Deuteronomy 26
1It shall be, when you have come in to the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it, 2that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. 3You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to the LORD your God, that I have come to the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.” 4The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the LORD your God’s altar. 5You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. 6The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers. The LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders; 9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, the LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God. 11You shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.
12When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled. 13You shall say before the LORD your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 14I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to the LORD my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
16Today the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. 18The LORD has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments. 19He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, as he has spoken.
Deuteronomy 27
1Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster. 3You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which the LORD your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster. 5There you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them. 6You shall build the LORD your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. 7You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God. 8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
9Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10You shall therefore obey the LORD your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”
11Moses commanded the people the same day, saying, 12“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel, 15‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
17‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
18‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
20‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
21‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
22‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
23‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
24‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
25‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
26‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
Deuteronomy 28
1It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you listen to the LORD your God’s voice. 3You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field. 4You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. 5Your basket and your kneading trough shall be blessed. 6You shall be blessed when you come in, and you shall be blessed when you go out. 7The LORD will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways. 8The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 9The LORD will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways. 10All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the LORD’s name, and they will be afraid of you. 11The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12The LORD will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. 13The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today, to observe and to do, 14and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come on you and overtake you. 16You will be cursed in the city, and you will be cursed in the field. 17Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 18The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed. 19You will be cursed when you come in, and you will be cursed when you go out. 20The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. 21The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you, until he has consumed you from off the land where you go in to possess it. 22The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish. 23Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. 24The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed. 25The LORD will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. 26Your dead bodies will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with the tumors, with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed. 28The LORD will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. 29You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you. 30You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit. 31Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. 32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand. 33A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always, 34so that the sights that you see with your eyes will drive you mad. 35The LORD will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone. 37You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. 38You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. 39You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink of the wine, nor harvest, because worms will eat them. 40You will have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you won’t anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off. 41You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 42Locusts will consume all of your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower. 44He will lend to you, and you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45All these curses will come on you, and will pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. 46They will be for a sign and for a wonder to you and to your offspring forever. 47Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; 48therefore you will serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies: a nation whose language you will not understand, 50a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young. 51They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. 52They will besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. 53You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. 54The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, 55so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. 56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter, 57toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in your gates. 58If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God, 59then the LORD will make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. 60He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. 61Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring them on you until you are destroyed. 62You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you didn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice. 63It will happen that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. 64The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. 65Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. 66Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. 67In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. 68The LORD will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
Deuteronomy 29
1These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 2Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; 3the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4But the LORD has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. 5I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet. 6You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. 7When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them. 8We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10All of you stand today in the presence of the LORD your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water, 12that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today, 13that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only, 15but with those who stand here with us today before the LORD our God, and also with those who are not here with us today 16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed; 17and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them); 18lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison; 19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry. 20The LORD will not pardon him, but then the LORD’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under the sky. 21The LORD will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
22The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick, 23that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. 24Even all the nations will say, “Why has the LORD done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?”
25Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them. 27Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book. 28The LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
29The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 30
1It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 5The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. 6The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8You shall return and obey the LORD’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 9The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, 10if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 16For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, 20to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Deuteronomy 31
1Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as the LORD has spoken. 4The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them, for the LORD your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”
7Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8The LORD himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.”
9Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 10Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths, 11when all Israel has come to appear before the LORD your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn, fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, 13and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
14The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
15The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door. 16The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ 18I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
19“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20For 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 grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. 21It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing today, before I have brought them into the land which I promised them.”
22So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.
23He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.”
24When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, saying, 26“Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death? 28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn away from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
30Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.
Deuteronomy 32
1Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak.
Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2My doctrine will drop as the rain.
My speech will condense as the dew,
as the misty rain on the tender grass,
as the showers on the herb.
3For I will proclaim the LORD’s name.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
4The Rock: his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just.
A God of faithfulness who does no wrong,
just and right is he.
5They have dealt corruptly with him.
They are not his children, because of their defect.
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
6Is this the way you repay the LORD,
foolish and unwise people?
Isn’t he your father who has bought you?
He has made you and established you.
7Remember the days of old.
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
your elders, and they will tell you.
8When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the children of men,
he set the bounds of the peoples
according to the number of the children of Israel.
9For the LORD’s portion is his people.
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10He found him in a desert land,
in the waste howling wilderness.
He surrounded him.
He cared for him.
He kept him as the apple of his eye.
11As an eagle that stirs up her nest,
that flutters over her young,
he spread abroad his wings,
he took them,
he bore them on his feathers.
12The LORD alone led him.
There was no foreign god with him.
13He made him ride on the high places of the earth.
He ate the increase of the field.
He caused him to suck honey out of the rock,
oil out of the flinty rock;
14butter from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
with the finest of the wheat.
From the blood of the grape, you drank wine.
15But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
You have grown fat.
You have grown thick.
You have become sleek.
Then he abandoned God who made him,
and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
16They moved him to jealousy with strange gods.
They provoked him to anger with abominations.
17They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods that they didn’t know,
to new gods that came up recently,
which your fathers didn’t dread.
18Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful,
and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
19The LORD saw and abhorred,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20He 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 is no faithfulness.
21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities.
I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people.
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled in my anger,
that burns to the lowest Sheol,
devours the earth with its increase,
and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
“I will heap evils on them.
I will spend my arrows on them.
24They shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured with burning heat
and bitter destruction.
