Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.  Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.  For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.

 
 
 

Going to Jesus

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Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 1

¶1. These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

2. It was an eleven day journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea,

3.but it was in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Jehovah had commanded him for them,

4.after he had killed Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

5. On this side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law plainly, saying,

6.“Jehovah our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

7.Turn, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites and to all the neighboring places, the plain, the hill country, and the Shephelah, and the Negev, and the seacoast – the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

8.See, I have set the land before you! Go in and take possession of the land that Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them, and to their seed after them.’

9.And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear you by myself.

10.Jehovah your God has multiplied you, and behold, today you are like the stars of heaven for number.

11.(May Jehovah, God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you just as He has said to you.)

12.How can I bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife by myself?

13.Provide for yourselves men, wise and discerning, and known throughout your tribes, and I will make them your chiefs.’

14.And you answered me and said, ‘The thing that you have said to do is good.’

15.And I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and I made them chiefs over you, rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes.

16.And I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between each man and his brother, and the stranger with him.

17.You shall not have respect of persons in judgment; you shall hear the lesser as you hear the greater; do not be intimidated by a man, for the judgment is God’s. And bring a matter that is too difficult for you to me, and I will hear it.’

18.And I commanded you at that time that you should do all these things.

19.And we journeyed from Horeb as Jehovah our God commanded us, and we went through all the great and dreadful wilderness that you saw on the way to the mount of the Amorites, and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

20.And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mount of the Amorites that Jehovah our God is giving to us.

21.See, Jehovah your God has set the land before you. Go up! Possess it, just as Jehovah, the God of your fathers, said to you; do not be afraid or dismayed.’

22.Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and they shall search out the land for us and bring us word again concerning the way by which we should go up into it and the cities into which we shall come.’

23.And the thing was good in my eyes, so I took twelve men of you, one from each tribe.

24.And they turned and went up into the hill country, and they came to the valley of Eshcol and spied it out.

25.And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. And they brought us back word, and said, ‘The land which Jehovah our God is giving us is good.’

26.Yet, you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God.

27.And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because of Jehovah’s hatred of us, He brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us up into the hand of the Amorites, to annihilate us.

28.Where shall we go up? Our brothers have discouraged our heart, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of Anakim there.”’

29.And I said to you, ‘Do not tremble or be afraid of them.

30.Jehovah your God, who goes before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt, before your eyes,

31.and in the wilderness, where you saw that Jehovah your God carried you, as a man carries his child, in all the way that you traveled until you came to this place.’

32.But in this thing, you would not believe in Jehovah your God,

33.who went before you in the way to search out a place for you to camp, in the fire by night to show you the way that you should go, and in a cloud by day.

34.And Jehovah heard the sound of your words and was angry, and He swore, saying,

35.I will damn myself if one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,[1]

36.except Caleb ben-Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his children will I give the land on which he trod because he fully followed Jehovah.’

37.Jehovah was also angry with me for your sake, saying, ‘You will not go in there, either.

38.Joshua ben-Nun, who stands before you, he will go in. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

39.And your little ones whom you said would be a prey, and your children who in that day had no understanding of good or evil, they shall go in, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

40.But as for you, turn yourselves and set out toward the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’

41.And you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against Jehovah. We will go up and fight, according to all that Jehovah our God commanded us.’ And each of you girded on his weapons of war, and you were ready to go up to the mount.

42.And Jehovah said to me, ‘Say to them, “You shall neither go up nor fight, for I will not be in your midst, lest you be smitten before your enemies.”’

43.And I spoke to you, and you would not listen, but you rebelled against the word of Jehovah, and you acted presumptuously and went up to the mount.

44.And the Amorites who dwelt in that mount came out to meet you, and they pursued you as bees do, and crushed you in Seir as far as Hormah.

45.And you returned and wept before Jehovah, but Jehovah neither listened to your voice, nor gave ear to you.

46.Then you remained at Kadesh many days, according to the days that you had dwelt there.

