Deuteronomy
Book Outhne
Key theme: Preparation for claiming the inheritance
Key verses: ,
I. Remembering God’s Blessings ()
A. God led them ()
B. God came to them ()
C. God taught them ()
II. Responding to God’s Goodness ()
A. Loving God ()
B. Obeying God ()
C. Showing gratitude to God ()
D. Fearing God ()
III. Reviewing God’s Word ()
A. Worship and obedience (; )
B. Civil officials ()
C. Offerings (; )
D. Cities of refuge (; )
E. Waging war ()
F. Miscellaneous laws ()
IV. Renewing God’s Covenant ()
A. Obedience and disobedience ()
B. The terms of the covenant ()
V. Replacing God’s Servant ()
A. Moses encourages his successor ()
B. Moses warns the nation ()
C. Moses blesses the tribes ()
D. Moses leaves the people ()
Book Overview
Journalism instructors teach us that the first paragraph of every news article has to inform the reader of the “who, what, where, when, and why” of the event being reported. isn’t a news article, but it does give the five W’s. The people of Israel are at Kadesh Barnea in the fortieth year after their deliverance from Egypt, and their leader, Moses, is about to expound God’s law and prepare the new generation to enter Canaan. Although Moses himself wouldn’t enter the land, he would explain to the people what they had to do to conquer the enemy, claim their promised inheritance, and live successfully in their new home to the glory of God.
In this series of addresses Moses sought to equip this generation for their new life in the Promised Land. First, Moses reviewed the past and reminded Israel of God’s faithfulness and their ancestors’ unfaithfulness. Then he declared the Law of God and the covenant the Lord had made with the people at Sinai, because their obedience to the covenant would determine their success in the Promised Land. The nation had been nomadic for forty years, but now they would enter their land and become an agricultural people as each tribe claimed its inheritance. Moses applied to their new situation the law God had given them forty years before.
God was giving His people a second chance, and Moses didn’t want the new generation to fail as their fathers had failed before them. Israel should have entered Canaan thirty-eight years before (), but in their unbelief they rebelled against God. The Lord condemned them to wander in the wilderness until the older generation had died, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb (). As philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The first thing Moses did in his farewell discourse was to review Israel’s past and remind the new generation who they were and how they got where they were (). Knowing their past, the new generation in Israel could avoid repeating the sins of their fathers.
If Israel obeyed God’s covenant, God would bless the nation abundantly and they would be a witness to the pagan nations around them. These peoples would then want to know the God of Israel and the Jews could explain their faith to them. Moses urged his people to love the Lord, because love is the greatest motive for obedience. So important was the Book of Deuteronomy to the Israelite nation that God commanded it to be read publicly during the Feast of Tabernacles at the close of each Sabbatical year ().
“Deuteronomy” means “second law” or “repetition of the law.” In this book, Moses reviews the law originally given at Sinai and applies it to Israel’s life in the land of Canaan. The book also contains instructions and exhortations concerning the conquest of the land and Israel’s relationship to the inhabitants of the land.
“Be Transformed”
When Moses delivered the addresses we call the Book of Deuteronomy, he wanted the people to remember the things that were really important. If they would remember who they were—sinners saved by God’s grace and power—and what God had done for them, they would be able to enter the new land triumphantly, defeat their enemies, avoid the dangerous temptations all around them, and enjoy the inheritance God prepared for them.
The Word of God was given so that we might better know the God of the Word. Everything that Moses declared to the people was a revelation of the mind and heart of God. Each law, each ceremony, each prohibition, and each memory of past events pointed to Jehovah, the God of the Israelites. In mighty deeds of power and gracious words of truth, the Lord had revealed Himself to Israel as He did to no other nation, and Moses recorded these words and deeds for us to read today. The knowledge of God is life’s most important knowledge.
God declared His Word through chosen servants like Moses, and He expects His people to listen to the Word, remember it, and obey it. Just as Israel is a people of the Word, so the church today is a people of the Word. Our faith isn’t something that we manufactured ourselves, because it was graciously given to us in the Word of the Lord. God’s Word is our life, and apart from that Word, we cannot know God, know the will of God, or worship and serve God acceptably. God’s commandments are God’s enablements. We’re privileged to have the written Word in our own language and to enjoy the freedom to read it and share it with others. Like Israel, the church must be a “people of the Word,” for everything we need for life and godliness is found in the inspired Word of God (; see , ).
As God’s children, we need to confess that apart from God’s grace, nothing good dwells in us (), and that our fallen nature can’t be changed. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” ()—and it always will be human life! We can’t create spiritual life. The ability to sin is still with us, but we should have less of an appetite to sin. Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and the Word (; ), our inner person should conform more and more to Christ, desiring and delighting in the things of God. We can remember these principles and allow God to work them out in our lives.
The Previous Command to Enter Canaan
1These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
2It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
3Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them,
4after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.
5On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying,
7‘Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.
8‘See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’
Tribal Leaders Appointed
10‘The LORD your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.
11‘May the LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!
12‘How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints?
13‘Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’
14“And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’
15“So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
17‘You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’
18“And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land
19“So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea.
20“And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
21‘Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’
23“The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.
24“And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out.
25“They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.’
27“and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
29“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them.
30‘The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31‘and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32“Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God,
33“who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion
34“And the LORD heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying,
35‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,
36‘except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the LORD.’
38‘Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
40‘But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
41“Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.
42“And the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’
43“So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.
44“And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah.
45“Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
46“So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.
The Desert Years
2“And the LORD spoke to me, saying:
3‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward.
4‘And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully.
5“Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
6“You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.
7“For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’
9“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”
10(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim.
11They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
12The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the LORD gave them.)
13“ ‘Now rise and cross over the Valley of the Zered.’ So we crossed over the Valley of the Zered.
14“And the time we took to come from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, just as the LORD had sworn to them.
15“For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they were consumed.
16“So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people,
17“that the LORD spoke to me, saying:
18‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of Moab.
19‘And when you come near the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ”
20(That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
21a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the LORD destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place,
22just as He had done for the descendants of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day.
23And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza—the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.)
24“ ‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.
25‘This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
King Sihon Defeated
26“And I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27‘Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left.
28‘You shall 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 foot,
29‘just as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which the LORD our God is giving us.’
30“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day.
31“And the LORD said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’
32“Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz.
33“And the LORD our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated him, his sons, and all his people.
34“We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining.
35“We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we took.
36“From Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and from the city that is in the ravine, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; the LORD our God delivered all to us.
37“Only you did not go near the land of the people of Ammon—anywhere along the River Jabbok, or to the cities of the mountains, or wherever the LORD our God had forbidden us.
King Og Defeated
1“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
2“And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’
3“So the LORD our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.
4“And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5“All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns.
7“But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.
9“(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir),
10“all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Bashan, as far as Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.
The Land East of the Jordan Divided
12“And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, and half the mountains of Gilead and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites.
13“The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, with all Bashan, was called the land of the giants.
14“Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and called Bashan after his own name, Havoth Jair, to this day.)
15“Also I gave Gilead to Machir.
16“And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the River Arnon, the middle of the river as the border, as far as the River Jabbok, the border of the people of Ammon;
17“the plain also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the east side of the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.
18“Then I commanded you at that time, saying: ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel.
19‘But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall stay in your cities which I have given you,
22‘You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’
Moses Forbidden to Enter the Land
23“Then I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying:
24‘O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?
25‘I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’
26“But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the LORD said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.
27‘Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
28‘But command 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 you will see.’
29“So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth Peor.
Moses Commands Obedience
2“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
3“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.
7“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?
8“And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?
9“Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,
11“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
12“And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
14“And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.
Beware of Idolatry
15“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16“lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
17“the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
18“the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.
19“And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.
20“But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.
21“Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22“But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land.
24“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger,
26“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27“And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
28“And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30“When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice
31“(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
33“Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
34“Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35“To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.
36“Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
37“And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power,
38“driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.
39“Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40“You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”
Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan
41Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,
42that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Introduction to God’s Law
44Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.
45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt,
46on this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt.
47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,
48from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),
49and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
The Ten Commandments Reviewed
1And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.
2“The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3“The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
4“The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5“I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:
7‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
8‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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;
9you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
10but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
11‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
13Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
17‘You shall not murder.
18‘You shall not commit adultery.
19‘You shall not steal.
20‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
The People Afraid of God’s Presence
23“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24“And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
25‘Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.
26‘For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27‘You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28“Then the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
30‘Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.”
31‘But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’
32“Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
The Greatest Commandment
6“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Caution Against Disobedience
10“So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build,
11“houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—
12“then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13“You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.
14“You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you
15“(for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
17“You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.
18“And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers,
19“to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
20“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’
21“then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;
22‘and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household.
23‘Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers.
24‘And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.
25‘Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’
A Chosen People
1“When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,
4“For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
5“But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
7“The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8“but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9“Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
10“and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.
Blessings of Obedience
13“And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.
14“You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.
15“And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
16“Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
18“you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
19“the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20“Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.
22“And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
23“But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.
24“And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.
25“You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
26“Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.
Remember the LORD Your God
1“Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.
6“Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
8“a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;
9“a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
10“When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
12“lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;
13“and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
14“when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15“who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock;
16“who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—
17“then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
18“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
20“As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.
Israel’s Rebellions Reviewed
1“Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,
2“a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’
5“It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6“Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
8“Also in Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry enough with you to have destroyed you.
9“When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
10“Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11“And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
12“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly; they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded image.’
13“Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people.
14‘Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
15“So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16“And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God—had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.
17“Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
19“For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry with you, to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me at that time also.
20“And the LORD was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
21“Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.
23“Likewise, when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice.
24“You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
25“Thus I prostrated myself before the LORD; forty days and forty nights I kept prostrating myself, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.
26“Therefore I prayed to the LORD, and said: ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27‘Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or their sin,
28‘lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”
The Second Pair of Tablets
1“At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood.
2‘And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’
3“So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.
4“And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.
5“Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.”
6(Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died, and where he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead.
7From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water.
8At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.
9Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God promised him.)
10“As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; the LORD also heard me at that time, and the LORD chose not to destroy you.
11“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
The Essence of the Law
13“and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
15“The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
17“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
18“He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
19“Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
20“You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
21“He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.
22“Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
Love and Obedience Rewarded
2“Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm—
3“His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land;
4“what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;
5“what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place;
6“and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel—
7“but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did.
9“and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
10“For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;
11“but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,
12“a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.
13‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14‘then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
15‘And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’
17“lest the LORD’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.
18“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
19“You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
20“And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
21“that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.
22“For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—
23“then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.
25“No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.
27“the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today;
28“and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
30“Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?
31“For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it.
32“And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.
A Prescribed Place of Worship
1“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.
3“And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.
5“But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
6“There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7“And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
8“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—
9“for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.
10“But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety,
11“then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD.
12“And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
13“Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;
14“but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15“However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike.
16“Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water.
19“Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20“When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.
21“If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires.
22“Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them.
23“Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat.
24“You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water.
25“You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.
26“Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses.
28“Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.
Beware of False Gods
30“take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’
31“You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
32“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
Punishment of Apostates
2“and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
3“you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4“You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
7“of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,
8“you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him;
9“but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
10“And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11“So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
13‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known—
14“then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you,
15“you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword.
16“And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again.
17“So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers,
18“because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
Improper Mourning
2“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Clean and Unclean Meat
4“These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
5“the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6“And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals.
7“Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you.
8“Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
9“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales.
10“And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11“All clean birds you may eat.
12“But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,
13“the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds;
14“every raven after its kind;
15“the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds;
16“the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl,
17“the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl,
18“the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19“Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.
20“You may eat all clean birds.
21“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Tithing Principles
23“And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
24“But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you,
25“then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses.
26“And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
27“You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
28“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.
29“And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Debts Canceled Every Seven Years
1“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts.
2“And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the LORD’s release.
3“Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother,
4“except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—
5“only if you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today.
6“For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.
Generosity to the Poor
8“but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.
9“Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the LORD against you, and it become sin among you.
10“You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.
11“For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
The Law Concerning Bondservants
12“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13“And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;
14“you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him.
15“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.
17“then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.
18“It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals
19“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to the LORD your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
20“You and your household shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD chooses.
21“But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
22“You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer.
23“Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
The Passover Reviewed
3“You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
4“And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.
6“but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
7“And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
The Feast of Weeks Reviewed
9“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.
10“Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.
11“You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.
The Feast of Tabernacles Reviewed
13“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress.
14“And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
15“Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
16“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
17“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
Justice Must Be Administered
18“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
20“You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
21“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God.
22“You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
3“who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,
4“and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel,
5“then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.
6“Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
7“The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
8“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.
9“And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.
10“You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you.
11“According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.
12“Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.
13“And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
Principles Governing Kings
15“you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
16“But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’
17“Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
18“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
19“And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,
20“that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
The Portion of the Priests and Levites
2“Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them.
3“And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach.
4“The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
5“For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever.
6“So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses,
7“then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD.
8“They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.
Avoid Wicked Customs
11“or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
12“For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
13“You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
14“For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.
A New Prophet Like Moses
15“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
16“according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’
17“And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good.
18‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
20‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
Three Cities of Refuge
2“you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
3“You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.
4“And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—
5“as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live;
6“lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past.
7“Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’
8“Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers,
9“and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three,
10“lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.
11“But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,
12“then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
13“Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
Property Boundaries
14“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
The Law Concerning Witnesses
15“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
16“If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
17“then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
19“then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
20“And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.
Principles Governing Warfare
2“So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
3“And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them;
4‘for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
6‘Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.
7‘And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’
8“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’
9“And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
11“And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.
12“Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it.
13“And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword.
14“But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the LORD your God gives you.
15“Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16“But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,
17“but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,
18“lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God.
20“Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.
The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder
2“then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities.
4“The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
5“Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled.
6“And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.
7“Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
8‘Provide atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood.
Female Captives
10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive,
11“and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife,
12“then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.
13“She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
14“And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her.
Firstborn Inheritance Rights
15“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved,
16“then it shall be, on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn.
17“But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
The Rebellious Son
19“then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city.
20“And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
21“Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Miscellaneous Laws
2“And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him.
3“You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself.
7“you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
8“When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.
9“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.
10“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.
12“You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.
Laws of Sexual Morality
13“If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her,
14“and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’
15“then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.
16“And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her.
17‘Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18“Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him;
19“and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.
20“But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman,
21“then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
22“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
23“If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,
24“then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
25“But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.
26“But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter.
27“For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out,
29“then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
30“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s bed.
Those Excluded from the Congregation
2“One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
4“because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
5“Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.
6“You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
7“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.
8“The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Cleanliness of the Campsite
10“If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp.
11“But it shall be, when evening comes, that he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
12“Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out;
13“and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse.
14“For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you.
16“He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him.
17“There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one of the sons of Israel.
18“You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the LORD your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.
19“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.
20“To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
21“When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.
22“But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.
23“That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
25“When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Law Concerning Divorce
2“when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife,
3“if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife,
4“then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Miscellaneous Laws
5“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
6“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one’s living in pledge.
7“If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you.
8“Take heed in an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.
10“When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.
11“You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.
12“And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.
13“You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.
14“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.
15“Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.
16“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
17“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge.
18“But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
19“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20“When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
21“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
2“then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows.
3“Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.
Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother
5“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
6“And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
7“But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’
8“Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’
9“then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’
10“And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
Miscellaneous Laws
12“then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her.
