Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹"Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, just as the LORD had told me; and we circled Mount Seir for many days.

²And the LORD spoke to me, saying,

³'You have circled this mountain long enough; turn northward,

⁴and command the people, saying, "You are passing through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau (the Edomites), who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

⁵do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as little as a footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

⁶You shall buy food from them with money so that you may [have something to] eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money so that you may [have something to] drink.

⁷For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known about your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing."'

⁸"So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who lived in Seir, away from the Arabah (wilderness) road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. Then we turned and passed through by the way of the Wilderness of Moab.

⁹And the LORD said to me, 'Do not harass [the descendants of] Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons (Moab and Ammon) of Lot as a possession.'

¹⁰(The Emim lived there in times past, a people great and numerous, and as tall as the Anakim.

¹¹These also are regarded as Rephaim [an ancient people], as are the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

¹²The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them. They destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land which the LORD gave them as their possession.)

¹³'Now arise and cross the valley of the Zered.' So we crossed the Zered Valley.

¹⁴Now thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley, until that entire generation of the men of war had died from within the camp, just as the LORD had sworn to them.

¹⁵Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from within the camp, until they were all dead.

¹⁶"So it came about when all the men of war had finally died from among the people,

¹⁷that the LORD spoke to me, saying,

¹⁸'Today you are to pass through Ar, the border of Moab.

¹⁹When you come opposite the territory of the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.'

²⁰(It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim [of giant stature], for Rephaim used to live there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin,

²¹a great, numerous people, and tall as the Anakim, but the LORD destroyed them before the sons of Ammon. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

²²just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; and the sons of Esau (the Edomites) dispossessed them and settled in their place [and remain there] even to this day.

²³As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim (Cretans, later Philistines) who came from Caphtor (Crete) destroyed them and settled in their place.)

²⁴Now arise, continue on, and go through the valley of the Arnon. Look, I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin! Take possession [of it] and fight with him in battle.

²⁵This day I will begin to put the dread and the fear of you on the peoples (pagans) under the whole heaven, who, when they hear the reports about you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.'

²⁶"So 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 [with my people]. I will travel [with them] only on the highway; I will not turn away to the right or to the left.

²⁸You will sell me food for money so that I [along with my people] will eat, and you will give me water for money so that I [along with my people] will drink; only let me [and my people] travel through [the land] on foot,

²⁹just as the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for me, until I cross the Jordan into the land which the LORD our God is giving us.'

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to travel through his land; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today.

³¹The LORD said to me, 'Look, I have begun to hand over to you Sihon and his land. Begin! Take possession [of it], so that you may possess his land.'

³²"Then at Jahaz, Sihon and all his people came out to meet us in battle.

³³So the LORD our God handed him over to us [and gave us the victory], and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.

³⁴At the same time we took all his cities and utterly destroyed every city—men, women and children. We left no survivor.

³⁵We took only the cattle as plunder for ourselves and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and from the city which is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no city [whose wall was] too high and too strong for us; the LORD our God handed over everything to us.

³⁷Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the LORD our God had forbidden us.

¹"Then we turned and went up the road toward Bashan, and at Edrei, Og king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle.

²And the LORD said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, him and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'

³So the LORD our God also handed over Og king of Bashan, and all his people, into our hand and we struck him until no survivor was left.

⁴We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵All these cities were fortified and unassailable with their high walls, gates, and bars; in addition, [there were] a very great number of unwalled villages.

⁶We utterly destroyed them, just as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city—the men, women, and children.

⁷But we took all the cattle and the spoil of the cities as plunder for ourselves.

⁸"So we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings [Sihon and Og] of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon

⁹(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir):

¹⁰all the cities of the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan."

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the [the giants known as the] Rephaim. Behold, his bed frame was a bed frame of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It was nine cubits (12 ft.) long and four cubits (6 ft.) wide, using the cubit of a man [the forearm to the end of the middle finger].)

¹²"So we took possession of this land at that time. I gave the territory from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, along with half of the hill country of Gilead and its cities to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

¹³The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim.

¹⁴Jair the son (descendant) of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is Bashan, and called it after his own name, Havvoth (the villages of) Jair, as it is called to this day.)

¹⁵I gave Gilead to Machir [of Manasseh].

