These are the words which Moses spake unto all
Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against
Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.
It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by
the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea. And it
came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day
of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto
all that Jehovah had given him in commandment unto them;
after he had smitten Sihon the king of the
Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in
Ashtaroth, at Edrei. Beyond the Jordan, in the
land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
Jehovah our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying,
Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain: turn
you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites,
and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah, in the
hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore,
the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the
river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land
before you: go in and possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to
their seed after them.
And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am
not able to bear you myself alone: Jehovah your
God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of
heaven for multitude. Jehovah, the God of your
fathers, make you a thousand times as many as ye are, and bless you, as he
hath promised you! How can I myself alone bear
your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
Take you wise men, and understanding, and known,
according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.
And ye answered me, and said, The thing which
thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So
I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads
over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of
fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
And I charged your judges at that time, saying,
Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously
between a man and his brother, and the sojourner that is with him.
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye
shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the
face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for
you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it.
And I commanded you at that time all the things
which ye should do. And we journeyed from Horeb,
and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by
the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded
us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I said
unto you, Ye are come unto the hill-country of the Amorites, which Jehovah
our God giveth unto us. Behold, Jehovah thy God
hath set the land before thee: go up, take possession, as Jehovah, the God
of thy fathers, hath spoken unto thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.
And ye came near unto me every one of you, and
said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and
bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto
which we shall come. And the thing pleased me
well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:
and they turned and went up into the
hill-country, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
And they took of the fruit of the land in their
hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said,
It is a good land which Jehovah our God giveth unto us.
Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the
commandment of Jehovah your God: and ye murmured
in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah hated us, he hath brought us
forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the
Amorites, to destroy us. Whither are we going
up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are
greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to
heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.
Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be
afraid of them. Jehovah your God who goeth
before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in
Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness,
where thou hast seen how that Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth
bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place.
Yet in this thing ye did not believe Jehovah
your God, who went before you in the way, to
seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you
by what way ye should go, and in the cloud by day.
And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and
was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall
not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I
sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb the
son of Jephunneh: he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he
hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed
Jehovah. Also Jehovah was angry with me for your
sakes, saying, Thou also will not go in thither:
Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee,
he shall go in thither: encourage thou him; for he shall cause Israel to
inherit it. Moreover your little ones, that ye
said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge
of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it,
and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn
you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
Then ye answered and said unto me, We have
sinned against Jehovah, we will go up and fight, according to all that
Jehovah our God commanded us. And ye girded on every man his weapons of
war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country.
And Jehovah said unto me, Say unto them, Go not
up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your
enemies. So I spake unto you, and ye hearkened
not; but ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah, and were
presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country.
And the Amorites, that dwelt in that
hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat
you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye
returned and wept before Jehovah; but Jehovah hearkened not to your voice,
nor gave ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh
many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.
Then we turned, and took our journey into the
wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Jehovah spake unto me; and we
compassed mount Seir many days. And Jehovah spake
unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain
long enough: turn you northward. And command thou
the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the
children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: take
ye good heed unto yourselves therefore; contend
not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as
for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir unto
Esau for a possession. Ye shall purchase food of
them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for
money, that ye may drink. For Jehovah thy God
hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand; he hath known thy walking
through this great wilderness: these forty years Jehovah thy God hath been
with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. So we passed
by from our brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, from the
way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber.
And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
And Jehovah said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither
contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of his land for a
possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a
possession. (The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a
people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim:
these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim;
but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites
also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and
they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel
did unto the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave unto them.)
Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered.
And we went over the brook Zered. And the days
in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook
Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of
war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah sware unto them.
Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them,
to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.
So it came to pass, when all the men of war were
consumed and dead from among the people, that
Jehovah spake unto me, saying, Thou art this day
to pass over Ar, the border of Moab: and when
thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor
contend with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of
Ammon for a possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot
for a possession. (That also is accounted a land
of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them
Zamzummim, a people great, and many, and tall,
as the Anakim; but Jehovah destroyed them before them; and they succeeded
them, and dwelt in their stead; as he did for
the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites
from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even
unto this day: and the Avvim, that dwelt in
villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor,
destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.) Rise
ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I
have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land;
begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
This day will I begin to put the dread of thee
and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who
shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish
because of thee.
And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of
Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by
the highway, I will turn neither unto the right hand nor to the left.
Thou will sell me food for money, that I may
eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only let me pass
through on my feet, as the children of Esau that
dwell in Seir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did unto me; until I
shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah our God giveth us.
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass
by him; for Jehovah thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart
obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day.
And Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have begun
to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou
mayest inherit his land. Then Sihon came out
against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Jahaz.
And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us;
and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
And we took all his cities at that time, and
utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little
ones; we left none remaining: only the cattle we
took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had
taken. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the
valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even
unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Jehovah our God
delivered up all before us: only to the land of
the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river
Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever Jehovah our
God forbade us.
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan:
and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto
battle at Edrei. And Jehovah said unto me, Fear
him not; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into
thy hand; and thou will do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the
Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. So Jehovah our
God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his
people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.
And we took all his cities at that time; there
was not a city which we took not from them; threescore cities, all the
region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All
these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the
unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly
destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying
every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.
But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities,
we took for a prey unto ourselves. And we took
the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites
that were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon unto mount
Hermon; (which Hermon the Sidonians call
Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir;) all the
cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salecah and
Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the
remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it
not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length
thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.)
And this land we took in possession at that
time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the
hill-country of Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites
and to the Gadites: and the rest of Gilead, and
all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half-tribe of Manasseh; all
the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of
Rephaim. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the
region of Argob, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites,
and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, unto this
day.) And I gave Gilead unto Machir.
