The Ten Commandments

5 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. ^2 (A)The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ^3 (B)Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you ^(C)face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, ^5 (D)while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For ^(E)you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:

^6 (F)“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷ “‘You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁸ “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing steadfast love to ^(G)thousands^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

¹² “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ For six days you shall labour and do all your work, ¹⁴ but ^(H)the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, ^(I)that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ^15 (J)You shall remember that you were a slave^[c] in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there ^(K)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “‘Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, ^(L)that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^17 (M)“‘You shall not murder.^[d]

^18 (N)“‘And you shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “‘And you shall not steal.

²⁰ “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

²¹ “‘And you shall not covet your neighbour's wife. And you shall not desire your neighbour's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's.’

²² “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly ^(O)at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And ^(P)he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And ^(Q)as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. ²⁴ And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and ^(R)greatness, and ^(S)we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man ^(T)still live. ²⁵ Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. ^(U)If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. ^26 (V)For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? ²⁷ Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say and ^(W)speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸ “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. ^(X)They are right in all that they have spoken. ^29 (Y)Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, ^(Z)that it might go well with them and with their descendants^[e] for ever! ³⁰ Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹ But you, stand here by me, and ^(AA)I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ ³² You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. ^(AB)You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ^33 (AC)You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and ^(AD)that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(AE)the commandment, the statutes and the rules^[f] that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, ² that ^(AF)you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^(AG)that your days may be long. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^(AH)as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: ^(AI)The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[g] 5} You ^(AJ)shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And ^(AK)these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ^7 (AL)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^8 (AM)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (AN)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^(AO)that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ^12 (AP)then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is ^(AQ)the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^(AR)by his name you shall swear. ¹⁴ You shall not ^(AS)go after other gods, ^(AT)the gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵ for ^(AU)the Lord your God in your midst ^(AV)is a jealous God—^(AW)lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

^16 (AX)“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(AY)as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall ^(AZ)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ^18 (BA)And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ^19 (BB)by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

^20 (BC)“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ^(BD)‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² And ^(BE)the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. ²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^(BF)to fear the Lord our God, ^(BG)for our good always, that ^(BH)he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. ²⁵ And ^(BI)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

7 “When the ^(BJ)Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^(BK)the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^(BL)more numerous and mightier than yourselves, ^2 (BM)and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ^(BN)devote them to complete destruction.^{[h] (BO)}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ^3 (BP)You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^(BQ)Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^(BR)quickly. ⁵ But thus shall you deal with them: ^(BS)you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ^(BT)pillars and chop down their ^(BU)Asherim and ^(BV)burn their carved images with fire.

⁶ “For ^(BW)you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(BX)a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but ^(BY)it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^(BZ)the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^(CA)the faithful God ^(CB)who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰ and ^(CC)repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^(CD)He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ^11 (CE)You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

^12 (CF)“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^(CG)the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will ^(CH)love you, bless you, and multiply you. ^(CI)He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^(CJ)There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^(CK)diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ And ^(CL)you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^(CM)Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(CN)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ ^18 (CO)you shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^(CP)remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw, ^(CQ)the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, ^(CR)the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^(CS)in your midst, ^(CT)a great and awesome God. ^22 (CU)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[i] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ^23 (CV)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And ^(CW)he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^(CX)make their name perish from under heaven. ^(CY)No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods ^(CZ)you shall burn with fire. You ^(DA)shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^(DB)ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction^[j] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^(DC)for it is devoted to destruction.

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^(DD)you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^(DE)these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^(DF)testing you ^(DG)to know what was in your heart, ^(DH)whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and ^(DI)let you hunger and ^(DJ)fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^(DK)man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^[k] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (DL)Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, ^(DM)as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^(DN)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, ^(DO)of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ^12 (DP)lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ^14 (DQ)then your heart be lifted up, and you ^(DR)forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who ^(DS)led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^(DT)with its fiery serpents and scorpions ^(DU)and thirsty ground where there was no water, ^(DV)who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with ^(DW)manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^(DX)to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware ^(DY)lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^(DZ)it is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^(EA)that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^(EB)I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^(EC)so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Blessings for Obedience

28 “And ^(A)if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^(B)high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(C)overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. ³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^(D)blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴ Blessed shall be ^(E)the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your ^(F)kneading bowl. ⁶ Blessed shall you be ^(G)when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(H)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord ^(I)will command the blessing on you in your barns and ^(J)in all that you undertake. ^(K)And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ^9 (L)The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And ^(M)all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(N)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(O)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(P)the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^(Q)the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^(R)to give the rain to your land in its season and ^(S)to bless all the work of your hands. And ^(T)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make you ^(U)the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, ^14 (V)and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But ^(W)if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^(X)overtake you. ¹⁶ Cursed shall you be ^(Y)in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. ¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord ^(Z)will send on you curses, confusion, and ^(AA)frustration in all that you undertake to do, ^(AB)until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. ²¹ The Lord will make ^(AC)the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^22 (AD)The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought^[a] and with ^(AE)blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And ^(AF)the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

^25 (AG)“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^(AH)shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And ^(AI)your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^(AJ)there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you ^(AK)with the boils of Egypt, and with tumours and ^(AL)scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with ^(AM)madness and blindness and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and you shall ^(AN)grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.^[b] And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. ^30 (AO)You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^(AP)You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^(AQ)You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. ^32 (AR)Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^(AS)but you shall be helpless. ³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, ³⁴ so that you are driven mad ^(AT)by the sights that your eyes see. ³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^(AU)with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