14“You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.
15“You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
16“For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Destroy the Amalekites
18“how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.
19“Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.
Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes
2“that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide.
3“And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
4“Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5“And you shall answer and say before the LORD your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
6‘But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us.
7‘Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression.
8‘So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.
9‘He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”;
10‘and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.
11“So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.
13“then you shall say before the LORD your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
14‘I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me.
15‘Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
A Special People of God
18“Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments,
The Law Inscribed on Stones
2“And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime.
3“You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you.
4“Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.
5“And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them.
6“You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.
7“You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.
9Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God.
10“Therefore you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”
Curses Pronounced from Mount Ebal
11And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying,
12“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin;
13“and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
15‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’
“And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen!’
16‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
17‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
18‘Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
19‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
20‘Cursed is the one who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s bed.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
21‘Cursed is the one who lies with any kind of animal.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
22‘Cursed is the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
23‘Cursed is the one who lies with his mother-in-law.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
24‘Cursed is the one who attacks his neighbor secretly.’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
“And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ”
Blessings on Obedience
2“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8“The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
9“The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
10“Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.
11“And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
12“The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13“And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
14“So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
Curses on Disobedience
16“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country.
17“Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18“Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
19“Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20“The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.
21“The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
22“The LORD will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
23“And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron.
24“The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
25“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.
26“Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
27“The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28“The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart.
29“And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
30“You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes.
31“Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue them.
32“Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all day long; and there shall be no strength in your hand.
33“A nation whom you have not known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually.
34“So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see.
35“The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36“The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone.
37“And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the LORD will drive you.
38“You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.
39“You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
40“You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.
41“You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
42“Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.
43“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
44“He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45“Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46“And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.
47“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything,
48“therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.
49“The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,
50“a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.
51“And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
52“They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you.
53“You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.
54“The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind,
55“so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
56“The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter,
57“her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates.
58“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD,
59“then the LORD will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.
60“Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61“Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.
62“You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
64“Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone.
65“And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul.
66“Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.
68“And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
2Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land—
3“the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders.
4“Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
5“And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.
6“You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.
7“And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them.
8“We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh.
10“All of you stand today before the LORD your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel,
11“your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water—
12“that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today,
13“that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14“I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone,
15“but with him who stands here with us today before the LORD our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today
17and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold);
18“so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;
19“and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
20“The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven.
21“And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,
22“so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it:
23‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’
24All nations would say, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’
25“Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt;
26‘for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.
27‘Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
28‘And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
29“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
The Blessing of Returning to God
2“and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3“that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.
4“If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
6“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
7“Also the LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8“And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and do all His commandments which I command you today.
9“The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,
10“if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life or Death
12“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
13“Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
14“But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16“in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
18“I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
20“that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Joshua the New Leader of Israel
2And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’
3“The LORD your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the LORD has said.
4“And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them.
5“The LORD will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you.
6“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
8“And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years
10And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles,
11“when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12“Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law,
13“and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”
Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion
14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may inaugurate him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting.
15Now the LORD appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.
16And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
17“Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’
18“And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
19“Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.
20“When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.
21“Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”
22Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.
23Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
24So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished,
25that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying:
26“Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you;
27“for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death?
28“Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29“For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”
The Song of Moses
30Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:
And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2Let my teaching drop as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
As raindrops on the tender herb,
And as showers on the grass.
3For I proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God.
4He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A perverse and crooked generation.
6Do you thus deal with the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father, who bought you?
Has He not made you and established you?
7“Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
8When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the children of Israel.
9For the LORD’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
10“He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howhng wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
11As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12So the LORD alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.
13“He made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;
14Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.
You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
18Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.
19“And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
20And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faith.
21They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.
But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the lowest hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23‘I will heap disasters on them;
I will spend My arrows on them.
24They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
25The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
27Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, “Our hand is high;
And it is not the LORD who has done all this.” ’
28“For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
29Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their latter end!
30How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the LORD had surrendered them?
31For their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves being judges.
32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom
And of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter.
33Their wine is the poison of serpents,
And the cruel venom of cobras.
Sealed up among My treasures?
35Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
36“For the LORD will judge His people
And have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power is gone,
And there is no one remaining, bond or free.
37He will say: ‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
38Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you,
And be your refuge.
39‘Now see that I, even I, am He,
And there is no God besides Me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
40For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
41If I whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
42I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’
43“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people;
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
44So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.
46and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law.
47“For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
Moses to Die on Mount Nebo
48Then the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying:
49“Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession;
50“and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;
51“because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel.
52“Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”
Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel
2And he said:
“The LORD came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came with ten thousands of saints;
From His right hand
Came a fiery law for them.
3Yes, He loves the people;
All His saints are in Your hand;
They sit down at Your feet;
Everyone receives Your words.
4Moses commanded a law for us,
A heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
5And He was King in Jeshurun,
When the leaders of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.
6“Let Reuben live, and not die,
Nor let his men be few.”
7And this he said of Judah:
“Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people;
Let his hands be sufficient for him,
And may You be a help against his enemies.”
8And of Levi he said:
“Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one,
Whom You tested at Massah,
And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,
9Who says of his father and mother,
‘I have not seen them’;
Nor did he acknowledge his brothers,
Or know his own children;
For they have observed Your word
And kept Your covenant.
10They shall teach Jacob Your judgments,
And Israel Your law.
They shall put incense before You,
And a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar.
11Bless his substance, LORD,
And accept the work of his hands;
Strike the loins of those who rise against him,
And of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
12Of Benjamin he said:
“The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him,
Who shelters him all the day long;
And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”
13And of Joseph he said:
“Blessed of the LORD is his land,
With the precious things of heaven, with the dew,
And the deep lying beneath,
14With the precious fruits of the sun,
With the precious produce of the months,
15With the best things of the ancient mountains,
With the precious things of the everlasting hills,
16With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush.
Let the blessing come ‘on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’
17His glory is like a firstborn bull,
And his horns like the horns of the wild ox;
Together with them
He shall push the peoples
To the ends of the earth;
They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18And of Zebulun he said:
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
And Issachar in your tents!
19They shall call the peoples to the mountain;
There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness;
For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas
And of treasures hidden in the sand.”
20And of Gad he said:
“Blessed is he who enlarges Gad;
He dwells as a lion,
And tears the arm and the crown of his head.
21He provided the first part for himself,
Because a lawgiver’s portion was reserved there.
He came with the heads of the people;
He administered the justice of the LORD,
And His judgments with Israel.”
22And of Dan he said:
“Dan is a lion’s whelp;
He shall leap from Bashan.”
23And of Naphtali he said:
“O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the LORD,
Possess the west and the south.”
24And of Asher he said:
“Asher is most blessed of sons;
Let him be favored by his brothers,
And let him dip his foot in oil.
25Your sandals shall be iron and bronze;
As your days, so shall your strength be.
Who rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds.
27The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
He will thrust out the enemy from before you,
And will say, ‘Destroy!’
28Then Israel shall dwell in safety,
The fountain of Jacob alone,
In a land of grain and new wine;
His heavens shall also drop dew.
Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,
The shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies shall submit to you,
And you shall tread down their high places.”
Moses Dies on Mount Nebo
2all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,
3the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
4Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”
6And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.
7Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
8And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.
9Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
11in all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land,
12and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Annotations for Deuteronomy
A grasp of history is important to every generation because it gives a sense of identity. If you know who you are and where you came from, you will have an easier time discovering what you should be doing. A generation without identity is like a person without a birth certificate, a name, an address, or a family. If we don’t know our historic roots, we may become like tumbleweeds that are blown here and there and never arrive at our destination.
Why did the Lord have the Israelites tarry so long at Sinai? He wanted to give them His law and teach them how to worship. The Lord didn’t give Israel His law to save them from their sins, because “man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (). Under the old covenant, people were saved by faith just as sinners are today (; ; ). The law reveals the sinfulness of man and the holy character of God. It explained what God required of His people if they were to please Him and enjoy His blessing. The civil laws allowed Israel to have an orderly and just society, and the religious laws enabled them to live as the people of God, set apart from the other nations to glorify His name. The law also prepared the way for the coming of Israel’s Messiah (), and the various tabernacle furnishings and ceremonies pointed to Jesus.
Israel was on the way to Kadesh Barnea (see also ). It wasn’t easy for Moses to lead this great nation because he frequently had to solve new problems and listen to new complaints. Accustomed to the comfort of their camp at Sinai, the people resented the hardships of their journey to the Promised Land. They forgot the distress of their years of slavery in Egypt and even wanted to turn around and go back! They got accustomed to the manna that God sent them from heaven each morning and soon took it for granted, and they longed for the savory meat and vegetables they had enjoyed eating in Egypt. No wonder Moses got discouraged and cried out to the Lord! He wanted to quit and he even asked God to take his life ()!
The charge Moses gave to the newly appointed leaders is one that ought to be heeded by everybody who serves in a place of authority, whether religious or civil. The emphasis is on character and justice and the realization that God is the judge and the final authority. If all officials made their decisions on the basis of nationality, race, social position, or wealth, they would sin against God and pervert justice.
Throughout the law of Moses, there’s an emphasis on justice and showing kindness and fairness to the poor, especially widows, orphans, and aliens in the land (; , ; , ; ; ). Frequently the prophets thundered against the wealthy landowners because they were abusing the poor and the helpless in the land (; ; ; ; , ; ; ). “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy” ().
The first indication that the nation was wavering in faith was the people’s request that Moses appoint a committee to search out the land (see ). Israel would then know the state of the land and be better able to prepare their plan of attack. This is the approach any army would use—it’s called “reconnaissance”—but Israel wasn’t just “any army.” They were God’s army and the Lord had already done the “reconnaissance” for them. From the very beginning, God had told Moses that Canaan was a good land flowing with milk and honey, and He even gave the names of the nations living in the land (, ; see ). Surely the people knew that the will of God would not lead them where the grace and power of God could not keep them.
When Moses spoke to God about the people’s suggestion, the Lord graciously gave him permission to grant their request (). God knows how weak we are, so He sometimes accommodates Himself to our condition (, ; see ). However, doing God’s permissive will isn’t quite the same as obeying His “good and acceptable and perfect will” (). When God lets us have our own way, it’s a concession on His part that should make us walk in fear and humility. Why? Because there’s always the danger that we’ll become proud and self-confident and start telling God what to do! Doing God’s express will is the safest course because God never makes a mistake. Sometimes our desires and God’s concessions combine to produce painful disciplines.
Ten of the spies gave their opinion that Israel wasn’t able to conquer the land because the cities were protected by high walls and there were giants in the land. The minority (Joshua and Caleb) boldly affirmed that the Lord was able to give His people victory because He was greater than any enemy. Unfortunately, the nation sided with the majority and became discouraged and even more afraid.
What was the cause of Israel’s failure at Kadesh Barnea? They forgot his works and His wonders that He had shown them. . . . They did not remember His power” (, ). God had demonstrated His great power by sending the plagues on Egypt and by opening the Red Sea so Israel could escape, and yet none of these wonders had really registered in the minds and hearts of His people. Even the miraculous provision of bread, meat, and water didn’t increase their faith. They gladly received the gifts but failed to take to heart the goodness and grace of the Giver. Instead, they hardened their hearts against the Lord and developed an evil heart of unbelief (). If God’s blessings don’t humble our hearts and make us trust Him more, then they will harden our hearts and weaken our faith. Unless we receive His Word in our hearts and give thanks to God for His blessings, we become proud and selfish and begin to take the Lord’s blessings for granted.
There’s a difference between unbelief and doubt. Unbelief is a matter of the will; it causes people to rebel against God and say, “No matter what the Lord says or does, I will not believe and obey!” Doubt, however, is a matter of the heart and the emotions; it’s what people experience when they waver between fear and faith (; ). The doubter says, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” God seeks to encourage doubters and help them believe, but all He can do with rebels is bring judgment. At Kadesh, He decreed that the nation would wander for the next thirty-eight years (they had already been in the wilderness two years) until all the people twenty years and older had died. Then He would take the new generation—the children and teenagers whom the leaders said would be devoured by the enemy—and lead them into the land where they would conquer the enemy and claim their inheritance.
When Moses said that God was angry with him “for your sakes,” he wasn’t excusing himself by blaming the Israelites. What this means is that the rebellious attitude of the people had provoked him into doing what He did and saying what He said. Moses had been grieved so often by the people complaining and disobeying that it all finally came to a head and he lost the meekness for which he was so well known. Even the greatest spiritual leaders are but frail human beings apart from the grace of God, and many of them failed in their strongest points.
This is a summary of the record given in , describing the people of Israel defeating nations and kings in their march to the Promised Land. In this speech, Moses gave no details of what Israel experienced while wandering thirty-eight years in the wilderness.
Of all the problems we face in life, family disagreements are probably the most painful and the hardest to solve, and yet the Bible records so many of them. Cain killed his brother Abel (); Jacob and Esau were rivals; Jacob’s wives competed with one another (); Jacob favored Joseph and therefore Joseph’s brothers hated their youngest brother (); and David’s father-in-law, King Saul, hounded him and tried to kill him ().
Even in the Christian family, brothers and sisters in the local church don’t always love each other. The Corinthian church was divided four ways (); the Galatian believers were biting and devouring each other (); the saints in Ephesus needed to be kind and forgive each other (, ); and in the Philippian church two women were at odds with each other (, ). Family feuds and church disagreements are at least somewhat confined, but when entire nations cultivate and sustain hatred for one another and wage war, many innocent people are hurt.
There are times when avoiding conflict is cowardly, but there are other times when it’s a mark of courage and wisdom (; ). Like James and John, we might feel like calling down fire from heaven on people who reject us, but it’s better to follow the examples of Moses and Jesus and take another route ().
One more factor in this “peacemaking” should be noticed: God had graciously cared for Israel and blessed His people even during their years of wandering, so there was no need for them to attack their brothers and exploit them (). God would give Israel all the land they needed without their having to go to war. If more individuals, families, and nations were content with the blessings God has given them, there would be less fighting among them.
Sihon and Og were powerful kings in the region of the Amorites on the east side of the Jordan, and the Lord had determined to destroy them and their people. God’s orders in , , and summarize the pattern Israel would follow in their conquest of the Promised Land. God would tell Joshua which city or people to attack; He would assure them of victory; and He would go with them to help them win the battle. Israel’s defeat of Sihon and Og was especially important because it would send a message ahead to the nations in Canaan and bring fear to their hearts (). By the time Joshua was ready to enter the land, the news of Israel’s invincible march had already gone before them (; see ).
Liberal critics of the Bible express concern at the way Israel destroyed entire nations, killed “innocent people,” and confiscated their cities and their lands. But how “innocent” were these people? The critics of Scripture (and God) may not realize that the nations Israel encountered east of the Jordan and in Canaan itself were indescribably wicked. They were brutal people who sacrificed their own children to the false gods that they worshiped. Male and female prostitutes served in their temples and illicit sexual intercourse was an important part of the Canaanite religion.
These people were not left without a witness from God—in creation (.), as well as through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had lived in Canaan. Furthermore, the news of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, and Israel’s deliverance through the Red Sea () came to the ears of these people and bore witness that Jehovah alone is the true God. God had been longsuffering with these wicked nations even in Abraham’s day, but now their time had run out and their judgment had come ().
