Deuteronomy  3:23 - 7:11

Chapter 3

23. I entreated the Lord at that time, saying,

24. "O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for who is [like] God in heaven or on earth who can do as Your deeds and Your might?

25. Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon."

26. But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, "It is enough for you; speak to Me no more regarding this matter.

27. Go up to the top of the hill and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.

28. But command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the land which you will see.

29. And we abided in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Chapter 4

1. And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, God of your forefathers, is giving you.

2. Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

3. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor, for every man who went after Baal Peor, the Lord your God has exterminated from your midst.

4. But you who cleave to the Lord your God are alive, all of you, this day.

5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord, my God,commanded me, to do so in the midst of the land to which you are coming to possess.

6. And you shall keep [them] and do [them], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, "Only this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

7. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is at all times that we call upon Him?

8. And which great nation is it that has just statutes and ordinances, as this entire Torah, which I set before you this day?

9. But beware and watch yourself very well, lest you forget the things that your eyes saw, and lest these things depart from your heart, all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children and to your children's children,

10. the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, "Assemble the people for Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.

11. And you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire up to the midst of the heavens, with darkness, a cloud, and opaque darkness.

12. The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but saw no image, just a voice.

13. And He told you His covenant, which He commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.

14. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, so that you should do them in the land to which you are crossing, to possess.

15. And you shall watch yourselves very well, for you did not see not any image on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire.

16. Lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves a graven image, the representation of any form, the likeness of male or female,

17. the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heaven,

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

19. And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, which the Lord your God assigned to all peoples under the entire heaven, and be drawn away to prostrate yourselves before them and worship them.

20. But the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron crucible, out of Egypt, to be a people of His possession, as of this day.

21. And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and that I would not come into the good land the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

22. For I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. You, however, will cross, and you will possess this good land.

23. Beware, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image, the likeness of anything, which the Lord your God has forbidden you.

24. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a zealous God.

25. When you beget children and children's children, and you will be long established in the land, and you become corrupt and make a graven image, the likeness of anything, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, to provoke Him to anger,

26. I call as witness against you this very day the heaven and the earth, that you will speedily and utterly perish from the land to which you cross the Jordan, to possess; you will not prolong your days upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

27. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations to where the Lord will lead you.

28. And there you will worship gods, man's handiwork, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

29. And 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 distressed, and all these things happen upon you in the end of days, then you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him.

31. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not let you loose or destroy you; neither will He forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.

32. For ask now regarding the early days that were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there was anything like this great thing, or was the likes of it heard?

33. Did ever a people hear God's voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live?

34. Or has any god performed miracles to come and take him a nation from the midst of a[nother] nation, with trials, with signs, and with wonders, and with war and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great awesome deeds, as all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35. You have been shown, in order to know that the Lord He is God; there is none else besides Him.

36. From the heavens, He let you hear His voice to instruct you, and upon the 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 forefathers and chose their seed after them, and He brought you out of Egypt before Him with His great strength,

38. to drive out from before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you and give you their land for an inheritance, as this day.

39. And you shall know this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth below; there is none else.

40. And you shall observe His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may be well with you and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth which the Lord your God gives you forever.

41. Then Moses decided to separate three cities on the side of the Jordan towards the sunrise,

42. so that a murderer might flee there, he who murders his fellow man unintentionally, but did not hate him in time past, that he may flee to one of these cities, so that he might live:

43. Bezer in the desert, in the plain country of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites, and Golan in the Bashan of the Menassites.

44. And this is the teaching which Moses set before the children of Israel:

45. These are the testimonies, statutes and ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they went out of Egypt,

46. on the side of the Jordan in the valley, opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they went out of Egypt.

47. And they possessed his land and the land of Og, king of the Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the side of the Jordan, towards the sunrise,

48. from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, to Mount Sion, which is Hermon,

49. and all the plain across the Jordan eastward as far as the sea of the plain, under the waterfalls of the hill.

