1 These are the messages that Mosheh (Moses) spoke to Yisrael (Israel) back when they were in the wilderness on the eastern side of the Yarden (Jordan) river, in the desert plain opposite Suf between Paran and Tofel, Lavan, Hatserot, and Di-Zahav. 2 (It takes eleven days to walk from Horev (Mt. Sinai) to Kadesh-Barnea via Mt. Seir.) 3 Forty years after the Israelis had left Egypt Mosheh passed on to them everything that Yahweh had instructed him 4 after he’d defeated the Amorite King Sihon who lived at Heshbon, and Bashan King Og who lived at Ashtarot in Edrei.[ref] 5 On the eastern side of the Yarden river in the Moav (Moab) region, Mosheh began explaining those instructions, saying,

6 “Our God Yahweh spoke to us at Horev, saying: You’ve camped here long enough at this mountain. 7 Now, pack up and travel to the Amorite hill country and the surrounding areas and the river plain, the lowlands and the southern wilderness, the coastal plain, all of Canaan, and Lebanon as far north-east as the Euphrates river. 8 Listen, that area of land ahead of you, I’ve given to you. Go ahead and take possession that land that Yahweh promised to your ancestors Avraham (Abraham), Yitshak (Isaac), and Yakov (Jacob). He promised to give it to them and to their descendants.”

9 Then Mosheh said, “I told you at that time that I wasn’t able to govern all of you by myself 10 because your god Yahweh has multiplied you, and wow, now you’re as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May your ancestors’ god Yahweh increase you all a thousand times more and bless you all as he’s promised 12 but how could I possibly bear all your loads and burdens and disputes by myself? 13 So nominate some men from your tribes who I can appoint as your leaders—men who’re sensible and wise, and respected by the people, 14 and your parents agreed with that suggestion. 15 So I took those wise, respected men and appointed them to be your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. I also appointed some as your tribal officials. 16 Then I instructed your new leaders telling them to listen carefully to both sides of disputes and make fair and honest judgements in conflicts involving either Israelis or foreigners. 17 Don’t show partiality when you’re making a judgement—treat important people just the same as the others. Don’t worry about what people will think because fair judgement is a godly activity. And if any matter is too difficult, bring it to me for a decision. 18 I also gave you all other instructions at that time.

19 “Then we left Horev (Mt. Sinai) and went through that wide and dangerous wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as our god Yahweh had instructed us, eventually arriving at Kadesh-Barnea. 20 Then I told you all, ‘You’ve all come to the Amorite hill country, which our god Yahweh is giving us. 21 Look, your god Yahweh has given you[fn] the land that’s in front of you, so go ahead and take possession of it as Yahweh, your ancestors’ god has told you. Don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged.’ 22 Then you all approached me and suggested, ‘We should send some men ahead of us to scout out the place, and they can return and tell us the best way to get inside those cities.’ 23 That sounded good to me, so I took one man from each of the twelve tribes 24 and they went up into the hill country as far as the Eshkol valley, and the scouted it out. 25 They picked some fruit from there and brought it back to us, and reported that the land that our god Yahweh is giving us was very good.

26 “But your parents were unwilling to proceed and rebelled against your god Yahweh’s command.[ref] 27 So you all grumbled in your tents, saying that it was because Yahweh hated us that he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites to be destroyed. 28 You said that you all didn’t want to enter because the people were so tall and strong and their cities were fortified and powerful with very high walls around them.

29 “Then I told your parents, ‘Don’t be terrified or afraid of them. 30 Your god Yahweh who goes ahead of you, he’ll fight for you just like everything you saw him do in Egypt 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how your god Yahweh carried you like a father carries his son—getting you through that difficult region until you all eventually arrived here.’[ref] 32 However, you all didn’t believe your god Yahweh[ref] 33 who had gone ahead of you to find a good place for you all to make your camp—using fire at night to show you all the way, and cloud in the daytime.

34 “Yahweh heard those complaints and got angry and made this promise,[ref] 35 ‘None of the men of this evil generation will get to enter the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors 36 apart from Yefunneh’s son Kalev (Caleb)—he can enter it and I’ll give him and his sons the land that he scouted out because he followed Yahweh whole-heartedly.’ 37 Yahweh was also angry at me because of you all, and told me that I also wouldn’t be able to enter, 38 but that Nun’s son Yehoshua who was standing there in front of me, would be the one to lead Yisrael to possess the land.

39 “Your children that you thought would be taken captive, and your young sons who don’t yet know right from wrong, they’ll be the ones to enter the land, and I’ll give it to them, and it’ll become theirs. 40 But you yourselves need to turn around and go back into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.

41 “but they all answered and admitted, ‘Yes, we’ve sinned against Yahweh, but now we’ll fix that by going in to fight and do everything that our god Yahweh has commanded us.’ So every man strapped on his weapons—now thinking it would be easy to take over the hill country.

42 “But Yahweh told me to warn them not to go ahead and fight because he wouldn’t help them, and so they’d end up being defeated by their enemies if they proceeded. 43 So I told your parents that, but they wouldn’t listen—they rebelled against Yahweh and arrogantly marched up into the hill country 44 where the Amorites who lived there came out against them, and chased them like bees and made the warriors scatter in Seir as far as Haremah. 45 So your parents returned and wept in front of Yahweh, but he didn’t pay any attention to them. 46 So that’s why we stayed at Kadesh-Barnea for as long as we all did.

2 “Then we turned and went back into the wilderness towards the Red Sea as Yahweh had told us to do, and we spent a long time wandering around Mt. Seir.[ref]

2 “Then Yahweh told me, 3 ‘You’ve all been wandering around this hilly area for long enough—now turn and go towards the north 4 and tell the people, “You’ll all be crossing the border into Seir where your relatives, Esau’s descendants, live. They’ll be afraid of you but you’ll all need to stay very alert.[ref] 5 Don’t attack them because I won’t give you any of their land—not even a footprint size piece because I’ve given Mt. Seir to Esau as their inheritance. 6 Any food or drink you get from them must be paid for with cash 7 because your god Yahweh has blessed all of your labour—he’s always been aware of your travel through that vast wilderness. Your god Yahweh has helped you for those forty years so you’ve all had everything you need.” ’

8 “So we passed by our relatives, Esau’s descendants who live in Seir. We travelled along the Yarden valley plain from Eilat and Estyon-Gever, then north through the Moav wilderness. 9 Then Yahweh told me, ‘Don’t aggrevate Moav, and don’t attack them, because I won’t give you any of their land because I’ve given Ar to the sons of Lot, as a possession.’ ”[ref]

10 (The Emites had lived their previously—there were many of them, and they were tall and strong like the Anakites. 11 People also call both the Emites and the Anakites, Refa’ites but the people of Moav call them Emites. 12 The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but Esau’s descendants had killed them and taken over their land, just like the Israelis did later in the land that Yahweh had given them to possess.)

13 “Then we crossed the Zered brook as Yahweh had told us to do. 14 It had been thirty-eight years since we first left Kadesh-Barnea until we cross the Zered brook, once that generation of warriors had died off, just as Yahweh had told them.[ref] 15 What’s more, Yahweh had opposed them, so he’d caused them to die.

16 “After all the enlistment-aged men had died, 17 Yahweh told me, 18 ‘Today you must travel through the Moav region, near Ar, 19 and when you approach the Ammonite region, don’t irritate or fight them because I won’t give you any of their land because I’ve given it to Lot’s descendants as a possession.’ ”[ref]

20 (Also, it’s regarded as the land of the Refa’ites, who the Ammonites call the Zamzummites, who lived there in the past. 21 They were as numerous, and as tall and strong as the Anakites, but Yahweh destroyed them in advance of the Anakites who then dispossessed them and lived in their place. 22 He had done the same thing for Esau’s descendants who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites ahead of them, and they took over their land and still live there to this day. 23 Also the Avvites who lived in villages as far south as Azzah (Gaza) were destroyed by the Kaftorites who came from Crete, and then lived in their place.)