And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I
gave from Gilead even unto the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the
valley, and the border thereof, even unto the river Jabbok, which
is the border of the children of Ammon; the
Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border thereof, from Chinnereth
even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah
eastward.
And I commanded you at that time, saying,
Jehovah your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass
over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the men of
valor. But your wives, and your little ones, and
your cattle, (I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities
which I have given you, until Jehovah give rest
unto your brethren, as unto you, and they also possess the land which
Jehovah your God giveth them beyond the Jordan: then shall ye return every
man unto his possession, which I have given you.
And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying,
Thine eyes have seen all that Jehovah your God hath done unto these two
kings: so shall Jehovah do unto all the kingdoms whither thou goest over.
Ye shall not fear them; for Jehovah your God, he
it is that fighteth for you.
And I besought Jehovah at that time, saying,
O Lord Jehovah, thou hast begun to show thy
servant thy greatness, and thy strong hand: for what god is there in
heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to
thy mighty acts? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and
Lebanon. But Jehovah was wroth with me for your
sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and Jehovah said unto me, Let it suffice
thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get
thee up unto the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and
northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes: for
thou will not go over this Jordan. But charge
Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before
this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou will
see. So we abode in the valley over against
Beth-peor.
And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and
unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and
go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, giveth
you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I
command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the
commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.
Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of
Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, Jehovah thy God hath
destroyed them from the midst of thee. But ye
that did cleave unto Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day.
Behold, I have taught you statutes and
ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye should do so in
the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your
wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that shall hear
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people. For what great nation is
there, that hath a god so nigh unto them, as Jehovah our God is whensoever
we call upon him? And what great nation is there,
that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I
set before you this day?
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest
they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known
unto thy children and thy children's children;
the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy
God in Horeb, when Jehovah said unto me, Assemble me the people, and I
will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days
that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
And ye came near and stood under the mountain;
and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness,
cloud, and thick darkness. And Jehovah spake
unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye
saw no form; only ye heard a voice. And
he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even
the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach
you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye
go over to possess it.
Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for
ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb
out of the midst of the fire. Lest ye corrupt
yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the
likeness of male or female, the likeness of any
beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in
the heavens, the likeness of anything that
creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water
under the earth; and lest thou lift up thine
eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars,
even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and
serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under
the whole heaven. But Jehovah hath taken you,
and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto
him a people of inheritance, as at this day.
Furthermore Jehovah was angry with me for your
sakes, and sware that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should
not go in unto that good land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance: but I must die in this land, I must
not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the
covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make you a
graven image in the form of anything which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden
thee. For Jehovah thy God is a devouring fire, a
jealous God.
When thou will beget children, and children's
children, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt
yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do
that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to
anger; I call heaven and earth to witness
against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land
whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your
days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples,
and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah
shall lead you away. And there ye shall serve
gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor
hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from thence ye
shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou will find him, when thou searchest
after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
When thou art in tribulation, and all these
things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou will return to Jehovah
thy God, and hearken unto his voice: for Jehovah
thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee,
nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
For ask now of the days that are past, which
were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and
from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any
such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking
out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation
from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by
wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and
by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in
Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed,
that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides
him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his
voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his
great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he
chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with
his great power, out of Egypt; to drive out
nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in,
to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day.
Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy
heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath;
there is none else. And thou will keep his
statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may
go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest
prolong thy days in the land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, for ever.
Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the
Jordan toward the sunrising; that the manslayer
might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not
in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the
plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites;
and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
And this is the law which Moses set before the
children of Israel: these are the testimonies,
and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spake unto the children
of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,
beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against
Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at
Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth
out of Egypt. And they took his land in
possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the
Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;
from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley
of the Arnon, even unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon),
and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward,
even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto
them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in
your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them.
Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers,
but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
Jehovah spake with you face to face in the mount
out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between
Jehovah and you at that time, to show you the word of Jehovah: for ye were
afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou will have no other gods before me.
Thou will not make unto thee a graven image,
nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
thou will not bow down thyself unto them, nor
serve them; for I, Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the
fourth generation of them that hate me; and
showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments.
Thou will not take the name of Jehovah thy God
in vain: for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain.
Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as
Jehovah thy God commanded thee. Six days will
thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh
day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou will not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy
maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy
maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And thou
will remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah
thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched
arm: therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Honor thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy
God commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go well
with thee, in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Thou will not kill.
Neither will thou commit adultery.
Neither will thou steal.
Neither will thou bear false witness against
thy neighbor.
Neither will thou covet thy neighbor's wife;
neither will thou desire thy neighbor's house, his field, or his
man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is
thy neighbor's.
These words Jehovah spake unto all your assembly
in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick
darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them upon
two tables of stone, and gave them unto me. And
it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness,
while the mountain was burning with fire, that ye came near unto me, even
all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;
and ye said, Behold, Jehovah our God hath showed
us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the
midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and
he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for
this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God
any more, then we shall die. For who is there of
all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the
midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go
thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God shall say: and speak thou
unto us all that Jehovah our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear
it, and do it.
And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when
ye spake unto me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the
words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well
said all that they have spoken. Oh that there
were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my
commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their
children for ever! Go say to them, Return ye to
your tents. But as for thee, stand thou here by
me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and
the ordinances, which thou will teach them, that they may do them in the
land which I give them to possess it. Ye shall
observe to do therefore as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: ye shall
not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Ye shall walk in all the way which Jehovah your
God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with
you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and
the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye
might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it;
that thou mightest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep
all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy
son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be
prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe
to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase
mightily, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in
a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O
Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou
will love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might. And these words, which I
command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;
and thou will teach them diligently unto thy
children, and will talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest
up. And thou will bind them for a sign upon thy
hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou will write them upon the door-posts of
thy house, and upon thy gates.