Chapter 5

1. And Moses called all Israel and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and observe [them] to do them.

2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

3. Not with our forefathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, we, all of whom are here alive today.

4. Face to face, the Lord spoke with you at the mountain out of the midst of the fire:

5. (and I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to tell you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain) saying,

6. "I am the Lord your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

7. You shall no have the gods of others in My presence.

8. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness which is in the heavens above, which is on the earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth.

9. You shall not prostrate yourself before them, nor worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.

10. And [I] perform loving kindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and to those who keep My commandments.

11. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold blameless anyone who takes His name in vain.

12. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord your God commanded you.

13. Six days may you work, and perform all your labor,

14. but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is within your cities, in order that your manservant and your maidservant may rest like you.

15. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God took you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord, your God, commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

16. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, in order that your days be lengthened, and that it may go well with you on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you.

17. You shall not murder. And you shall not commit adultery. And you shall not steal. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

18. And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

19. The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the opaque darkness, with a great voice, which did not cease. And He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

20. And it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

21. And you said, "Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we saw this day that God speaks with man, yet [man] remains alive.

22. So now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord, our God, anymore, we will die.

23. For who is there of all flesh, who heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

24. You approach, and hear all that the Lord, our God, will say, and you speak to us all that the Lord, our God, will speak to you, and we will hear and do.

25. And the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, "I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.

26. Would that their hearts be like this, to fear Me and to keep all My commandments all the days, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

27. Go say to them, 'Return to your tents.'

28. But as for you, stand here with Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which you will teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.

29. Keep them to perform [them] as the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside either to the right or to the left.

30. In all the way which the Lord, your God, has commanded you, you shall go, in order that you may live and that it may be well with you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land you will possess.

Chapter 6

1. This is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it.

2. In order that you fear the Lord, your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments that I command you, you, your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and in order that your days may be lengthened.

3. And you shall, [therefore,] hearken, O Israel, and be sure to perform, so that it will be good for you, and so that you may increase exceedingly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke to you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one.

5. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means.

6. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart.

7. And you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes.

9. And you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

10. And it will be, when the Lord, your God, brings you to the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and good cities that you did not build,

11. and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you will eat and be satisfied.

12. Beware, lest you forget the Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13. You shall fear the Lord, your God, worship Him, and swear by His name.

14. Do not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you.

15. For the Lord, your God, is a zealous God among you, lest the wrath of the Lord, your God, be kindled against you, and destroy you off the face of the earth.

16. You shall not try the Lord, your God, as you tried Him in Massah.

17. Diligently keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and His testimonies. and His statutes, which He has commanded you.

18. And you shall do what is proper and good in the eyes of the Lord, in order that it may be well with you, and that you may come and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your forefathers,

19. to drive out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

20. If your son asks you in time to come, saying, "What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the Lord our God has commanded you?"

21. You shall say to your son, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

22. And the Lord gave signs and wonders, great and terrible, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes.

23. And he brought us out of there, in order that He might bring us and give us the land which He swore to our fathers.

24. And the Lord commanded us to perform all these statutes, to fear the Lord, our God, for our good all the days, to keep us alive, as of this day.

25. And it will be for our merit that we keep to observe all these commandments before the Lord, our God, as He has commanded us."

Chapter 7

1. When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land to to which you are coming to possess it, He will cast away many nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful that you.

2. And the Lord, your God, will deliver them to you, and you shall smite them. You shall utterly destroy them; neither shall you make a covenant with them, nor be gracious to them.

3. You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son.

4. For he will turn away your son from following Me, and they will worship the gods of others, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.

5. But so shall you do to them: You shall demolish their altars and smash their monuments, and cut down their asherim trees, and burn their graven images with fire.

6. For you are a holy people to the Lord, your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of the earth.

7. Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples.

8. But because of the Lord's love for you, and because He keeps the oath He swore to your forefathers, the Lord took you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

9. Know, therefore, that the Lord, your God He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps the covenant and loving kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.

10. And He repays those who hate Him, to their face, to cause them to perish; He will not delay the one who hates Him, but he will repay him to his face.

11. You shall therefore, observe the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day to do.