¹⁶To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of Arnon, with the middle of the Valley as a boundary, and as far as the Jabbok River, the boundary of the sons of Ammon;

¹⁷the Arabah also, with the Jordan as its boundary, from Chinnereth (the Sea of Galilee) as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸"Then I commanded you [Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh] at that time, saying, 'The LORD your God has given you this land to possess; all you who are brave men shall cross over [the Jordan] armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel.

¹⁹But your wives and your children and your cattle—I know that you have much livestock—shall remain in your cities which I have given you,

²⁰until the LORD gives rest to your fellow countrymen as [He has] to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God has given them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the land (possession) which I have given to you.'

²¹I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to these two kings [Sihon and Og]; so the LORD shall do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

²²Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who is fighting for you.'

²³"Then I pleaded with the LORD at that time [for His favor], saying,

²⁴'O Lord GOD, You have only begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth that can do such works and mighty acts (miracles) as Yours?

²⁵I pray, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country [with Hermon] and Lebanon.'

²⁶But the LORD was angry with me because of you [and your rebellion at Meribah], and would not listen to me; and the LORD said to me, 'Enough! Speak to Me no longer about this matter.

²⁷Go up to the top of [Mount] Pisgah and raise your eyes toward the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.

²⁸But command Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go across and lead this people, and he will give them the land which you see as an inheritance.'

²⁹So we stayed in the Valley opposite Beth-peor.

¹"Now, O Israel, listen and pay attention to the statutes and the judgments (God's legal decisions) which I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I am commanding you.

³Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor; for all the men who followed [and participated in the worship of] Baal of Peor, the LORD your God destroyed them from among you,

⁴but you who held tightly to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵"Look, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may do them in the land which you are entering to possess.

⁶So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

⁷For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God [is to us] whenever we call on Him?

⁸Or what great nation has statutes and judgments so righteous (upright, just) as this whole law which I am placing before you today?

⁹"Only pay attention and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your grandchildren [impressing these things on their mind and penetrating their heart with these truths]—

¹⁰especially the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb (Mount Sinai), when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] all the days they live on the land, and so that they may teach their children.'

¹¹You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the [very] heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

¹²Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice.

¹³So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to follow, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

¹⁴The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you the statutes and judgments, so that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess.

¹⁵"So pay attention and watch yourselves carefully—for you did not see any form [of God] on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire—

¹⁶so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image [to worship] in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, or of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

¹⁸the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth.

¹⁹And beware that you do not raise your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and let yourselves be led astray and worship them and serve them, [mere created bodies] which the LORD your God has allotted to [serve and benefit] all the peoples under the whole heaven.

²⁰But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron [smelting] furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as [you are] this day.

²¹"Now the LORD was angry with me [at the waters of Meribah] because of you, and He swore [an oath] that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

²²For I am going to die in this land, I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you shall cross over and take possession of this good land.

²³So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

²⁴For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].

²⁵"When you become the father of children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, then if you corrupt yourselves by making a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything [for the purpose of worship], and do evil [things] in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger,

²⁶I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.

²⁷The LORD will scatter and disperse you among the peoples (pagan nations), and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.

²⁸And there you will serve [false and foreign] gods, the work of human hands, [lifeless images of] wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell [the offerings of food given to them].

²⁹But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

³⁰When you are in distress and tribulation and all these things come on you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

³¹For the LORD your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

³²"Indeed, ask now about the days that are past, [those days] which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

³³Did [any] people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you heard, and [still] live?

³⁴Or has any [man-made] god ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your [very] eyes?

³⁵It was shown to you so that you might have [personal] knowledge and comprehend that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

³⁶Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline and admonish you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

³⁷And because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants who followed them, and brought you from Egypt with His Presence, with His great and awesome power,

³⁸dispossessing and driving out from before you nations, [nations that were] greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.

³⁹Therefore know and understand today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other.

⁴⁰So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities [of refuge] beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun (eastward),

⁴²so that someone who committed manslaughter could flee there, [that is, a person] who killed his neighbor unintentionally and without previously having hostility toward him, and that by escaping to one of these cities he might [claim the right of asylum and] save his life:

⁴³Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴This is the law which Moses placed before the sons of Israel;

⁴⁵these are the testimonies (legal provisions) and the statutes and the judgments which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt,

⁴⁶beyond the Jordan in the Valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out from Egypt.