And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall
bring thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee, great and goodly cities, which thou
buildest not, and houses full of all good
things, which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst
not, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou plantedst not, and thou will
eat and be full; then beware lest thou forget
Jehovah, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
of bondage. Thou will fear Jehovah thy God; and
him will thou serve, and will swear by his name.
Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of
the peoples that are round about you; for
Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God; lest the anger of
Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the
face of the earth.
Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye
tempted him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep
the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his
statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou
will do that which is right and good in the sight of Jehovah; that it may
be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land
which Jehovah sware unto thy fathers, to thrust
out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.
When thy son asketh thee in time to come,
saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances,
which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? then
thou will say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt: and
Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;
and Jehovah showed signs and wonders, great and
sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes;
and he brought us out from thence, that he might
bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
And Jehovah commanded us to do all these
statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always, that he might
preserve us alive, as at this day. And it shall
be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before
Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the
land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations
before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the
Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven
nations greater and mightier than thou; and when
Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou will smite
them; then thou will utterly destroy them: thou will make no covenant
with them, nor show mercy unto them; neither
will thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou will not give unto
his son, nor his daughter will thou take unto thy son.
For he will turn away thy son from following me,
that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled
against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.
But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break
down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their
Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God:
Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession,
above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose
you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the
fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loves
you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers,
hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of
the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God,
the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that
love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
and repayeth them that hate him to their face,
to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hates him, he will
repay him to his face. Thou will therefore keep
the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command
thee this day, to do them.
And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to
these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep
with thee the covenant and the lovingkindness which he sware unto thy
fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee,
and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit
of thy ground, thy grain and thy new wine and thine oil, the increase of
thy cattle and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto thy
fathers to give thee. Thou will be blessed
above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or
among your cattle. And Jehovah will take away
from thee all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou
knowest, will he put upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate
thee. And thou will consume all the peoples
that Jehovah thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity
them: neither will thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto
thee.
If thou will say in thy heart, These nations
are more than I; how can I dispossess them? thou
will not be afraid of them: thou will well remember what Jehovah thy God
did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; the great
trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the
mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought
thee out: so shall Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou
art afraid. Moreover Jehovah thy God will send
the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves,
perish from before thee. Thou will not be
affrighted at them; for Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a great
God and a terrible. And Jehovah thy God will
cast out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not
consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
But Jehovah thy God will deliver them up before
thee, and will discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be
destroyed. And he will deliver their kings into
thy hand, and thou will make their name to perish from under heaven:
there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed
them. The graven images of their gods shall ye
burn with fire: thou will not covet the silver or the gold that is on
them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an
abomination to Jehovah thy God. And thou will
not bring an abomination into thy house, and become a devoted thing like
unto it: thou will utterly detest it, and thou will utterly abhor it;
for it is a devoted thing.
All the commandment which I command thee this day
shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and
possess the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers.
And thou will remember all the way which Jehovah
thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might
humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou
wouldest keep his commandments, or not. And he
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee
know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that
proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did
thy foot swell, these forty years. And thou will
consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy
God chasteneth thee. And thou will keep the
commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
For Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good
land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth
in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley,
and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;
a land wherein thou will eat bread without
scarceness, thou will not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are
iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.
And thou will eat and be full, and thou will
bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God, in not
keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I
command thee this day: lest, when thou hast
eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and
thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is
multiplied; then thy heart be lifted up, and
thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led thee
through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery
serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought
thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who
fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he
might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy
latter end: and lest thou say in thy
heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.
But thou will remember Jehovah thy God, for it
is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his
covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day.
And it shall be, if thou will forget Jehovah
thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I
testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish
before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the
voice of Jehovah your God.
Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan
this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than
thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim,
whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before
the sons of Anak? Know therefore this day, that
Jehovah thy God is he who goeth over before thee as a devouring fire; he
will destroy them, and he will bring them down before thee: so will thou
drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Jehovah hath spoken
unto thee. Speak not thou in thy heart, after
that Jehovah thy God hath thrust them out from before thee, saying, For my
righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land; whereas for
the wickedness of these nations Jehovah doth drive them out from before
thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the
uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for
the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God doth drive them out from
before thee, and that he may establish the word which Jehovah sware unto
thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Know therefore, that Jehovah thy God giveth thee
not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a
stiffnecked people. Remember, forget thou not,
how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the
day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto
this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah.
Also in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and
Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you. When I
was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables
of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode in the mount
forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water.
And Jehovah delivered unto me the two tables of
stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written
according to all the words, which Jehovah speak with you in the mount out
of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
And it came to pass at the end of forty days and
forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, even the
tables of the covenant. And Jehovah said unto
me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people that thou hast
brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly
turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a
molten image. Furthermore Jehovah spake unto me,
saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot
out their name from under heaven; and I will make of thee a nation
mightier and greater than they. So I turned and
came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire: and the two
tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And
I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God; ye had made
you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which
Jehovah had commanded you. And I took hold of
the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before
your eyes. And I fell down before Jehovah, as at
the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink
water; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was
evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
For I was afraid of the anger and hot
displeasure, wherewith Jehovah was wroth against you to destroy you. But
Jehovah hearkened unto me that time also. And
Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron
also at the same time. And I took your sin, the
calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding
it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof
into the brook that descended out of the mount.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at
Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath.
And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea,
saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye
rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him
not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been
rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.
