These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in
the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and
Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. (There are eleven days'
journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.) And it
came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of
the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all
that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; After he had slain
Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of
Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: On this side Jordan, in the land of
Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, The LORD our God spake unto
us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and
take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the
places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the
south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon,
unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before
you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself
alone: The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as
the stars of heaven for multitude. (The LORD God of your fathers make you a
thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised
you!) How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and
your strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your
tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said,
The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of
your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains
over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and
captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges
at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge
righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with
him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as
well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is
God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear
it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and
terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites,
as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. And I
said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the
LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land
before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said
unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men
before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by
what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying
pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: And they
turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol,
and searched it out. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and
brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good
land which the LORD our God doth give us. Notwithstanding ye would not go
up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God: And ye
murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath
brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the
Amorites, to destroy us. Whither shall we go up? our brethren have
discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the
cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the
sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid
of them. The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you,
according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the
wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a
man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this
place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, Who went in the
way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by
night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. And the
LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely
there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land,
which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he
shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to
his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. Also the LORD was
angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But
Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither:
encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little
ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day
had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto
them will I give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn you, and take
your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. Then ye
answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up
and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when
ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into
the hill. And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight;
for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So I spake
unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of
the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites, which
dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do,
and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept
before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear
unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye
abode there.
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the
Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many
days. And the LORD spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain
long enough: turn you northward. And command thou the people, saying, Ye
are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which
dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto
yourselves therefore: Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their
land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir
unto Esau for a possession. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may
eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the
LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy
walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God
hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt
in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we
turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said
unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I
will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto
the children of Lot for a possession. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a
people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; Which also were accounted
giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. The Horims also
dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they
had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did
unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them. Now rise up,
said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come
over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of
the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware
unto them. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy
them from among the host, until they were consumed.
So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from
among the people, That the LORD spake unto me, saying, Thou art to pass
over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day: And when thou comest nigh
over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with
them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any
possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time;
and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; A people great, and many, and
tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they
succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: As he did to the children of Esau,
which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and
they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: And the
Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came
forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have
given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin
to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the
dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole
heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish
because of thee.
And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of
Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land: I will go
along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for
money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; (As the children
of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;)
until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God
hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him
into thy hand, as appeareth this day. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I
have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that
thou mayest inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his
people, to fight at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and
we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at
that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones,
of every city, we left none to remain: Only the cattle we took for a prey unto
ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took. From Aroer, which is by
the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto
Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered
all unto us: Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not,
nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains,
nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan
came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the LORD
said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his
land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king
of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So the LORD our God delivered into
our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him
until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time,
there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the
region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced
with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we
utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly
destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and
the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. And we took at that
time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on
this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; (Which Hermon
the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) All the cities of the
plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the
kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og king of Bashan remained of the
remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in
Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and
four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the
river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the
Reubenites and to the Gadites. And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being
the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of
Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. Jair the son of
Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and
Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto
this day. And I gave Gilead unto Machir. And unto the Reubenites and unto
the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and
the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of
Ammon; The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth
even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah
eastward.
And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you
this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the
children of Israel, all that are meet for the war. But your wives, and your little
ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your
cities which I have given you; Until the LORD have given rest unto your
brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the
LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every
man unto his possession, which I have given you.
And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that
the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto
all the kingdoms whither thou passest. Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD
your God he shall fight for you. And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,
O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy
mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do
according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go
over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and
Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear
me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of
this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes
westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with
thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and
encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people,
and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. So we
abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments,
which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the
land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the
word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye
may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men
that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among
you. But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you
this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD
my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes,
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For
what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD
our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so
great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I
set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest
they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons,
and thy sons' sons; Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy
God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together,
and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the
days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their
children. And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds,
and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire:
ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to
perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone.
And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and
judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess
it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of
similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst
of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the
similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any
beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish
that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto
heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all
the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them,
which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole
heaven. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron
furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are
this day. Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware
that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good
land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: But I must die in
this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that
good land. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD
your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the
likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the
LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have
remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven
image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD
thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against
you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye
go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall
utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and
ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead
you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone,
which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt
seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart
and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are
come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and
shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he
will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy
fathers which he sware unto them. For ask now of the days that are past,
which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth,
and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been
any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people
hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast
heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the
midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by
war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors,
according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God;
there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice,
that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire;
and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he
loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee
out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; To drive out nations from
before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee
their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and
consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon
the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes,
and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well
with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy
days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.
Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares,
and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he
might live: Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the
Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of
the Manassites.
And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: These are
the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake
unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, On this side
Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the
Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel
smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: And they possessed his land,
and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on
this side Jordan toward the sunrising; From Aroer, which is by the bank of the
river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, And all the plain on this
side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of
Pisgah.
And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes
and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them,
and keep, and do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who
are all of us here alive this day. The LORD talked with you face to face in the
mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the LORD and you at that
time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the
fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt
not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the
earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And
shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain:
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Keep the
sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six
days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the
sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox,
nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And
remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy
God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out
arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded
thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in
the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt
thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false
witness against thy neighbour. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife,
neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant,
or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.
These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the
midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice:
and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and
delivered them unto me.
And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the
darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me,
even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; And ye said, Behold, the
LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard
his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk
with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire
will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we
shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living
God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou
near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all
that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.
And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the
LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which
they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. O
that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all
my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their
children for ever! Go say to them, Get you into your tents again. But as for
thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the
commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach
them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. Ye
shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye
shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the
ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and
that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land
which ye shall possess.
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which
the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the
land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to
keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou,
and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may
be prolonged.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee,
and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath
promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for
a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And
it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which
he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee
great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good
things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not,
vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have
eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee
forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the
LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go
after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For
the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy
God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his
testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou
shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be
well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which
the LORD sware unto thy fathers, To cast out all thine enemies from before
thee, as the LORD hath spoken. And when thy son asketh thee in time to come,
saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments,
which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy
son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of
Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great
and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our
eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us
the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do
all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he
might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if
we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he
hath commanded us.
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to
possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, 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 thou; And
when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them,
and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew
mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy
daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take
unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they
may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you,
and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy
their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and
burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD
thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not
set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than
any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved
you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your
fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate
him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him,
he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments,
and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do
them.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep,
and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and
the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: And he will love thee, and bless
thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit
of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and
the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give
thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or
female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the LORD will take away
from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which
thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And
thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee;
thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods;
for that will be a snare unto thee. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These
nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid
of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh,
and unto all Egypt; The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the
signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm,
whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do
unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover the LORD thy God will
send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves
from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD
thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. And the LORD thy God will
put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not
consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But
the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a
mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings
into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there
shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire
the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared
therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring
an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou
shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.
Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess
nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to
heaven, A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou
knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the
children of Anak! Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he
which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and
he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and
destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in
thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee,
saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this
land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out
from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine
heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these
nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he
may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not
this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked
people.
Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath
in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of
Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.
Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with
you to have destroyed you. When I was gone up into the mount to receive the
tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with
you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat
bread nor drink water: And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone
written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the
words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the
fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of forty days
and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the
tables of the covenant. And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down
quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt
have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which
I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. Furthermore the
LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a
stiffnecked people: Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their
name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and
greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the
mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two
hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God,
and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way
which the LORD had commanded you. And I took the two tables, and cast
them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I fell down
before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat
bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing
wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of
the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to
destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also. And the LORD
was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron
also the same time. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and
burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as
small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out
of the mount. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye
provoked the LORD to wrath. Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea,
saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye
rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed
him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been rebellious against the LORD
from the day that I knew you. Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and
forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would
destroy you. I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy
not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy
greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the
stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin: Lest the
land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to
bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated
them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are
thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty
power and by thy stretched out arm.
At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto
the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of
wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables
which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of
shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up
into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the
tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD
spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the
assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came
down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and
there they be, as the LORD commanded me.
And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of
Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his
son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. From thence they journeyed
unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.
At 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 unto him, and to
bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance
with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God
promised him. And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty
days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and
the LORD would not destroy thee. And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy
journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I
sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the
LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments
of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the
earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to
love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as
it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more
stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great
God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh
reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and
loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the
stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD
thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his
name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great
and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into
Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made
thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his
statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. And know ye
this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which
have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his
mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, And his miracles, and his acts, which
he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his
land; And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their
chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they
pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; And
what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; And
what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben:
how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their
households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their
possession, in the midst of all Israel: But your eyes have seen all the great
acts of the LORD which he did.
