Chronological

Remember the Lord’s Provisions

8 “Be careful to observe every command that I’m instructing you today, in order that you may live, increase, and enter and take possession of the land that the Lord promised by an oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the desert to humble^[a] and test you in order to make known what was in your heart—whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled^[b] you, causing you to be hungry, yet he fed you with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known, in order to teach you that human beings are not to live by food alone—instead human beings are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

⁴ “The clothes you wore^[c] did not wear out, nor did your feet blister during these 40 years. ⁵ Be convinced in your heart that as a father disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing^[d] him, ⁷ because the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land—a land with rivers and deep springs flowing to the valleys and hills. ⁸ It’s a land filled^[e] with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates. It’s a land filled^[f] with olive oil and honey— ⁹ a land without scarcity. You’ll eat food in it and lack nothing. It’s a land where its rocks are iron and you can dig copper from its mountains.”

Remember the Source of Blessings

¹⁰ “When you have eaten and are satisfied, bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful! Otherwise, you will forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I’m commanding you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you have built beautiful houses and lived in them, ¹³ when your cattle and oxen have multiplied, and when your silver and gold have increased, ¹⁴ then you will become arrogant. You’ll neglect the Lord your God, ¹⁵ who brought you out of the land of Egypt—from the house of slavery—and who led you through the vast and dangerous desert—that parched land without water—with its poisonous snakes and scorpions. He brought water out of solid rock for you ¹⁶ and fed you in the desert with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known to humble and test you so that things may go well with you later. ¹⁷ You may say to yourselves, ‘I have become wealthy by my own strength and by my own ability.’^{[g] 18} But remember the Lord your God, because he is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, in order to confirm his covenant that he promised by an oath to your ancestors, as is the case today. ¹⁹ If you neglect the Lord your God, follow other gods, and serve and worship them, I testify to you today that you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰ Just like the nations whom the Lord destroyed before you, so will you be destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.”

When the Lord Fulfills His Promise

9 “Listen, Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and dispossess greater and mightier nations than you, who live in^[h] large cities that are fortified to the sky. ² The Anakim^[i] are strong and tall, and you know them. You’ve heard it said, ‘Who can stand up against the Anakim?’^{[j] 3} But know today that the Lord your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord told you. ⁴ After the Lord has expelled them before you, you are not to say to yourselves, ‘The Lord caused me to enter and possess this land because of my righteousness.’ ⁵ On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you to confirm what the Lord promised by an oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ Know that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving to you this good land to inherit, since you are a stubborn people.”

Israel Broke the Covenant

⁷ “Remember—and don’t ever forget—how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert. From the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebelling against the Lord. ⁸ At Horeb you continually rebelled against the Lord so that he^[k] was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the Lord had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water. ¹⁰ Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which God inscribed with his own finger all the words that the Lord spoke to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire that day when you were all assembled together. ¹¹ At the end of 40 days and nights, the Lord gave to me the two stone Tablets of the Covenant.

¹² “Then the Lord told me, ‘Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them and have cast an idol for their use.’

¹³ “Then the Lord told me, ‘I have examined this people, and they^[l] are stubborn indeed. ¹⁴ Let me alone! I will destroy them, blot out their name from heaven, and then I’ll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.’

¹⁵ “So I turned and went down from the mountain while the mountain was on fire. The two Tablets of the Covenant were in both of my hands. ¹⁶ Then I saw how you had really sinned against the Lord your God! You had made for yourselves a calf—a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord your God had commanded. ¹⁷ So I grabbed the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down in the Lord’s presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I didn’t eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in full view of the Lord, thereby provoking him to anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the Lord also listened to me at that time. ²⁰ It was as had been the case with Aaron—the Lord was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time. ²¹ So when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

Moses Interceded for Israel

²² “You provoked the Lord again at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. ²³ When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea and told you, ‘Go possess the land that I gave you,’ instead you disobeyed what the Lord your God said. You didn’t trust him or listen to his voice. ²⁴ You have been rebelling against the Lord since the day I knew you. ²⁵ I fell down in the Lord’s presence for 40 days and nights, because the Lord said he was ready to destroy you. ²⁶ So I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord my God, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed by your power.^[m] You brought them out from Egypt in a powerful way. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t pay attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sinfulness of this people. ²⁸ Otherwise, the people of the land from which you brought us will say, “The Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land that he had promised them. So he brought them out to kill them in the desert because he hated them.” ²⁹ But they are your people and inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty strength^[n] and awesome power.’”

A Copy of the Ten Commandments

10 “At that time, the Lord told me, ‘Chisel two tablets of stone for yourself just like the first ones, and then come up to me on the mountain. Also make for yourself a wooden chest. ² I’ll write on the tablets what was^[o] on the first tablets that you broke, and then you are to place them into the wooden chest.’ ³ So I made a chest out of acacia wood and chiseled two tablets of stone just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ Then the Lord^[p] inscribed on the tablets what he wrote before—that is, the Ten Commandments that the Lord declared to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire during the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets in the chest that I had made. They are there now, just as the Lord commanded me.”

Aaron Dies and the Descendants of Levi are Appointed

⁶ “The Israelis traveled from the wells of the descendants of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. ⁷ From there they moved on to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand in the Lord’s presence, to serve, and to bless his name until this day. ⁹ That is why the descendants of Levi do not have a portion and an inheritance among their relatives. As for^[q] the Lord, he is their inheritance, just as the Lord your God told them. ¹⁰ When I stood on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights as I did the first time, the Lord listened to me once again. The Lord was not willing to destroy you. ¹¹ So the Lord told me, ‘Get up and proceed to lead^[r] the people, so they may enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give their ancestors by an oath.’”

Love the Lord

¹² “Now Israel, what does the Lord your God desire from you? Only this: fear him,^[s] walk in all his ways, love him, serve him^[t] with all your heart and in all your life,^{[u] 13} and observe his^[v] commands and statutes that I’m commanding you today for your own good. ¹⁴ You see, heaven—even the highest heavens—belongs to the Lord, along with the earth and all that is in it, ¹⁵ yet the Lord committed himself to love your ancestors—and did so! He chose you—their descendants after them—from all the nations, as it is^[w] today. ¹⁶ Therefore, circumcise your heart and stop being stubborn. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is the God of all gods, the Lord of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes. ¹⁸ He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing.”

Love Others

¹⁹ “You are to love the foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You are to fear the Lord your God and serve him. Cling to him and swear by his name. ²¹ He is the one you are to praise, because he is^[x] your God who carried out those great and awesome things for you that you witnessed. ²² Your ancestors went down to Egypt with 70 people, but the Lord your God has now made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”