So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and
forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy
you. And I prayed unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord
Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, that thou hast
redeemed through thy greatness, that thou hast brought forth out of Egypt
with a mighty hand. Remember thy servants,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people,
nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, lest
the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because Jehovah was not able
to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he
hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.
Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance,
which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm.
At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew thee two
tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount,
and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write
on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest,
and thou will put them in the ark. So I made an
ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and
went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand.
And he wrote on the tables, according to the
first writing, the ten commandments, which Jehovah spake unto you in the
mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Jehovah
gave them unto me. And I turned and came down
from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there
they are as Jehovah commanded me. (And the
children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There
Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the
priest's office in his stead. From thence they
journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks
of water. At that time Jehovah set apart the
tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before
Jehovah to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.
Wherefore Levi hath no portion nor inheritance
with his brethren; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy
God spake unto him.) And I stayed in the mount,
as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and Jehovah hearkened
unto me that time also; Jehovah would not destroy thee.
And Jehovah said unto me, Arise, take thy
journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land,
which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God
require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and
to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul, to keep the commandments of Jehovah,
and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Behold, unto Jehovah thy God belongeth heaven
and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.
Only Jehovah had a delight in thy fathers to
love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples,
as at this day. Circumcise therefore the
foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, and
Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who regardeth
not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute
justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner, in giving
him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the
sojourner; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Thou will fear Jehovah thy God; him will thou
serve; and to him will thou cleave, and by his name will thou swear.
He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath
done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
Thy fathers went down into Egypt with
threescore and ten persons; and now Jehovah thy God hath made thee as the
stars of heaven for multitude.
Therefore thou will love Jehovah thy God, and
keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his
commandments, alway. And know ye this day: for
I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have
not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty
hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs,
and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of
Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did
unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he
made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you,
and how Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day;
and what he did unto you in the wilderness,
until ye came unto this place; and what he did
unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the
earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and
their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of
all Israel: but your eyes have seen all the
great work of Jehovah which he did.
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment
which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and
possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it;
and that ye may prolong your days in the land,
which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed,
a land flowing with milk and honey. For the
land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt,
from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it
with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but the
land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys,
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven,
a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the
eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year
even unto the end of the year.
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken
diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love
Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your
soul, that I will give the rain of your land in
its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather
in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil.
And I will give grass in thy fields for thy
cattle, and thou will eat and be full. Take
heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them; and the
anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so
that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and
ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in
your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your
hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And ye shall teach them your children, talking
of them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou will write them upon the door-posts
of thy house, and upon thy gates; that your
days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which
Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens
above the earth. For if ye shall diligently
keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah
your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
then will Jehovah drive out all these nations
from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than
yourselves. Every place whereon the sole of
your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon,
from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be
your border. There shall no man be able to
stand before you: Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread
of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto
you.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing
and a curse: the blessing, if ye shall hearken
unto the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day;
and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the
commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I
command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God
shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou
will set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way
of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in
the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to
possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall possess
it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to
do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.
These are the statutes and the ordinances which
ye shall observe to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of thy fathers,
hath given thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.
Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein
the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high
mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
and ye shall break down their altars, and dash
in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall
hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name
out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto
Jehovah your God. But unto the place which
Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name
there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou will
come; and thither ye shall bring your
burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the
heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill-offerings,
and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock:
and there ye shall eat before Jehovah your God,
and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your
households, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do
here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes;
for ye are not as yet come to the rest and to
the inheritance, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
But when ye go over the Jordan, and dwell in
the land which Jehovah your God causeth you to inherit, and he giveth you
rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
then it shall come to pass that to the place
which Jehovah your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there,
thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and
your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all
your choice vows which ye vow unto Jehovah. And
ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your
daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite
that is within your gates, forasmuch as he hath no portion nor inheritance
with you. Take heed to thyself that thou offer
not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;
but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in
one of thy tribes, there thou will offer thy burnt-offerings, and there
thou will do all that I command thee.
Notwithstanding, thou mayest kill and eat flesh
within all thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul, according to the
blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the
clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.
Only ye shall not eat the blood; thou will
pour it out upon the earth as water. Thou
mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy grain, or of thy new
wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy herd or of thy flock, nor
any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill-offerings, nor the
heave-offering of thy hand; but thou will eat
them before Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah thy God shall
choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy
maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou will
rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all that thou puttest thy hand unto.
Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the
Levite as long as thou livest in thy land.
When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border,
as he hath promised thee, and thou will say, I will eat flesh, because
thy soul desireth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the
desire of thy soul. If the place which Jehovah
thy God shall choose, to put his name there, be too far from thee, then
thou will kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which Jehovah hath given
thee, as I have commanded thee; and thou mayest eat within thy gates,
after all the desire of thy soul. Even as the
gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou will eat thereof: the unclean
and the clean may eat thereof alike. Only be
sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou
will not eat the life with the flesh. Thou
will not eat it; thou will pour it out upon the earth as water.
Thou will not eat it; that it may go well with
thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou will do that which is
right in the eyes of Jehovah. Only thy holy
things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou will take, and go unto the
place which Jehovah shall choose: and thou
will offer thy burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar
of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out
upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and thou will eat the flesh.
Observe and hear all these words which I
command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after
thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the eyes of
Jehovah thy God.
When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations
from before thee, whither thou goest in to dispossess them, and thou
dispossessest them, and dwellest in their land;
take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared
to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that
thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve
their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou
will not do so unto Jehovah thy God: for every abomination to Jehovah,
which he hates, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and
their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods.