The victories over Sihon and Og, the two mighty kings of the lands east of the Jordan, were themselves preparation for the battles Israel would fight when they arrived in Canaan. The new generation was getting its first real taste of warfare and was quickly discovering that Jehovah could be trusted to overcome every enemy. All that the army had to do was obey God’s orders, trust His promises, and courageously confront the enemy.
Moses described this victory as when the Lord has given literally “rest,” a word that is used in and and frequently in Joshua (; ; ; ; ; ). The Book of Hebrews picks up the phrase and applies it to the spiritual rest we have in Christ because we have trusted His finished work on the cross (, ; ).
The only cloud over all this celebration of victory was that Moses wasn’t permitted to enter the Promised Land because of his impetuous sin of striking the rock (; ). But even this sad note brought with it a trumpet call of encouragement in what Moses said: “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?” ().
All that Moses said in the first part of his farewell address prepared the way for his exposition and application of God’s law, for history and responsibility go together. God had done mighty things for the people, both in blessing them and in chastening them, and the people of Israel had a responsibility to love God and obey His Word. Throughout this address, Moses will frequently remind the Israelites that they were a privileged people, the people of God, separated unto the Lord from all the nations of the earth. It’s when we forget our high calling that we descend into low living.
The church today needs to catch up on the past and be reminded of all that the Lord has done for His people—and all that His people have done and not done in return for His blessings. If a new generation of believers is to march into the future in victory, they need to get back to their roots and learn again the basics of what it means to be the people of God.
The verb “listen” is used nearly 100 times in the Book of Deuteronomy. The traditional Jewish confession of faith (, ) is called the Shema, from the Hebrew word which means “to hear, to pay attention, to understand, to obey.”
To the Old Testament Jew and the New Testament Christian, hearing the Word of God involves much more than sound waves impacting the human ear. Hearing God’s Word is a matter of focusing our whole being—mind, heart, and will—on the Lord, receiving what He says to us, and obeying it. The Word of God must penetrate our heart and become a part of our inner being if it is to change our lives. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (). That statement is found at least eight times in the Gospels, so it must be important. (See also and .)
Catalyst
How can believing parents best influence their children to trust the Lord and live by His wisdom? Moses gives the adults three suggestions: (1) Be examples to your children; (2) don’t let God’s Word slip from your minds and hearts; and (3) remember what the Lord has done for you in the past and share these experiences with your children.
Every Israelite child in Moses’ day was supposed to know the story of the exodus (; , ; ; ), and in the future, every child was supposed to know the significance of Israel’s crossing the Jordan River (, ). It’s the responsibility of the older generation to instruct the younger generation and be an example and an encouragement to them (; ; ; ; ; ; ). Parents must not turn this responsibility over to Sunday school teachers or Bible club leaders, as important as those ministries are, for dedicated Christian parents are God’s first choice as teachers of their children. The sins of parents—especially spiritual neglect and bad example—may be imitated by the children and produce sad consequences later in life (; , ; , ).
Go to the
The Israelites who refused the invitation to idolatry and remained true to the Lord were still alive, because the Word is our life, and obeying God’s Word keeps us in fellowship with the Lord (). God’s people must be careful not to become friendly with the world () or spotted by the world (), because this leads to loving the world () and being conformed to the world (). This kind of lifestyle invites the chastening of God, for He said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” and “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (, ).
When God speaks, He sets before us life and death (), and our response determines which it will be. “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD” (). The emphasis in , , is on commanding and teaching, for the Lord not only tells us what to do, but He also explains the truth behind His commands. Jesus may have had this in mind when He told His disciples that He treated them like friends (“insiders”) and not like servants, because He explained to them what He was doing (, ).
Believers today must find their life and victory in God’s Word. Unless we know what God commands, we can’t obey Him, but if we know His commandments, believe them, and obey them, then His power goes to work in our lives. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (). Obeying the Lord becomes a joyful privilege when you realize that His commandments are expressions of His love, assurances of His strength, invitations to His blessing, opportunities to grow and bring Him glory, and occasions to enjoy His love and fellowship as we seek to please Him. God’s Word is the open door into the treasury of His grace.
, Obedience to God brings respect from non-believers. The church today can learn a lesson from this. We’re called to be a separated people who are not conformed to this world (, ; ), and yet the trend today is for churches to pattern ministry after what the world is doing. The philosophy is that the church will attract more people if the lost feel more comfortable with the services. The tragedy is that the sanctuary becomes a theater and “ministry” becomes entertainment. Jesus didn’t compromise with the world and yet He attracted sinners and ministered effectively to them (, ). Unless we are a separated people, devoted wholly to the Lord, we can never follow His example.
To “fear” the Lord means to respect who He is, what He is, and what He says, and by our submission and obedience show Him that we love Him and want to please Him. He’s the Creator and we’re the creatures; He’s the Father and we’re the children; He’s the Master and we’re the servants. When we knowingly and willfully defy His authority, we tempt Him to discipline us, and our arrogance only leads to pain and tragic loss. It just isn’t worth it. If you want to identify the blessings believers miss when they fail to fear the Lord, read and ponder these verses: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; , .
, God’s Word is the revelation of God’s wisdom, and we need to know and follow His wisdom if our lives are to please and glorify Him. The world’s wisdom is foolishness with God (), and those who follow it will be disappointed. In the Old Testament, the word “wisdom” has to do with character rather than human intelligence and describes the right use of knowledge. “Wisdom means being skillful and successful in one’s relationships and responsibilities, observing and following the Creator’s principles of order in the moral universe,” says Dr. Roy Zuck. Practicing God’s wisdom means you don’t just make a living; you make a life.
Believers today have the complete Word of God and the assurance that if we obey what God has already taught us, He will give us the guidance we need in the special areas of life (). People who live according to God’s wisdom can’t help but demonstrate to those around them that God is real and that following His wisdom brings blessing.
God made a covenant with His people and He expected them to keep it. The word “covenant” is used at least twenty-seven times in Deuteronomy and comes from the Hebrew word berith, which some scholars say means “to eat bread.” In the East, when people broke bread together, they formed a covenant or treaty that they would help and protect each other (see ).
When you’re raising small children, you use rewards and punishments to teach them to obey, but when they get older, you hope that character and love will motivate them to shun evil and do what’s right. When Israel turned from the true and living God and began to worship idols, they were sinning against God’s grace and love.
God doesn’t want His children to obey Him just to get blessings or to avoid chastening, but because they love Him from the heart. The word “heart” is mentioned more than forty times in Moses’ speech, and the Shema (, ) emphasizes love for the Lord. (See also ; , , ; ; ; , , .) When Moses gave the law to the older generation at Sinai, the emphasis was on the fear of the Lord (; ), but his application of the law to the new generation magnifies God’s love for Israel and the importance of Israel loving the Lord. They were now to be a mature people who obeyed God from the heart. The Lord is a merciful God (), but we shouldn’t tempt Him because He is also a jealous God (v. ).
The Lord opened the proclamation of His law (see also ) by reminding the people that it was He who delivered them from the slavery of Egypt (; see ; , ; ; ; ). This great act of redemption should have been motive enough for the people to listen to God’s law and obey it, just as the redemption we have in Christ should motivate us to obey Him. The Lord wants us to obey Him, not as slaves cringing before a master, but as grateful children who love their heavenly Father and appreciate all He is to us and has done for us.
When the journey became difficult, the Israelites frequently wanted to return to the security and slavery of Egypt instead of trusting the Lord and enjoying the freedom He gave them. While we don’t want to repeat the sins of the past, it does us good to remember what the Lord saved us from when we trusted Christ. The Israelites were to remember the day that the Lord brought them out of their slavery (). There’s nothing wrong with setting aside special “remembrance days” when we review the goodness of the Lord toward us.
Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament epistles for the church to obey; the exception is the fourth commandment about the Sabbath day. Why? The Sabbath day was a special sign between Israel and the Lord (; ; , ) and wasn’t given to any other nation (, ). The Sabbath had its beginning in creation () and for that reason was a part of Israel’s religious life even before the law was given at Sinai (, ).
The Lord’s Day commemorates the new covenant of grace: It opens the week with rest in Christ and the works follow. Both the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day emphasize the importance of devoting one day in seven to the Lord in worship and service. Every day belongs to the Lord and it’s unbiblical to make the observance of days a test of spirituality or orthodoxy (, ; see ; ).
The purpose of the law of God is to reveal the God of the law, and when you focus on Him, you find it a delight to obey His commands (). Moses closed his review of the Ten Commandments by reminding the new generation that at Sinai God revealed His glory and His greatness. The God of Israel is not to be trifled with because He is a holy God.
Many churches today have lost the biblical concept of the majesty and authority of God as expressed in His law. This deficiency has cheapened our worship, turned evangelism into religious salesmanship, and converted the Bible into a self-help book that’s guaranteed to make you a success.
Christian believers who depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit () and live by the law of love () don’t have to strive to obey these commandments, because the life of God will flow through believers and enable them to fulfill the righteousness of God (). The old nature knows no law, but the new nature needs no law. There’s probably a law in your city that requires parents to care for their children, but how many parents think about that law? Parents care for their children because they love them, not because they’re afraid of going to jail.
Because we’ve been born again into God’s family and have received God’s divine nature within, we are enabled by the Spirit to obey God’s law and live godly lives ().
In his appeal to Israel, Moses urged the people to remember the majesty of God and respect the Word of God. He quoted Jehovah’s own words, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments.” Obedience is always a matter of the heart, and if we love the Lord, we will keep His commandments (, ). There’s no conflict between the greatness of God and the grace of God, His transcendence and His immanence, for we can love the Lord and fear the Lord with the same heart (; , ).
Even though God’s children live under grace and not under the Mosaic law (; ), it’s important for us to know the law of God so that we might better know the God of the law and please Him. Christ has fulfilled the types and symbols found in the law, so we no longer practice the Old Testament rituals as Israel did. Christ bore the curse of the law on the cross () so that we need not fear judgment (). But the moral law still stands and God still judges sin. It’s as wrong today to lie, steal, commit adultery, and murder as it was when Moses received the tablets of the law at Mount Sinai. In fact, it’s worse, because we have today the full revelation of God’s will through Jesus Christ, and we sin against a flood of light.
God gave His law to build the people individually as well as the nation collectively. Israel’s civic peace and general welfare depended on the people respecting the law and obeying it. Unfortunately, over the years, some of the religious leaders added so many traditions to God’s law that the people felt like they were wearing a galling yoke (; ).
The law was also meant to reveal God and draw the people closer to Him. If Israel was to be a holy people and a kingdom of priests (), they needed a holy law to guide them. Certainly God was concerned about the external conduct of His people, but He was also concerned that their hearts be devoted to Him.
When you read , you discover what the law of God meant to Israelites who were spiritually minded and devoted to the Lord in their hearts. They saw God’s righteous law, not as a heavy yoke, but as honey (v. ), light (v. ), a treasure (vv. , , , ), freedom (v. ), and a source of great joy (v. ). They delighted in the law and meditated on it (vv. , , , , , , , ; see ). Yes, the Ten Commandments were engraved on tablets of stone, but the spiritual Israelite also had the Word hidden in His heart (, ).
There was always a danger that the new generation would become proud and think that God had blessed them because they were better than previous generations. Moses reminded them that all their blessings came from the Lord because of His covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Believers today need to be reminded that all our blessings come to us because of God’s eternal covenant with His Son () and the new covenant which Jesus made through His sacrificial death on the cross (; ; ). We aren’t blessed because of what we are in ourselves but because of what we are in Christ ().
The orthodox Jewish confession of faith is called the Shema after the Hebrew word that means “to hear.” This confession is still recited each morning and evening by devout Jews all over the world, affirming “Jehovah, our Elohim, Jehovah is one.” (See , ; , ; .) So important is this confession that Jewish boys in orthodox homes are required to memorize it as soon as they can speak. The nations around Israel worshiped many gods and goddesses, but Israel affirmed to all that there is but one true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Is it reasonable to command somebody to love? Isn’t love a mysterious thing that just appears, a wonderful emotion that’s either there or it isn’t there? No, not according to Scripture. In the life of the believer, love is an act of the will: We choose to relate to God and to other people in a loving way no matter how we may feel. Christian love simply means that we treat others the way God treats us. In His love, God is kind and forgiving toward us, so we seek to be kind and forgiving toward others ().
To love God and worship and serve Him is the highest privilege we can have, so when the Lord commands us to love, He is inviting us to that which is the best. But our love for God must involve the totality of the inner person—“with all your heart . . . soul, and . . . strength.”
Catalyst
When we hear the Word of God and receive it into our hearts (), the Holy Spirit can use the truth to transform us from within (; see ). God “writes” the Word upon our hearts and we become “living epistles” that others may read, and our lives can influence them to trust Christ. How we live is important, because it backs up what we say.
The Word should even control who is permitted to go through the gate and come through the door into the house. The Jews took these commandments literally and wore portions of Scripture in little containers called phylacteries on their forehead and left arm (). They also attached a small container of Scripture, called a mezuzah, to the front door and on every door in the house.
We can’t help but admire such respect for the Word of God, but it’s likely that the emphasis of this commandment was obedience to God’s Word in all that we think and do rather than the actual wearing of the Scriptures on the forehead and the arm. We agree wholeheartedly that God’s people ought to make their homes places where God dwells, where the Scriptures are honored, and we aren’t ashamed of our faith. It isn’t necessary to turn every room into a chapel, but a Bible on the table and a few Scripture texts on the wall at least bear witness that we belong to the Lord and desire to please Him.
Go to the
The Lord tests our faith, not just in the great crises of life, but even more in the small unexpected events, such as a travel delay, an irritating interruption, a sudden sickness, or a lost wallet. The way we respond in these situations will indicate what’s in our hearts, because what life does to us depends on what life finds in us. If we love and trust the Lord, we’ll leave the matter with Him and do what He tells us, but if we question the Lord and rebel because we’re not getting our own way, then we’re in danger of tempting Him. One of the best protections against tempting the Lord is a grateful heart. If we’re in the habit of thanking the Lord in everything, including the painful experiences of life, then the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with love and praise instead of Satan filling us with bitter venom. How many “Massahs” (“testing”) and “Meribahs” (“quarreling”) are marked on the map of our journey of faith (see )?
Most Christians today live in pluralistic societies in democratic nations and don’t have the authority to annihilate everybody who worships a false God, nor should they want that authority. Our task is to love those we disagree with and seek to win them to faith in Christ. But at the same time, we must maintain a separated position and not be contaminated by the ideas or activities of the lost world ().
In Scripture, separation is not isolation, for if believers are isolated, how can they be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (, ) and influence others for the Lord? Believers can be separated from sin and to the Lord and still be involved in the normal challenges and activities of human life.
The key passage in the New Testament on separation is . In it Paul points out that there are both negative and positive elements in biblical separation. Because of what we are in Christ—righteousness, light, the temple of God—we have nothing in common spiritually with unbelievers whom He describes as unrighteousness, darkness, and worshipers of idols. Separation is simply living up to what we are in Christ.
We aren’t supposed to isolate ourselves from the world () because the world needs our witness and service. We cooperate with different people at different times for different reasons, but we’re careful not to compromise our witness for Christ. God blesses us as He blessed His people in the Old Testament in order that we might be a blessing. We do some things because it’s for the good of humanity and other things because we’re citizens or employees. But whatever we do, we seek to do it to the glory of God (, ).