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this
day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to
possess it; And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD
sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that
floweth with milk and honey.
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt,
from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it
with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it,
is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land
which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always
upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my
commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God,
and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you
the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that
thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send
grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed
to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve
other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against
you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield
not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD
giveth you.
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and
bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between
your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the
door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be
multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware
unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you,
to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave
unto him; Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and
ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place
whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness
and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost
sea shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before you: for
the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the
land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey
the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but
turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other
gods, which ye have not known. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy
God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that
thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount
Ebal. Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth
down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over
against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? For ye shall pass over Jordan to go
in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall
possess it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and
judgments which I set before you this day.
These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the
land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days
that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the
nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains,
and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their
altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall
hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them
out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes
to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou
shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your
sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows,
and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all
that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy
God hath blessed thee. Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this
day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet
come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.
But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God
giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies
round about, so that ye dwell in safety; Then there shall be a place which the
LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye
bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your
tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye
vow unto the LORD: And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and
your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your
maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath
no part nor inheritance with you. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy
burnt offerings in every place that thou seest: But in the place which the LORD
shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings,
and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. Notwithstanding thou
mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after,
according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the
unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or
of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows
which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD
thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and
thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands
unto. Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou
livest upon the earth.
When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee,
and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou
mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. If the place which the
LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then
thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I
have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul
lusteth after. Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat
them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike. Only be sure that
thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the
life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as
water. Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy
children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the
LORD. Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and
go unto the place which the LORD shall choose: And thou shalt offer thy burnt
offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the
blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God,
and thou shalt eat the flesh. Observe and hear all these words which I
command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee
for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD
thy God.
When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither
thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their
land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after
that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after
their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do
likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination
to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their
sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing
soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor
diminish from it.
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee
a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he
spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not
known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to
know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto
him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death;
because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which
brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of
bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded
thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife
of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly,
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor
thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you,
nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto
the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken
unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither
shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first
upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And
thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to
thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and
shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given
thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out
from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let
us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou
enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and
the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; Thou shalt
surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the
edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of
the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof
every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not
be built again. And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine
hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee
mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn
unto thy fathers; When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God,
to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that
which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor
make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy
people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar
people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall
eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow
deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws,
and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these
ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven
hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but
divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. And the swine,
because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you:
ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.
These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales
shall ye eat: And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is
unclean unto you.
Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the
eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, And the glede, and the kite, and the
vulture after his kind, And every raven after his kind, And the owl, and the
night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, The little owl, and
the great owl, and the swan, And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the
cormorant, And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and
the bat. And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall
not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat.
Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the
stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an
alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not
seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth
year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which
he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and
of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest
learn to fear the LORD thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so
that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which
the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God
hath blessed thee: Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the
money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God
shall choose: And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul
lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for
whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy
God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, And the Levite that is
within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor
inheritance with thee.
At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase
the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: And the Levite, (because
he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the
fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall
eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of
thine hand which thou doest.
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the
manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour
shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother;
because it is called the LORD's release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it
again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; Save
when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee
in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess
it: Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to
observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For
the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend
unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over
many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy
gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden
thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open
thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in
that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked
heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye
be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto
the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and
thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for
this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that
thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land:
therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy
brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee,
and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free
from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let
him go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out
of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God
hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed
thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day. And it shall be, if he say
unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine
house, because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it
through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also
unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto thee,
when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a
double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God
shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt
sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy
bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD
thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy
household. And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or
have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. Thou
shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike,
as the roebuck, and as the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof;
thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God:
for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by
night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of
the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his
name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou
eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest
forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day
when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And
there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days;
neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day
at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the
passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at
the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there
thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the
season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in
the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the
morning, and go unto thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread:
and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou
shalt do no work therein.
Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks
from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt
keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill
offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according
as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD
thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy
maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the
fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD
thy God hath chosen to place his name there. And thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast
gathered in thy corn and thy wine: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou,
and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant,
and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are
within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy
God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall
bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore
thou shalt surely rejoice.
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in
the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the
feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear
before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the
blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy
God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with
just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect
persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and
pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou
follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee.
Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD
thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up any
image; which the LORD thy God hateth.
Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein
is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD
thy God.
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God
giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the
LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other
gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of
heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast
heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing
certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring
forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto
thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till
they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is
worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not
be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put
him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the
evil away from among you.
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and
blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters
of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into
the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come unto the
priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and
enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt
do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall
choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that
they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach
thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do:
thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the
right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will
not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD
thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away
the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more
presumptuously.
When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and
shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over
me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him
king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy
brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over
thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor
cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply
horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return
no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart
turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And
it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write
him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the
Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his
life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this
law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his
brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right
hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom,
he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor
inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire,
and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their
brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.
And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a
sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the
shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The firstfruit also of thy corn, of
thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou
give him. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand
to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he
sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the
LORD shall choose; Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as
all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD. They shall
have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his
patrimony.
When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not
be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a
wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination
unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth
drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy
God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers
of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not
suffered thee so to do.
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of
thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that
thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly,
saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me
see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me, They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet
from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it
shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he
shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall
presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to
speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall
die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the
LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if
the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not
be afraid of him.
When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God
giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in
their houses; Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy
land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare
thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.
And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live:
Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; As
when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his
hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head
slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall
flee unto one of those cities, and live: Lest the avenger of the blood pursue
the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long,
and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him
not in time past. Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate
three cities for thee. And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath
sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give
unto thy fathers; If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them,
which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in
his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:
That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against
him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities:
Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him
into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thine eye shall not
pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that
it may go well with thee.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have
set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy
God giveth thee to possess it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in
any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of
three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is
wrong; Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand
before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those
days; And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the
witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then
shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so
shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall
hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among
you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and
chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy
God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall
be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and
speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach
this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not,
and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD
your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to
save you.
And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that
hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to
his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what
man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him
also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man
eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not
taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and
another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people,
and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him
go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his
heart. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto
the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace
unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee,
then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries
unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee,
but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD
thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male
thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and
the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take
unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy
God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far
off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of
these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them;
namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: That
they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done
unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for
thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of
the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: Only the trees which thou
knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them
down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with
thee, until it be subdued.
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to
possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: Then thy
elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities
which are round about him that is slain: And it shall be, that the city which is
next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer,
which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley,
which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in
the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD
thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the
LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: And
all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their
hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer
and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and
lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall
be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from
among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God
hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And
seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that
thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine
house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put
the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and
bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in
unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if
thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but
thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of
her, because thou hast humbled her.
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have
born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be
hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that
which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before
the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge
the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all
that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn
is his.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of
his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened
him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay
hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate
of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is
stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a
drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die:
so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and
fear.
And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to
death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon
the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is
accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself
from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if
thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt
bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek
after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do
with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of
thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise:
thou mayest not hide thyself.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide
thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a
man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the
LORD thy God.
If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the
ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the
young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But
thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may
be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy
roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed
which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen
together.
Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture,
wherewith thou coverest thyself.
If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions
of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took
this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the
father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the
damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's
father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife,
and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her,
saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my
daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the
city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they
shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the
father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin
of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if
this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and
the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath
wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou
put evil away from among you.
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall
both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so
shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her
in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate
of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel,
because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath
humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and
lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the
damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death:
for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is
this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried,
and there was none to save her.
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on
her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall
give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife;
because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the
congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into
the congregation of the LORD. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into
the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not
enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: Because they met you not
with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and
because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of
Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not
hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing
unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their
peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor
an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are
begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third
generation.
When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every
wicked thing.
If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness
that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall
not come within the camp: But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall
wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the
camp again.
Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth
abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when
thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back
and cover that which cometh from thee: For the LORD thy God walketh in the
midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee;
therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and
turn away from thee.
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his
master unto thee: He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place
which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt
not oppress him.
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the
sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog,
into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are
abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of
victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: Unto a stranger thou
mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon
usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine
hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay
it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in
thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is
gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering,
according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast
promised with thy mouth.
When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat
grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.
When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest
pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy
neighbour's standing corn.
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she
find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her:
then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send
her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go
and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a
bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his
house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former
husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after
that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not
cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall
he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and
shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh
a man's life to pledge.
