for help.
May they join again with the other tribes.
Please make them strong,
so that they can fight against their enemies.
8 I pray this for the tribe of Levi:
Lord, your Urim and Thummim belong to your faithful servants, the Levites.
You tested them at Massah.
You argued with them at the springs of water at Meribah.[s]
9 The Levites left their own families
so that they could serve you well.
They obeyed your word.
They were faithful to your covenant.
10 They teach your rules and your laws to Jacob's descendants, the Israelites.
They offer incense to you, as a sweet smell.
They burn offerings on your altar.
11 Lord, please bless their work.
May everything that they do give you pleasure.
Knock down anyone who attacks them.
Destroy all their enemies completely.
12 I pray this for the tribe of Benjamin:
The Lord loves the tribe of Benjamin.
They will live with him and they will be safe.
The Lord protects them all the time.
He keeps them near to him.
13 I pray this for the tribe of Joseph:
Lord, please bless their land.
Send rain from the sky above,
and springs of water from under the ground.
14 May the sun give them a good harvest of food,
with the best crops every month.
15 May they have a harvest of good fruits
from the mountains and hills that have been there since long ago.
16 Please fill their land with many good things.
Lord who appeared in the burning bush,
please be kind to them.
Please bless Joseph's descendants.
He became a leader, separate from his brothers.
May this blessing be like a crown on his head!
17 Joseph is as strong as a bull.
He has horns like a wild ox.
Those two horns are the armies of Ephraim and Manasseh![t]
With them, he attacks other nations.
He chases them to the edges of the world.
18 I pray this for the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar:
Be happy, Zebulun's people, as you travel far from home.
Be happy, Issachar's people, as you live in your homes.
19 They will call other people to come to their mountain.
They will offer the right sacrifices there.
They will become rich from their work on the seas,
and from things that are hidden in the sand on the shore.
20 I pray this for the tribe of Gad:
Praise the Lord, who will give more land to Gad's people!
Gad lives there like a hungry lion.
He will tear off the arm or the head of his enemies.
21 He has chosen the best part of the land for himself.
When Israel's leaders met together,
Gad's tribe received the land that a leader deserves.
Gad's people obeyed the Lord's good laws.
They obeyed the Lord's commands for Israel.
22 I pray this for the tribe of Dan:
Dan's tribe is like a young lion.
They jump out from Bashan to attack their enemies.
23 I pray this for the tribe of Naphtali:
The Lord has blessed Naphtali's tribe very much.
He has been very kind to them.
Land in the west and in the south will belong to them.
24 I pray this for the tribe of Asher:
May the Lord bless Asher's tribe more than the other tribes.
May their brothers be pleased with them.
May Asher's people be rich enough to wash their feet in olive oil.
25 They will use iron and bronze to make the gates of their towns strong.
May they be strong for as long as they live.
26 Israelites, there is no god like your God.[u]
He rides across the sky to help you.
He travels with great authority on the clouds.
27 He is the God who lives for ever.
He is the safe place where you can hide.
His strong arms are always there, to hold you safely.
He will chase away your enemies as you attack them.
He says to you, “Destroy them!”
28 So Israel's people can now live safely.
Jacob's descendants have a safe place to live.
They have a land that will give them grain and wine.
Rain falls from the sky to make the ground wet.
29 Israelites, how happy you are!
There is no other nation like you.
The Lord himself has rescued you.
He is the one who keeps you safe, like a soldier's shield.
He is like a sword that you use to win against your enemies.
Your enemies will fall down with fear in front of you.
You will walk all over them.’
Moses dies on Mount Nebo
34 Then Moses went up from Moab's desert land. He climbed up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah mountain. Jericho city was on the other side of the Jordan River. The Lord showed him the whole land, from the region of Gilead to Dan in the north. 2 He saw all the land that would belong to Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh and Judah, as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 3 He saw the Negev desert in the south. He saw the valley that goes from Jericho as far as Zoar. Jericho is called ‘The city of palm trees’.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘This is the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I told them that I would give it to their descendants. Now I have let you see the land, but you will not go across the river into it.’
5 So Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in Moab. The Lord had said that this would happen. 6 The Lord buried Moses in a valley in Moab, near the town of Beth-Peor. But even today, no one knows the place where God buried him.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. But he could still see well. His body was still strong. 8 The Israelites wept for 30 days because of Moses' death. They wept in Moab's desert land until the time for them to be sad came to an end.
9 Moses had already chosen Nun's son, Joshua, to take his place as the leader of the Israelites. So the Lord had filled Joshua with wisdom. The Israelites listened to Joshua. They obeyed the commands that the Lord had given to Moses.
10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Lord spoke to him, face to face. 11 Moses did the miracles that the Lord had sent him to do in Egypt. Those miracles showed the Lord's power to Pharaoh and his officers, and to all the people in his country. 12 No other prophet has shown such great power and authority for all the Israelites to see.
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