⁴⁷They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who reigned across the Jordan to the east,

⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the [river] Arnon, as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),

⁴⁹with all the Arabah (desert lowlands) across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea), at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

¹Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments (legal decisions) which I am speaking today in your hearing, so that you may learn them and observe them carefully.

²The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

³The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are alive here today.

⁴The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire.

⁵I was standing 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 did not go up the mountain. He said,

⁶'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷'You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁸'You shall not make for yourself an idol [as an object to worship], or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

⁹You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁰but showing graciousness and lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the LORD will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].

¹²'Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God), as the LORD your God commanded you.

¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the LORD your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock or the stranger who stays inside your [city] gates, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

¹⁵You shall remember [with thoughtful concern] that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶'Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days [on the earth] may be prolonged and so that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁷'You shall not murder.

¹⁸'You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹'You shall not steal.

²⁰'You shall not give false testimony [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

²¹'You shall not covet [that is, desire and seek to acquire] your neighbor's wife, nor desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.'

²²"The LORD spoke these words with a great voice to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and He added no more. He wrote these commandments on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

²³And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the leaders (heads) of your tribes and your elders;

²⁴and you said, 'Behold, 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 today that God speaks with man, yet he [still] lives.

²⁵Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die.

²⁶For who is there of all flesh (mankind) who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷You, Moses, go near and listen to everything that the LORD our God says; then speak to us everything that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.'

²⁸"The LORD heard your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

²⁹Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear [and worship Me with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] and keep all My commandments always, so that it may go well with them and with their children forever!

³⁰Go and say to them, "Return to your tents."

³¹But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will tell you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may obey them in the land which I give them to possess.'

³²Therefore you shall pay attention and be careful to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left [deviating from My commandments].

³³You shall walk [that is, live each and every day] in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long in the land which you will possess.

¹"Now this is the command; the statutes and the judgments (precepts) which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you might do (follow, obey) them in the land which you are crossing over [the Jordan] to possess,

²so that you and your son and your grandson may fear and worship the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], to keep [and actively do] all His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you, all the days of your life, so that your days may be prolonged.

³Therefore listen, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in numbers], as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one [the only God]!

⁵You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being].

⁶These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind.

⁷You shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God's precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.

⁸And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead.

⁹You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰"Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore (solemnly promised) to [give] your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give you, [a land with] great and splendid cities which you did not build,

¹¹and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn (excavated) cisterns (wells) which you did not dig out, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are full and satisfied,

¹²then beware that you do not forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹³You shall fear [only] the LORD your God; and you shall serve Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] and swear [oaths] by His name [alone].

¹⁴You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,

¹⁵for the LORD your God who is among you is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]—otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled and burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

¹⁷You shall diligently keep [foremost in your thoughts and actively do] the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.

¹⁸You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to [give] your fathers,

¹⁹by driving 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 and statutes and judgments (precepts) which the LORD our God has commanded you?'

²¹then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²²Moreover, the LORD showed great and terrible signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household;

²³He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to [give] our fathers.'

²⁴So the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear [and worship] the LORD our God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] for our good always and so that He might preserve us alive, as it is today.

²⁵It will be [considered] righteousness for us [that is, right standing with God] if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God—just as He has commanded us.

¹"When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, and has cleared away many nations before you, the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you,

²and when the LORD your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant (treaty) with them nor show mercy and compassion to them.

³You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son;

⁴for they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled and burn against you and He will quickly destroy you.

⁵But this is how you shall deal with them: you shall tear down their altars and smash to pieces their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherim (symbols of the goddess Asherah), and burn their carved or sculpted images in the fire.

⁶For you are a holy people [set apart] to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people for His own possession [that is, His very special treasure].

⁷"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you were greater in number than any of the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

⁸But because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed (bought) you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Therefore know [without any doubt] and understand that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who is keeping His covenant and His [steadfast] lovingkindness to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

¹⁰but repays those who hate Him to their faces, by destroying them; He will not hesitate with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

¹¹Therefore, you shall keep (follow, obey) the commandment and the statutes and judgments (precepts) which I am commanding you today.

¹²"Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the [steadfast] lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers.

¹³He 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 [olive] oil, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁴You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren (childless, infertile) among you or among your cattle.

¹⁵The LORD will take away from you all sickness; and He will not subject you to any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will impose them on all [those] who hate you.

¹⁶And you shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will give over to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a [deadly] trap to you.

¹⁷"If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I am; how can I dispossess them?'