If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and
maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou
shalt put evil away from among you.
Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do
according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded
them, so ye shall observe to do. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto
Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.
When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house
to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost
lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor,
thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: In any case thou shalt deliver him the
pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own
raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the
LORD thy God.
Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be
of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: At his
day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he
is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD,
and it be sin unto thee. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children,
neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be
put to death for his own sin.
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless;
nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: But thou shalt remember that thou
wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence:
therefore I command thee to do this thing.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in
the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the
work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go
over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for
the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not
glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the
widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of
Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that
the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and
condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be
beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before
his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give
him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with
many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of
the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an
husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn which she
beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name
be not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to take his brother's wife,
then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My
husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he
will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city
shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to
take her; Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the
elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall
answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his
brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that
hath his shoe loosed.
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth
near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and
putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: Then thou shalt cut off
her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt
not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt
have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have:
that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an
abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth
out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee,
even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he
feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee
rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; That
thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring
of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and
shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his
name there. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and
say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto
the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the
priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar
of the LORD thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A
Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and
sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and
populous: And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon
us hard bondage: And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the
LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our
oppression: And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand,
and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs,
and with wonders: And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us
this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I
have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me.
And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD
thy God: And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God
hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the
stranger that is among you.
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the
third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates,
and be filled; Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought
away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto
the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow,
according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have
not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: I have
not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof
for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have
hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all
that thou hast commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from
heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as
thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and
judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and
with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to
walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his
judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD hath avouched thee
this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou
shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all
nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that
thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.
And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all
the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day
when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:
And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art
passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy
fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over
Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in
mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. And there shalt thou
build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up
any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of
whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD thy
God: And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice
before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words
of this law very plainly.
And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take
heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD
thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his
commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon
mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon,
and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: And these shall
stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan,
and Naphtali.
And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud
voice, Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an
abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and
putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people
shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And
all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander
out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that
perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the
people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because
he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be
he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the
daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that
lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he
that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the
people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this
law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the
LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command
thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of
the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be
in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of
thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase
of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be
when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against
thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way,
and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing upon
thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he
shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall
establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if
thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his
ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of
the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee
plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and
in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers
to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to
give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine
hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And
the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above
only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the
commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to
observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words
which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after
other gods to serve them.
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD
thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I
command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and
overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the
field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy
body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy
sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be
when thou goest out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and
rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy
doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The LORD shall make the pestilence
cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither
thou goest to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and
with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and
with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue
thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,
and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of
thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until
thou be destroyed. The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine
enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before
them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy
carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the
earth, and no man shall fray them away. The LORD will smite thee with the
botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch,
whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall smite thee with madness,
and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday,
as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and
thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save
thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt
build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard,
and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall be slain before thine
eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away
from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be
given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons
and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall
look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no
might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation
which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and
crushed alway: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which
thou shalt see. The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a
sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of
thy head. The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over
thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there
shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an
astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD
shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt
gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards,
and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for
the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy
coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast
his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them;
for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the
locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very
high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou
shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and
overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which
he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a
wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy
God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all
things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send
against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all
things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed
thee. The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the
earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not
understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the
person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of
thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall
not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of
thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy
gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst,
throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout
all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the
fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the
LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith
thine enemies shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you,
and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the
wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall
leave: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom
he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the
straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The
tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set
the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her
eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and
toward her daughter, And toward her young one that cometh out from
between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall
eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith
thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not observe to do all
the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this
glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy
plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of
long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he
will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and
they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is
not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until
thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as
the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice
of the LORD thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over
you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to
destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the
land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among
all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou
shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even
wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither
shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a
trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall
hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have
none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were
even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of
thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which
thou shalt see. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by
the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and
there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and
no man shall buy you.
These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to
make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant
which he made with them in Horeb.
And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the
LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his
servants, and unto all his land; The great temptations which thine eyes have
seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the LORD hath not given you an
heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have
led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon
you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread,
neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the
LORD your God. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of
Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we
smote them: And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the
Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. Keep
therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all
that ye do.
Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your
tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, Your little
ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy
wood unto the drawer of thy water: That thou shouldest enter into covenant
with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with
thee this day: That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself,
and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he
hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with
you only do I make this covenant and this oath; But with him that standeth
here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not
here with us this day: (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt;
and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; And ye have seen
their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which
were among them:) Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to
go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a
root that beareth gall and wormwood; And it come to pass, when he heareth
the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have
peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to
thirst: The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his
jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in
this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under
heaven. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of
Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book
of the law: So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up
after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when
they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid
upon it; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning,
that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the
overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD
overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: Even all nations shall say, Wherefore
hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great
anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them
forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other gods, and
worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given
unto them: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring
upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the LORD rooted them
out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast
them into another land, as it is this day. The secret things belong unto the
LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our
children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the
blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them
to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to
all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and
have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the
nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be
driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy
God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the LORD thy God
will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And
the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to
love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine
enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt
return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I
command thee this day. And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in
every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle,
and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee
for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice
of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are
written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul.
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from
thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall
go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the
sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is
very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I
command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to
keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou
mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land
whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou
wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve
them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye
shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan
to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose
life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy
God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto
him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in
the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob, to give them.
And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto
them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out
and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this
Jordan. The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy
these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he
shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said. And the LORD shall do unto
them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land
of them, whom he destroyed. And the LORD shall give them up before your
face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which
I have commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be
afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee.
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be
strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the
land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou
shalt cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee;
he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not,
neither be dismayed.
And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi,
which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of
Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years,
in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all
Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall
choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the
people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is
within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the
LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their
children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the
LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to
possess it.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die:
call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation,
that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented
themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation. And the LORD appeared in
the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the
door of the tabernacle.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and
this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of
the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break
my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled
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, Are not these evils come upon us,
because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day
for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto
other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the
children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for
me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the
land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and
they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn
unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them,
that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be
forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which
they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I
sware.
Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of
Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and
of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land
which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.
And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of
this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the
Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book
of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your
God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion,
and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been
rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may
speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against
them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and
turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you
in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke
him to anger through the work of your hands. And Moses spake in the ears of
all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my
mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew,
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our
God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of
truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted
themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and
crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and
unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee,
and established thee?
Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy
father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the
Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the
sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of
the children of Israel. For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of
his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling
wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of
his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth
abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone
did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on
the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and
he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of
Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the
pure blood of the grape.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick,
thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and
lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy
with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They
sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods
that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat
thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his
sons, and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will
see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in
whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;
they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to
jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a
foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the
lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the
foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend
mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with
burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts
upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and
terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling
also with the man of gray hairs.
I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of
them to cease from among men: Were it not that I feared the wrath of the
enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest
they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. For
they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider
their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut
them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves
being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of
Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine
is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in
store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth
vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of
their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make
haste. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his
servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up,
or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they
trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their
drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make
alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering
sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to
mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows
drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of
the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the
enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of
his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be
merciful unto his land, and to his people.
And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the
people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking
all these words to all Israel: And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all
the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your
children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for
you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days
in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. And the LORD spake unto
Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto
mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and
behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a
possession: And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered
unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered
unto his people: Because ye trespassed against me among the children of
Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye
sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the
land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the
children of Israel.
And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the
children of Israel before his death. And he said, The LORD came from Sinai,
and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he
came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for
them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat
down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us
a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in
Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were
gathered together.
Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah,
and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be
thou an help to him from his enemies.
And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one,
whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the
waters of Meribah; Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not
seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own
children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant. They shall
teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before
thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. Bless, LORD, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise
against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him;
and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his
shoulders.
And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things
of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, And for the
precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth
by the moon, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
precious things of the lasting hills, And for the precious things of the earth
and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let
the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of
him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his
bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push
the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands
of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in
thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer
sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas,
and of treasures hid in the sand.
And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion,
and teareth the arm with the crown of the head. And he provided the first
part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated;
and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the
LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.
And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the
blessing of the LORD: possess thou the west and the south.
And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be
acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be
iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in
thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from
before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety
alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his
heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee,
O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of
thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou
shalt tread upon their high places.
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to
the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all
the land of Gilead, unto Dan, And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and
Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and
the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the
LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it
with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to
the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over
against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was
not dim, nor his natural force abated.
And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so
the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid
his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did
as the LORD commanded Moses.
And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD
knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him
to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his
land, And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses
shewed in the sight of all Israel.