24 “Yahweh had told us, ‘Get ready now and go through the Arnon river valley. I’ll help you defeat the Amorite King Sihon from Heshbon. Attack him and begin to take over his land. 25 Beginning today, I’ll make everyone, everywhere afraid of you. Everyone who hears about you will be terrified and keep their distance from you.’

26 “Then from the Kedemot wilderness, I sent messengers to King Sihon at Heshbon with an offer of peace, 27 ‘Please let us travel through your country. We’ll stay on the road 28 if you’d be able to just sell us some food and water, then we could just walk right through 29 until we cross the Yarden river into the land that our god Yahweh is giving us. Easu’s descendants at Seir allowed us through, as did the Moabites at Ar.’

30 “However, Heshbon’s King Sihon wouldn’t let us go through his country because your god Yahweh had hardened his spirit and made him stubborn so that you could take his land, which we still have to this day.

31 “Yahweh told me, ‘Listen, I’ve begun to give Sihon and his land to you, so enter it and take it. 32 Then King Sihon and all his warriors came out against us at Yahats, 33 but our god Yahweh helped us to defeat him, and we killed Sihon and his son, and all his people. 34 We captured all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed men, women and children in every city, leaving no survivors. 35 Only the cattle were taken as plunder for ourselves, along with the goods in the cities we captured. 36 Our god Yahweh helped us to capture all their towns from Aroer in the south at the edge of the Arnon River valley, to the Gilead region in the north—none of their city walls were too high for us. 37 However, you didn’t go near the Ammonite region, the Yabok river area, the hill country towns, or any other place where our god Yahweh told us not to go.

3 “Then we turned and went towards the Bashan region but King Og came out with all his warriors to battle against us at Edrei, 2 but Yahweh told me, ‘Don’t be afraid of him, because I’ve given him and all his people and his land over to you, and you’ll do the same to him that you did to the Amorite King Sihon who lived at Heshbon.’

3 “So our god Yahweh also helped us defeat Bashan’s King Og and all his people, and we killed them all leaving no survivors. 4 We captured all sixty of King Og’s cities in the Argov region of Bashan, 5 even though they were all fortified with high walls and gates with bars. In addition, there were many rural villages. 6 We completely destroyed them like we’d done to Heshbon’s King Sihon—men, women, and children, 7 but we plundered all the cattle and the spoil from the cities for ourselves.

8 So at that time, we took the land from two of the Amorite kings across on the eastern side of the Yarden, from the Arnon River in the south, up to Mt. Hermon in the north 9 (called Mt. Shiryon by the Sidonians, and Mt. Senir by the Amorites). 10 We captured all the cities on the plain and all of the Gilead region, as well as Bashan as far east as Salekah and Edrei cities, which also belonged to Og’s kingdom.” 11 (Bashan’s King Og was the last king who was a descendant of the Refaites. His bed (in Rabbah in the Ammonite region) was made out of iron and was four metres long and two metres wide.)

12 “So we captured that land at that time—from Aroer by the Arnon river, and half of the hill country of Gilead including its cities. I allocated those areas to the tribes of Reuven and Gad. 13 Then the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan which had been Og’s kingdom, I allocated to half of the tribe of Menashsheh.”

(That whole area is called the land of the Refaites. 14 Menashsheh’s son Yair had captured the Argov region as far as the borders with the Geshurites and Maacatites, renaming Bashan to Havvot-Yair as it’s still called to this day.)

15 “Then I allocated Gilead to Makir (a clan descended from Menashsheh), 16 and I gave the southern part of Gilead to the tribes of Reuven and Gad, extending from the Arnon river (with the middle of it being the boundary) to the Yabbok river which borders against the Ammonites. 17 The border extends from the plain along the east side of the Yarden valley, from Lake Kinneret in the north to the Arabah lake (the Salt Sea or Dead Sea) in the south and to the slopes of Mt. Pisgah on the east.

18 “Then at that time, I commanded you saying, ‘Your god Yahweh has given this land to you to possess it, however your brave warriors must cross over with the other Israeli tribes to help them conquer the western lands.[ref] 19 Leave your wives and children and cattle (yes, I know you have many cattle) back here in the cities that I’ve given you 20 until Yahweh gives peace to your brother tribes like you have here. Once they’ve taken possession of the land that your god Yahweh is given them across the river, then you’ll all be able to return her to your own inheritance that I’ve allocated to you.’

21 “I also instructed Yehoshua (Joshua) at that time, saying, ‘You’ve seen everything that your god Yahweh has done to those two kings. Yahweh will do similar things to all the kingdoms that you’ll be passing through over there. 22 Don’t be afraid of them, because your god Yahweh will be the one fighting for you all.

23 “At that time, I pleaded with Yahweh, 24 ‘My master Yahweh, you’ve begun to show your servant your greatness and your power. What other god in heaven or on earth is there that does works as great and powerful as what you’ve done? 25 Please let me cross the Yarden river and see the good land that’s on the other side—that good hill country, and the Lebanon region.’

26 “But Yahweh was angry at me because of what your parents had done, and he wouldn’t listen to me. Instead, Yahweh told me, ‘Enough from you—don’t talk to me about that again! 27 Go up to the top of Mt. Pisgah and look out towards the west and the north and the south and the east. Yes, look with your eyes, because you won’t be crossing this river. 28 Instruct Yehoshua and encourage him and strengthen him, because he’s the one who’ll lead the people across, and he’ll lead them to inherit the land that you’ll see.’ 29 So we remained in the Yarden river valley opposite Beyt-Peor.

4 “Now Yisrael, listen to the instructions and regulations that I’ll teach you so that you’ll all go and possess the land that Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, is giving you, and live there. 2 Don’t add or subtract from what I tell you, because you all need to follow the instructions from your god Yahweh that I’m telling you.[ref] 3 You’ve all seen for yourselves what your god Yahweh did at Beyt-Peor, when he destroyed all the men who worshipped Baal there.[ref] 4 However, all of you who faithfully continued to follow your god Yahweh are alive here today.

5 “Listen, I’ve taught you all the instructions and regulations that my god Yahweh commanded me to, for you all to follow in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy. 6 Follow them faithfully because that will lead to wisdom such that people in other countries will notice that this great nation has wisdom and understanding. 7 What other great nation is there that has a god near to it like our god Yahweh is whenever we call out to him for help? 8 Also, what other nation has rules and regulations that are as sensible and fair as these instructions that I’m giving to you all today?

9 “But each of you must take care to guard yourself and your values in case you forget that you’ve seen and those past miracles slip from your minds over the years to come. Yes, make sure that you teach them to your children and your grand-children, 10 including the day when you stood in our god Yahweh’s presence at Mt. Sinai (Horev) when he told me, ‘Assemble the people for me, and I’ll make it so they can hear my words, so they’ll learn to honour and respect for their entire lifetimes, and then teach it to their children.’

11 “So you all approached the mountain and stood at its base while it blazed with fire that went up into the atmosphere even though the mountain was covered with dark, gloomy clouds.[ref] 12 Then Yahweh spoke to you from the middle of the flames—you heard the voice even though you couldn’t see anyone, 13 and he revealed to you the agreement that he demands you keep: the ten commands that he wrote onto two stone tablets.[ref] 14 At that time, Yahweh told me to teach you all the instructions and regulations so you’d be able to put them into practice in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy.[ref]

15 Now remembering that you didn’t see any form at Mt. Sinai (Horev) when Yahweh spoke to you all from the middle of the fire, 16 so don’t corrupt yourselves by making an idol to be your god—don’t make anything in the likeness of a man or a woman,[ref] 17 or of any animal that’s on the earth or bird that flies in the sky,[ref] 18 or any reptile that creeps along the ground or any fish from the deep oceans. 19 Don’t look up to the sky and be tempted to bow down to the sun or the moon or the stars and serve them—your god Yahweh made them to serve every people group in the world. 20 Yahweh has brought you all out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt to be a people that would belong to him (as you are today),[ref] 21 but then Yahweh got angry at me because of your parents and determined that I would never enter the land that he’s giving to all of you.[ref] 22 Instead, I’ll die here in this place. I won’t cross the Yarden river, but you will, and then you’ll all take possession of that good land. 23 Take great care that you all don’t forget the agreement with your god Yahweh. Don’t make any idols for yourselves in the form of anything that your god Yahweh has ordered you all not to, 24 because your god Yahweh is a consuming fire—he’s a god who gets jealous.[ref]

