Chronological

Remember God’s Power

11 “Therefore love the Lord your God and be very careful to keep his injunctions, statutes, ordinances, and commands all the time.^{[a] 2} Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the Lord your God—that is, his great and far-reaching power, ³ including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land; ⁴ what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses, and to its chariots, when he caused the water of the Reed^[b] Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the Lord destroyed them, even to this day; ⁵ what he did for you in the desert until you came to this place; ⁶ and what he did to Eliab’s sons Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing belonging to them in the full sight^[c] of Israel. ⁷ Your very own eyes saw all the great things that the Lord did.”

Possessing a Fertile Land

⁸ “Keep all the commands that I’m giving^[d] you today, so you can be strong enough to enter and possess the land that you are crossing over to inherit ⁹ and so you’ll live long in the land that the Lord your God promised by an oath to give your ancestors and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁰ since the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven, ¹² a land about which the Lord your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the Lord are continuously on it throughout the entire year.”^[e]

Delights of a Bountiful Land

¹³ “If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today—that is, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul— ¹⁴ then he^[f] will send rain on the land in its season (the early and latter rains)^[g] and you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil. ¹⁵ He^[h] will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied. ¹⁶ Be careful! Otherwise, your hearts will deceive you and you will turn away to serve other gods and worship them. ¹⁷ The wrath of God will burn against you so that he will restrain the heavens and it won’t rain. The ground won’t yield its produce and you’ll be swiftly destroyed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you. ¹⁸ Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up. ²⁰ Also write them upon the doorposts of your house and gates,^{[i] 21} so that you and your children may live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give your ancestors—as long as the sky remains above the earth.”

Boundaries of the Land

²² “If you carefully observe all of these commands that I’m giving you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— ²³ then the Lord will dispossess all these nations before you and you’ll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries—from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean^[j] Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you. ²⁶ Look! I’m about to grant you a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ a blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today, ²⁸ or a curse if you don’t obey the commands of the Lord your God, by turning from the way that I’m commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known.”

Declaration of the Blessings and Curses

²⁹ “When the Lord brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ They’re across the Jordan River to the west in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh, aren’t they? ³¹ For you are about to cross the Jordan River to go in and possess the land that the Lord your God is about to give you to inherit and live in. ³² Be careful to obey all the statutes and ordinances that I’m placing before you today.”

Destroying Altars to False Gods

12 “These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the Lord God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth. ² Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ³ Tear down their altars, then cut down their sacred poles^[k] and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods in order to destroy their names from that place.”

Sacrifice at the Central Sanctuary

⁴ “You must not act like this with respect to the Lord your God. ⁵ Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the Lord your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. ⁶ Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely-given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with all the things you have made by your own effort^[l] and with which he^[m] blessed you.

⁸ “You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit, ⁹ since you haven’t arrived yet to your allotted place^[n] that the Lord your God is about to give you. ¹⁰ But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely, ¹¹ then bring to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling place—where he will establish his name—everything that I’m commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the Lord.

¹² “Rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city—because there is no territorial allotment^[o] for him as you have. ¹³ Be careful not to offer burnt offerings at any location you happen to see^{[p] 14} instead of at the place the Lord will choose in one of the tribal areas. There you may offer burnt offerings, and there you may do everything that I’m commanding you.”

Instructions Pertaining to Food

¹⁵ “You may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire,^[q] according to the blessing of the Lord your God, when he provides for you in all your cities.^[r] Both ritually unqualified and qualified people^[s] may eat it as they would gazelle and deer. ¹⁶ However, you are not to consume the blood;^[t] instead, you are to pour it out on the ground as you would water.

¹⁷ “You won’t be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, or oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, or the works of your hands in your own cities. ¹⁸ You’ll eat only in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that he^[u] will choose—you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your cities.^[v] Rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God in everything you undertake.^{[w] 19} Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live^[x] in the land. ²⁰ When the Lord your God enlarges your territory—just as he told you—and you say ‘I want to eat meat’ since you desire to eat it,^[y] you may do so as much as you please.^[z]

²¹ “If the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the Lord has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities^[aa] as much as you please. ²² You may eat them just as you would gazelle and deer. Ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat them. ²³ Only be sure to refrain from eating blood, because blood is the source of^[ab] life and you are not to consume blood with the meat. ²⁴ You are not to eat it; instead, you are to pour it on the ground as you would water. ²⁵ You are not to eat it, so that life may go well for you and for your children after you. Then you’ll do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁶ “You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the Lord will choose. ²⁷ You must offer your burnt offerings—both the meat and the blood—on the altar of the Lord your God. You are to offer the blood by pouring it on the altar of the Lord your God while you consume the meat. ²⁸ Be sure to observe all these words that I’m commanding you, in order that life may go well for you and your children after you forever, for this is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

Don’t Become Ensnared

²⁹ “When the Lord your God eliminates the nations that you are about to dispossess so you can live in their land, ³⁰ after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.’ ³¹ You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the Lord hates. Moreover, they sacrificed^[ac] their sons and daughters to their gods. ^32 [ad]Now as to everything I’m commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don’t add to or subtract from it.”

Dealing with False Prophets

13 ^[ae]“A prophet or a diviner of dreams may arise among you, give you an omen or a miracle ² that takes place, and then he may tell you, ‘Let’s follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let’s serve them.’ Even though the sign or portent comes to pass, ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or that diviner of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to make known whether or not you’ll continue to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. ⁴ You must follow the Lord your God, fear him, observe his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him. ⁵ That prophet or diviner of dreams must be executed, because he advocated rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and because he lured you from the way in which the Lord your God instructed you to live. Purge the evil from among you.”

Dealing with Idolaters

⁶ “Your own blood brother,^[af] your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your friend who is like your soul mate may entice you quietly. He may tell you, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your ancestors have known ⁷ from the gods of the people that surround you—whether near or far from you—from one end of the earth to the other). ⁸ You are not to yield to him, listen to him, look with pity on him, show compassion to him, or even cover up for him. ⁹ Instead, you are surely to execute him. You must be the first to put him to death with your own hand, and then the hands of the whole community. ¹⁰ Stone him to death, because he sought to lure you from the Lord your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear about it, be afraid, and won’t do this evil thing again among you.

¹² “You may hear in one of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you to inhabit ¹³ that worthless men^[ag] have come from among you to entice those who live in the towns. They may say, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods that you haven’t known.’ ¹⁴ You must thoroughly investigate and inquire if it is true that this detestable thing exists among you. If it is so,^{[ah] 15} then put the inhabitants of the town to death by the sword. Devote everything in it to divine destruction—even its livestock—by the sword. ¹⁶ Gather whatever you’ve taken as spoils at the public square of the town, then burn the town, along with whatever you’ve taken, as an offering to the Lord your God. It will remain a permanent mound of ruins, never to be rebuilt again. ¹⁷ Moreover, you must never take any item from those condemned things, so the Lord may yet relent from his burning anger and extend compassion, have mercy, and cause you to increase in number—as he promised by an oath to your ancestors— ¹⁸ if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by observing all his commands that I’m commanding you today. Do what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.”