A major motive in separation from sin (), is that we want to live up to all that God has called us to be. He’s called us to be a holy nation, a chosen people, a people to bring glory to His name, and we can’t fulfill any of those honorable callings if we don’t separate ourselves from what is wicked and cleave to the Lord.
We must not overlook the parallel between Israel and the church. All who are born again through faith in Jesus Christ are “holy and without blame before Him” (). This salvation came to us “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy” (). Like Israel, the church is God’s chosen people and His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (, ), and like Israel, we are called to be a light to the lost world.
As we grow in grace, we learn to love and enjoy what pleases God and to despise and reject what displeases Him. It’s not just a matter of our will obeying God’s commands; it’s also a matter of developing a heart that enjoys obeying God (). It’s possible to do God’s will in such a way that others get the blessing but we don’t! This was true of two of God’s prophets, Moses and Jonah. Moses arrogantly smote the rock and God provided water, but Moses lost the privilege of entering the Promised Land (). Jonah eventually obeyed the Lord’s will but he didn’t do it from his heart, and became a bitter person (). This brings us back to the first matter Moses discussed—love for the Lord (). Love makes obedience a blessing and not a burden.
It’s good for God’s people to pause occasionally and ask, “Why are we doing what we’re doing?” Is it to please ourselves or others, or to impress the world? Are we doing the will of God because we want Him to bless us? Or do we do “the will of God from the heart” ()—because we love Him? To obey God just to avoid punishment and receive blessing is a selfish motive that follows the philosophy of Satan (), but if we obey God out of love, it pleases His heart and He will give us what is best and what glorifies Him the most.
Like Israel of old, the church today must move forward by faith, conquer the enemy, and claim new territory for the Lord (; ). But unlike Israel, we use spiritual weapons, not human weapons, as by faith we overcome the walls of resistance that Satan has put into the minds of sinners (; ; ; ). The apostolic church had no buildings, budgets (), academic degrees (), or political influence, but depended on the Word of God and prayer (), and God gave them great victory. Can He not do the same for His people today? Jesus has overcome the world and the devil (; ; ; ; ); therefore, we fight from victory and not just for victory. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” ().
The distinctive thing about the nation of Israel was that “the Lord your God is among you” (see ). The assurance of God’s presence goes all the way back to Isaac () and Jacob () and was often repeated to Israel when they needed encouragement (; ; ; ; ), and this wonderful assurance has been given to the church today (; , ).
God tests us. How we respond to the tests of life reveals what’s really in our hearts, especially when those tests involve the everyday experience of life. The people of Israel were frequently hungry and thirsty and weary from the journey, and it was on those occasions that they became fretful and critical. When God allows a difficult circumstance to test us, we will either trust Him and become more mature, or we will tempt Him and become more miserable. The difference? Believing the promises of God and relying on the Lord to care for us and bring us through for His glory and our good.
One of the hardest lessons God’s people must learn is to accept God’s will and obey Him without protest or complaint. If the Israelites had taken time to look back and recall their journey from Egypt to Canaan, they would have seen that each stage in the journey taught them more about themselves and about the Lord. They would see themselves as living in the past and afraid of the future, doubting God’s love and His ability to see them through. Their frequent complaining revealed their lack of love for the Lord, and their rebellion showed their lack of submission to His will.
God teaches us. Each morning during their wilderness journey, God sent the Israelites “the food of angels” () to teach them to depend on Him for what they needed. God was teaching the Israelites to look to Him for “daily bread” () and to begin each day meditating on the Word of God. Those who obeyed God in the daily responsibility of gathering manna would be inclined to obey the rest of His commandments. Our relationship to the Word of God (manna) indicates our relationship to the God of the Word.
God cares for us. Not only did God feed the Israelites “miracle bread” each morning, but He also kept their clothes from wearing out and their feet from swelling. “[Cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (). “But your heavenly Father already knows all your needs” (). God doesn’t miraculously deliver bread, water, and clothing to our front doors each day, but He does give us jobs and the ability to earn money () so we can purchase what we need. The same Lord who provided Israel’s needs without human means can provide our needs by using human means.
God disciplines us. God saw the children of Israel as His own children whom He greatly loved. “Israel is My son, My firstborn” (; see ). After years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites had to learn what freedom was and how to use it responsibly. We commonly think of “discipline” only as punishment for disobedience, but much more is involved. Discipline is “child training,” the preparation of the child for responsible adulthood. A judge justly punishes a convicted criminal in order to protect society and uphold the law, but a father lovingly disciplines a child to help that child mature. Discipline is an evidence of God’s love and of our membership in God’s family (; see , ).
When you think of the Lord’s discipline of His children, don’t envision an angry parent punishing a child. Rather, see a loving Father challenging His children to exercise their muscles (physical and mental) so they will mature and be able to live like dependable adults. When we’re being disciplined, the secret of growth is to humble ourselves and submit to God’s will (, ; , ). To resist God’s chastening is to harden our hearts and resist the Father’s will. Like an athlete in training, we must exercise ourselves and use each trial as an opportunity for growth.
The bounty of the land of Israel typifies for believers today the spiritual wealth we have in Christ: the riches of His grace (; ), the riches of His glory (; ), the riches of His mercy (), and “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (). We are complete in Christ () in whom all fullness dwells (), and therefore we have everything we shall ever need for living a full Christian life to the glory of God. God has a wonderful life planned for each of His children () and He provides all we need to fulfill that plan.
There’s peril in prosperity and comfort, for we may become so wrapped up in the blessings that we forget the One who gave us the blessings. For this reason, Moses admonished the Israelites to praise God after they had eaten their meals so they wouldn’t forget the Giver of every good and perfect gift (v. ; ).
Moses spelled out the dangers involved in forgetting that God is the source of every blessing that we enjoy. If we forget God, then success has a way of making us proud (), and we forget what we were before the Lord called us.
An ungrateful heart can quickly become a haven for all sorts of sinful attitudes and appetites that cater to the flesh. What would the Lord do? He would treat His own people’s idolatry the way He treated the idolatry of the nations that they dispossessed, and He would discipline Israel and destroy their false gods. Before Moses finished his speech, he outhned the terms of God’s covenant with Israel and the chastening God would send if the people persisted in worshiping idols. Prosperity, ingratitude, idolatry—three steps toward ruin. But these aren’t ancient sins, for they’re present in hearts, homes, businesses, and churches today.
Moses reminded the nation that the land was a gift from the Lord, not a reward for their righteousness. God had graciously covenanted with Abraham to give him and His descendants the land of Canaan (; ; ), and He would keep His promise. The emphasis is on the grace of God and not the goodness of God’s people, and this emphasis is needed today (). When we forget the grace of God, we become proud and start thinking that we deserve all that God has done for us, and then God has to remind us of His goodness and our sinfulness, and that reminder might be very painful.
As God’s children, we need to confess that apart from God’s grace, nothing good dwells in us (), and that our fallen nature can’t be changed. The ability to sin is still with us, but as believers we should have less of an appetite to sin. Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and the Word (; ), our inner person should conform more and more to Christ, desiring and delighting in the things of God.
Moses was addressing a new generation, but they needed to hear this part of the message and realize that they were sinners just like their ancestors. The theme is expressed bluntly in verse : “You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.” God called Abraham and led him to the Promised Land, but then he fled to Egypt to escape a famine (.). No sooner were the Israelites delivered from Egypt than they began to complain about the way God led them and fed them (.). The scenery in the drama of the life of faith may change, but the actors and the script are pretty much the same: God blesses, we enjoy the blessings, then we rebel against His disciplines and miss the blessing He planned for us.
Never underestimate the importance of spiritual leadership that encourages obedience to the Word of God. Aaron failed God, who had appointed him as high priest; he failed his brother who was depending on him to guide the nation; and he failed the people who desperately needed strong spiritual leadership. Moses faced this same test at Kadesh Barnea and again put the glory of God and the good of the people ahead of personal promotion (). Moses was more concerned with the glory of God and His reputation before the pagan nations, for he knew that the fear of God had to go before Israel if they were to conquer the land and claim their inheritance.
Leaders are tested just as followers are tested, and Moses passed the test. He showed that his great concern wasn’t his own fame or position but the glory of God and the good of the people. In fact, he was willing to die for the people rather than see God destroy them (). A true shepherd lays down his life for the sheep ().
This review of Israel’s sins is quite an indictment, but God never forsook the people of Israel and often forgave them when He could have judged them. “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities” (; see ). God is always faithful to His promises; when we don’t allow Him to rule, He will overrule and still accomplish His purposes. However, we will miss the blessings that He planned for us.
Every believer and every Christian ministry, whether it be a local church or a parachurch ministry, must trust God to meet their needs a day at a time. If we complain along the way, we’re only giving evidence that we don’t trust God but think we know more than He does about what’s best for us. When we come to those “Kadesh Barnea” places in life, when we must claim what God has planned for us and move forward by faith, we must not rebel against God and refuse to trust and obey. If we do, we may find ourselves wandering through life, failing to accomplish what God has planned for us. Claiming our inheritance in Christ is one of the major themes of the Book of Hebrews, and the writer uses Israel as the main illustration ().
, “And now, Israel” forms a transition as Moses moves into the closing section of this part of his address, a section in which he reminds the people why they should obey the Lord their God. This was not a new topic, but it was an important topic, and Moses wanted them to get the message and not forget it: Loving obedience to the Lord is the key to every blessing.
Is it possible both to fear and love the Lord at the same time? Yes, it is, for the reverence we show Him is a loving respect that comes from the heart. Moses used the word “heart” five times in this section of his address (vv. , ; , , ), so he made it clear that God wants more than external obedience. He wants us to do the will of God from the heart (), a loving obedience that brings joy to our Father in heaven. Love is the fulfillment of the law (), so if we love God, serving Him and keeping His commandments will not be a burden or a battle. These five elements are like the sections of a telescope that belong together and work together.
The Christian walk implies progress, and it also implies balance: faith and works, character and conduct, worship and service, solitude and fellowship, separation from the world and ministry and witness to the world. Obeying Him is “for our own good” (v. ), for when we obey Him, we share His fellowship, enjoy His blessings, and avoid the sad consequences of disobedience.
, A balanced fear of the Lord and love for the Lord is the result of a growing understanding of the attributes of God, and these attributes are described in the Scriptures. He is the Creator (v. ); “all things were created through Him and for Him” ().
“Change your hearts” means literally to circumcise your hearts. Israel so magnified the physical ritual that they forgot the spiritual reality, that circumcision marked them as God’s people with spiritual privileges and responsibilities. This same spiritual blindness is with us today, for many people believe that baptism, confirmation, church membership, or participation in the Lord’s Supper automatically guarantees their salvation. As meaningful as those things are, the Christian’s assurance and seal of salvation isn’t a physical ceremony but a spiritual work of the Holy Spirit in the heart (; ).
The emphasis in this paragraph is on the mighty acts of God on behalf of His people Israel, “His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm” (v. ).
While the Israelites were in Egypt, they saw the mighty power of God unleashed against Pharaoh and the nation as God sent one judgment after another that finally led to Israel’s release. God’s power not only ruined the land and destroyed Pharaoh’s army, but it demonstrated that Jehovah was the true God and that all the gods and goddesses of Egypt were but dumb and powerless idols.
Even after Israel entered and conquered the land, they wouldn’t remain in the land to enjoy it if they failed to listen to God’s Word and obey it. The same principle applies to believers today: In Christ we have “every spiritual blessing” (), but we can’t possess them or enjoy them unless we believe God’s promises and obey His commands.
The problem wasn’t with God or the land; it was in the hearts of the people. “Be careful,” Moses pleaded. If the people turned aside from worshiping Jehovah, His anger would be kindled and He would have to discipline them. Since their idolatry polluted the land, God would have to remove them from the land and cleanse it, and this He did when He sent the Israelites into captivity in Babylon.
Christians today face the same danger. It’s much easier to wear a gold cross on our person than to bear Christ’s cross in daily life; it’s easier to hang Scripture texts on the walls of our homes than to hide God’s Word in our hearts. If we love the Lord and cleave to Him, we will want to know His Word and obey it in every area of our lives.
, How do we claim God’s blessings? By stepping out by faith, believing God’s Word, and depending on His faithfulness. This is what God commanded Abraham to do () as well as Joshua ().
The nation had to make a choice whether to obey God and enjoy His blessing or disobey Him and experience His chastening. They could enjoy the land, endure chastening in the land (the Book of Judges), or be evicted from the land (the Babylonian captivity). But just as children defy their parents’ commands, knowing full well that their disobedience will bring punishment, so God’s people deliberately disobey God and defy His will.
Spiritually speaking, believers today live between two mounts: Mount Calvary, where Jesus died for us, and the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus will one day return (; , ). But God hasn’t written the old covenant law on stones and warned us about curses; rather, He has written His new covenant on our hearts and blessed us in Jesus Christ (; ; ). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (). However, the fact that Christians are under grace and not under law doesn’t mean that we have a license to sin (). God’s dispensations change but His principles never change, and one of those principles is that God blesses us when we obey and chastens us when we disobey. As we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, we overcome the appetites of the flesh, and God’s righteousness is fulfilled in us () and we never hear the voices from Mount Ebal.
, Moses pointed out that anything idolatrous remaining in the land was dangerous because it might become a tool for the devil to use in tempting Israel. The admonition, “do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (, ), warns us that, whenever we disobey the Lord and cherish that which He wants us to destroy, we provide Satan with room to operate in our lives. Israel was even to wipe out the names of the pagan deities, because their names might be used in occult practices to cast spells.
We live in a world that has abandoned absolutes and promoted “plurality.” As long as it “helps you,” one religion is just as good as another religion, and it isn’t “politically correct” to claim that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world (; ). But Moses made it clear that God rejected the Canaanite religions and wanted all evidence of their pagan practices removed from the land. The land belonged to the Lord, and He had every right to purge it.
“Do not worship the Lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods” is a simple statement that carries a powerful message. As the people of God, we must worship the Lord the way He commands and not imitate the religious practices of others. The Jewish faith and the Christian faith came by revelation, not by man’s invention or Satan’s instruction (; ). The most important activity of the church is the worship of God, because everything truly spiritual that the church does flows out of worship. How tragic it is when congregations imitate the world and turn Christian worship into entertainment and the sanctuary of God into a theater.
The tithe was 10 percent of what their land had produced, and this was shared with the priests and Levites. The priests also received a certain amount of meat from some of the sacrifices, and this was how they and their families were supported. Moses frequently reminded the people to support the Levites by faithfully bringing tithes and offerings to the sanctuary (vv. , , ; , ; , ). God promised to bless His people abundantly if they would faithfully bring their tithes and offerings to His sanctuary (; see and ).
The “place which the LORD your God chooses” for the Israelites to worship was the tabernacle, and eventually the temple. When Jesus came to earth to “tabernacle among us,” the glory of God returned (), but sinful men nailed the Lord of glory to the cross. He arose from the dead and returned to heaven to receive back the glory that He had laid aside in His humiliation (, ). Now each person who trusts Christ becomes a temple of God and has the Spirit dwelling within (, ). But each local assembly of believers is also a temple of God, and Christ is building His church universal as a dwelling place for the Spirit (; ). Someday, all of God’s people will dwell in the heavenly city that will be lighted by the glory of God ().