25 Even after you’ve had children and grandchildren and then grown old in the land, don’t make an idol in the form of anything, and don’t be corrupt or do evil things that your god Yahweh dislikes and so which will make him angry. 26 If you do, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you all today, that you’d die over there in the land that you’re crossing the river to possess. You wouldn’t live there very long, but instead would end up getting destroyed. 27 Then Yahweh would scatter the remainder among the nations where you’d remain as a small minority.[ref] 28 There you would be forced to worship gods that humans have made out of wood or stone and which can’t see, hear, smell, or eat. 29 From there you’ll search for your god Yahweh, and you’ll find him when you search for him with determination and total sincerity.[ref] 30 It’s in the future when you end up in distress there that you’ll return to your god Yahweh and listen to what he tells you, 31 because your god Yahweh is a merciful god. He won’t abandon you or destroy you, and he won’t forget what he promised to your ancestors.

32 Now, please, consider past times before you were alive, i.e., from when God first created people here on the earth. You could search all through human history and you wouldn’t find anything else as incredible as what Yahweh has done for your ancestors. 33 Has any other people group heard God talking from the middle of a fire like you have, and then lived to tell about it? 34 Or is their any other nation that God has attempted to take out from the middle of another nation, using miracles and war, and power and terrifying actions, like your god Yahweh did for you all when you were in Egypt? 35 You were shown all that so you’d know that Yahweh is the one and only god.[ref] 36 He allowed you to hear his voice from the skies to instruct you, and on earth you heard his words from the incredible fire that he showed you. 37 Because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants as his people and used his power and strength to lead you out of Egypt 38 and then to drive out nations ahead of you that were greater and more powerful than you—bringing you here today so that you could occupy their land as your inheritance. 39 So today you should acknowledge that Yahweh is god of the heavens above and the earth below, and there’s no other god. 40 Follow his instructions and obey his regulations that I’m giving you today so that everything will go well for you and your descendants, and so that you’ll live a long time in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you as a permanent possession.”

41 Then Mosheh (Moses) selected three cities on that eastern side of the Yarden[ref] 42 so that anyone who accidentally killed another person could flee to one of those cities and be safe: 43 Bezer in the wilderness for the tribe of Reuben, Ramot in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan region for the tribe of Manasseh.

44 These are the instructions that Mosheh (Moses) gave to the Israelis, 45 including all the instructions, rules, and regulations that Mosheh had told them when they left Egypt, 46 when they were in the valley east of the Yarden River. They were across from the town of Beyt-Peor, in the land that the Amorite King Sihon (who lived in Heshbon city) had ruled. (Mosheh and the other Israelis had defeated them when they came out of Egypt.) 47 They had taken possession of his land, as well as the land of Bashan’s King Og—the two Amorite kings from the eastern side of the Yarden—48 from Aroer city in the south along the edge of the Arnon valley, and as far north as Mt. Sion (normally called Mt. Hermon) 49 and the entire plain east of the Yarden River, extending to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead/Salt sea) and east to the slopes of Mt. Pisgah.

5 Then Mosheh (Moses) summoned all Yisrael and told them, “Yisrael, listen to the instructions and the regulations that I will speak in your ears today, and then you must learn them and be careful to follow them. 2 Our god Yahweh made an agreement with us at Horev (Mt. Sinai). 3 He didn’t make that agreement with our ancestors, but with us ourselves—those of us here today, i.e., with living people. 4 Yahweh spoke to you from the middle of the fire—face to face with you all on that mountain. 5 Well, it was me who stood between all of you and Yahweh at that time, to reveal Yahweh’s message to you, because you were afraid to approach the fire, and you all didn’t go up the mountain. Yahweh said:

6 ‘I am your god Yahweh who brought you all out of Egypt—from the slave-house there.

• 7 Don’t have any other god, other than me.
• 8 Don’t carve any figure for yourself that looks like anything in the sky or on the ground, or in the water below the ground.[ref] 9 Don’t bow down to them or serve them, because I, your god Yahweh, am a jealous god. I’ll punish the descendants of those who hate me, even for three or four generations,[ref] 10 but showing loyal commitment to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my instructions.
• 11 Don’t use the name of your god Yahweh idly, because I won’t fail to punish people who do that.
• 12 Observe the Rest Day on Saturday to sanctify it, as your god Yahweh commanded you.[ref] 13 There’s six days for labouring and doing all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a rest day dedicated to your god Yahweh. Don’t do any work on that day: not you or your children or your slaves, or using any of your cattle, nor any foreigner living with you—your slaves can rest like you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that your god Yahweh took action and used my power to take you out of there. Therefore your god Yahweh commands you to keep the Rest Day.
• 16 Honour your father and mother as your god Yahweh has commanded you, so that you’ll have a long life and so that everything will go well in the country that your god Yahweh is giving you.[ref]
• 17 Don’t murder anyone.
• 18 Don’t commit adultery.
• 19 Don’t steal anything.
• 20 Don’t tell lies in court about anyone.
• 21 Don’t covet your neighbour’s spouse, or their house or land, or their slaves or livestock, or anything else that they own.’[ref]

22 Yahweh spoke those words in a booming voice from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the gloom, to all your assembly on the mountain. That was all he said, and he wrote those instructions on two stone tablets and gave them to me.[ref]

23 Then when you heard the voice coming out from the darkness and the mountain was blazing with fire, then all the heads of your tribes and the elders approached me 24 and said, “Listen, our god Yahweh demonstrated his greatness and power when we heard him speak from the fire. Today, we’ve realised that God talks to people, and that they can stay alive. 25 However, we’re still afraid that we’ll die—getting burnt up in that intense fire if we continue hearing our god Yahweh’s voice, 26 because when has anybody else ever heard the voice of the living god speak to them from the middle of a blazing fire and they still lived? 27 You Mosheh (Moses), go and listen to everything that our god Yahweh says, and tell us everything that he tells you, and we’ll listen to that and obey it.”

28 Yahweh heard you all say that to me, and told me, ‘I’ve heard what they said to you and it’s a good idea. 29 If only they were sincere in saying that they’d honour me and always follow all my instructions so that everything would go well for them and their descendants forever. 30 Go and tell them to return to their tents, 31 but then come back up here and I’ll give you all the instructions and rules and regulations for you to teach them, so they can follow them in the land that I’m giving them to take possession of.’

32 Make sure that you do everything that your god Yahweh has commanded—don’t deviate from any of them. 33 Follow all the instructions from your god Yahweh, and then you’ll all live and things will go well and you’ll all be able to occupy that land for a long time.

6 These are the instructions and rules and regulations that your god Yahweh ordered me to teach you all, to do in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy. 2 He wants you all to honour him, to follow all his instructions, and to keep his rules that I’m teaching you and your descendants so that your time on the land will be prolonged. 3 So, listen Yisrael and follow carefully so that it will go well for you and that you’ll increase in population in that very fertile land as your ancestors’ god, Yahweh, promised.

4 Listen Yisrael: Yahweh alone is our God[ref] 5 and you should love your god Yahweh with your whole mind, your entire being, and all your strength.[ref] 6 Always be considering these instructions that I’m giving you today,[ref] 7 and diligently teach them to your children, and talk about them when you’re sitting at home and when you’re out walking, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Your hands should always be applying them and your minds should always be evaluating them. 9 Carve them onto your doorposts at home, and on your city gates.

