Category: Deuteronomy

Introduction

The book of

Deuteronomy

is organized as a series of addresses given by Moses to the people of Israel in the land of Moab, where they had stopped at the end of the long wilderness journey and were about to enter and occupy Canaan.

Some of the most important matters recorded in the book are as follows: 1) Moses recalls the great events of the past forty years. He appeals to the people to remember how God has led them through the wilderness and to be obedient and loyal to God. 2) Moses reviews the Ten Commandments and emphasizes the meaning of the First Commandment, calling the people to devotion to the Lord alone. Then he reviews the various laws that are to govern Israel’s life in the promised land. 3) Moses reminds the people of the meaning of God’s covenant with them, and calls for them to renew their commitment to its obligations. 4) Joshua is commissioned as the next leader of God’s people. After singing a song celebrating God’s faithfulness, and pronouncing a blessing on the tribes of Israel, Moses dies in Moab, east of the Jordan River.

The great theme of the book is that God has saved and blessed his chosen people, whom he loves; so his people are to remember this, and love and obey him, so that they may have life and continued blessing.

The key verses of the book are 6.4-6, and contain the words that Jesus called the greatest of all commandments: “Love the

Lord

your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Outline of Contents

Moses’ first discourse (1.1—4.49)

Moses’ second discourse (5.1—26.19)

a. The Ten Commandments (5.1—10.22)

b. Laws, rules, and warnings (11.1—26.19)

Instructions for entering Canaan (27.1—28.68)

The covenant renewed (29.1—30.20)

Moses’ last words (31.1—33.29)

The death of Moses (34.1-12)

Introduction

1 In this book are the words that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between the town of Paran on one side and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other. (

2 It takes eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea by way of the hill country of Edom.)

3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything theLordhad commanded him to tell them.

4 This was after theLordhad defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in the town of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei.

5 It was while the people were east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab that Moses began to explain God’s laws and teachings.

He said,

6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, theLordour God said to us, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

7 Break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions—to the Jordan Valley, to the hill country and the lowlands, to the southern region, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and on beyond the Lebanon Mountains as far as the great Euphrates River.

8 All of this is the land which I, theLord, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it.’”

Moses Appoints Judges

9 Moses said to the people, “While we were still at Mount Sinai, I told you, ‘The responsibility for leading you is too much for me. I can’t do it alone.

10 TheLordyour God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

11 May theLord, the God of your ancestors, make you increase a thousand times more and make you prosperous, as he promised!

12 But how can I alone bear the heavy responsibility for settling your disputes?

13 Choose some wise, understanding, and experienced men from each tribe, and I will put them in charge of you.’

14 And you agreed that this was a good thing to do.

15 So I took the wise and experienced leaders you chose from your tribes, and I placed them in charge of you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten. I also appointed other officials throughout the tribes.

16 “At that time I instructed them, ‘Listen to the disputes that come up among your people. Judge every dispute fairly, whether it concerns only your own people or involves foreigners who live among you.

17 Show no partiality in your decisions; judge everyone on the same basis, no matter who they are. Do not be afraid of anyone, for the decisions you make come from God. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will decide it.’

18 At the same time I gave you instructions for everything else you were to do.

The Spies Are Sent Out from Kadesh Barnea

19 “We did what theLordour God commanded us. We left Mount Sinai and went through that vast and fearful desert on the way to the hill country of the Amorites. When we reached Kadesh Barnea,

20-21 I told you, ‘You have now come to the hill country of the Amorites, which theLordour God, the God of our ancestors, is giving us. Look, there it is. Go and occupy it as he commanded. Do not hesitate or be afraid.’

22 “But you came to me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us to spy out the land, so that they can tell us the best route to take and what kind of cities are there.’

23 “That seemed like a good thing to do, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.

24 They went into the hill country as far as Eshcol Valley and explored it.

25 They brought us back some fruit they found there, and reported that the land which theLordour God was giving us was very fertile.

26 “But you rebelled against the command of theLordyour God, and you would not enter the land.