³⁶ “The Lord will ^(AV)bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you ^(AW)nor your fathers have known. And ^(AX)there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you shall become ^(AY)a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. ^38 (AZ)You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for ^(BA)the locust shall consume it. ^39 (BB)You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you ^(BC)shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for ^(BD)they shall go into captivity. ^42 (BE)The cricket^[c] shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ^43 (BF)The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. ^44 (BG)He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. ^(BH)He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

^45 (BI)“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ They shall be ^(BJ)a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring for ever. ^47 (BK)Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he ^(BL)will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. ^49 (BM)The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^(BN)swooping down like the eagle, a nation ^(BO)whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation ^(BP)who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. ⁵¹ It shall ^(BQ)eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵² “They shall ^(BR)besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ And ^(BS)you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, ^(BT)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will ^(BU)begrudge food to his brother, to ^(BV)the wife he embraces,^[d] and to the last of the children whom he has left, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, ^(BW)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. ^56 (BX)The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,^[e] to her son and to her daughter, ⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, ^(BY)in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, ^(BZ)the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. ⁶⁰ And he will bring upon you again all ^(CA)the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Whereas ^(CB)you were as numerous ^(CC)as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. ⁶³ And as the Lord ^(CD)took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will ^(CE)take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

⁶⁴ “And the Lord ^(CF)will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^(CG)there you shall serve other gods ^(CH)of wood and stone, ^(CI)which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ And ^(CJ)among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting-place for the sole of your foot, but ^(CK)the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and ^(CL)a languishing soul. ⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. ^67 (CM)In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and ^(CN)the sights that your eyes shall see. ⁶⁸ And the Lord ^(CO)will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that ^(CP)you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

The Covenant Renewed in Moab

29 ^[f] These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel ^(CQ)in the land of Moab, besides ^(CR)the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

^2 [g] And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ^(CS)“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ³ the great ^(CT)trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ But to this day ^(CU)the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. ^5 (CV)I have led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. ^6 (CW)You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ And when you came to this place, ^(CX)Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and ^(CY)gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ^9 (CZ)Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper^[h] in all that you do.

¹⁰ “You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,^[i] your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the ^(DA)sojourner who is in your camp, from ^(DB)the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so that you may enter into the ^(DC)sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ that he may ^(DD)establish you today as his people, and that ^(DE)he may be your God, as he promised you, and ^(DF)as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴ It is not with you alone ^(DG)that I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵ but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, ^(DH)and with whoever is not here with us today.

¹⁶ “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. ¹⁷ And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. ¹⁸ Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ^(DI)a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹ one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather ^(DJ)the anger of the Lord and ^(DK)his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord ^(DL)will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. ²² And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ^(DM)will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— ²³ the whole land burned out with brimstone and ^(DN)salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, ^(DO)an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, ^(DP)Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— ²⁴ all the nations ^(DQ)will say, ^(DR)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is 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, ²⁶ and went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ^(DS)bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, ²⁸ and the Lord ^(DT)uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and ^(DU)cast them into another land, as they are this day.’

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Repentance and Forgiveness

30 ^(DV)“And ^(DW)when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and ^(DX)you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, ² and ^(DY)return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ then the Lord your God ^(DZ)will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will ^(EA)gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ^4 (EB)If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. ⁵ And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. ^(EC)And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶ And ^(ED)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, ^(EE)so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷ And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. ^9 (EF)The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. ^(EG)For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰ when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

¹¹ “For this commandment that I command you today ^(EH)is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ^12 (EI)It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ “See, ^(EJ)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God^[j] that I command you today, ^(EK)by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,^[k] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if ^(EL)your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (EM)I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^(EN)blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^(EO)and holding fast to him, for ^(EP)he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^(EQ)the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(ER)120 years old today. I am no longer able to ^(ES)go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ^(ET)‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God ^(EU)himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, ^(EV)as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them ^(EW)as he did to Sihon ^(EX)and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵ And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them ^(EY)according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. ^6 (EZ)Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, ^(FA)for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. ^(FB)He will not leave you or forsake you.”

⁷ Then ^(FC)Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(FD)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸ It is the Lord ^(FE)who goes before you. He will be with you; ^(FF)he will not leave you or forsake you. ^(FG)Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Reading of the Law

⁹ Then Moses ^(FH)wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(FI)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, ^(FJ)“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at ^(FK)the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(FL)to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, ^(FM)you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ^12 (FN)Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, ¹³ and that their children, ^(FO)who have not known it, ^(FP)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ^(FQ)as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(FR)“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ^(FS)I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ And ^(FT)the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(FU)“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ^(FV)whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ^(FW)forsake me and ^(FX)break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^(FY)I will forsake them and ^(FZ)hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ^(GA)‘Have not these evils come upon us because ^(GB)our God is not among us?’ ¹⁸ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because ^(GC)they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now therefore write ^(GD)this song and ^(GE)teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(GF)a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰ For when I have brought them into the land ^(GG)flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ^(GH)grown fat, ^(GI)they will turn to other gods and serve them, and ^(GJ)despise me and ^(GK)break my covenant. ²¹ And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ^(GL)a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ^(GM)I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” ²² So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

^23 (GN)And the Lord commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ^(GO)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ^(GP)I will be with you.”

²⁴ When Moses had finished ^(GQ)writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, ²⁵ Moses commanded ^(GR)the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law ^(GS)and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ^(GT)a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know how rebellious and ^(GU)stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, ^(GV)you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! ²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ^(GW)these words in their ears and ^(GX)call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death ^(GY)you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And ^(GZ)in the days to come ^(HA)evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(HB)provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”