I will send the teeth of animals on them,
with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
25Outside the sword will bereave,
and in the rooms,
terror on both young man and virgin,
the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
26I said that I would scatter them afar.
I would make their memory to cease from among men;
27were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,
lest their adversaries should judge wrongly,
lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted;
the LORD has not done all this.’”
For they are a nation void of counsel.
There is no understanding in them.
29Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,
that they would consider their latter end!
30How could one chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had delivered them up?
31For their rock is not as our Rock,
even our enemies themselves concede.
32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,
of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison grapes.
Their clusters are bitter.
33Their wine is the poison of serpents,
the cruel venom of asps.
“Isn’t this laid up in store with me,
sealed up among my treasures?
35Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
at the time when their foot slides,
for the day of their calamity is at hand.
Their doom rushes at them.”
For the LORD will judge his people,
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
37He will say, “Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38which ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you!
Let them be your protection.
“See now that I myself am he.
There is no god with me.
I kill and I make alive.
I wound and I heal.
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
40For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare,
as I live forever,
41if I sharpen my glittering sword,
my hand grasps it in judgment;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
and will repay those who hate me.
42I will make my arrows drunk with blood.
My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
Rejoice, you nations, with his people,
for he will avenge the blood of his servants.
He will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
44Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel. 46He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”
48The LORD spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49“Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession. 50Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; 51because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel. 52For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 33
1This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2He said,
“The LORD came from Sinai,
and rose from Seir to them.
He shone from Mount Paran.
He came from the ten thousands of holy ones.
At his right hand was a fiery law for them.
3Yes, he loves the people.
All his saints are in your hand.
They sat down at your feet.
Each receives your words.
4Moses commanded us a law,
an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
5He was king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.
“Let Reuben live, and not die;
Nor let his men be few.”
7This is for Judah. He said,
“Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah.
Bring him in to his people.
With his hands he contended for himself.
You shall be a help against his adversaries.”
8About Levi he said,
“Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one,
whom you proved at Massah,
with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.
9He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’
He didn’t acknowledge his brothers,
nor did he know his own children;
for they have observed your word,
and keep your covenant.
10They shall teach Jacob your ordinances,
and Israel your law.
They shall put incense before you,
and whole burnt offering on your altar.
11LORD, bless his skills.
Accept the work of his hands.
Strike through the hips of those who rise up against him,
of those who hate him, that they not rise again.”
12About Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the LORD will dwell in safety by him.
He covers him all day long.
He dwells between his shoulders.”
13About Joseph he said,
“His land is blessed by the LORD,
for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew,
for the deep that couches beneath,
14for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,
for the precious things that the moon can yield,
15for the best things of the ancient mountains,
for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
16for the precious things of the earth and its fullness,
the good will of him who lived in the bush.
Let this come on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.
17Majesty belongs to the firstborn of his herd.
His horns are the horns of the wild ox.
With them he will push all the peoples to the ends of the earth.
They are the ten thousands of Ephraim.
They are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18About Zebulun he said,
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out;
and Issachar, in your tents.
19They will call the peoples to the mountain.
There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness,
for they will draw out the abundance of the seas,
the hidden treasures of the sand.”
20About Gad he said,
“He who enlarges Gad is blessed.
He dwells as a lioness,
and tears the arm and the crown of the head.
21He provided the first part for himself,
for the lawgiver’s portion was reserved for him.
He came with the heads of the people.
He executed the righteousness of the LORD,
His ordinances with Israel.”
22About Dan he said,
“Dan is a lion’s cub
that leaps out of Bashan.”
23About Naphtali he said,
“Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
full of the LORD’s blessing,
Possess the west and the south.”
24About Asher he said,
“Asher is blessed with children.
Let him be acceptable to his brothers.
Let him dip his foot in oil.
25Your bars will be iron and bronze.
As your days, so your strength will be.
“There is no one like God, Jeshurun,
who rides on the heavens for your help,
in his excellency on the skies.
27The eternal God is your dwelling place.
Underneath are the everlasting arms.
He thrust out the enemy from before you,
and said, ‘Destroy!’
28Israel dwells in safety,
the fountain of Jacob alone,
In a land of grain and new wine.
Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
29You are happy, Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,
the shield of your help,
the sword of your excellency?
Your enemies will submit themselves to you.
You will tread on their high places.”
Deuteronomy 34
1Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. The LORD showed him all the land of Gilead to Dan, 2and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the Western Sea, 3and the south, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar. 4The 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 offspring.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”
5So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the LORD’s word. 6He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day. 7Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone. 8The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended. 9Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses. 10Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11in all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12and in all the mighty hand, and in all the awesome deeds, which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Joshua 1
1Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. 3I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. 5No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.
6“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. 9Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
10Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11“Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.’”
12Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying, 13“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest, and will give you this land. 14Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall live in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them 15until the LORD has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also possessed the land which the LORD your God gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.’”
16They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses. 18Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him shall himself be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
Joshua 2
1Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.
2The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”
3Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”
4The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from. 5About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 7The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 8Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof. 9She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. 12Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign; 13and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”
14The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”
15Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall. 16She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”
17The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear. 18Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him. 20But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”
21She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.
22They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them. 23Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them. 24They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”
Joshua 3
1Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over. 2After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp; 3and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it. 4Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”
5Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
6Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
7The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
9Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.” 10Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you. 11Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. 12Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 13It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”
14When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, 15and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), 16the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho. 17The priests who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.