27 You grumbled to one another: ‘TheLordhates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us.

28 Why should we go there? We are afraid. The men we sent tell us that the people there are stronger and taller than we are, and that they live in cities with walls that reach the sky. They saw giants there!’

29 “But I told you, ‘Don’t be afraid of those people.

30 TheLordyour God will lead you, and he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt

31 and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.’

32 But in spite of what I said, you still would not trust theLord,

33 even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.

The Lord Punishes Israel

34 “TheLordheard your complaints and became angry, and so he solemnly declared,

35 ‘Not one of you from this evil generation will enter the fertile land that I promised to give your ancestors.

36 Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will enter it. He has remained faithful to me, and I will give him and his descendants the land that he has explored.’

37 Because of you theLordalso became angry with me and said, ‘Not even you, Moses, will enter the land.

38 But strengthen the determination of your helper, Joshua son of Nun. He will lead Israel to occupy the land.’

39 “Then theLordsaid to all of us, ‘Your children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will enter the land—the children you said would be seized by your enemies. I will give the land to them, and they will occupy it.

40 But as for you people, turn around and go back into the desert on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba.’

41 “You replied, ‘Moses, we have sinned against theLord. But now we will attack, just as theLordour God commanded us.’ Then each one of you got ready to fight, thinking it would be easy to invade the hill country.

42 “But theLordsaid to me, ‘Warn them not to attack, for I will not be with them, and their enemies will defeat them.’

43 I told you what theLordhad said, but you paid no attention. You rebelled against him, and in your pride you marched into the hill country.

44 Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased you as far as Hormah and defeated you there in the hill country of Edom.

45 So you cried out to theLordfor help, but he would not listen to you or pay any attention to you.

The Years in the Desert

46 “So then, after we had stayed at Kadesh for a long time,

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1 we finally turned and went into the desert, on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba, as theLordhad commanded, and we spent a long time wandering about in the hill country of Edom.

2 “Then theLordtold me

3 that we had spent enough time wandering about in those hills and that we should go north.

4 He told me to give you the following instructions: ‘You are about to go through the hill country of Edom, the territory of your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you,

5 but you must not start a war with them, because I am not going to give you so much as a square foot of their land. I have given Edom to Esau’s descendants.

6 You may buy food and water from them.’

7 “Remember how theLordyour God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed.

8 “So we moved on and left the road that goes from the towns of Elath and Eziongeber to the Dead Sea, and we turned northeast toward Moab.

9 TheLordsaid to me, ‘Don’t trouble the people of Moab, the descendants of Lot, or start a war against them. I have given them the city of Ar, and I am not going to give you any of their land.’”

(

10 A mighty race of giants called the Emim used to live in Ar. They were as tall as the Anakim, another race of giants.

11 Like the Anakim they were also known as Rephaim; but the Moabites called them Emim.

12 The Horites used to live in Edom, but the descendants of Esau chased them out, destroyed their nation, and settled there themselves, just as the Israelites later chased their enemies out of the land that theLordgave them.)

13 “Then we crossed the Zered River as theLordtold us to do.

14 This was thirty-eight years after we had left Kadesh Barnea. All the fighting men of that generation had died, as theLordhad said they would.

15 TheLordkept on opposing them until he had destroyed them all.

16 “After they had all died,

17 theLordsaid to us,

18 ‘Today you are to pass through the territory of Moab by way of Ar.

19 You will then be near the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. Don’t trouble them or start a war against them, because I am not going to give you any of the land that I have given them.’”

(

20 This territory is also known as the land of the Rephaim, the name of the people who used to live there; the Ammonites called them Zamzummim.

21 They were as tall as the Anakim. There were many of them, and they were a mighty race. But theLorddestroyed them, so that the Ammonites took over their land and settled there.

22 TheLordhad done the same thing for the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in the hill country of Edom. He destroyed the Horites, so that the Edomites took over their land and settled there, where they still live.

23 The land along the Mediterranean coast had been settled by people from the island of Crete. They had destroyed the Avvim, the original inhabitants, and had taken over all their land as far south as the city of Gaza.)