¹⁸you shall not be afraid of them; you shall remember [with confidence] what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt—

¹⁹the great trials which you saw with your own eyes, and the signs, 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.

²⁰Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet (His terror) against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.

²¹You shall not dread them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.

²²The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for [if you did] the wild animals would become too numerous for you.

²³But the LORD your God will hand them over to you, and will confuse them with a great panic until they are destroyed.

²⁴And He will hand over their kings to you, and you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.

²⁵You shall burn the carved and sculpted images of their gods in the fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, so that you will not be ensnared by it [in a deadly trap], for it is an abomination (repulsive) to the LORD your God.

²⁶You shall not bring an abomination (idol) into your house, and like it come under the ban (doomed to destruction); you shall utterly detest and you shall utterly hate it, for it is something banned.

¹"Every commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore [to give] to your fathers.

²And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not.

³He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

⁴Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years.

⁵Therefore, know in your heart (be fully cognizant) that the LORD your God disciplines and instructs you just as a man disciplines and instructs his son.

⁶Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect].

⁷For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

⁸a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

⁹a land where you will eat bread without shortage, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

¹⁰When you have eaten and are satisfied, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today;

¹²otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,

¹³and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have increases,

¹⁴then your heart will become lifted up [by self-conceit and arrogance] and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁵"He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; it was He who brought water for you out of the flinty rock.

¹⁶"He fed you manna in the wilderness, [a substance] which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you [by dependence on Him] and that He might test you, to do good [things] for you at the end.

¹⁷Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

¹⁸But you shall remember [with profound respect] the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers, as it is this day.

¹⁹And it shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will most certainly perish.

²⁰Like the nations which the LORD causes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you would not listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God.

¹"Hear, O Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and more powerful than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

²a people great and tall, sons of Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'

³So know today [with confident assurance] that the LORD your God is crossing [the Jordan] before you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, and you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has promised you.

⁴"Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD is dispossessing them before you.

⁵It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out before you, and to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶"Know [without any doubt], that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

⁷Remember [with remorse] and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸And at Horeb (Sinai) you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

⁹When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water.

¹⁰The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were written all the words which the LORD had spoken to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹It came about at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

¹²Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made (cast) a molten image for themselves.'

¹³Furthermore, the LORD said to me, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, they are stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) people.

¹⁴Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and wipe 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 while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf (idol). You had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands and smashed them before your very eyes!

¹⁸Then, as before, I fell down before the LORD for [another] forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water, because of all the sin you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and absolute fury which the LORD held against you, [enough divine fury] to destroy you, but the LORD listened to me that time also.

²⁰The LORD was very angry with Aaron, angry [enough] to destroy him, so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time.

²¹I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it in the fire and thoroughly crushed it, grinding the metal thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

²²"At Taberah also and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath.

²³And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God, and you did not believe and rely on Him, nor did you obey His voice.

²⁴You have been rebellious against the LORD from the [first] day that I knew you.

²⁵"So I fell down and lay face down before the LORD forty days and nights because the LORD had said He would destroy you.

²⁶Then I prayed to the LORD and said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought from Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember [with compassion] Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or at their sin,

²⁸so that the [people of the] land from which You brought us will not say, "Because the LORD was not capable of bringing them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to the wilderness [in order] to kill them."

²⁹Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.'

¹"At that time the LORD said to me, 'Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark (chest) of wood for yourself.

²I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.'

³So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

⁴The LORD wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, the Ten Commandments which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; then the LORD gave them to me.

⁵Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and they are there, just as the LORD commanded me."

⁶(Now the sons of Israel traveled from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and there he was buried and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.

⁷From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.

⁸At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

⁹Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance [of tribal land] with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God has promised him.)

¹⁰"And I stayed on the mountain, like the first time, forty days and nights, and the LORD listened to me at that time also; the LORD was not willing to destroy you.

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go on your journey ahead of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.'

¹²"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear [and worship] the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being],

¹³and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

¹⁴Behold, the heavens and the highest of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth and all that is in it.

¹⁵Yet the LORD had a delight in loving your fathers and set His affection on them, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

¹⁶So circumcise [that is, remove sin from] your heart, and be stiff-necked (stubborn, obstinate) no longer.

¹⁷For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

¹⁸He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) by giving him food and clothing.

¹⁹Therefore, show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²⁰You shall fear [and worship] the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect]; you shall serve Him and cling to Him [hold tightly to Him, be united with Him], and you shall swear [oaths] by His name.