10 Your god Yahweh promised your ancestors Abraham,[ref] Yitshak,[ref] and Yakov,[ref] that he’d give you large, prosperous cities that you didn’t have to build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you didn’t have to collect, wells that you didn’t have to dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t have to plant. You’ll be able to eat and be satisfied, 12 but be sure to never forget that it was Yahweh who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. 13 You must honour your god Yahweh and only serve him and only make promises using his name.[ref] 14 Don’t go trying to follow other gods—the gods of the surrounding countries—15 because your god Yahweh who lives among you is a jealous god. You wouldn’t want him to get angry with you and totally destroy you.

16 Don’t test the patience of your god Yahweh again like you all did over water at Massah.[ref] 17 Be sure to follow all his instructions and rules and regulations that he’s given you. 18 Do what Yahweh says is right and good so that things will go well for you and you’ll be able to enter the good land that he promised to your ancestors and take possession of it—19 driving out all your enemies from that land just as Yahweh has said.

20 In the future when your children ask you, ‘Why did our god Yahweh our God command us to obey all these rules and decrees?’ 21 then you can tell them, ‘We were Far-oh’s slaves in Egypt, but Yahweh used his incredible power to get us out of there. 22 He did many kinds of miracles that devastated that Egyptian king and his whole household, 23 then he took us out of there, so he could bring us here to give us the land that he’d promised to our ancestors. 24 Yahweh ordered us to follow all these instructions to demonstrate that we honour him so that things will go well for us and he’ll protect our nation as he’s doing now. 25 Our god Yahweh will declare us to be innocent of wrong if we obey everything that he’s instructed us.’

7 When your god Yahweh brings you into the land which you’re going to possess, he’ll drive out many people groups ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Yevusites—seven societies that are more powerful than yourselves.[ref] 2 When your god Yahweh enables you to defeat them, you must kill them all. You must make no agreement with them, and you must not act mercifully toward them. 3 Don’t intermarry with them: don’t allow your daughters to marry their sons, or your sons to marry any of their daughters 4 because they’d turn your sons away from me, and they’d end up serving other gods. Then Yahweh would become very angry with you all and would quickly destroy you. 5 What you all should do to those people is to break down their altars and smash their stone pillars, cut their Asherah poles to pieces, and burn up their idols.[ref] 6 You must do that because you’re a group of people who belong only to your god Yahweh. He’s chosen you from all the people groups in the world to be his own special people.[ref]

7 Yahweh loved you and chose you all, not because you were the most populous nation (in fact, you were the smallest of all the nations), 8 but because Yahweh loves you all and because he kept the promise that he’d made to your ancestors. Yahweh used his power to rescue you all from the slavery imposed by Egypt’s King Far-oh. 9 So remember that your god Yahweh is God—the faithful god who keeps agreements and displays loyal commitment toward a thousand generations of those who love him and obey what he’s commanded.[ref] 10 However, to those who hate him, he won’t hesitate to pay them back with punishment and destruction. 11 So be sure to obey all the instructions, rules, and regulations that I’m giving you today.

12 If you pay attention to these instructions and always obey them, then your god Yahweh will keep the agreement that he promised to your ancestors and continue to display his loyal commitment to you,[ref] 13 and he will love you and bless you. He’ll grant you many children and make your farming productive, producing grain and grapes for wine, and olive oil. Your cattle and sheep and goats will multiply on the land that he promised your ancestors that he’d give you. 14 You’ll be blessed more than any other people group. All of you will be able to have children, and all of your livestock will produce offspring. 15 Yahweh will keep sickness away from you. All those horrible diseases that your ancestors saw in Egypt won’t affect you, but instead he’ll give them to those who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples that your god Yahweh gives you victory over—don’t allow yourselves to pity them, and don’t serve their gods because that would end up trapping you.

17 Don’t tell yourselves that because those groups have many more people than you, that you won’t be able to drive them out. 18 You mustn’t be afraid of them, but rather you should think back to what your god Yahweh did to Far-oh and to all Egypt. 19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw, and the powerful miracles that your god Yahweh used to bring you out. That’s what he’ll do to the people groups that you’re still afraid of now. 20 What’s more, after that your god Yahweh will send hornets against any who are left or in hiding, until they’re all destroyed. 21 Don’t be afraid of those people, because your god Yahweh will be with you. He’s a powerful god that people are in awe of. 22 He’ll drive those people groups out bit by bit—don’t try to destroy them all at once or else the wild animals would multiply up and cause problems. 23 Your god Yahweh will enable you to defeat those people groups and cause them to panic until they are destroyed. 24 He’ll enable you to defeat their kings and their names will be forgotten from history. No one will be able to stand against you until you finally destroy them. 25 You must burn their idols in a fire—don’t be tempted to take any gold or silver decorations off them in case you get trapped by it, because your god Yahweh hates every part of those idols. 26 Don’t take any of those disgusting idols into your homes or you too might become a target for destruction. You should hate and detest them because they’re destined for destruction.

8 You must consistently follow the instructions that I’m giving you today, so that you all can enter and occupy the land that Yahweh promised to your ancestors, and live there and multiply. 2 Remember the way that your god Yahweh led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you—to test you to know whether or not you were sincere about obeying his instructions. 3 He humbled you by making you hungry and feeding you some stuff that neither you nor your ancestors had heard of, in order to teach you that people don’t just need food, but can only properly live by following what Yahweh says.[ref] 4 For the entire forty years, your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t swell up from walking in the desert. 5 Don’t forget that your god Yahweh disciplines you, just like a human father disciplines his children. 6 So follow your god Yahweh’s instructions. Live how he’s told you, and always honour him 7 because he’s bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and fountains, and springs both in the valleys and in the hills. 8 It’s a land with wheat and barley, grapevines and figtrees, pomegranates and olive trees, and honey—9 a land with plenty of food where you won’t lack anything. There’s iron in the rocks, and copper in the hills. 10 You’ll eat and be full, and you’ll thank your god Yahweh for the good land that he’s given you.

11 Be careful not to forget your god Yahweh by failing to follow his instructions and rules and regulations that I’m telling you today.[ref] 12 Watch out when you eat and feel satisfied, and you’ve built good houses and are living in them, 13 and your herds and flocks have increased, and you’ve accumulated gold and silver, and everything you have has multiplied. 14 That’s when it would be easy to become proud and forget your god Yahweh who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 15 He led you through that vast, treacherous wilderness—the home of poisonous snakes and scorpions, and desert land without water, then he made water flow out of solid rock. 16 He fed you stuff in the wilderness that your ancestors had never heard of, so that he could humble you yet eventually cause you to prosper 17 without thinking to yourselves that your wealth came from your own strength and ability. 18 Remember that it’s your god Yahweh who gives you the strength to prosper, so that he can fulfill his agreement that he promised to your ancestors, as he has until now. 19 However, if you end up forgetting about your god Yahweh and start following other gods and serving them and bowing down to them, I can assure you that you’ll most definitely be destroyed. 20 If you don’t listen to what your god Yahweh says, then you’ll be destroyed just like the other people groups that he’s destroyed ahead of you all.

9 Listen Yisrael: Today you’ll cross the Yarden river to drive out peoples that are larger and more powerful than yourselves and who are protected in large, fortified cities with high walls. 2 The people themselves are tall and strong. (Some of these are descendants of the Anakites, and you’ve heard people say that no one can defeat the Anakites.) 3 You need to be confident that your god Yahweh will go ahead of you like a raging fire—he’ll destroy them and subdue them ahead of you, then you can drive them out and quickly eliminate them as Yahweh has told you to do.

4 After your god Yahweh has driven them out ahead of you, don’t go saying that it was thanks to your own goodness and innocence, because it’s because of the wickedness of those peoples that Yahweh is doing that. 5 Again, it’s not because of your obedience or goodness that you’re going in to occupy their land, but it’s because of the wickedness of those peoples that your god Yahweh will drive them out in front of you, and so that he can fulfill what he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Yitshak, and Yakov. 6 Actually, you’re a very stubborn people, so be very clear: it’s not because of your goodness and obedience that your god Yahweh is giving you this good land.