24 “After we had passed through Moab, theLordtold us, ‘Now, start out and cross the Arnon River. I am placing in your power Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, along with his land. Attack him, and begin occupying his land.

25 From today on I will make people everywhere afraid of you. Everyone will tremble with fear at the mention of your name.’

Israel Defeats King Sihon

26 “Then I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace:

27 ‘Let us pass through your country. We will go straight through and not leave the road.

28 We will pay for the food we eat and the water we drink. All we want to do is to pass through your country,

29 until we cross the Jordan River into the land that theLordour God is giving us. The descendants of Esau, who live in Edom, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, allowed us to pass through their territory.’

30 “But King Sihon would not let us pass through his country. TheLordyour God had made him stubborn and rebellious, so that we could defeat him and take his territory, which we still occupy.

31 “Then theLordsaid to me, ‘Look, I have made King Sihon and his land helpless before you; take his land and occupy it.’

32 Sihon came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Jahaz,

33 but theLordour God put him in our power, and we killed him, his sons, and all his men.

34 At the same time we captured and destroyed every town, and put everyone to death, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.

35 We took the livestock and plundered the towns.

36 TheLordour God let us capture all the towns from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and the city in the middle of that valley, all the way to Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us.

37 But we did not go near the territory of the Ammonites or to the banks of the Jabbok River or to the towns of the hill country or to any other place where theLordour God had commanded us not to go.

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Israel Conquers King Og

1 “Next, we moved north toward the region of Bashan, and King Og came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Edrei.

2 But theLordsaid to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of him. I am going to give him, his men, and all his territory to you. Do the same thing to him that you did to Sihon the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon.’

3 “So theLordalso placed King Og and his people in our power, and we slaughtered them all.

4 At the same time we captured all his towns—there was not one that we did not take. In all we captured sixty towns—the whole region of Argob, where King Og of Bashan ruled.

5 All these towns were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars to lock the gates, and there were also many villages without walls.

6 We destroyed all the towns and put to death all the men, women, and children, just as we did in the towns that belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon.

7 We took the livestock and plundered the towns.

8 “At that time we took from those two Amorite kings the land east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon. (

9 Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, and Senir by the Amorites.)

10 We took all the territory of King Og of Bashan: the cities on the plateau, the regions of Gilead and of Bashan, as far east as the towns of Salecah and Edrei.”

(

11 King Og was the last of the Rephaim. His coffin,made of stone,was six feet wide and almost fourteen feet long, according to standard measurements. It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)

The Tribes That Settled East of the Jordan

12 “When we took possession of the land, I assigned to the tribes of Reuben and Gad the territory north of the town of Aroer near the Arnon River and part of the hill country of Gilead, along with its towns.

13 To half the tribe of Manasseh I assigned the rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, where Og had ruled, that is, the entire Argob region.”

(Bashan was known as the land of the Rephaim.

14 Jair, from the tribe of Manasseh, took the entire region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of Geshur and Maacah. He named the villages after himself, and they are still known as the villages of Jair.)

15 “I assigned Gilead to the clan of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh.

16 And to the tribes of Reuben and Gad I assigned the territory from Gilead to the Arnon River. The middle of the river was their southern boundary, and their northern boundary was the Jabbok River, part of which formed the Ammonite border.

17 On the west their territory extended to the Jordan River, from Lake Galilee in the north down to the Dead Sea in the south and to the foot of Mount Pisgah on the east.

18 “At the same time, I gave them the following instructions: ‘TheLordour God has given you this land east of the Jordan to occupy. Now arm your fighting men and send them across the Jordan ahead of the other tribes of Israel, to help them occupy their land.

19 Only your wives, children, and livestock—I know you have a lot of livestock—will remain behind in the towns that I have assigned to you.

20 Help the other Israelites until they occupy the land that theLordis giving them west of the Jordan and until theLordlets them live there in peace, as he has already done here for you. After that, you may return to this land that I have assigned to you.’