This emphasis on the blood being poured out is at the heart of the message of the gospel. We aren’t saved from our sins by the life of Christ or the example of Christ, but by the sacrificial death of Christ; “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (; ). The blood of Christ is precious to us () because of who shed it—the spotless Lamb of God—but also because of what it accomplishes for those who trust Him—justification (), cleansing (; ), eternal salvation (), access to God (, ), and reconciliation (), to name but a few of the blessings we have through Christ’s blood.
As we mature in the faith and become grounded in the Word, we can carefully study the philosophies and ideas that are held by various religious groups, but only so that we might better share the gospel with them. Missionaries must know the religious mindset of the peoples to whom God sends them so they can communicate effectively with them. This is also true when we study the so-called “classics” that are often filled with moral filth and attacks against the Christian faith. With God’s help, it’s possible for Christian students to practice contact without contamination, but they had better “watch and pray” lest they are tempted and fall into sin.
The key phrase in is, “Let us go after other gods” (vv. , , ). In this chapter, Moses describes a prophet who predicted an event and it occurred, which was the test of a true prophet (, ). But then the prophet invited the people to join him in worshiping other gods. Why would a prophet deliver a true message followed by an invitation to worship false gods? For the same reasons formerly orthodox religious leaders in the church will abandon their calling and get involved in cults or even organize their own cults: pride, the desire to have a following and exercise authority, and the desire to make money.
“In this way you will purge the evil from among you” is a statement found at least eight more times in the Book of Deuteronomy (, ; ; ; , , ; ), and Paul quoted it in with reference to discipline in the local church. We don’t stone guilty people in our churches, but we should expel from the fellowship any that openly live in sin and refuse to repent and obey the Word of God.
Sin is like yeast and when it’s not purged, it will spread and infect others (; ). Just as a surgeon removes cancerous tissue from a patient’s body to keep it from spreading, so the local body of believers must experience surgery, no matter how painful, to maintain the spiritual health of the church.
How sad it is when the testimony of a church is totally destroyed because of people who put their family ahead of God and His Word. “Peace at any price” isn’t the biblical way to deal with problems, for “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable” (). Unity that is based on hypocrisy will never last.
Temptation from a multitude can be powerful. “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil” (). If a person has committed wickedness, the fact that hundreds of people approve of it doesn’t change its character. It is God who defines what sin is and how we should deal with it. God governs His people by decree, not by consensus.
, We must never take for granted that we are “the people of the Lord [our] God” and have been “set apart as holy to the Lord [our] God.” These are privileges that we don’t deserve and that we could never earn, and we enjoy them only because of God’s love and grace.
Catalyst
The Hebrew word translated “holy” means “that which is set apart and marked off, that which is different and wholly other.” Our English word “holy” comes from an Old English word meaning “to be whole, to be healthy.” What health and wholeness are to the body, holiness is to the inner person.
Because the Israelites were a holy people, they were not to imitate the wicked practices of their neighbors, such as cutting their bodies or shaving their foreheads in mourning (; ; ; ). This reminds us of , “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The local church is a holy temple () and a holy priesthood (), and therefore believers should separate themselves from the defilement of the world and seek to perfect holiness in the fear of God (). God’s people are supposed to be “set apart, marked off, different” so we can “advertise” the glorious virtues of the Lord ().
Go to the
Fasting is an accepted spiritual discipline, when connected with prayer, but “food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse” (). Believers who think they’re more spiritual than others because of what they eat or don’t eat need to ponder . We are also reminded, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (). When we give thanks and ask God’s blessing before we eat a meal, we’re not only acknowledging His faithfulness and goodness in supplying daily bread, but we’re also telling Him that we want to honor Him in what we eat and the way we eat it. The Israelite who wanted to glorify God would refuse to eat anything that the Lord had forbidden.
There are some things that the people of the world can do that Christians can’t do and should not even want to do, because Christians belong to the Lord and want to obey Him. As the familiar adage says, “Others may—you cannot.” God has every right to tell us what we can have around us () and what we can put within us.
The people of Israel were to be generous with tithes and offerings because the Lord had been generous with them. Each time they brought their tithes and gifts to the sanctuary and enjoyed a thanksgiving feast, it would teach them to fear the Lord (v. ), because if the Lord hadn’t blessed them, they would have nothing to eat and nothing to give. As David said, everything we give to God first comes from His hand and it all belongs to Him (). When we cease to fear God and fail to appreciate His bountiful provision, we become proud and start to take His blessings for granted. Then the Lord has to discipline us to remind us that He is the Giver of every gift.
As Christians enjoying the blessings of God’s grace, we ought to do far more than the Israelites who lived in the dispensation of the Mosaic law. The New Testament doesn’t command us how much we should give, but it does urge us to give in proportion to the blessings we have received from the Lord (, ; ). The calculating Christian will always be the loser; the generous Christian will enjoy the blessing of God. However, our motive must always be to please God and glorify Him.
The emphasis in this section is on faith that produces generosity. If we are “hard-hearted or tightfisted,” it’s evidence that we don’t really believe that God keeps His promises and provides for those who give to the needy. Jesus became poor that He might make us rich () and He blesses us that we might be a blessing to others.
Suppose your servant says, “I will not go away from you.” Certainly there’s a spiritual message here for God’s people today. We should love our Lord so much that we should want to serve Him willingly and gladly all our lives. We must never look upon our service as “slavery” but as privilege. “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free” is a wonderful confession of faith and love (). Granted, the servant’s love for his wife and children entered into the picture, but even those blessings came because of his master’s kindness, and the master was caring for them as well as his servant. What we all need is the open ear to hear God’s will (; , ) and a pierced ear that announces we love Him and are ready to obey His every command.
As the Israelites followed this calendar year by year, they had every reason for great celebration because of the Lord’s mercies to their ancestors and to them. As we study this calendar, we should give thanks and rejoice that we have so great a salvation and such a great Savior, since many of the celebrations on the calendar anticipate what God had in mind as the ultimate arrangement for our relationship with Him.
The New Testament interpretation and application of Passover identifies the lamb with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who gave His life for the sins of the world (; ; ; ). Outside the city of Jerusalem, Jesus died on the cross at the hour when the Passover lambs were being slain by the priests at the Jewish temple.
The blood of the many Jewish sacrifices could cover sin but never take it away, which explains why these sacrifices were repeated, but the blood of Christ has settled the matter of salvation once and for all (). It wasn’t the life of the lamb that saved Israel from bondage but the death of the lamb and the application of the blood by faith. Christ is our perfect example in all things (; ), but trying to follow His example cannot save us, because He did no sin. First we need Jesus as our Savior, and then we can follow in His steps.
God gave His people instructions for orderly and obedient lives. One of the characteristics of a true child of God is a changed life. “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (). “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (). Anyone who professes to belong to Christ who doesn’t seek to conquer sin and become more Christhke in daily conduct is making a false profession ().
All of us know that no younger generation wants to hear the “old people” talk about the difficulties of “the good old days,” but the Lord wrote the memory of Israel’s past into Passover and Shelters, the first and last festivals of the year. While the church must not live in the past, the church must not forget the past and what the Lord has done for His people down through the ages. We’re prone to take our blessings for granted and forget the faithfulness of the Lord.
As God’s people, we have many reasons to celebrate the greatness and goodness of the Lord. We’ve been redeemed by the blood of Christ (Passover), we’re indwelt and empowered by the Spirit (Pentecost, originally “Harvest”), and we’re generously supported by the Lord in our pilgrim journey (Shelters). Our time here on earth is brief and temporary, but one day we shall enter heaven where Jesus is now preparing places for us.
, The most important thing about the judges and officers was that they be men of character, because only just men could honestly execute just judgment. The judges were not to twist the law and “pervert justice,” nor were they to “show partiality,” which in the Hebrew is literally “regard faces.” The important thing was to determine what the accused person did and not to major on who the accused person was.
Leadership in the local church must be given only to those who are qualified (; ; ). How tragic it is when churches choose unqualified and untried people to “fill” offices instead of to “use” those offices for the building of the church and the glory of God (). In the leadership of the local church, spiritual character is far more important than a person’s popularity, personality, talent, or occupation.
It can’t be emphasized too much that the religion of the Canaanite nations was unspeakably filthy and mingled blind superstition with gross immorality (see ). Human nature being what it is, the Israelites would be attracted to gods they could see and ceremonies that appealed to their sensual appetites. This explains why God commanded the Israelites to wipe out every vestige of Canaanite religion from the land (), for He knew that the hearts of the people were too often set on doing evil in spite of His holy laws and His warnings.
Living as we do in a democratic pluralistic society, we can’t expect the government to make the Bible its official guidebook, but it would help the nation if professed Christians and Christian churches would major on preaching, teaching, and obeying the Word of God.
Imitating the world instead of trusting the Lord has always been the great temptation of God’s people, and each time they’ve succumbed, they’ve suffered. During their wilderness journey, Israel compared everything that happened with what they had experienced in Egypt, and at Kadesh Barnea they even wanted to choose a leader and go back to Egypt ()!
The church today is equally guilty of unbelief. When church leaders adopt the methods and measurements of the world, then the church has taken a giant step toward becoming like the world and losing its divine distinctives. Instead of trusting the Word of God and prayer (), we depend on following the world’s wisdom, imitating the world’s methods, and catering to the world’s appetites, giving people what they want instead of what they need. Believers today need to take to heart God’s reminder to Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples” ().
When Israel got around to demanding a king (), God was not surprised. He had already anticipated that disappointing rejection of His authority by the nation. He gave those future kings (and by extension all leaders) some helpful guidelines in dealing with the temptations that go with power. Unfortunately, history has recorded too few instances in which leaders have heeded God’s instructions. Yet we remain responsible for how we respond to God’s Word, making sure to engage in “regular reading” so that our attitude and actions are shaped by the truth.
If the people didn’t support the priests as God commanded, then the priests would have to find their support elsewhere, and this would take them away from the ministry at the sanctuary. But only the priests could offer the sacrifices, care for the lamps and the table of bread, and burn the incense on the golden altar. Without the presence of the priests, the ministry at the sanctuary would come to a halt, and the people would be without intercession and spiritual help.
This Old Testament practice carries over into the New Testament ministry. “Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (, ). The Lord’s command is found in and is quoted in .
Lest we conclude that these warnings about the occult don’t apply to Christians in this “enlightened age,” we need to be reminded that idolatry and sorcery are listed among the sins of the flesh in , and that the Book of Revelation teaches that occult practices will be very widespread in the end times (, ; ). In fact, those who engage in such things are among the ones destined for the lake of fire (; , ).
, The diviner (fortune-teller) wants to know the future, but the sorcerer wants to control people and the future by using various forms of magic, witchcraft, and spells. By being in league with the demons and casting spells, magicians and witches seek to influence people and events to achieve their own selfish purposes. People in today’s “scientific world” may scoff at these things, but any evangelical missionary can tell you of the demonic influence that has held many backward peoples in bondage and fear. Certainly demonic forces are at work in the “modern” Western world today, but they operate with greater subtlety and aren’t always easily detected. Those who would deny the influence of demons in the church today will have to explain the prevalence of demonism when Christ was here on earth and His victory over demons. They must also consider our Lord’s commission to His disciples (; ) and their experience ministering to the demonized (). And what about the ministry of Paul () and what Paul wrote about demons to believers in the churches (, ; ; )?
It’s a serious thing to hear God’s Word and not respect it and obey it, for it is the Word of the living God, the God of truth. The written Scriptures are a priceless treasure; they teach us what we need to know about God, the way of salvation, and how to live godly lives and please Him. There is no substitute for the Word of God. Peter was right: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” ().
, God’s true prophets are always 100 percent accurate. Modern day “prophets” boast of being 75 percent accurate, or maybe 80 percent, but that admission only brands them as false prophets. A prophet sent by God is never wrong; what he predicts will come to pass.
Believers today must exercise spiritual discernment because “many false prophets are gone out into the world” (). John makes it clear that the first test of a true minister of the Word is the confession that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and is indeed the Son of God. When you listen to a teacher who is truly God’s servant, the Spirit dwelling in your heart will respond to the Word being taught (). The message will be true to the Scriptures and will exalt Jesus Christ.
The important thing is not the culture or the setting but that we worship the Lord “in spirit and truth” (). True worship comes from within, from a heart totally yielded to the Lord, and true worship is controlled by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God (; ). Our subjective feelings must be monitored by Scripture and motivated by the Spirit; otherwise, we may be engaging in false worship.
These cities of refuge illustrate our salvation in Jesus Christ; we “who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (). However, it is an illustration by contrast. The man who fled in Israel did so because he wasn’t guilty of murder, but we flee because we are guilty and deserve to be judged. Nobody has to investigate our case because we know we have sinned and deserve God’s punishment.
In the case of the cities of refuge, the innocent man was allowed to live, but in our case, Jesus Christ the innocent One was condemned to die. The Israelite had to remain in the city of refuge, for if he left it he might die at the hand of the avenger. The salvation we have in Christ isn’t conditioned on our obedience but depends wholly on His grace and promises. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” ().
We sometimes hear that fear of punishment doesn’t deter people from breaking the law, but says otherwise: “Those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.” Every law on the books has probably been violated many times and not all violators have been arrested and tried. But that doesn’t prove that the prosecution of those who have been caught hasn’t done society good and prevented more crime.
When our Lord referred to the lex talionis (law of retaliation) in the Sermon on the Mount (), He wasn’t talking about the official judicial system but how individual believers should deal with personal offenses and injuries. He didn’t rescind the Old Testament law, because He came to fulfill it (); rather, He prohibited His followers from “paying back in kind” those who offend them or take advantage of them. If our courts followed our Lord’s commands found in , the country would be in the hands of the criminals! Jesus exhorted us not to practice personal revenge but to leave such matters in the hand of God (). We’re to imitate the Master and return good for evil, love for hatred, and sacrifice for selfishness ().
Moses reminded the people that the Lord had successfully brought them from the land of Egypt to the plains of Moab and defeated every enemy that had attacked them. In fact, the territory Israel now inhabited belonged to the Israelites and not to the enemy, because the Lord had given His people great victory over the nations east of the Jordan. Just as the Lord had defeated Pharaoh and his army in Egypt, so He would defeat the nations in Canaan.
The words, “do not be afraid” are what every believer needs to hear when confronting the enemies of the faith. It’s the message the Lord gave to Abraham after helping him defeat the kings () and to Jacob when he left home to go to Egypt (). Moses gave that message to the Israelites as they stood at the Red Sea (), and the prophet Isaiah repeated it several times to encourage the Jewish remnant (, , ; , ; , ). You find the phrase seven times in the gospel of Luke (, ; ; ; ; , ). When we walk by faith and keep our eyes on the Lord (), He will give us the peace we need (). You are heading for victory when you know that the Lord is with you and fighting for you.
God is more interested in our enjoying the common blessings of life—homes, harvests, and honeymoons—than devoting ourselves only to the battles of life. He didn’t want any of the Israelite men to use their military responsibilities as an excuse to neglect their families, their vineyards, and their fiancées. Certainly military service was important, but the Lord was more concerned that the men have the right priorities in life. What good was accomplished for the Israelites if their army defeated the enemy on the field but things were falling apart back home?