7 Never forget how you provoked your god Yahweh to get angry in the wilderness—you’ve been rebellious towards him the whole time from when you left Egypt until your arrival here. 8 Even at Horev (Mt. Sinai) you made Yahweh angry, in fact he was angry enough to destroy you. 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets containing Yahweh’s agreement with you, I stayed up on the mountain for forty days and nights without eating or drinking.[ref] 10 Then Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets that had been written by God’s finger. They had the words spoken to you by Yahweh out from the fire on the mountain on the day of that assembly. 11 Then finally at the end of those forty days and nights, Yahweh gave me those two stone tablets with the agreement written on them.

12 Then he told me, ‘Now hurry and go down quickly from here, because your people who you brought out from Egypt, have become corrupted. They didn’t take at all long to turn away from following my instructions—they’ve already made a metal idol for themselves.’

13 Additionally, Yahweh said to me, ‘I’ve noticed that this group of people is very stubborn. 14 Move away and I’ll destroy them so they’ll never be remembered again, and I’ll make your descendants into a more powerful and more prestigious nation than they ever were.’

15 So I turned and headed back down the mountain that was still burning with fire, carrying the two tablets with the agreement written on them. 16 Then I looked, and wow, you certainly had disobeyed your god Yahweh. You’d cast a metal calf. You’d turned so quickly from the instructions that Yahweh had given you. 17 I grabbed those two stone tablets and threw them to the ground—shattering them right in front of your eyes. 18 Then I lay on the ground in front of Yahweh for forty days and nights without eating or drinking because of how you’d disobeyed Yahweh—doing evil things that provoked him into being angry. 19 Yes, I was afraid that in his terrible anger, Yahweh might destroy you, but he listened to me at that time.[ref] 20 Yahweh was angry enough to want to destroy Aharon, but I also interceded for him at that time. 21 I took that symbol of your disobedience—that calf idol that you all had made—and threw it into the fire, then I crushed it and ground it into dust, and threw the dust into the mountain stream.

22 You all also provoked Yahweh to get angry at Taberah,[ref] at Massah,[ref] and at Kivrot-Hattaavah.[ref] 23 Also when Yahweh sent you all from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, ‘Go in and take possession of the land that I’ve given to you,’ but you rebelled against your god Yahweh’s words, and you didn’t believe him and didn’t do what he said.[ref] 24 You’ve all been rebellious against Yahweh since the day I knew you back in Egypt.

25 So I lay on the ground in Yahweh’s presence for forty days and nights, because he said he’d destroy you all, 26 and I prayed, ‘My master Yahweh, these people belong to you. Don’t destroy them—they are people who you rescued and brought out of Egypt by using your strength and power. 27 Don’t forget what you promised your servants Abraham, Yitshak, and Yakov. Overlook the stubbornness, wickedness, and disobedience of these people 28 so that the people of Egypt where we were brought out from don’t say that you weren’t able to bring them to the land that you’d promised to give to them. They’ll say that you took them into the desert to kill them there because you hated them. 29 But they are your people and your inheritance, who you brought out of Egypt using your strength and power.’

10 After that, Yahweh told me, “Carve out two stone tablets like the first ones, and make a wooden chest to put them in, then come up to me on the mountain. 2 I’ll write the words onto the tablets that were on the first tablets that you broke, then you can put them into the box.”

3 So I made a box from acacia wood, and I carved out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up the mountain carrying the two tablets 4 and he wrote the ten instructions on the tablets like the first time—the same words that Yahweh had spoken to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. Then he gave me the tablets 5 and I turned and went down the mountain. I put the tablets into the box that I’d made, just like Yahweh had told me to.

6 Then the Israelis travelled from Beerot-Bene-Yaakan[fn] to Moserah[fn] where Aharon died. He was buried there, and his son Eleazar replaced him as chief priest.[ref] 7 From there they moved on to Gudgodah, then from there onto Yotbatah—an area with many streams. 8 At that time, Yahweh chose the tribe of Levi to carry the box containing Yahweh’s agreement, and to stand in Yahweh’s presence to serve and worship him, until this day.[ref] 9 That’s why the Levites didn’t receive land in the same way as the other tribes as Yahweh told them that he is their inheritance. 10 I myself stayed up on the mountain for forty days and nights just like the first time. Yahweh listened to me that time as well, and said that he wouldn’t destroy you.[ref] 11 Then Yahweh told me, “Continue your journey leading the people to enter and occupy the land that I promised their ancestors that I’d give them.

12 Now Yisrael, your god Yahweh expects you honour him and to follow his instructions and to love him, and to serve him with sincerity and with energy—13 obeying his rules and regulations that I’m giving you today for the benefit of the country. 14 Listen, the highest heavens belong to your god Yahweh, as well as the earth and everything on it, 15 yet he decided to show love to your ancestors, and as their descendants, he chose you all out from all the peoples as you know to this day. 16 You all must eradicate your rebelliousness and stop being stubborn, 17 because your god Yahweh is god of gods and master of masters—the very powerful and awesome one who doesn’t judge by looks and doesn’t accept bribes.[ref] 18 He delivers fair judgements for the fatherless and for widows, and shows love towards foreigners—giving them food and clothing, 19 so you all must show love to foreigners too because you all were foreigners when you were in Egypt. 20 You must honour your god Yahweh and serve him. Rely on him and only make promises with his authority. 21 He’s the one you should praise. He’s your god who’s done powerful miracles on your behalf which you saw with your own eyes. 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, there was only seventy of them, but now your god Yahweh has increased your population like the stars in number.[ref]

11 You must love your god Yahweh and follow his instructions, rules, regulations, and commands from now on. 2 Of course that was you all and your parents who experienced your god Yahweh’s discipline and who saw his power and strength and the amazing miracles done on your behalf—not your children. 3 They didn’t see his actions and the miracles done to King Far-oh and all his people right there in Egypt,[ref] 4 or what he did to the Egyptian army with its horses and chariots when he caused the Red Sea to flow over the top of them as they chased you, and how Yahweh destroyed them and they’ve never recovered to this day,[ref] 5 or how he helped you all in the wilderness until you reached this place. 6 Your children didn’t see what Yahweh did to Eliav’s sons Datan and Aviram (from the tribe of Rueven) when the ground opened up and swallowed them, along with their houses and tents and all their families and animals right in the middle of the encampment[ref] 7 because you all are the ones who actually saw the amazing miracles that Yahweh did.

8 So then, follow all the instructions that I’m giving you all today so that you’ll all be strong to enter and take possession of the land once you cross the river 9 and so that you all might live for a long time in that land which Yahweh promised to give them and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey 10 because it’s not like Egypt where your ancestors came out from, where you planted seed and had to water the fields by hand. 11 But the land that you’re all about to enter over the river has a terrain of hills and valleys, i.e., it drinks in the rain water. 12 It’s a land that your god Yahweh cares about—watching over it from the beginning of each year to the end.

13 If you all listen to the instructions that I’m giving you today, loving your god Yahweh and serving him with sincerity and with energy,[ref] 14 then he says that he’ll give the land the seasonal early and late rains so that you’ll be able to produce grain, and new wine, and olive oil. 15 He’ll provide grass in the countryside for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied. 16 Guard yourselves to make sure that you’re not deceived and end up turning around to serve other ‘gods’ and bow down to them, 17 because then Yahweh would become angry at you and close the skies so that there’d be no rain, and the land would stop producing, and you’d all soon die from off the good land that he’s about to give you.

18 Memorise these words of mine and constantly think about them. Your hands should always be applying them and your minds should always be evaluating them.[ref] 19 Teach them repeatedly to your children: when you’re sitting at home, when you’re walking down the road, when you go to lie down, and when you get up. 20 Carve them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates, 21 so that your own lifetimes, and the lifetimes of your children will be extended in the land that Yahweh promised to give to your ancestors to have as long as the sky remains over the earth.

22 If you all follow these instructions that I’m telling you to do, to love your god Yahweh and live how he wants you to, and stay faithful to him, 23 then he’ll drive all those peoples out ahead of you all, and you’ll dispossess groups that are larger and more powerful than yourselves. 24 Every place that your feet step on will become yours: from the southern desert to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.[ref] 25 No one will be able to resist you all. Your god Yahweh will make those peoples in that land terrified of you, just as he promised he would.