21 “Then I instructed Joshua: ‘You have seen all that theLordyour God did to those two kings, Sihon and Og; and he will do the same thing to everyone else whose land you invade.

22 Don’t be afraid of them, for theLordyour God will fight for you.’

Moses Is Not Permitted to Enter Canaan

23 “At that time I earnestly prayed,

24 ‘SovereignLord, I know that you have shown me only the beginning of the great and wonderful things you are going to do. There is no god in heaven or on earth who can do the mighty things that you have done!

25 Let me cross the Jordan River,Lord, and see the fertile land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon Mountains.’

26 “But because of you people theLordwas angry with me and would not listen. Instead, he said, ‘That’s enough! Don’t mention this again!

27 Go to the peak of Mount Pisgah and look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. Look carefully at what you see, because you will never go across the Jordan.

28 Give Joshua his instructions. Strengthen his determination, because he will lead the people across to occupy the land that you see.’

29 “So we remained in the valley opposite the town of Bethpeor.”

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Moses Urges Israel to Be Obedient

1 Then Moses said to the people, “Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which theLord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

2 Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of theLordyour God that I have given you.

3 You yourselves saw what theLorddid at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal there,

4 but those of you who were faithful to theLordyour God are still alive today.

5 “I have taught you all the laws, as theLordmy God told me to do. Obey them in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

6 Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, ‘What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!’

7 “No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as theLordour God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help.

8 No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those that I have taught you today.

9 Be on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Tell your children and your grandchildren

10 about the day you stood in the presence of theLordyour God at Mount Sinai,when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people. I want them to hear what I have to say, so that they will learn to obey me as long as they live and so that they will teach their children to do the same.’

11 “Tell your children how you went and stood at the foot of the mountain which was covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky.

12 Tell them how theLordspoke to you from the fire, how you heard him speaking but did not see him in any form at all.

13 He told you what you must do to keep the covenant he made with you—you must obey the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets.

14 TheLordtold me to teach you all the laws that you are to obey in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

Warning against Idolatry

15 “When theLordspoke to you from the fire on Mount Sinai, you did not see any form. For your own good, then, make certain

16 that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all—whether man or woman,

17 animal or bird,

18 reptile or fish.

19 Do not be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, and the stars. TheLordyour God has given these to all other peoples for them to worship.

20 But you are the people he rescued from Egypt, that blazing furnace. He brought you out to make you his own people, as you are today.

21 Because of you theLordyour God was angry with me and solemnly declared that I would not cross the Jordan River to enter the fertile land which he is giving you.

22 I will die in this land and never cross the river, but you are about to go across and occupy that fertile land.

23 Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that theLordyour God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol,

24 because theLordyour God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.

25 “Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in theLord’s sight, and it will make him angry.

26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very long in the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed.

27 TheLordwill scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive.

28 There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell.

29 There you will look for theLordyour God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

30 When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to theLordand obey him.

31 He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

32 “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?

33 Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have?

34 Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as theLordyour God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen.

35 TheLordhas shown you this, to prove to you that he alone is God and that there is no other.

36 He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could instruct you; and here on earth he let you see his holy fire, and he spoke to you from it.

37 Because he loved your ancestors, he chose you, and by his great power he himself brought you out of Egypt.

38 As you advanced, he drove out nations greater and more powerful than you, so that he might bring you in and give you their land, the land which still belongs to you.

39 So remember today and never forget: theLordis God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god.

40 Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that theLordyour God is giving you to be yours forever.”

The Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

41 Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan River

42 to which a man could escape and be safe if he had accidentally killed someone who had not been his enemy. He could escape to one of these cities and not be put to death.

43 For the tribe of Reuben there was the city of Bezer, on the desert plateau; for the tribe of Gad there was Ramoth, in the territory of Gilead; and for the tribe of Manasseh there was Golan, in the territory of Bashan.

Introduction to the Giving of God’s Law

44 Moses gave God’s laws and teachings to the people of Israel.

45-46 It was after they had come out of Egypt and were in the valley east of the Jordan River, opposite the town of Bethpeor, that he gave them these laws. This was in the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt.