During their invasion of Canaan, not only were the Israelites to slay all the citizens, but they were also to destroy everything connected with the wicked Canaanite religious system, including temples, idols, and altars. This policy would help remove dangerous temptations from the Israelites who were always prone to follow idols.
, Though some well-meaning people don’t like the military metaphors in the Bible, the church today is in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil (; ; , ). But we are also ambassadors of peace who “[have] shod [our] feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” () and plead with rebellious sinners to be “reconciled to God” (). Jesus brought His message of peace to His own people () and they rejected it (, ; ), so He had to replace the offer of peace with an announcement of judgment ().
The land belonged to God and the people living on it were His tenants. Their sins not only grieved the Lord but also defiled the land, especially the sins of sexual immorality () and murder (). The shedding of innocent blood was a terrible crime in Israel (, ; ; , ).
That this ritual relates to Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross is clear from the elders’ words, “Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person” (v. ). On that tragic day when Israel asked to have her Messiah crucified, Pilate washed his hands and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” and the people replied, “We will take responsibility for His death—we and our children” (, ). Like that innocent heifer, Jesus died for the nation and even prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (). Jesus fulfilled God’s will and upheld His holy law. Jesus died for the sins of the world (; ), He died for the church (, ), and for the people of Israel: “For the transgressions of My people He was stricken” ().
The entire ritual speaks of the grace of God, for man’s works could never earn God’s forgiveness. The young cow had never been worked, the ground in the valley had never been tilled, and the elders, judges, and priests had done nothing special to merit God’s forgiveness for His people.
God keeps a record of the innocent blood shed by both animals and people, and one day will call for an accounting (, ). “When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble” (). When the Lord comes to judge, the earth will disclose that the innocent blood that was shed ().
God wanted His people to enjoy living in their land, and the secret of this enjoyment was obedience to His will. Crime and injustice defiled the land, and God didn’t want His land defiled. The godless nations in Canaan so polluted the land that it “vomits out its inhabitants” (). Apart from Israel, no nation of the world is in a covenant relationship with God, but the Lord still holds all nations accountable for their sins (). One day God will judge the nations in righteousness () and nobody will escape.
This “law of the prodigal” helps us understand one aspect of our Lord’s parable, the fact that the father ran to meet his son (). In the East, it isn’t customary for older men to run. Of course, the father’s love for his son compelled him to hasten to meet him, but there was something else involved. The news of this boy’s wicked life in the far country had certainly drifted back to his hometown, and the law-abiding citizens knew that he had disgraced their city. Seeing the boy approach, the elders at the gate might have been tempted to refuse to let him in, or in their anger, they might have picked up stones to stone him! But with the father holding the boy in his arms, kissing him, and welcoming him, the elders could do nothing. Had anybody thrown stones, they would have hit the father. This speaks to us of Calvary where God took our punishment for us that He might be able to welcome us home.
, A criminal found guilty of committing a capital crime was stoned to death, and if the officials wanted to make the judgment even more solemn, they could order the body hanged from a tree or impaled on a pole until sundown. What an object lesson that would be! Since a dead body was unclean, it was taken down at sundown so as not to decay further and defile the land. Also, the Lord didn’t want executed criminals to get too much attention lest they become heroes.
This rather gruesome symbolic act reminded the people that God cursed people who committed capital crimes. The apostle Paul applied this truth to our Lord’s death on the cross: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)”” (). Those who trust Christ cannot be condemned by the law () because Christ bore that curse for them.
Moses didn’t limit the law to restoring strayed animals; he said that anything an Israelite found was to be guarded and returned to the owner. A neighbor wasn’t only someone who lived adjacent to you; he was anybody in need whom you could help. In His parable of the Good Samaritan (), Jesus followed this definition of “neighbor.” However, God is concerned for the animal as well as for the owner, and we should be too.
The Lord is concerned that people find and restore lost animals, but He is also greatly concerned that we find the lost sinners who have strayed away (; , ). Certainly a human being made in the image of God is of more value than a beast ()!
As you read the Mosaic law, you can’t help but be touched by the Lord’s concern for the natural resources He put on the earth, not only birds but also trees (, ), donkeys (), and hungry oxen (v. ). God preserves both man and beast (; ), and He expects His people to assist Him in that important work. God provides food for mankind, but the greed of a few can destroy the supply for the many. The Lord promised that it would go well with the nation if they showed concern for helpless creatures (; see ; ; , ; , ; ).
If Israel obeyed God’s laws and loved their neighbors, God would abundantly bless them and provide for everybody. Even under the old covenant, people who gave to others would receive abundantly from the Lord (; ; , ; ; and see ; ; ; ). How much more generous we should be who share in the unsearchable riches of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ!
Moses was reminding the people that there is a distinction between the sexes, established by God from the very beginning, and that God wants us to maintain this distinction. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (). By divine wisdom, man and woman were made for each other but were also made to be different from each other. The maintaining and honoring of sexual distinctions neither demeans the woman nor exalts the man. Both were created by God in His image and both shared in the creation blessing and mandate (). To blur their distinctives, so that men are no longer distinguishable from women, is to bring confusion to God’s order for His world (; ).
Whether they were weaving garments, plowing with their farm animals, or sowing their seed, the Israelites were to remember that they were God’s people and therefore a separated people. This was the old covenant version of , “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Priests who had disfiguring defects were prohibited from serving at the altar, although they could eat of the holy food (), and Israel was a kingdom of priests (, ). Therefore, the men entering the nation had to be free from these defects. The prophet Isaiah looked forward to the day when eunuchs would be welcomed into the kingdom and be blessed of God (). We can rejoice today that physical blemishes and limitations are not a barrier to faith in Jesus Christ and participation in the blessing of the new covenant ().
The Ammonites and Moabites were descended from Lot (), the nephew of Abraham, but they didn’t show kindness to their Israelite relatives. The Ammonites wouldn’t sell them food and water, and Balak, a king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel (; ). Because both nations were related to Israel, the Lord wouldn’t permit the Israelites to attack them. Their punishment was exclusion from Israel’s national blessings forever. However, Ruth the Moabitess married Boaz and entered the nation of Israel and became the great-grandmother of King David () and therefore an ancestress of Jesus Christ (). She had put her faith in Jehovah (, ), and the Lord accepted her.
This section applied to Israel’s soldiers when they were encamped away from home. The basic principle was that they treat the camp as they would their land at home, for the Lord was with them even on the battlefield, walking in their midst.
No matter where we go, God goes with us, and we must not think that we can disobey Him and get away with it. God’s admonition is, “keep yourself from every wicked thing” (v. ). Whether we’re on vacation or away from home on business, the Lord watches us and desires us to be as careful where we’re unknown as we are where we’re known. Moses was on holy ground in Midian () as was Joshua standing near Jericho ().
, This law didn’t give people the right to take food from their neighbors’ fields, vineyards, and orchards any time they wanted a snack. The privilege was reserved for the truly hungry and especially farm laborers, strangers, and the poor. This law also helped travelers passing through the land. However, Moses made it clear that the food was to be carried away in the persons’ stomachs and not in bowls or baskets. The law gave people the privilege of meeting their need but not satisfying their greed.
These next two chapters cover the details of seeing that justice is done (vv. , ; , ). Kidnapping was prohibited () and was a capital crime (). To kidnap people and sell them is to treat them like merchandise and not like people created in the image of God. The Israelites were not to enslave one another or sell one another to be enslaved by the Gentiles. The Lord had delivered His people from Egypt so they could be free, and kidnapping was the reverse of God’s purpose.
Miriam was envious of Moses’ wife and critical of her brother because of his marriage (). God saw her heart and heard her words and punished her sin by giving her leprosy. Displaying his usual meekness and love, Moses interceded for her and God healed her. However, the leprosy had made her unclean and she had to leave the camp for a week until the priest could verify that the leprosy was gone. Her sin held up the march of Israel, for sin always hinders the progress of God’s people.
Bad memories can lead to bad attitudes and actions and often to unfaithfulness to the Lord. While the Book of Deuteronomy is a long book, filled with a variety of material, the spiritual lesson that stands out is that we must be equipped by the Lord to face the challenges and opportunities of the future. That equipping comes from hearing His Word, cherishing it, and obeying it. While there are some things we must forget, there are also some things that we must remember if we’re to please and glorify the Lord and accomplish the work He’s given us to do.
When an offender was found guilty and sentenced to be beaten, he was not to be humiliated but punished justly. To beat him too little would be to minimize the offense, but to beat him too much would be to treat him in an inhuman manner and “publicly humiliate” him. The limit was forty stripes, but the Israelites later made it thirty-nine () so as not to accidentally go over the legal number.
The general expectation of generosity should also extend to one’s animals. To muzzle the ox that is threshing the grain is to frustrate him and make his work unnecessarily painful. Once again, the Lord shows compassion for animals and urges us to show pity to those under our care. “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (). Paul used this verse to teach that those who labor in the gospel should be supported by God’s people (; , ).
, Two men fighting is an invitation for more trouble; better they should seek help and settle their dispute in a more constructive way. It’s understandable that the wife would want her husband to win, but her method of assistance was shameful, unfair, and grossly offensive. In describing this scenario, Moses prohibited all indecent methods of combat by either men or women. The penalty would certainly restrain anybody from doing such a thing.
Honest weights and measures were essential to the public good (). The prophets denounced dishonest weights and measures because their use made the poor poorer and the rich richer (; , ; see also ; ; , ). Once again, Moses reminded the people that their future security and blessing in the land depended on their obedience to God’s law. When they cheated others, they only cheated themselves.
The Amalekites were rejected by the Lord, and Israel was not to forget their evil deeds. They attacked Israel after the nation had come out of Egypt (), starting with the weary and feeble Israelites bringing up the rear of the march. Joshua defeated them and God declared perpetual war on them. King Saul lost his crown because he failed to exterminate them (), and he was slain on the battlefield by an Amalekite (). It wasn’t until the time of Hezekiah that the Amalekites finally disappeared from the scene ().
This ceremony was to be used the first time any Israelite brought his firstfruits offering to the Lord. It should not be confused with the annual firstfruits offering (; ; ; ; ; , ).
This scene would take place two years later, when the Israelites were supposed to bring the extra tithe to the local officers (, ). The previous ceremony occurred only once, after the first harvest in the land, but this ceremony was repeated every third year.
The first two confessions looked forward to the time when Israel would be settled in their land and reaping the harvests. This confession brings us back to the plains of Moab where Moses was equipping the younger generation to enter the land. “Today” (vv. ) is a word Moses used frequently as he addressed the people (; , ; ; ; , ; ; etc.). It was indeed a solemn time when Moses reiterated the law and reviewed the nation’s history. The future of the nation depended on the people receiving, understanding, and obeying the Word of God that Moses was sharing with them.
The constant danger was that the people would not receive God’s Word into their hearts but only hear it with their ears and then forget it. Like the Jews in Jesus’ day, they had ears but could not hear (). A mere casual acquaintance with the Word isn’t sufficient. If God’s Word is to nurture us and change us so that God can bless us (), we must devote ourselves to it, heart and soul.
God had great things planned for Israel, just as He has great things planned for each of His children (; ). If the people kept their covenant promises to the Lord, He would bless them and make them a blessing, but if they disobeyed Him, He would have to chasten them.
Note that Moses joined with the leaders (v. ) and the priests (v. ) in announcing the covenant to the people. Moses would soon leave the scene, but the nation would continue and the Lord’s authority would operate through their civil and religious leaders. The people weren’t committing themselves to Moses; they were committing themselves to the Lord, to “keep all His commandments” ().
Joshua was commanded to plaster some large stones on Mount Ebal and write on them the laws that God gave His people. This wasn’t a symbolic gesture, for the words were to be written clearly for the people to read. He was also to build an altar at the base of Mount Ebal where the priests would offer burnt offerings (total dedication to God) and peace offerings (joyful celebration of God’s blessing). To have God’s law without having a sacrifice for sins would be to bring condemnation and not consecration, for “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (). The location held sacred memories for the Israelites, for Abraham had built an altar near Shechem (, ) and so had Jacob ().
As the spiritual leaders read these curses, they weren’t predicting what would happen if the people disobeyed God. They were calling upon the Lord to send these curses on His people if they turned away from Him. And when the people said “Amen” (“so be it”) after each statement, they were telling God that they were willing to be chastened if they disobeyed Him. Their “Amen” wasn’t just their agreement with the words spoken; it was their acceptance of the terms of the covenant. These curses were closely related to the law Moses had delivered and explained, especially the Ten Commandments.
The law taught the people of Israel to love their neighbors and do them good (; ). But whether a neighbor or a total stranger is the victim, murder is wrong and murderers must be punished.
Paul quoted this verse in to prove that there could be no salvation by obeying the law since nobody could obey everything God commanded. But the purpose of the law was not salvation but condemnation, the indictment of all people as sinners, and therefore the need of all people to trust Christ: “The just shall live by faith” (). There can be no true conversion without conviction, and conviction comes when we see the holiness of God in His law and the sinfulness of our own hearts. To say that we’ve kept some of God’s laws doesn’t excuse us, for to break one is to break them all (, ).
This section is predictive; it describes the judgments God promised to send on the nation if the people refused to obey His law. The judgments are given in greater detail than are the blessings and are just the opposite of the blessings. (Compare vv. with vv. .) God wanted His people to know that when these calamities struck, they would recognize the hand of the Lord and not think it was a series of coincidences.
We must keep in mind why the Lord promised these marvelous blessings. For one thing, the nation of Israel was still in its spiritual infancy (), and one way to teach children is by means of rewards and punishments. These material blessings were God’s way of reminding His children that obedience brings blessing but disobedience brings chastening. However, it wasn’t long before thinking Israelites discovered that wicked people were also receiving blessings, so there was something more to faith than just being rewarded. (See ; ; see also .) Gradually God taught His people that their obedience was a witness to the other nations () and brought glory to His name. Obedience also built godly character in the people so that they were indeed a holy nation and a kingdom of priests.
Just as God promised to bless them in every area of life if they obeyed His covenant, so He warned that He would curse them in every area of life—their bodies, families, fields, flocks, and herds—if they disobeyed. They would be sick in body and mind, deprived of the necessities of life, defeated in battle, and scattered throughout the world.
It’s quite depressing to read this long list of calamities, especially when you realize that Israel experienced all of them at one time or another and that innocent people suffered because of the sins of the guilty. Not only , but also Jeremiah’s Book of Lamentations is a solemn reminder that it doesn’t pay to rebel against God and try to have your own way. Idolatry begins with a proud and selfish heart that loves the gifts more than it loves the Giver, and it ends by losing both the Giver and the gifts.
children cursed (v. ); low birth rate (vv. , )
crops ruined and animals killed (vv. , , , , , , )
confusion of mind, madness, and fear (vv. , , , , )
sickness (vv. , , , , , )
drought, hunger, and thirst (vv. , )
defeat in war (vv. , , , )
wives ravished (v. )
oppression and slavery (vv. , , , )
cannibalism (vv. )
captivity (vv. , , )
corpses not buried (v. )
plans shattered (v. )
poverty, debt, and nakedness (vv. , )
robbery (vv. , , )
children kidnapped (vv. , )
aliens take over the land (v. )
shame and scorn (v. )
Go to the
There’s a sobering message here for the church in today’s world. Like Israel of old, we are God’s chosen people and a holy nation (, ) and have been greatly blessed in Jesus Christ. We are here to “advertise” the virtues of the Lord and declare the good news of the gospel. If we fail to glorify God and obey His Word, He will chasten us just as He chastened Israel ().