26 Now listen, today I’m giving you all the option of a blessing or a curse: 27 the blessing is if you all decide to obey your god Yahweh’s instructions that I’m giving you today, 28 but the curse is if you all don’t take any notice of his instructions, or if you turn away from what I’m commanding you all today to go after other gods that you previously had nothing to do with. 29 Whenever your god Yahweh brings you into the land that you’re entering to take possession of, you must pronounce the blessing from Mt. Gerizim, and the curse from Mt. Eyval.[ref] 30 (Those two mountains are across the Yarden river, west of the river plain where the Canaanites live, near the Oak of Moreh opposite Gilgal.) 31 You’ll all soon be crossing the Yarden to go in and occupy the land that your god Yahweh is giving you. As you all take it over and start to live there, 32 make sure that you follow all the instructions and rules that I’m giving to you all today.

12 In the land that your god Yahweh has given you to own, these are the rules and regulations that you must keep obeying as long as you’re alive. 2 When you drive those peoples out, you all must completely destroy all the places on the mountains and hills, and under the large trees where they served their gods. 3 You all must tear down their altars, shatter their stone pillars, and set fire to their Asherah poles. You must chop down their carved idols so they won’t be remembered in that place any more.[ref]

4 Don’t worship your god Yahweh the same way they worship their gods, 5 because you all must go to the single place that Yahweh’s going to choose out of all your tribes, that he’ll attach his name to, so if you want find his residence, you’ll have to go there. 6 That will also be where you’ll all have to take your animal sacrifices and offerings, as well as the tenth of your produce and animals, special contributions, sacrifices for promises, free-will sacrifices, and the firstborn animals from your herds and flocks. 7 You’ll all be able to take your families there in front of your god Yahweh to cheerfully eat what you’ve produced as a result of his blessing.

8 We won’t be able to continue like we are at present, with each person worshipping however they feel is right 9 because until now, you haven’t reached the inheritance and the peaceful life that your god Yahweh is giving to you. 10 After you all cross the Yarden and live in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you as an inheritance, it’s then that he’ll give you peace from all your surrounding enemies, and so you’ll all live safely. 11 Then your god Yahweh will choose one place to attach his name to, and that’s where you’ll all bring everything that I tell you to: your animal sacrifices and offerings, as well as the tenth of your produce and animals, special contributions, and sacrifices for promises made to Yahweh. 12 You’ll all celebrate there in front of Yahweh: you and your children and your servants, along with any Levites who live in your towns (because they don’t personally inherit any land of their own). 13 Make sure that you don’t offer burnt sacrifices at any place that you just decide is good—14 only at the place that Yahweh will choose from one of your tribes. That’s where you’ll offer your sacrifices, and do everything else that I tell you.

15 However, you may kill and eat your animals wherever you live as much as you want. Those animals are blessings from your god Yahweh. You can eat that meat whether or not you’re ceremonially ‘clean’, just like you’d eat a wild gazelle or deer. 16 However, don’t eat the blood—it must be poured out on the ground like water.[ref] 17 In your towns, don’t eat the tenth of your produce or the first-borns from your herd or flock, or at the celebration of a vow, or any free-will offering or contribution that you’ve made. 18 You can only eat those in Yahweh’s presence in the place that he’ll choose. The same applies to your children, your servants, and any Levites who live in your towns. The celebration for what you’ve produced must be done in front of your god Yahweh. 19 Make sure that you don’t neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

20 In the future, when your god Yahweh widens your territory like he’s said he would, if you want to eat meat there, then go ahead and do it. 21 If the place that he chooses to attach his name to is too far away, then it’s permissible to sacrifice like I’ve instructed you from your herd or flock, and you can eat it where you live whenever you want. 22 You can eat it whether or not you’re ceremonially ‘clean’, just like you’d eat a wild gazelle or deer. 23 However, don’t eat the blood of any animal, because the blood is the life and you mustn’t eat the life with the meat.[ref] 24 Don’t eat the blood—it must be poured out on the ground like water. 25 Don’t eat it so that things will go well for you and your children after you, when you do what Yahweh says is right. 26 However, you still must take your sacred things and offerings for vows to the place that Yahweh will choose. 27 The meat and blood from burnt offerings must only be placed on your god Yahweh’s future altar, and the blood of your other sacrifices must be poured on the altar, but you can eat the meat. 28 Make sure to follow all these instructions that I’m giving you so that everything will go well for you and for your descendants into the future, when you do what your god Yahweh has said is good and right.

29 When you enter the land that you will occupy, your god Yahweh will destroy the people groups that live there as you advance. 30 Watch out after they’ve been destroyed, that you don’t get trapped by curiosity about how they served their gods, and then you end up doing the same. 31 Don’t do that to your god Yahweh, because he hates the disgusting things they’ve done for their gods—even burning their own sons and daughters on altars for their gods.

32 Make sure that you obey all those instructions—don’t add anything to them, or remove anything from them.[ref]

13 If someone among you claims to be a prophet or interpreter of dreams, or able to do miracles, 2 and it seems true, but they use those things to convince you to go after other ‘new’ gods and worship them, 3 then don’t listen to that person, because your god Yahweh is testing you to know whether you love him with sincerity and with your energy. 4 You must conduct your lives as your god Yahweh wants you to. Honour him, and listen to his voice and follow his instructions, and serve him and remain loyal to him. 5 But that prophet or interpreter of dreams must be executed because they’ve incited rebellion against your god Yahweh who brought you all out from slavery in Egypt. Those kinds of people want to drive you away from @Yahweh’s instructions, hence why you must remove that evil from among you.

6 Your brother, son, daughter, beloved wife, or some close friend might privately urge you to worship other gods that you and your ancestors hadn’t heard about before. 7 That might be the gods of the surrounding peoples, either nearby or right across the world. 8 Don’t give in to them, or take notice of them. Don’t even feel sympathy for them or cover up for them, 9 because you’ll definitely need to execute them. You yourself must be the first to take action, followed by the rest of the community. 10 You must execute people like that by throwing rocks at them, because they try to drive you away from your god Yahweh who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 11 After that, all Yisrael will hear and become afraid of doing such wicked things in the future.

12 If in the future, you hear that in one of the cities that your god Yahweh will give you to live in, 13 some wicked people have enticed those in the city to go and serve other ‘new’ gods, 14 then you must thoroughly investigate the matter. If it’s actually true that that disgusting thing had been done among you, 15 then all the people in that place must be executed by the sword, along with all their livestock. 16 Gather all the people’s possessions and pile them up in the city plaza, then burn the place and everything in it like a ‘burnt offering’ to Yahweh. Leave the place as an abandoned heap—it should never be rebuilt again. 17 Don’t be tempted to pick anything valuable out from the pile headed for destruction, but obey carefully so that Yahweh’s anger will subside. Then he’ll show compassion to you and mercy, and make you increase like he promised to your ancestors 18 when you listen to what he says—following all his instructions and doing what he says is the right thing to do.

14 You’re all children of your god Yahweh so don’t cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the sake of the dead,[ref] 2 because you’re a nation that’s set apart for your god Yahweh, and he’s chosen you out of all the other peoples in the world to be his own people.[ref]

3 Don’t eat anything that Yahweh detests. 4 These are the animals that you all can eat: cattle, sheep, goats, 5 all kinds of deer, gazelles, wild goats, and mountain sheep, 6 i.e., you can eat any of the animals that have split hooves and that also chew the cud. 7 But there are other animals that chew the cud that you mustn’t eat: camels, rabbits and hares, and rock badgers. They chew the cud, but don’t have split hooves so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 8 Don’t eat pigs—they’re unacceptable for you to eat. They have split hooves, but they don’t chew the cud. Don’t eat the meat of those animals and don’t even touch their dead bodies.

9 You all can eat anything that lives in water that has both fins and scales, 10 but anything in the water that doesn’t have both is unacceptable for you to eat.