47 They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the other Amorite king who lived east of the Jordan.

48 This land extended from the town of Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon River, all the way north to Mount Sirion,that is, Mount Hermon.

49 It also included all the region east of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea and east to the foot of Mount Pisgah.

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The Ten Commandments

1 Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “People of Israel, listen to all the laws that I am giving you today. Learn them and be sure that you obey them.

2 At Mount Sinai theLordour God made a covenant,

3 not only with our fathers, but with all of us who are living today.

4 There on the mountain theLordspoke to you face-to-face from the fire.

5 I stood between you and theLordat that time to tell you what he said, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.

“TheLordsaid,

6 ‘I am theLordyour God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

7 “‘Worship no god but me.

8 “‘Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.

9 Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, for I am theLordyour God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

10 But I show my love to thousands of generationsof those who love me and obey my laws.

11 “‘Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, theLordyour God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

12 “‘Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, as I, theLordyour God, have commanded you.

13 You have six days in which to do your work,

14 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. Your slaves must rest just as you do.

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that I, theLordyour God, rescued you by my great power and strength. That is why I command you to observe the Sabbath.

16 “‘Respect your father and your mother, as I, theLordyour God, command you, so that all may go well with you and so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

17 “‘Do not commit murder.

18 “‘Do not commit adultery.

19 “‘Do not steal.

20 “‘Do not accuse anyone falsely.

21 “‘Do not desire another man’s wife; do not desire his house, his land, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.’

22 “These are the commandments theLordgave to all of you when you were gathered at the mountain. When he spoke with a mighty voice from the fire and from the thick clouds, he gave these commandments and no others. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

The People’s Fear

23 “When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me

24 and said, ‘TheLordour God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for people to continue to live, even though God has spoken to them.

25 But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear theLordour God speak again.

26 Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire?

27 Go back, Moses, and listen to everything that theLordour God says. Then return and tell us what he said to you. We will listen and obey.’

28 “When theLordheard this, he said to me, ‘I have heard what these people said, and they are right.

29 If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever.

30 Go and tell them to return to their tents.

31 But you, Moses, stay here with me, and I will give you all my laws and commands. Teach them to the people, so that they will obey them in the land that I am giving them.’

32 “People of Israel, be sure that you do everything that theLordyour God has commanded you. Do not disobey any of his laws.

33 Obey them all, so that everything will go well with you and so that you will continue to live in the land that you are going to occupy.

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The Great Commandment

1 “These are all the laws that theLordyour God commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.

2 As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honor theLordyour God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time.

3 Listen to them, people of Israel, and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as theLord, the God of our ancestors, has promised.

4 “Israel, remember this! TheLord—and theLordalone—is our God.

5 Love theLordyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 Never forget these commands that I am giving you today.

7 Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

8 Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder.

9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Warning against Disobedience

10 “Just as theLordyour God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build.

11 The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When theLordbrings you into this land and you have all you want to eat,

12 make certain that you do not forget theLordwho rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

13 Honor theLordyour God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone.

14 Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you.

15 If you do worship other gods, theLord’s anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because theLordyour God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

16 “Do not put theLordyour God to the test, as you did at Massah.

17 Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you.

18 Do what theLordsays is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that theLordpromised your ancestors,

19 and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised.

20 “In times to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did theLordour God command us to obey all these laws?’

21 Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and theLordrescued us by his great power.

22 With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials.

23 He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would.

24 Then theLordour God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honor him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous.

25 If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.’

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/6-4fbfe060b0154fa4ef40e5bb206e603d.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord’s Own People

1 “TheLordyour God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

2 When theLordyour God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.

3 Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them,

4 because then they would lead your children away from theLordto worship other gods. If that happens, theLordwill be angry with you and destroy you at once.

5 So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols.

6 Do this because you belong to theLordyour God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

7 “TheLorddid not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

8 But theLordloved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

9 Remember that theLordyour God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands,

10 but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him.

11 Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.

The Blessings of Obedience

12 “If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then theLordyour God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors.

13 He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children; he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil; and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you.