²¹He is your praise and glory; He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which you have seen with your own eyes.

²²Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy persons [in all], and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

¹"Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments [it is your obligation to Him].

²Know this day that I am not speaking to your children who have not known [by personal experience] and who have not seen [firsthand] the instruction and discipline of the LORD your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm;

³and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

⁴and what He did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how the LORD completely destroyed them;

⁵and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

⁶and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel.

⁷For your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD which He did.

⁸"Therefore, you shall keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land which you are crossing over [the Jordan] to possess;

⁹so that you may live long on the land which the LORD swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land [of great abundance,] flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a garden of vegetables.

¹¹But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

¹²a 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 end of the year.

¹³"It shall come about, if you listen obediently and pay attention to My commandments which I command you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being]—

¹⁴that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early [fall] rain and the late [spring] rain, so that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your [olive] oil.

¹⁵And He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the LORD] and serve other gods and worship them,

¹⁷or [else] the Lord's anger will be kindled and burn against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

¹⁸"Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead.

¹⁹You shall teach them [diligently] to your children [impressing God's precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

²⁰You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

²²For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him—

²³then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

²⁴Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall become yours; your territory shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea (the Mediterranean).

²⁵No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the fear and the dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.

²⁶"Behold, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

²⁷the blessing, if you listen to and obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today;

²⁸and the curse, if you do not listen to and obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following (acknowledging, worshiping) other gods which you have not known.

²⁹"It shall come about, when the LORD your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

³⁰Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

³¹For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,

³²and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

¹"These are the statutes and judgments (precepts) which you shall be careful to do in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

²You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree.

³You shall tear down their altars and smash their [idolatrous] pillars and burn their Asherim in the fire; you shall cut down the carved and sculpted images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

⁴You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.

⁵But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to establish His Name there for His dwelling [place], and there you shall come [to worship Him].

⁶There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, your freewill (voluntary) offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

⁷And there you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all to which you put your hand, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸"You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes.

⁹For you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁰When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

¹¹then it shall come about that the place which the LORD your God will choose for His Name [and Presence] to dwell; there you shall bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the [voluntary] contribution of your hand [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choice votive offerings which you vow to the LORD.

¹²And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

¹³"Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every [cultic] place you see,

¹⁴but [only] in the place which the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I am commanding you.

¹⁵"However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your [city] gates, whatever you wish, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you [as His generous provision for daily life]. The [ceremonially] unclean and the clean may eat it, such as the gazelle and the deer.

¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

¹⁷You are forbidden to eat within your [city] gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

¹⁸But you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.

¹⁹Be careful that you do not neglect the Levite [who serves God] as long as you live in your land.

²⁰"When the LORD your God extends your territory, as He promised you, and you say, 'I will eat meat,' because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whatever you wish.

²¹If the place which the LORD your God chooses to put His Name (Presence) is too far away from you, then you may slaughter [animals] from your herd or flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your [city] gates whatever you wish.

²²Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat it [but not make it an offering]; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alike may eat it.

²³Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life (soul), and you shall not eat the life with the meat.

²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

²⁵You shall not eat it, so that all may be well with you and with your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.

²⁶However, you shall take your holy things which you have [to offer] and your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, you shall take them and go to the place which the LORD will choose.

²⁷And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.

²⁸"Be careful to listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that it may be well with you and with your children after you forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.

²⁹"When the LORD your God cuts off and destroys before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and settle in their land,

³⁰beware that you are not lured (ensnared) into following them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods, so that I too may do likewise?'

³¹You shall not behave this way toward the LORD your God, for they have done for their gods every repulsive thing which the LORD hates; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [as sacrifices] to their gods.

³²"Everything I command you, you shall be careful to do it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

¹"If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,

²and the sign or the wonder which he spoke (foretold) to you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us follow after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve and worship them,'

³you 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 mind and all your soul [your entire being].

⁴You shall walk after the LORD your God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him.

⁵But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to draw you away from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

⁶"If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as [precious to you as] your own life (soul), entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (gods whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

⁷of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other),

⁸you shall not consent to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him.