What thing soever I command you, that shall ye
observe to do: thou will not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet,
or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder,
and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof
he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast
not known, and let us serve them; thou will not
hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams:
for Jehovah your God proveth you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God
with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye
shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto
him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams, shall be put to death, because he hath spoken rebellion against
Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed
thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which
Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in. So will thou put away the evil
from the midst of thee.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy
son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as
thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other
gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
of the gods of the peoples that are round about
you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth
even unto the other end of the earth; thou will
not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity
him, neither will thou spare, neither will thou conceal him:
but thou will surely kill him; thy hand shall
be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the
people. And thou will stone him to death with
stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, who
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall
do not more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.
If thou will hear tell concerning one of thy
cities, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying,
Certain base fellows are gone out from the
midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying,
Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
then will thou inquire, and make search, and
ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that
such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee,
thou will surely smite the inhabitants of that
city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is
therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
And thou will gather all the spoil of it into
the midst of the street thereof, and will burn with fire the city, and
all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah thy God: and it shall be a
heap for ever; it shall not be built again. And
there shall cleave nought of the devoted thing to thy hand; that Jehovah
may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have
compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy
fathers; when thou will hearken to the voice
of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this
day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.
Ye are the children of Jehovah your God: ye
shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the
dead. For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah
thy God, and Jehovah hath chosen thee to be a people for his own
possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Thou will not eat any abominable thing.
These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox,
the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the
gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the
antelope, and the chamois. And every beast that
parteth the hoof, and hath the hoof cloven in two, and cheweth the
cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat.
Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that
chew the cud, or of them that have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the
hare, and the coney; because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they
are unclean unto you. And the swine, because he
parteth the hoof but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you: of their
flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch.
These ye may eat of all that are in the waters:
whatsoever hath fins and scales may ye eat; and
whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean unto
you.
Of all clean birds ye may eat.
But these are they of which ye shall not eat:
the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the ospray,
and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite
after its kind, and every raven after its kind,
and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the
sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, the
little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,
and the pelican, and the vulture, and the
cormorant, and the stork, and the heron after
its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And all
winged creeping things are unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.
Of all clean birds ye may eat.
Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of
itself: thou mayest give it unto the sojourner that is within thy gates,
that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art
a holy people unto Jehovah thy God. Thou will not boil a kid in its
mother's milk.
Thou will surely tithe all the increase of thy
seed, that which cometh forth from the field year by year.
And thou will eat before Jehovah thy God, in
the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the
tithe of thy grain, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings
of thy herd and of thy flock; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy
God always. And if the way be too long for
thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far
from thee, which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to set his name there, when
Jehovah thy God shall bless thee; then will
thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thy hand, and will go
unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose:
and thou will bestow the money for whatsoever
thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong
drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou will eat there
before Jehovah thy God, and thou will rejoice, thou and thy household.
And the Levite that is within thy gates, thou
will not forsake him; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.
At the end of every three years thou will
bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and will
lay it up within thy gates: and the Levite,
because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the sojourner,
and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come,
and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all
the work of thy hand which thou doest.
At the end of every seven years thou will make
a release. And this is the manner of the
release: every creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his
neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because
Jehovah's release hath been proclaimed. Of a
foreigner thou mayest exact it: but whatsoever of thine is with thy
brother thy hand shall release. Howbeit there
shall be no poor with thee; (for Jehovah will surely bless thee in the
land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it;)
if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice
of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command
thee this day. For Jehovah thy God will bless
thee, as he promised thee: and thou will lend unto many nations, but thou
will not borrow; and thou will rule over many nations, but they shall
not rule over thee.
If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy
brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth
thee, thou will not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor
brother; but thou will surely open thy hand
unto him, and will surely lend him sufficient for his need in that
which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a
base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release,
is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give
him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Thou will surely give him, and thy heart shall
not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing
Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou
puttest thy hand unto. For the poor will never
cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou will surely
open thy hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land.
If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew
woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh
year thou will let him go free from thee. And
when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou will not let him go empty:
thou will furnish him liberally out of thy
flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as
Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou will give unto him.
And thou will remember that thou wast a
bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore
I command thee this thing to-day. And it shall
be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loves
thee and thy house, because he is well with thee;
then thou will take an awl, and thrust it
through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And
also unto thy maid-servant thou will do likewise.
It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou
lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling
hath he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all
that thou doest.
All the firstling males that are born of thy
herd and of thy flock thou will sanctify unto Jehovah thy God: thou will
do no work with the firstling of thy herd, nor shear the firstling of thy
flock. Thou will eat it before Jehovah thy God
year by year in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou and thy
household. And if it have any blemish, as if
it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou will not
sacrifice it unto Jehovah thy God. Thou will
eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it
alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. Only
thou will not eat the blood thereof; thou will pour it out upon the
ground as water.
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover
unto Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought
thee forth out of Egypt by night. And thou will
sacrifice the passover unto Jehovah thy God, of the flock and the herd, in
the place which Jehovah shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.
Thou will eat no leavened bread with it; seven
days will thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of
affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that
thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of
Egypt all the days of thy life. And there shall
be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days; neither shall
any of the flesh, which thou sacrificest the first day at even, remain all
night until the morning. Thou mayest not
sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God
giveth thee; but at the place which Jehovah thy
God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there thou will
sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the
season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And
thou will roast and eat it in the place which Jehovah thy God shall
choose: and thou will turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.
Six days thou will eat unleavened bread; and on
the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God; thou will
do no work therein.
Seven weeks will thou number unto thee: from
the time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing grain will thou
begin to number seven weeks. And thou will
keep the feast of weeks unto Jehovah thy God with a tribute of a
freewill-offering of thy hand, which thou will give, according as Jehovah
thy God blesseth thee: and thou will rejoice
before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy
gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in
the midst of thee, in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to
cause his name to dwell there. And thou will
remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou will observe and do
these statutes.