11 You all can eat any clean bird, 12 but not these: eagles, vultures, ospreys, 13 buzzards, kites, falcons, 14 any kind of ravens or crows, 15 ostriches, owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, 16 any kinds of owls, 17 pelicans, carrion vultures, cormorants, 18 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats. 19 You mustn’t eat any insect with wings and which swarm—they’re unacceptable to Yahweh for you to eat, 20 but other insects with wings are acceptable to eat.

21 Don’t eat any creature that’s died naturally. You may allow foreigners who live among you to eat those things. You may also sell them to other foreigners. But you are a people group that belongs to your god Yahweh.

You mustn’t cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk.[ref]

22 Make sure you set aside a tenth of all the crops that you harvest from your fields.[ref] 23 You must eat it in the presence of your god Yahweh, in the place that he’ll choose and attach his name to. That’s where you must eat the tenth of your grain, wine, olive oil, and the firstborn male animals from your herd and your flock, so that you’ll learn to always honour your god Yahweh. 24 When he blesses you with produce, if the place he chooses to attach his name to is too far for you to be able to carry it to, 25 then you can give the equivalent in cash, and carefully take the cash with you all the way to the place that he chooses. 26 When you get there, use the money to purchase any kinds of meat or drink that you want, and consume it there in front of your god Yahweh, and celebrate along with your household.

27 Be sure not to neglect any Levites that live in your town, because they weren’t given ancestral land for agriculture like you were. 28 At the end of every third year, bring the tenth of all your produce for that year and store it in your town 29 for the Levites (because they didn’t get land), and for any foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They can come and get what they need so that your god Yahweh can bless you in everything that you do.

15 At the end of every seven years, you must cancel all debts. 2 Handle it like this: Everyone who’s loaned money to their Israeli neighbour must cancel that debt, i.e., they must not insist that it’s paid back, because Yahweh has announced a cancellation. 3 You can pressure a foreigner to repay, but you must cancel any debt from a fellow Israeli.

4 However, there shouldn’t be any poor among you, because your god Yahweh will bless you in the land that he’s giving you to own as an inheritance, 5 as long as you listen to what he says and keep following these instructions that I’m telling you today. 6 Because your god Yahweh will bless you (like he promised he would), you’ll lend to many nations rather than borrowing from them, and you’ll rule over many nations rather than them ruling you.

7 In the towns that your god Yahweh is giving you, if it so happens that any of your fellow Israelis are poor, then don’t just ignore them and refuse to help them,[ref] 8 but instead, open your wallet and lend them however much they need. 9 Be careful not to quietly think to yourself that the seventh-year reset is close so they won’t have to pay it back. It would be wrong not to help a fellow Israeli, and if you did and he called out to Yahweh for help, then it would be counted against you as disobedience. 10 Give generously to the poor without getting resentful inside, because then your god Yahweh can bless you in all your work and all your investments. 11 There’ll always be poor people in your country, so I command you to give generously to the poor and needy and your fellow Israelis.[ref]

12 If a fellow Israeli is sold to you[fn] and serves you for six years, then you must free them in the seventh year.[ref] 13 But when you free them, don’t send them off empty-handed 14 but instead, give to them generously from your flock and from your barn and from your wine. In whatever ways your god Yahweh has blessed you, you should give to them. 15 Always remember that you were a slave in Egypt and your god Yahweh redeemed you out of there, so that’s why I’m commanding you to do that.

16 However, if any slave says that they don’t want to leave you, because they appreciate you and your household, and so they’re better off to stay with you, 17 then get an awl and stand them against the doorpost and pierce one of their earlobes with the awl, then that person (male or female) will be your slave forever. 18 Don’t complain when you have to release your slaves, because they’ve served you up to six years and been double the value of a regular hired worker, plus your god Yahweh will bless you in whatever you do.

19 You must set apart for your god Yahweh, all the firstborn male animals from your herds and your flocks. You mustn’t use the cattle for working, and mustn’t shear the sheep or goats.[ref] 20 Each year, you and your household must take them to the place that Yahweh will choose, and eat them there in front of him. 21 However, any animals that have defects (e.g., lame or blind, or with a severe blemish) mustn’t be sacrificed to your god Yahweh. 22 Instead, you can eat those at home whether or not you’re ceremonially ‘clean’, just like you’d eat a wild gazelle or deer. 23 However, don’t eat the blood—it must be poured out on the ground like water.[ref]

16 Each year, honour your god Yahweh in the early spring by celebrating the ‘pass-over’, because it was one night in the early spring that he brought you out of Egpyt (Heb. Mitsrayim).[ref] 2 In order to celebrate, go to the place that your god Yahweh will choose to attach his name to, and there sacrifice to him one young animal from your flock or herd. 3 Don’t eat any leavened bread with it. For seven days, you must eat flat bread (the bread of suffering) because you came out of Egypt in a rush. That’s how you should remember the day of your exit from Egypt for the rest of your life. 4 In fact, for seven days you shouldn’t even have any rising agent within your borders, and none of the meat from the sacrifice on that first evening is allowed to be left until the morning.

5 You mustn’t sacrifice the ‘pass-over’ animal within any of your towns that your god Yahweh is giving to you—6 only at the place that your god Yahweh will choose to attach his name to. That’s where you must sacrifice the ‘pass-over’ animal at sunset, which was the time when your ancestors started leaving Egypt. 7 You must cook the meat and eat it at the place that Yahweh will choose, then in the morning you can start returning to your homes. 8 Then for six days you must only eat flat bread, and the seventh day is a special celebration for your god Yahweh—don’t do any work on that day.

9 You must count off seven weeks starting from when the very first harvesting of grain begins.[ref] 10 Then celebrate the ‘Festival of Weeks’[fn] to honour your god Yahweh by contributing a freewill offering acknowledging however much he has blessed you. 11 You should celebrate in Yahweh’s presence, along with your children and your servants, and any Levites living in your town, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows living among you. Take your offerings to the place that your god Yahweh will choose to attach his name to. 12 Always remember that you were a slave in Egypt, so carefully follow those instructions.

13 After you’ve brought in the grain harvest and pressed out the grape juice, you must celebrate the ‘Festival of Shelters’ for seven days.[ref] 14 You should celebrate along with your children and your servants, as well as any Levites and foreigners and orphans and widows who live in your town. 15 Honour your god Yahweh at the place he’ll choose, by celebrating for seven days because he’s blessed your harvest and all your other work.

16 In summary, all your men must travel three times each year to the place that your god Yahweh will choose: at the Flat Bread Celebration, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Shelters. No man should come empty-handed, 17 but rather, each man must give in proportion to the blessings that your god Yahweh has given you during that year.

18 You must appoint judges and other officials throughout your tribes, in all the towns that your god Yahweh is giving to you. They must judge the people fairly and correctly. 19 You mustn’t pervert justice or give favours. Don’t accept bribes because a bribe causes an otherwise wise person to ignore evil and misrepresents what innocent people say.[ref] 20 True justice is what you should aim for, so that you’ll occupy and live in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you.

21 Never put an Asherah pole near the altar to your god Yahweh that you’ll build for yourself,[ref] 22 and don’t erect any stone pillars that your god Yahweh hates.[ref]

17 Don’t sacrifice any animal to your god Yahweh that has any blemish or defect, because he detests that.

2 In any of the towns that your god Yahweh is giving you, if you discover any man or woman who does evil by disobeying the agreement that he’s made with you 3 and worshipped other gods, or the sun, moon, or stars—all of which I’ve prohibited you from doing,[ref] 4 and it it’s reported to you, and you listen and investigate it thoroughly, and it’s true that this detestable thing was done in Yisrael, 5 you must bring that man or woman out to the town gates, and execute them by throwing rocks at them. 6 Note that that person can only be executed if there’s at least two witnesses as evidence—no one can be put to death on the testimony of just one witness.[ref] 7 The witnesses must be the ones to throw the first rocks then all the other people after that, and that’s how you’ll remove evil from your society.[ref]

8 If a case is too difficult for you yourselves to judge (e.g., two parties claiming bloodshed, or lawsuits, or assaults, or other disputes within your towns), you must leave town and go to the place that your god Yahweh is going to choose. 9 You should go to the Levitical priests and to the judge on duty there and they will produce a judgement. 10 Whatever the decision is that’s made at the place Yahweh will choose, that’s the verdict that must be applied to the case—11 accept their judgement and do what they say without making any adjustments to their decision. 12 Anyone who shows contempt for the decision of the judge or the priest who’s standing there serving your god Yahweh, then that person must be executed to remove that evil from Yisrael, 13 then all the people will hear about it and be afraid, and it’ll stamp out such arrogance.