⁹Instead, you shall most certainly execute him; your hand shall be first [to be raised] against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

¹⁰So you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

¹²"If you hear [it said] in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to live in,

¹³that some worthless and evil men have gone out from among you and have tempted the inhabitants of their city [to sin], saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known),

¹⁴then you shall investigate and search out [witnesses] and ask thorough questions. If it is true and the matter is established that this loathsome thing has been done among you,

¹⁵you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it, even its livestock with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶Then you shall collect all its spoil (plunder) into the middle of its open square and burn the city and set fire to the spoil as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall not be built again.

¹⁷Nothing from that which is put under the ban (designated for destruction) shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn away from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He swore to your fathers,

¹⁸because you have listened to and obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

¹"You are the sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead,

²for you are a holy people [set apart] to the LORD your God; and the LORD has chosen you out of all the peoples who are on the earth to be a people for His own possession.

³"You shall not eat anything that is detestable [to the LORD and forbidden by Him].

⁴These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

⁶Among the animals, you may eat any animal that has the divided hoof [that is, a hoof] split into two parts [especially at its distal extremity] and that chews the cud.

⁷However, you are not to eat any of these [animals] among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel, the hare and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not split the hoof; they are unclean for you.

⁸The swine, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat nor touch their carcasses.

⁹"Of all [creatures] that are in the waters, you may eat these: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

¹⁰but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales; it is unclean for you.

¹¹"You may eat any clean bird.

¹²But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, and the black buzzard,

¹³and the red kite, the falcon, and the birds of prey of any variety,

¹⁴and every raven of any variety,

¹⁵and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any variety,

¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the long-eared owl,

¹⁷the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

¹⁸the stork, and the heron of any variety, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹And all flying insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰You may eat any clean bird.

²¹"You shall not eat anything that dies on its own. You may give it to the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is in your [city] gates, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner [since they are not under God's law], but you are a people holy (set apart) to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat or a lamb in its mother's milk.

²²"Every year you shall certainly tithe [a tenth] of all the yield of your seed which is produced by your field.

²³You shall eat the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock before the LORD your God in the place where He chooses to establish His Name (Presence), so that you may learn to fear [and worship] the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] always.

²⁴If the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His Name (Presence) is a great distance from you and you are not able to carry your tithe, because the LORD your God has blessed you [with such an abundance],

²⁵then you shall exchange your tithe for money, and take the money in your hand and go to the place [of worship] which the LORD your God chooses.

²⁶You may spend the money for anything your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or [other] strong drink, or anything else you want. You shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your [city] gates, for he does not have a share [of land] or an inheritance among you.

²⁸"At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce for that year, and shall store it up within your [city] gates.

²⁹The Levite, because he has no share [of land] or an inheritance among you, and the stranger, and the orphan and the widow who are within your [city] gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

¹"At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release (remission, pardon) from debt.

²This is the regulation for the release: every creditor shall forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require repayment from his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed.

³You may require repayment from a foreigner, but whatever of yours is with your brother [Israelite] your hand shall release.

⁴However, there will be no poor among you, since the LORD will most certainly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

⁵if only you will listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all these commandments which I am commanding you today.

⁶When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷"If there is a poor man among you, one of your fellow Israelites, in any of your cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not be heartless, nor close-fisted with your poor brother;

⁸but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend to him whatever he needs.

⁹Beware that there is no wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release (remission, pardon), is approaching,' and your eye is hostile (unsympathetic) toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing [since he would not have to repay you]; for he may cry out to the LORD against you, and it will become a sin for you.

¹⁰You shall freely and generously give to him, and your heart shall not be resentful when you give to him, because for this [generous] thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

¹¹For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.'

¹²"If your fellow Israelite, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you shall set him free [from your service].

¹³When you set him free, you shall not let him go away empty-handed.

¹⁴You shall give him generous provisions from your flock, from your threshing floor and from your wine press; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹⁵And you shall remember and thoughtfully consider that you were [once] a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you these things today.

¹⁶Now if the servant says to you, 'I will not leave you,' because he loves you and your household, since he is doing well with you;

¹⁷then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall [willingly] be your servant always. Also you shall do the same for your maidservant.

¹⁸"It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has served you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

¹⁹"You shall consecrate (set apart) to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock. You shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

²⁰You and your household shall eat it every year before the LORD your God in the place [for worship] which the LORD chooses.

²¹But if it has any defect or injury, such as lameness or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

²²You shall eat it within your [city] gates; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as [if it were] a gazelle or a deer.

²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.