Thou will keep the feast of tabernacles seven
days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from
thy winepress: and thou will rejoice in thy
feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy
maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and
the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven
days will thou keep a feast unto Jehovah thy God in the place which
Jehovah shall choose; because Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thine
increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou will be altogether
joyful. Three times in a year shall all thy
males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose: in
the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast
of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah empty:
every man shall give as he is able, according
to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee.
Judges and officers will thou make thee in all
thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes; and
they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Thou will not wrest justice: thou will not
respect persons; neither will thou take a bribe; for a bribe doth blind
the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
That which is altogether just will thou
follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which Jehovah thy God
giveth thee.
Thou will not plant thee an Asherah of any
kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou will make
thee. Neither will thou set thee up a pillar;
which Jehovah thy God hates.
Thou will not sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God an
ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, or anything evil; for that is
an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.
If there be found in the midst of thee, within
any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that
doeth that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing
his covenant, and hath gone and served other
gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of
heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be
told thee, and thou hast heard of it, then will thou inquire diligently;
and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination
is wrought in Israel, then will thou bring
forth that man or that woman, who hath done this evil thing, unto thy
gates, even the man or the woman; and thou will stone them to death with
stones. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three
witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one
witness he shall not be put to death. The hand
of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and
afterward the hand of all the people. So thou will put away the evil from
the midst of thee.
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in
judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between
stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates; then
will thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which Jehovah thy God
shall choose; and thou will come unto the
priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days: and
thou will inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment.
And thou will do according to the tenor of the
sentence which they shall show thee from that place which Jehovah shall
choose; and thou will observe to do according to all that they shall
teach thee: according to the tenor of the law
which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they
shall tell thee, thou will do; thou will not turn aside from the
sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not
hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before Jehovah
thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou will put
away the evil from Israel. And all the people
shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah
thy God giveth thee, and will possess it, and will dwell therein, and
will say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round
about me; thou will surely set him king over
thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren will
thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is
not thy brother. Only he shall not multiply
horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end
that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye
shall henceforth return no more that way.
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself,
that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself
silver and gold.
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a
book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
and it shall be with him, and he shall read
therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Jehovah his
God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;
that his heart be not lifted up above his
brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right
hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his
kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
The priests the Levites, even all the
tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: they
shall eat the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, and his inheritance.
And they shall have no inheritance among their
brethren: Jehovah is their inheritance, as he hath spoken unto them.
And this shall be the priests' due from the
people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that
they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the
maw. The first-fruits of thy grain, of thy new
wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, will
thou give him. For Jehovah thy God hath chosen
him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Jehovah,
him and his sons for ever.
And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out
of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and come with all the desire of his
soul unto the place which Jehovah shall choose;
then he shall minister in the name of Jehovah
his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before
Jehovah. They shall have like portions to eat,
besides that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.
When thou art come into the land which Jehovah
thy God giveth thee, thou will not learn to do after the abominations of
those nations. There shall not be found with
thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,
one that useth divination, one that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or
a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a
familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
For whosoever doeth these things is an
abomination unto Jehovah: and because of these abominations Jehovah thy
God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou
will be perfect with Jehovah thy God. For
these nations, that thou will dispossess, hearken unto them that practise
augury, and unto diviners; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not
suffered thee so to do.
Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a
prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye
shall hearken; according to all that thou
desiredst of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying,
Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this
great fire any more, that I die not. And
Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken.
I will raise them up a prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will
not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require
it of him.
But the prophet, that shall speak a word
presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or
that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know
the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? when a
prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come
to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath
spoken it presumptuously, thou will not be afraid of him.
When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations,
whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and
dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
thou will set apart three cities for thee in
the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Thou will prepare thee the way, and divide the
borders of thy land, which Jehovah thy God causeth thee to inherit, into
three parts, that every manslayer may flee thither.
And this is the case of the manslayer, that
shall flee thither and live: whoso killeth his neighbor unawares, and
hated him not in time past; as when a man goeth
into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a
stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the
helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, so that he dieth; he shall flee
unto one of these cities and live: lest the
avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and
overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he
was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou will set
apart three cities for thee. And if Jehovah thy
God enlarge thy border, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee
all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;
if thou will keep all this commandment to do
it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk
ever in his ways; then will thou add three cities more for thee, besides
these three: that innocent blood be not shed in
the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in
wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally so that he
dieth, and he flee into one of these cities;
then the elders of his city shall send and
fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood,
that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him,
but thou will put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go
well with thee.
Thou will not remove thy neighbor's landmark,
which they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou will
inherit, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for
any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of
two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be
established. If an unrighteous witness rise up
against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing,
then both the men, between whom the controversy
is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that
shall be in those days; and the judges shall
make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness,
and have testified falsely against his brother;
then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to
do unto his brother: so will thou put away the evil from the midst of
thee. And those that remain shall hear, and
fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of
thee. And thine eyes shall not pity; life
shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot.
When thou goest forth to battle against thine
enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than
thou, thou will not be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God is with thee,
who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be, when ye draw nigh unto the
battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw
nigh this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint;
fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye affrighted at them;
for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you,
to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
And the officers shall speak unto the people,
saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not
dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man dedicate it. And what
man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit
thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle,
and another man use the fruit thereof. And what
man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him
go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man
take her. And the officers shall speak further
unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and
faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's
heart melt as his heart. And it shall be, when
the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall
appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people.