If God chastens His own people for their sins, what will He do to those who don’t belong to the family and have resisted His will? But judgment will begin in God’s household the church (, , , ), and the only way we can avoid it is to turn from our sins and obey His will.
This reversal language reminds us of the apostle John’s vision of Christ’s dealing with the churches of Asia: The church that thought it was rich, Jesus said was poor, and the church that thought it was poor, Jesus said was rich (; ). What will Jesus reveal about our churches when the fire of chastening falls?
The word “covenant” is used many times in this chapter; in fact, this chapter is the Book of Deuteronomy in miniature. Moses reviewed the past (vv. ), called the people to obey God’s law (vv. ), and warned them what would happen if they disobeyed (vv. ). As we read and study Moses’ farewell address, we may get weary of these repeated themes, but they are the essence of God’s covenant with His people. Too often God’s people forget what they ought to remember and remember what they ought to forget!
Many of the people who accepted the covenant at Sinai had perished in the wilderness, but there was still a “nation of Israel” that was accountable to the Lord to obey that covenant (chs. ). Future generations of Israelites were bound by the covenant made by their ancestors at Sinai, and that covenant wasn’t annulled until Christ died on the cross ().
Moses never seemed to tire of reminding the people of the grace and mercy of God bestowed on the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. During their long journey, God kept their shoes and clothing from wearing out, and gave them manna to eat and water to drink. A nomadic people wouldn’t be able to harvest grapes for wine or grain for bread.
God could not truly be God to them if they refused to accept and obey His law. What He does for us depends a great deal on how we relate to Him (). The covenant He made with their fathers would stand forever, but their enjoyment of its promises depended on their obedience to the obligations. We can identify that same spiritual pattern at work in our lives today.
Moses reminded the people of the gross idolatry they witnessed while enslaved in Egypt and then while traveling through the wilderness. If they witnessed it with hearts devoted to the Lord, they couldn’t help but be repulsed by what they saw, and they surely wouldn’t want to participate in it.
Catalyst
Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge (). Will Israel be an obedient people? Would God send these curses? What does the future hold for the nation? Some of the Jews might have been asking themselves those questions, but this was not a time for speculation; it was a time for dedication. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” ().
Our responsibility as God’s people isn’t to try to pry open the doors of the future but to obey God’s will here and now. When a man asked Jesus, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” His reply was personal and not philosophical: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (). It’s not necessary to know God’s secrets, but it is essential that we obey what the Lord has clearly revealed to us.
Go to the
So often in Scripture, the thundering voice of judgment is followed by the loving voice of hope. Alas, Israel did forsake the Lord and follow after idols, and the Lord did bring on His people the judgments stated in His covenant. No nation in history has suffered as much as the nation of Israel, and yet no nation has given so much spiritual wealth to the world. In this chapter, Moses looked down through the centuries and saw the future restoration of Israel in their land and under the blessings of God.
The connection is obvious: If God’s people turn from their sins and return with all their heart to God and God’s commandments and obey them, they will enjoy life as only the Lord can give. Moses is here looking forward to the time when a chastened Israel will repent, turn from their wicked ways, and come back to the Lord.
Bible scholars disagree about the future of Israel. Some say that the church is now “spiritual Israel” and that all of these Old Testament promises are now being fulfilled in a spiritual sense in the church. Others say that the Old Testament promises must be taken at face value and that we should expect a fulfillment of them when Jesus Christ returns to establish His kingdom on earth. Moses seems to be speaking here to and about Israel and not some other “people of God” in the future, such as the church. The church has no covenant relationship to the land of Israel, for God gave that land to Abraham and his descendants (), and the blessings and curses were declared to Israel, not the church. It would appear that there will be a literal fulfillment of these promises to Israel. When they repent, turn back to Jehovah, and open their hearts to the operation of His Spirit (; ; , ), God will save them from their sins and establish them in Messiah’s glorious kingdom (; , ).
Because we’re created in the image of God, we have minds to think with, hearts to feel with, and a will to decide with, and God calls us to make right decisions. We’re not robots; we can hear God’s Word, learn God’s will, and decide to either obey or disobey. Moses made it clear that making this decision isn’t a difficult task. After all, we have the revealed truth of God in His Word, and that Word is available to us. We don’t have to go up to heaven to get the Word, or even across the sea to another country, because God has brought His Word to us. Paul quoted this passage in to prove that righteousness isn’t obtained by doing great feats but by exercising simple faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.
, These people would soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they were entering. That’s the message the Lord gave Moses after he finished his farewell address to the people he had served so faithfully for forty years. Certainly these words grieved his heart, but Moses knew that Israel had a long history of turning away from the Lord and worshiping idols.
How could Moses encourage his beloved people to stay true to their Lord who had done so much for them? Moses did what God commanded him: He appointed Joshua to be his successor; he gave the people the Book of the Law and told them how to use it; and he sang them a song of warning. What Moses did to help prevent apostasy in Israel needs to be done to prevent apostasy in the church today, for the church’s record isn’t much better than that of Israel.
Furthermore, the choice is between life and death, and who would deliberately choose death? In Israel’s case, the choice was between trusting God and enjoying the bounties of the land (“life and blessing”), or turning to idols and experiencing the curses given in the covenant (“death and cursing”). It’s either “life and blessing” or “death and cursing.” Is this a difficult decision to make? Of course, today the choice is between eternal life and eternal death, salvation by the grace of God or condemnation by the righteousness of God. The only sensible decision is to choose life. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” ().
, Moses had been a faithful servant in leading the people, delivering God’s law to them, and building a nation, but Joshua was the man God chose to lead the army of Israel in conquering the land of Canaan. The phrase “I can no longer go out and come in” (v. ) describes the activities of a leader serving the people (; ), and Joshua would now be that leader.
, As Moses did with Joshua, Christ with His apostles, and Paul with Timothy and Titus, the older generation must equip the younger generation to take their place (). The Lord has given us the qualifications for leaders in the church (; ), and we must give ourselves to mentoring and training qualified people to become those leaders. The absence of gifted and qualified leaders is sometimes evidence of God’s judgment on His people (, ; ). The situation is different today, but ancient Israelites would have been humiliated if young people and women were serving in places of leadership. It was the elderly men who had the wisdom and experience to lead the people.
, During his long ministry, Moses had kept a record of what God had done and said (; ; ; ; ; , ), and he deposited that record with the priests who carried the ark of the covenant. Each Sabbath year, at the Festival of Shelters, the law was to be read and expounded publicly to every man, woman, and child, whether Israelites or strangers, so that they would hear, fear, and obey (). It was especially important that the children hear the word () so they could learn it early and enjoy a long life in the Promised Land.
There’s an important lesson here for the church today, for God has given His people the truth of His Word, and we must guard it, obey it, and pass it along to the next generation. (See , , ; ; , ; .) The church of Jesus Christ is always one generation short of extinction, so it’s important that each believer studies the Scriptures, receives the truth, practices it, and passes it on to others.
The Lord instructed Moses and Joshua to write down a song that He would give them, a song that the people could easily learn and remember (v. ). This song would warn the new generation and generations to come against the perils of idolatry and the tragic consequences of apostasy. It would also remind them of the goodness and mercy of the Lord.
The song has four major divisions: the character of God (vv. ); the kindness of God to His people (vv. ); the faithfulness of God to chasten His people (vv. ); and the vengeance of God against His adversaries (vv. ). The song traces God’s dealings with Israel and is a concise review of the nation’s history, from their wilderness sojourn to the judgments in the end times. It has both historic and prophetic aspects.
Moses did the speaking, although Joshua was with him (vv. , ), and he opened the song with two interesting images: a courtroom (v. ) and a rain shower (v. ). Learning the character of God should be our major concern in the school of life, and Moses was a star pupil (; ). To the Israelite, the name of the Lord was “Jehovah,” the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (). Moses didn’t proclaim his own name, for he was a humble man (); his desire was to honor the name of the Lord.
You would think that Israel would have exalted such a great God and counted it a privilege to know Him and serve Him, but they didn’t. Instead, they turned to idols and corrupted themselves and blemished their own name and standing. One more time, Moses invited the people to remember what God had done for them in “the days of old.” The younger ones could ask the older people what they remembered, because it’s the responsibility of older believers to teach the younger (; ).
Moses warned the people that their undeserved prosperity in the land would tempt them to become proud and forget the Lord (ch. ), and then He would have to chasten them—and that’s exactly what happened. Historically, this refers to God using various Gentile nations to chasten Israel in their land (Judges), and then Babylon to take them into captivity. But prophetically it refers to God calling the Gentiles to salvation after Israel had turned against the message of the gospel (; .). Today, God wants to use the church to make Israel jealous of the spiritual blessing that we have that the Israelites once had (; , ).
On two previous occasions, the Lord had threatened to destroy His people, and Moses reminded Him of His covenant promises and of the fact that the Gentile nations were watching (; ). God doesn’t overlook the evil deeds of Israel’s enemies but has His weapons ready so that He can vindicate His people ().
This refers to God’s vengeance on the enemies of Israel and of God, something He had planned long ago. Here we have God presented as the righteous warrior who will defeat Israel’s enemies and at the same time judge (“vindicate”) His own people and have compassion on them. This is a message of hope for Israel, for His chastening is the first step toward restoring His people and returning to them the blessings that they forfeited when they turned to idols.
The Word of God is the life of God’s people, just as God is our life (), for the Word communicates to us the truth about God and His gracious blessings. To receive and obey the Word is to share in the life of God. “For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life” (v. ). “The word of God is living and powerful” ().
The “Song of Moses” (ch. ) had been a lesson in theology, history, and personal obedience, with several strong warnings included, but the final blessing Moses bestowed on his people is saturated with grace and mercy. It’s quite a contrast to the “blessing” Jacob gave his sons before he died (), revealing their hidden character and exposing sin. Moses opened and closed his speech by extolling the greatness of the Lord.
As Moses looked back over his long life, the one scene that gripped his mind was the revelation of God’s glory at Mount Sinai (; ; ) and the giving of the Law. The better we know the Word of God, the more able we are to express proper worship to Him. There is no substitute for “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (; ) that are founded on Scripture.
Our standing before God is that of being righteous in Jesus Christ (), but our present state in this world is that of being tempted and frequently failing. The victorious Christian life means living up to our standing through faith in the power of God.
God saw not only the entire nation, the people of Israel, but He also saw the individual tribes and assigned blessings to them. Like the high priest, the Lord carried the names of the tribes individually over His heart (). We’ve already noted that Simeon is not mentioned, but all the other tribes are, including Joseph along with his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. The order is:
Reuben, Judah, Levi—sons of Leah ()
Benjamin, Joseph—sons of Rachel (vv. )
Ephraim, Manasseh—sons of Joseph (v. )
Zebulun, Issachar—sons of Leah (vv. , )
Gad—son of Zilpah (vv. , )
Dan, Naphtali—sons of Bilhah (vv. , )
Asher—son of Zilpah (vv. , )
Go to the
These are the last written words of Moses, and they focus on the happiness of the people of God because of His blessings. As Moses finished blessing the tribes, he visualized the whole nation and the joy Israel ought to have because they know the true and living God. Their God isn’t a dead idol sitting in a temple; He rides the heavens to come to the aid of His people! (See and .) But even more, God is Israel’s home and “dwelling place” (see ), and they abide in Him no matter where they go. As we go forward by faith, he defeats the enemy and holds us up in the battle.
Israel would face many enemies and fight many battles as they conquered the Promised Land, but God would give them victory. They would dwell in a safe and productive land, separated from the pagan nations but bearing witness to them about the God of Israel. God would be their helper, their shield, and their sword, so they had nothing to fear. Israel’s greatest danger wasn’t the armies around them so much as the appetites within them. Their hearts needed to be weaned away from their love for idols and the sins associated with idol worship. In the end, the Israelites accepted and worshiped the gods of the nations they defeated, and this led to the spiritual and moral decay of the nation. Israel sank lower and lower into the pits of sin, until God had to send them into captivity.
Catalyst
In many respects, Moses comes across as a very Christhke person. Like Jesus, he was born into a godly home at a difficult time in Jewish history and, like Jesus, his life was threatened. When Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt, he was like Jesus, who became poor that He might share spiritual riches with many (). Like Jesus, Moses was rejected by his people the first time he tried to help them (), but he was accepted by them when he came to them the second time (; ).
Israel rejected Christ at His first coming, but they will receive Him when He comes again (). The only perfect example is Jesus Christ, but when we read about Moses, he reminds us of our Lord and encourages us to become more like our Savior in all things.
Go to the
Moses got to see the Promised Land, but he was kept from entering it. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses had struck the rock in anger. His attitude, his actions (hitting the rock), and his words were all generated by the flesh and not the Spirit and were intended to glorify Him and Aaron and not the Lord. Moses did not sanctify God in what he said and did, and for this he was kept out of the Promised Land (; , ). He prayed earnestly that the Lord would change His mind, but the Lord refused to do so (; the verb indicates that Moses had often prayed this prayer). Moses did enter the Promised Land when Jesus was transfigured ().
Moses was the leader of God’s own people; he was the lawgiver and the architect of Israel and the Jewish religion. He knew that the greater the privileges, the greater the responsibilities. In what he did, Moses failed to glorify God, and for that sin he had to suffer chastening. God in His grace forgives our sins, but God in His government allows our sins to work out their sad consequences in our lives.
, After viewing the land, Moses died and the Lord and the archangel Michael () buried him on Mount Nebo, in a grave that nobody could ever locate or identify. Moses died “according to the word of the LORD” (), and that should be the goal of every believer. The death of God’s saints is very precious to Him (), and therefore He’ll not permit it to happen by accident, unless the believer is rebelling against His will. The days that God has “fashioned” for us are “written” down (), and though we can’t live beyond them, we can by our foolishness and sin hasten our own death.
Moses was a faithful servant. In fact, in the matter of faithfulness, Moses is even compared with Christ (). Moses was faithful to walk with God, and he spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend (; , ). The secret of his life wasn’t his own abilities—he claimed he had none—or even his education in Egypt (), but his humble walk with the Lord. He spent time with God, he listened to God’s Word, and he followed God’s orders.
Moses was a faithful intercessor. Many times he fell on his face and pleaded with God not to judge the people, and on the mountain, he prayed until he was certain the Lord would go with them on their journey. Like the apostles, Moses was a man who focused on “prayer and to the ministry of the word” (). As Jesus with His apostles, he taught the people the Word and then he prayed for them to receive it and grow.
Deuteronomy 1
1:1
1:1 Hebrew arabah
1:1 One manuscript of the Septuagint, also Targum and Vulgate, read Red Sea.
1:2 ;
1:3
1:4 , ,
1:4
1:4 Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read and (compare ).