14 No people in the world will be as richly blessed as you. None of you nor any of your livestock will be sterile.

15 TheLordwill protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt, but he will bring them on all your enemies.

16 Destroy every nation that theLordyour God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

17 “Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out.

18 Do not be afraid of them; remember what theLordyour God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people.

19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which theLordyour God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear.

20 He will even cause panicamong them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding.

21 So do not be afraid of these people. TheLordyour God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared.

22 Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you.

23 TheLordwill put your enemies in your power and make them panic until they are destroyed.

24 He will put their kings in your power. You will kill them, and they will be forgotten. No one will be able to stop you; you will destroy everyone.

25 Burn their idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on them, and do not take it for yourselves. If you do, that will be fatal, because theLordhates idolatry.

26 Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under theLord’s curse.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/7-ed111226a653afdaa62b33d25c3e5da7.mp3?version_id=68—

A Good Land to Be Possessed

1 “Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land that theLordpromised to your ancestors.

2 Remember how theLordyour God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands.

3 He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that theLordsays.

4 During these forty years your clothes have not worn out, nor have your feet swollen up.

5 Remember that theLordyour God corrects and punishes you just as parents discipline their children.

6 So then, do as theLordhas commanded you: live according to his laws and obey him.

7 TheLordyour God is bringing you into a fertile land—a land that has rivers and springs, and underground streams gushing out into the valleys and hills;

8 a land that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey.

9 There you will never go hungry or ever be in need. Its rocks have iron in them, and from its hills you can mine copper.

10 You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to theLordyour God for the fertile land that he has given you.

Warnings against Forgetting the Lord

11 “Make certain that you do not forget theLordyour God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today.

12 When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in

13 and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased,

14 be sure that you do not become proud and forget theLordyour God who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

15 He led you through that vast and terrifying desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. In that dry and waterless land he made water flow out of solid rock for you.

16 In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things.

17 So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength.

18 Remember that it is theLordyour God who gives you the power to become rich. He does this because he is still faithful today to the covenant that he made with your ancestors.

19 Never forget theLordyour God or turn to other gods to worship and serve them. If you do, then I warn you today that you will certainly be destroyed.

20 If you do not obey theLord, then you will be destroyed just like those nations that he is going to destroy as you advance.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/8-9131d637afbd3e51eecfdf54f74c091e.mp3?version_id=68—

The People’s Disobedience

1 “Listen, people of Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you. Their cities are large, with walls that reach the sky.

2 The people themselves are tall and strong; they are giants, and you have heard it said that no one can stand against them.

3 But now you will see for yourselves that theLordyour God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.

4 “After theLordyour God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, theLordis going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked.

5 It is not because you are good and do what is right that theLordis letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 You can be sure that theLordis not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.

7 “Never forget how you made theLordyour God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him.

8 Even at Mount Sinai you made theLordangry—angry enough to destroy you.

9 I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that theLordhad made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything.

10 Then theLordgave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain.

11 Yes, after those forty days and nights theLordgave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant.

12 “Then theLordsaid to me, ‘Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.’

13 “TheLordalso said to me, ‘I know how stubborn these people are.

14 Don’t try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’

15 “So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain.

16 I saw that you had already disobeyed the command that theLordyour God had given you, and that you had sinned against him by making yourselves a metal idol in the form of a bull-calf.

17 So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces.

18 Then once again I lay face downward in theLord’s presence for forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. I did this because you had sinned against theLordand had made him angry.

19 I was afraid of theLord’s fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again theLordlistened to me.

20 TheLordwas also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time.

21 I took that sinful thing that you had made—that metal bull-calf—and threw it into the fire. Then I broke it in pieces, ground it to dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.

22 “You also made theLordyour God angry when you were at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah.

23 And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him.

24 Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against theLord.

25 “So I lay face downward in theLord’s presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you.

26 And I prayed, ‘SovereignLord, don’t destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power.

27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people.

28 Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them.

29 After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.’

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/DEU/9-bf999a603ca9e05846b735d1a83cc7a9.mp3?version_id=68—