When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight
against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it
shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it
shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall become
tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee. And
if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then
thou will besiege it: and when Jehovah thy God
delivereth it into thy hand, thou will smite every male thereof with the
edge of the sword: but the women, and the
little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the
spoil thereof, will thou take for a prey unto thyself; and thou will eat
the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
Thus will thou do unto all the cities which
are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
But of the cities of these peoples, that
Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou will save alive
nothing that breatheth; but thou will utterly
destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the
Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Jehovah thy God hath commanded
thee; that they teach you not to do after all
their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so would ye sin
against Jehovah your God.
When thou will besiege a city a long time, in
making war against it to take it, thou will not destroy the trees thereof
by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou
will not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should
be besieged of thee? Only the trees of which
thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou will destroy and cut
them down; and thou will build bulwarks against the city that maketh war
with thee, until it fall.
If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah
thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known
who hath smitten him; then thy elders and thy
judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are
round about him that is slain: and it shall be,
that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that
city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hath not been wrought with,
and which hath not drawn in the yoke; and the
elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a valley with running
water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck
there in the valley. And the priests the sons of
Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to minister
unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word
shall every controversy and every stroke be. And
all the elders of that city, who are nearest unto the slain man, shall
wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have
not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Forgive, O Jehovah, thy people Israel, whom thou
hast redeemed, and suffer not innocent blood to remain in the midst
of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
So will thou put away the innocent blood from
the midst of thee, when thou will do that which is right in the eyes of
Jehovah.
When thou goest forth to battle against thine
enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou
carriest them away captive, and seest among the
captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest
take her to thee to wife; then thou will bring
her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
and she shall put the raiment of her captivity
from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her
mother a full month: and after that thou will go in unto her, and be her
husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it
shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou will let her go
whither she will; but thou will not sell her at all for money, thou will
not deal with her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.
If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and
the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and
the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated;
then it shall be, in the day that he causeth
his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of
the beloved the first-born before the son of the hated, who is the
first-born: but he shall acknowledge the
first-born, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all
that he hath; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the
first-born is his.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son,
that will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother,
and, though they chasten him, will not hearken unto them;
then shall his father and his mother lay hold
on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate
of his place; and they shall say unto the
elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not
obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him to
death with stones: so will thou put away the evil from the midst of thee;
and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
And if a man have committed a sin worthy of
death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree;
his body shall not remain all night upon the
tree, but thou will surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged
is accursed of God; that thou defile not thy land which Jehovah thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance.
Thou will not see thy brother's ox or his sheep
go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou will surely bring them again
unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh
unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou will bring it home to thy
house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou
will restore it to him. And so will thou do
with his ass; and so will thou do with his garment; and so will thou do
with every lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast
found: thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou will
not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide
thyself from them: thou will surely help him to lift them up again.
A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth
unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever
doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.
If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the
way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam
sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou will not take the dam with
the young: thou will surely let the dam go, but
the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee,
and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
When thou buildest a new house, then thou will
make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house,
if any man fall from thence.
Thou will not sow thy vineyard with two kinds
of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which thou hast sown,
and the increase of the vineyard. Thou will
not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou
will not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.
Thou will make thee fringes upon the four
borders of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and
hate her, and lay shameful things to her
charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman,
and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity;
then shall the father of the damsel, and her
mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the
elders of the city in the gate; and the
damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this
man to wife, and he hates her; and, lo, he
hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy
daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my
daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders
of the city. And the elders of that city shall
take the man and chastise him; and they shall
fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father
of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of
Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
But if this thing be true, that the tokens of
virginity were not found in the damsel; then
they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the
men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she hath
wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house: so
will thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.
If a man be found lying with a woman married to
a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the
woman, and the woman: so will thou put away the evil from Israel.
If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed
unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate
of that city, and ye shall stone them to death with stones; the damsel,
because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath
humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou will put away the evil from the
midst of thee.
But if the man find the damsel that is
betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the
man only that lay with her shall die: but unto
the damsel thou will do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of
death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him,
even so is this matter; for he found her in the
field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that
is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be
found; then the man that lay with her shall
give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she
shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away
all his days.
A man shall not take his father's wife, and
shall not uncover his father's skirt.
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his
privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah.
A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of
Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the
assembly of Jehovah.
An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into
the assembly of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging
to them enter into the assembly of Jehovah for ever:
because they met you not with bread and with
water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired
against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse
thee. Nevertheless Jehovah thy God would not
hearken unto Balaam; but Jehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing
unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee.
Thou will not seek their peace nor their
prosperity all thy days for ever.
Thou will not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy
brother: thou will not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a sojourner
in his land. The children of the third
generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of
Jehovah.
When thou goest forth in camp against thine
enemies, then thou will keep thee from every evil thing.
If there be among you any man, that is not
clean by reason of that which chanceth him by night, then shall he go
abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:
but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he
shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come
within the camp. Thou will have a place also
without the camp, whither thou will go forth abroad:
and thou will have a paddle among thy weapons;
and it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou will dig therewith,
and will turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:
for Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy
camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore
shall thy camp be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in thee, and
turn away from thee.
Thou will not deliver unto his master a
servant that is escaped from his master unto thee:
he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee,
in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it
pleaseth him best: thou will not oppress him.
There shall be no prostitute of the daughters
of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
Thou will not bring the hire of a harlot, or
the wages of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow: for
even both these are an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.
Thou will not lend upon interest to thy
brother; interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything
that is lent upon interest: unto a foreigner
thou mayest lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou will not lend
upon interest, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou
puttest thy hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it.
When thou will vow a vow unto Jehovah thy God,
thou will not be slack to pay it: for Jehovah thy God will surely require
it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if
thou will forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.