1:6 ,
1:6 ,
1:7 Hebrew arabah
1:8 ; ; ; ;
1:9 ,
1:10 ;
1:11
1:11
1:12 ,
1:15
1:16
1:16
1:17
1:17
1:17 ,
1:19 ; ;
1:19
1:21 ,
1:23 ,
1:24
1:25
1:26
1:27
1:27
1:28 ,
1:28
1:29
1:30
1:31 , ;
1:32
1:33
1:33
1:34 ,
1:35 ,
1:36 []
1:36 ,
1:37 ; ;
1:38
1:38
1:38 ,
1:39
1:39
1:39 ,
1:40
1:41
1:42
1:43
1:43 ,
1:44
1:46 ,
Deuteronomy 2
2:1
2:1
2:3 ,
2:4
2:4
2:5
2:7
2:8
2:8
2:9 ,
2:9
2:10
2:10
2:11 Hebrew rephaim
2:12
2:13
2:14
2:14 ,
2:14
2:19
2:20
2:20 Hebrew rephaim
2:21
2:22
2:22 ;
2:23
2:23
2:24
2:24
2:25
2:25
2:26
2:26
2:27
2:28
2:29 ,
2:30
2:30
2:30
2:31 ,
2:32
2:33
2:33
2:34
2:36 ;
2:36 ,
2:36
2:37
2:37 , ,
Deuteronomy 3
3:1
3:1
3:2
3:4 ,
3:6 , ,
3:8 ;
3:8
3:9
3:10
3:10 ;
3:11
3:11 ,
3:11
3:11 Hebrew rephaim
3:12
3:12
3:12
3:13 ;
3:13 Hebrew rephaim
3:14
3:14
3:14
3:14 Literally Towns of Jair
3:15 ,
3:16
3:16
3:17 ,
3:17
3:18
3:20 ,
3:20
3:21 [, ]
3:22
3:23 [, ]
3:24 ;
3:24
3:25
3:26 ;
3:27 ;
3:28 ,
3:29 ;
Deuteronomy 4
4:1 []
4:2
4:3
4:6 []
4:7 []
4:7 []
4:9
4:9
4:9
4:10 , ,
4:12 ,
4:12
4:13 ,
4:13
4:13
4:14
4:15
4:15
4:16 ;
4:16 ,
4:16
4:19
4:19
4:19 []
4:20
4:20 ;
4:21
4:21 ,
4:22
4:22
4:22
4:23
4:24
4:24 ;
4:25
4:26 ,
4:27
4:28
4:28 ;
4:29 []
4:30
4:30
4:31
4:32
4:32
4:33
4:34
4:34
4:34
4:34
4:34
4:35
4:36 ,
4:37 , ; ;
4:37 , ,
4:38
4:39
4:40
4:41
4:42
4:43
4:46
4:46
4:47
4:48 ;
4:48
4:48 Syriac reads Sirion (compare ).
4:49
Deuteronomy 5
5:2
5:3
5:4
5:5
5:5
5:6
5:7
5:8
5:9 ,
5:10
5:11
5:12
5:13 ;
5:14 []
5:15
5:15 ,
5:16
5:16
5:16
5:17
5:18
5:19 []
5:20 ;
5:21
5:22
5:23 ,
5:24
5:24
5:25
5:26
5:27
5:28
5:29
5:29
5:29
5:31 []
5:32 ;
5:33
5:33
Deuteronomy 6
6:1
6:2 []
6:2
6:3
6:3
6:3 ,
6:3
6:4 [, ]
6:4 Or The LORD is our God, the LORD alone (that is, the only one)
6:5
6:5
6:6
6:7 ;
6:8 ; ;
6:9
6:10
6:11 ; ;
6:12
6:13
6:13
6:14
6:15
6:15
6:16
6:16 []
6:17
6:18
6:19 ,
6:20 ,
6:21
6:24
6:24
6:24
6:25 [, ]
Deuteronomy 7
7:1
7:1
7:1
7:2
7:2
7:3
7:4
7:5 ;
7:5 Hebrew Asherim, Canaanite deities
7:6 ,
7:7
7:7
7:8
7:8 , ,
7:8 ,
7:9
7:9
7:10 [, ]
7:13
7:13
7:14
7:15 ;
7:16
7:18
7:19 ;
7:20
7:22 ,
7:24 , ;
7:24
7:25
7:26
Deuteronomy 8
8:1 ;
8:1
8:2
8:2
8:2 []
8:3 ,
8:3 , ,
8:3
8:4
8:5
8:6 []
8:7
8:10 ,
8:12
8:14
8:14
8:15
8:15
8:15
8:16
8:16 []
8:18
8:18 ,
8:19 ;
8:20 [, ]
Deuteronomy 9
9:2 , ,
9:3 ;
9:3
9:3
9:3
9:4
9:4 ,
9:5 []
9:5
9:6
9:7
9:7
9:8
9:9
9:9
9:10
9:10
9:12 ,
9:12
9:13
9:13
9:14
9:14
9:14
9:15
9:15
9:16
9:17
9:18
9:19 ,
9:19
9:21
9:22 ,
9:22
9:22 ,
9:23
9:23 ,
9:24 ;
9:25
9:26
Deuteronomy 10
10:1
10:2 ,
10:4 ;
10:5
10:5
10:5
10:6 ;
10:7
10:8
10:8 , ;
10:8
10:8
10:9 ,
10:10
10:10
10:11
10:12
10:12
10:13
10:14 []
10:16
10:16 ,
10:17
10:17
10:17
10:17
10:18 ;
10:20
Deuteronomy 11
11:4
11:6
11:7 ;
11:8 ,
11:9 ; , ;
11:9
11:9
11:9
11:11
11:12
11:14
11:14
11:14 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Vulgate read He.
11:15
11:15
11:16
11:16
11:17 ;
11:17 ;
11:17
11:18
11:18 ,
11:18
11:19 , ;
11:20
11:21
11:21 ;
11:22
11:22
11:23
11:23
11:24 ;
11:24
11:24 That is, the Mediterranean
11:25
11:25
11:26 , ,
11:27
11:28
11:29
11:29
11:30
Deuteronomy 12
12:1
12:1 ,
12:2
12:2 ; ,
12:3
12:4
12:5
12:5
12:6 ,
12:6
12:7
12:7 ,
12:8 ;
12:9 ;
12:10
12:12 ;
12:12 ;
12:15
12:15
12:15
12:16
12:20
12:21
12:23
12:25 ;
12:25
12:26 , ;
12:27 , , ,
12:28
12:29
12:31 , , ; ,
12:31
12:32 ,
Deuteronomy 13
13:1
13:1
13:2
13:3 ,
13:4
13:4
13:5
13:5 ,
13:6
13:6
13:6 ,
13:8
13:9
13:11
13:12
13:16
13:16
13:17
13:17
13:18 , ,
Deuteronomy 14
14:1 []
14:1 ;
14:2
14:3
14:4
14:5 Or addax
14:8 ,
14:9
14:12
14:19
14:19
14:21 ;
14:21
14:21 ;
14:22
14:23
14:23 ,
14:24 ,
14:26
14:27
14:28
14:28
Deuteronomy 15
15:1 ; ,
15:4
15:6 ,
15:7
15:8
15:9 ,
15:9
15:9 [, ]
15:10 ,
15:10
15:11
15:12
15:12
15:14
15:15
15:16 ,
15:18
15:19 ,
15:20 ;
15:21
15:22 , ,
Deuteronomy 16
16:1
16:1
16:2
16:2 , ;
16:3
16:3
16:4
16:4
16:6
16:7
16:8 ,
16:10
16:10
16:11
16:12
16:13
16:14
16:15
16:16 ;
16:16
16:17
16:18 ,
16:19 ,
16:19
16:19
16:20
16:21
16:22
Deuteronomy 17
17:1
17:2
17:2
17:3
17:3
17:4 ,
17:5
17:5
17:6
17:7 ;
17:8
17:8 ;
17:9
17:9
17:9
17:12
17:13
17:14 , , ;
17:15 , ; ; ,
17:15
17:16 ;
17:16
17:16 ,
17:16
17:17
17:18
17:19 ,
17:20
Deuteronomy 18
18:1
18:3 ; ,
18:4
18:5
18:5
18:6
18:6 ;
18:7
18:8
18:9 , ;
18:10
18:10
18:11
18:11
18:12
18:15 ; ; ; ; ; ;
18:16
18:16 ,
18:17
18:18 ; ;
18:18 ; ;
18:18 [; ]
18:19 ; []
18:20 ,
18:20
18:22
18:22
18:22
Deuteronomy 19
19:1
19:2
19:4
19:6
19:8
19:8
19:9
19:10
19:11 ,
19:13
19:13
19:14
19:15
19:16
19:17 ;
19:19
19:19 ; ; ;
19:20 ;
19:21
19:21 ,
Deuteronomy 20
20:1
20:1
20:1 ; ,
20:4
20:5
20:7
20:8
20:8 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read lest he make his brother’s heart faint.
20:10
20:13
20:14
20:14
20:16
20:18 ; ;
20:18
Deuteronomy 21
21:3
21:5
21:5 ,
21:6
21:8
21:9
21:11
21:12 ,
21:13
21:14
21:15
21:16 ;
21:17
21:17
21:17 ,
21:21 ; , ; ,
21:21
21:22
21:23
21:23
21:23
Deuteronomy 22
22:1
22:4
22:6
22:7
22:9
22:10 []
22:11
22:12
22:13 ;
22:21
22:21
22:21
22:22
22:23 ,
22:24
22:24 ,
22:28 ,
22:29 ,
22:29
22:30
22:30
Deuteronomy 23
23:1 ;
23:3 ,
23:4
23:4 , ;
23:4 Hebrew Aram Naharaim
23:5
23:6
23:7 ,
23:7
23:10
23:11
23:14
23:15
23:16
23:17
23:17
23:17 Hebrew qedeshah, feminine of qadesh (see next note)
23:17 Hebrew qadesh, that is, one practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
23:19
23:20
23:20
23:21 ,
23:23 ,
23:25
Deuteronomy 24
24:1 [; ]
24:1 []
24:4 []
24:5
24:5
24:7
24:7
24:8 ;
24:9 []
24:9
24:10
24:13
24:13
24:13
24:14 []
24:15
24:15
24:16
24:17
24:17
24:18
24:19 ,
24:19
Deuteronomy 25
25:1 ;
25:1
25:2
25:2
25:3
25:3
25:4 []
25:5
25:6
25:6 ,
25:7 ,
25:8
25:9 ,
25:9
25:12 ;
25:13
25:15
25:16
25:17
25:18
25:19
25:19
Deuteronomy 26
26:2 ; ,
26:2
26:3 Septuagint reads my.
26:5
26:5 , ; ,
26:5
26:5
26:5
26:5 Or Aramean
26:6 ,
26:7 ; ;
26:8
26:8 ; ,
26:9 ,
26:9
26:11 ;
26:12
26:12 ,
26:13 , ,
26:14
26:15
26:15
26:15
26:17
26:17
26:18 ;
26:19 , ;
26:19 []
Deuteronomy 27
27:2
27:2
27:3
27:3
27:4
27:5
27:7
27:8
27:9
27:12
27:13
27:14
27:15 , ;
27:15
27:16
27:17
27:18
27:19 , ;
27:20
27:21 ; ,
27:22
27:23 ;
27:24 ;
27:25
27:26
Deuteronomy 28
28:1
28:1
28:2
28:3 ,
28:3
28:4
28:6
28:7 ,
28:8
28:8
28:9 ,
28:10
28:10
28:11
28:12
28:12
28:12
28:13 [, ]
28:14
28:15
28:20
28:20
28:20
28:22
28:22
28:23
28:25
28:26
28:27
28:27
28:28
28:29
28:30
28:30
28:30
28:32
28:32
28:32
28:33 ,
28:36
28:36
28:37 ,
28:37
28:38
28:38
28:39
28:41
28:46
28:47
28:47
28:48
28:48 ,
28:49
28:49 ;
28:50
28:52 , ,
28:53
28:54
28:54
28:56 Literally her eye shall be evil toward
28:57
28:58
28:59
28:60
28:62
28:62
28:63
28:63
28:63 ;
28:64
28:64
28:65
28:65
28:65
28:67
28:67
28:68
28:68
Deuteronomy 29
29:1 ,
29:2
29:3 ;
29:4 [, ]
29:5 ;
29:5
29:6
29:7 ,
29:8 ,
29:9
29:9
29:11 , ,
29:12
29:13
29:13
29:13 ,
29:14 []
29:15
29:18
29:18
29:18
29:19 ;
29:19
29:19 Or stubbornness
29:20
29:20
29:20
29:20
29:21 []
29:21
29:22 ; ;
29:23
29:23 ,
29:24
29:27
29:28
Deuteronomy 30
30:1
30:1
30:1
30:1 ,
30:2
30:3
30:3
30:4
30:6
30:7 ,
30:8
30:9
30:9
30:11
30:12
30:14
30:15 ,
30:18 ;
30:19
30:19
30:20 [; ]
Deuteronomy 31
31:2
31:2
31:2
31:3
31:3
31:3
31:4
31:4 ,
31:5 ;
31:6
31:6
31:6
31:6
31:7
31:8
31:8
31:9 ; ,
31:9
31:10 ,
31:10
31:11
31:11
31:11
31:12
31:13
31:13 ,
31:14
31:14
31:15
31:16
31:16
31:16
31:16
31:17 ;
31:17
31:17
31:17
31:17
31:18
31:19 ,
31:20
31:20
31:21
31:21
31:21 ,
31:23
31:23
31:26
31:26
31:27 ,
31:27
31:28
31:29
31:29
31:29
Deuteronomy 32
32:1
32:1
32:2 ,
32:2
32:3
32:3
32:4
32:4
32:4
32:4
32:5 ;
32:5
32:6
32:6
32:6
32:6
32:7
32:7
32:8
32:8
32:9
32:10
32:10
32:11
32:13
32:14
32:14
32:15
32:15
32:15
32:15
32:16
32:17
32:18
32:18
32:19
32:20
32:21
32:21
32:21
32:22
32:23
32:23 ,
32:24
32:26
32:27
32:29 []
32:29
32:30
32:31 [, ]
32:32
32:33
32:33
32:34 []
32:35
32:35
32:36
32:36
32:36
32:37
32:39 ;
32:39
32:39
32:41 ;
32:43
32:43 ;
32:43 ; ;
32:43 A Dead Sea Scroll fragment adds And let all the gods (angels) worship Him (compare Septuagint and ).
32:44 Hebrew Hoshea (compare , )
32:46 ;
32:46
32:47 ;
32:49
32:50 , ;
32:51
32:51
32:52
Deuteronomy 33
33:1
33:1
33:2 ,
33:2 ,
33:2
33:2
33:3
33:3
33:3 []
33:3
33:4 ;
33:4
33:5
33:5
33:6 ,
33:7
33:7
33:7
33:8
33:8
33:8
33:9 []
33:9 []
33:9
33:9 ,
33:10
33:10
33:11
33:13
33:13
33:15
33:15
33:16
33:16
33:16
33:17
33:17
33:17
33:17
33:18
33:19
33:19 ;
33:20
33:21 ,
33:21
33:22
33:23
33:23
33:24
33:24
33:25
33:26
33:26
33:26 , , ;
33:27 [; , ]
33:27
33:28 ;
33:28 ,
33:28
33:28
33:29
33:29
33:29
33:29 ;
33:29
Deuteronomy 34
34:1
34:2 That is, the Mediterranean
34:3
34:4
34:4
34:5 ; ,
34:6
34:7
34:7 ;
34:8 ,
34:9
34:9 ,
34:10 ,
34:10
34:11