14 When you enter the land that your god Yahweh is about to give you, then occupy and live in it, and you say that you need a king over you like all the surrounding countries have,[ref] 15 you can appoint the king over you that Yahweh chooses. Your king must be an Israeli—never allow a foreigner to become your king. 16 However, he mustn’t acquire a large number of horses for himself, and he should never send people to Egypt to buy horses, because Yahweh has told you all to never go back that way again.[ref] 17 He mustn’t take a lot of wives for himself or else he might stop worshipping Yahweh. Nor should he accumulate too much gold and silver.[ref]

18 Once he’s sitting on his royal throne, he must copy for himself the instructions on the scroll that’s in the custody of the Levitical priests, 19 then he must keep it with him and read some of it every day so that he learns to honour his god Yahweh—being careful to follow all the instructions and regulations written in it 20 so that he won’t think he’s more valued than his fellow citizens, and so that he doesn’t ignore those instructions even slightly. As a result, him and his descendants will rule as kings in Yisrael for many years.

18 None of the Levites (including the priests) will receive any land as an inheritance like the other Israelis. Instead, the people’s offerings to Yahweh will be their inheritance to sustain them. 2 Yes, unlike fellow Israelis, they won’t have any inherited land—Yahweh is their inheritance like he told them.[ref]

3 This is the requirement that the people do for the priests: whenever they bring a bull or a sheep as a sacrifice, they must give the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach to the priest. 4 Also you must give the Levites the firstfruits of your grain, your grape juice, your olive oil, and the wool shorn from your sheep, 5 because your god Yahweh chose them out of all your tribes for them and their descendants permanently to serve him.

6 If a Levite chooses to move his family from their town in any part of Yisrael and sincerely wants to go to the place that Yahweh will choose, 7 then he can join the other Levites there to serve his god Yahweh 8 and must be given a portion like all the others. (He can keep anything he got from the sale of their family home.)

9 When you enter the land that your god Yahweh is about to give you, don’t imitate the disgusting habits of those peoples. 10 There mustn’t be anyone among you who passes their son or daughter through fire, or who uses divination or omens to try to tell the future, or who practices sorcery,[ref] 11 or who puts spells on people, or who tries to talk to spirits of deceased people, 12 because anyone who does those things is abhorrent to Yahweh. It’s because of those kinds of things that your god Yahweh will drive those other peoples away ahead of you. 13 You must be a blameless nation in the eyes of your god Yahweh,[ref] 14 because the groups that you’ll expel from the land rely on fortune-tellers and diviners, but your god Yahweh won’t allow you to do that.

15 Your god Yahweh will select a man from among you and send him as a prophet like me. You must take notice of him,[ref] 16 since you begged your god Yahweh from the bottom of Mt. Horev when you said, “We can’t handle directly hearing the voice of our god Yahweh and looking at this terrible fire. Let us go home so we won’t die here.” 17 Then Yahweh told me, “They’re right in what they’re saying. 18 I’ll choose a prophet from among them and see him. I’ll tell him what to say, and he can pass it on to them, 19 and if anyone doesn’t listen to what he says with my authority, I’ll punish that person as if they ignored me.[ref] 20 However, if the prophet says things that I didn’t tell him to say but claims they came from me, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet must die.”

21 Now if you ask yourselves, “How can we recognise a message that didn’t come from Yahweh?” 22 then when the prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name but that thing doesn’t happen, then you’ll know that it didn’t come from Yahweh. The prophet spoke it assuming that I’d want that, but you don’t need to be afraid of him.

19 When your god Yahweh destroys those peoples where he’s giving you the land, and you occupy the land and live in their cities and houses, 2 you must select three cities[ref] spread across the land that Yahweh is giving you. 3 You must define three borders and build roads in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you to inherit. Anyone who kills another person can then flee to one of those cities. 4 This is the rule for someone who’s killed another person and flees to live there: if they’ve accidentally killed another person and had no hate for that person from past events, 5 (for example, if two men went into the forest to chop wood and an axehead flew off its handle and killed the other man) then that accidental killer can flee to one of those cities and live there. 6 Otherwise a friend or relative of the dead person might chase the killer in a sudden rage and overtake and kill the accidental killer if the city was too far away. However, the killer doesn’t deserve death if they hadn’t hated that person from past events—7 that’s why I’m ordering you to select three cities for this.

8 Then in the future, if your god Yahweh extends your territory as he promised your ancestors that he would do, and gives you all the land that he told them about, 9 and if you’re still following all these instructions that I’m giving you today (loving your god Yahweh and always obeying what he’s said), then you’ll need to add three more refuge cities for your country. 10 That’s so innocent people won’t be killed in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you, and so that you won’t be found guilty of the murder of that accidental killer.

11 However, if someone hates another person and then ambushes them and kills them, and then flees to one of those cities, 12 then the elders from their home town should go and get that person from the refuge city and hand that killer over to the relatives handling the case, and the murderer must be executed. 13 You must show no mercy to murderers but they must be executed so that the country isn’t responsible for the blood of innocent people, and then things will go well for you.

14 Once you’re in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you to occupy, you mustn’t move the boundary markers which were set between you and your neighbour.[ref]

15 A single witness must not be used to condemn anyone—a matter must only be considered proven if there’s at least two or three witnesses.[ref] 16 Suppose that a ‘witness’ brought a false allegation against a man, 17 then both parties must go and stand in front of Yahweh—in front of the priests and judges on duty at that time. 18 The judges must investigate the case thoroughly, and if the witness is proved to be lying (and so falsely accusing a fellow citizen), 19 you must give the false witness the punishment that was planned for the person falsely accused, and that’s how you can remove the evil from among your nation. 20 Then the rest of the people will hear about that and be afraid to do that kind of evil thing in your country. 21 Don’t pity violent people: it’s a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.[ref]

20 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see many horses and chariots and a bigger army than yours, don’t be afraid of them, because your god Yahweh who helped you out of Egypt is with you. 2 As you approach the place of battle, the high priest must go and stand in front of the warriors, 3 and tell them, “Listen, Yisrael, you’re about to battle against your enemies. Don’t be nervous or afraid, and don’t tremble or be terrified of them, 4 because your god Yahweh will go with you to fight for you against your enemies. He’ll give you victory.”

5 Then the officers must ask the people, “Is there anyone here who’s just built a new house and hasn’t dedicated it yet? If so, he can go home in case he dies in battle and someone else gets to dedicate his house. 6 Is there anyone who’s planted a vineyard and not benefitted from it yet? If so, he can go home in case he dies in battle and someone else enjoys the grape harvest. 7 Is there anyone who’s gotten engaged, but not yet married? If so, he can go home in case he died in battle and someone else marries her.”

8 Then those officers should also ask, “Is there anyone who’s scared or fearful? If so, he should go home so his fear doesn’t spread to others.” 9 Once they’ve finished speaking with the fighting men, they must appoint commanders over them.

10 When you approach a city ready to attack it, first call out to offer peace for surrender, 11 and if they agree to surrender and open the city gates, then they’ll all be forced to work for you. 12 But if they refuse your terms and decide to fight against you, then you should besiege that city. 13 Then when your god Yahweh helps you to capture it, you must kill every male in that city. 14 However, you can take the women and children and cattle and everything else in the city as plunder for yourself. You can enjoy your enemies’ possessions that Yahweh has given to you. 15 That’s how you should treat the cities located far from you—it doesn’t apply to the cities of nearby peoples.

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