That which is gone out of thy lips thou will
observe and do; according as thou hast vowed unto Jehovah thy God, a
freewill-offering, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.
When thou comest into thy neighbor's vineyard,
then thou mayest eat of grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou
will not put any in thy vessel. When thou
comest into thy neighbor's standing grain, then thou mayest pluck the ears
with thy hand; but thou will not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's
standing grain.
When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then
it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some
unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and
give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
And when she is departed out of his house, she
may go and be another man's wife. And if
the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give
it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband
die, who took her to be his wife; her former
husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after
that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou
will not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance.
When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go
out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business: he shall
be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he hath taken.
No man shall take the mill or the upper
millstone to pledge; for he taketh a man's life to pledge.
If a man be found stealing any of his brethren
of the children of Israel, and he deal with him as a slave, or sell him;
then that thief shall die: so will thou put away the evil from the midst
of thee.
Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou
observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites
shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.
Remember what Jehovah thy God did unto Miriam,
by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt.
When thou dost lend thy neighbor any manner of
loan, thou will not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
Thou will stand without, and the man to whom
thou dost lend shall bring forth the pledge without unto thee.
And if he be a poor man, thou will not sleep
with his pledge; thou will surely restore to
him the pledge when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment,
and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before Jehovah thy
God.
Thou will not oppress a hired servant that is
poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners that
are in thy land within thy gates: in his day
thou will give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for
he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto
Jehovah, and it be sin unto thee.
The fathers shall not be put to death for the
children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers:
every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Thou will not wrest the justice due to
the sojourner, or to the fatherless, nor take the widow's raiment
to pledge; but thou will remember that thou
wast a bondman in Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee thence:
therefore I command thee to do this thing.
When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and
hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou will not go again to fetch it: it
shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that
Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.
When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou will
not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the sojourner, for the
fatherless, and for the widow. When thou
gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou will not glean it after
thee: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the
widow. And thou will remember that thou wast a
bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
If there be a controversy between men, and they
come unto judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall
justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked;
and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to
be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten
before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.
Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not
exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many
stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Thou will not muzzle the ox when he treadeth
out the grain.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die,
and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married without unto a
stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him
to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.
And it shall be, that the first-born that she
beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, that his
name be not blotted out of Israel. And if the
man like not to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go
up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to
raise up unto his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty
of a husband's brother unto me. Then the elders
of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand, and say,
I like not to take her; then shall his brother's
wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from
off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So shall
it be done unto the man that doth not build up his brother's house.
And his name shall be called in Israel, The
house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
When men strive together one with another, and
the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of
him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the
secrets; then thou will cut off her hand,
thine eye shall have no pity.
Thou will not have in thy bag diverse weights,
a great and a small. Thou will not have in thy
house diverse measures, a great and a small. A
perfect and just weight will thou have; a perfect and just measure will
thou have: that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God
giveth thee. For all that do such things,
even all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto Jehovah thy
God.
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way
as ye came forth out of Egypt; how he met thee
by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind
thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
Therefore it shall be, when Jehovah thy God
hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which
Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou
will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou will not
forget.
And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the
land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest
it, and dwellest therein, that thou will take
of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou will bring in
from thy land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee; and thou will put it in a
basket, and will go unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to
cause his name to dwell there. And thou will
come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I
profess this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the land which
Jehovah sware unto our fathers to give us. And
the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before
the altar of Jehovah thy God. And thou will
answer and say before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my
father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number;
and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and
afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: and
we cried unto Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our
voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression;
and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a
mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness,
and with signs, and with wonders; and he hath
brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing
with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have
brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Jehovah, hast
given me. And thou will set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship
before Jehovah thy God: and thou will rejoice
in all the good which Jehovah thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy
house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner that is in the midst of
thee.
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the
tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing,
then thou will give it unto the Levite, to the sojourner, to the
fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be
filled. And thou will say before Jehovah thy
God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have
given them unto the Levite, and unto the sojourner, to the fatherless, and
to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded
me: I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I
forgotten them: I have not eaten thereof in my
mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given
thereof for the dead: I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God; I
have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
Look down from thy holy habitation, from
heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou hast given
us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
This day Jehovah thy God commandeth thee to do
these statutes and ordinances: thou will therefore keep and do them with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast
avouched Jehovah this day to be thy God, and that thou wouldest walk in
his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances,
and hearken unto his voice: and Jehovah hath
avouched thee this day to be a people for his own possession, as he hath
promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;
and to make thee high above all nations that he
hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be a
holy people unto Jehovah thy God, as he hath spoken.
And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the
people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.
And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass
over the Jordan unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, that thou
will set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster:
and thou will write upon them all the words of
this law, when thou art passed over; that thou mayest go in unto the land
which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as
Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath promised thee.
And it shall be, when ye are passed over the
Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day,
in mount Ebal, and thou will plaster them with plaster.
And there will thou build an altar unto Jehovah
thy God, an altar of stones: thou will lift up no iron tool upon
them. Thou will build the altar of Jehovah thy
God of unhewn stones; and thou will offer burnt-offerings thereon unto
Jehovah thy God: and thou will sacrifice
peace-offerings, and will eat there; and thou will rejoice before
Jehovah thy God. And thou will write upon the
stones all the words of this law very plainly.
And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto
all Israel, saying, Keep silence, and hearken, O Israel: this day thou art
become the people of Jehovah thy God. Thou
will therefore obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, and do his commandments
and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
And Moses charged the people the same day,
saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to
bless the people, when ye are passed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi,
and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin.
And these shall stand upon mount Ebal for the
curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.