Deuteronomy 2

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¶1. “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as Jehovah had said to me, and for many days we traveled around Mount Seir.

2.And Jehovah spoke to me, saying,

3.You have traveled around this mountain long enough. Turn northward.

4.And command the people, saying, “You are passing through the territory of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. So, take great care.

5.Do not contend with them, for I am not giving you any of their land, not so much as for the sole of a foot to tread upon, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

6.You may buy food from them with money, that you may eat, and you may also purchase water from them with money, that you may drink.”’

7.Truly, Jehovah your God has blessed you in every work of your hands. He knows your travels through this great wilderness. This forty years has Jehovah your God been with you; you have lacked nothing.

8.And we passed on from our brothers, the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, by the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-gaber. Then we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

9.And Jehovah said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I am not giving you any of his land as a possession, because I gave Ar to the children of Lot as a possession.

10.(The Emim dwelt in it before them, a people great and numerous and tall, like the Anakim.

11.They were also considered to be Rephaim, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

12.And the Horim dwelt in Seir formerly, but the children of Esau dispossessed them and annihilated them from before them, and dwelt there in their stead, just as Israel did to the land of its possession that Jehovah gave to them.)

13.Rise up now and pass over the wadi Zared.’ So, we crossed the wadi Zared.

14.And the time from when we went from Kadesh-barnea until we passed over the wadi Zared was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were gone from the midst of the camp, just as Jehovah had sworn to them.

15.For the hand of Jehovah was indeed against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were gone.

16.And it came to pass when all the men of war had completely died out from the midst of the people,

17.that Jehovah spoke to me, saying,

18.‘Today, you are passing by the border of Moab, even Ar,

19.and you will come near the frontier of the children of Ammon. Do not harass them, nor contend with them, for I am not giving any of the land of the children of Ammon to you as a possession because I gave it to the children of Lot as a possession.

20.(It was considered to be a land of Rephaim, for the Rephaim dwelt in it before them, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

21.a people great, and numerous, and tall like the Anakim, but Jehovah annihilated them from before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt there in their stead,

22.just as He did for the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, when He annihilated the Horites from before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt there in their stead, until this day.

23.And as for the Avim who dwelt in the villages reaching to Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth from Caphtor, annihilated them and dwelt there in their stead.)

24.Rise up, set out and pass over the Arnon River. See, I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand. Begin to take possession and contend with him in battle.

25.This day, I will begin to put dread of you and fear of you on the faces of the peoples under the whole heaven, who shall hear a report about you, and tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

¶26. “And from the wilderness of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,

27.‘Let me pass through your land. I will travel only on the road; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left.

28.Sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only, let me pass through on my feet,

29.just as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did for me, until I pass over the Jordan to the land that Jehovah our God is giving to us.’

30.But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us pass through him, for Jehovah your God hardened his spirit and emboldened his heart, so that He might deliver him into your hand at that time.

31.And Jehovah said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to dispossess him, that you may take possession of his land.’

32.Then Sihon came out to confront us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz.

33.And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us, and we struck him down, and his sons, and all his people.

34.And we took all his cities at that time and devoted every city, men, and the women, and the little ones; we left not one survivor.

35.Only, we took the beasts as spoil for ourselves, along with the plunder of the cities which we had taken.

36.From Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon River, even the city that is by the river, to as far as Gilead, there was not a town which was too strong for us. Jehovah our God delivered them all up before us.

37.Only, you did not come near the land of the children of Ammon: all along the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that Jehovah our God forbade.

Deuteronomy 3

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¶1. “Then we turned and went up the way of Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to confront us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

2.And Jehovah said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land, and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.’

3.So, Jehovah our God also delivered Og, king of Bashan, and all his people into our hand, and we struck him down until not one survivor was left to him.

4.And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a town which we did not take from them, sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5.All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled villages.

6.And we devoted them, just as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, devoting every city – men, women, and children.

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

8.Thus, we took at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land which is on this side of the Jordan, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon.

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

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

11.Now, only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits is its length, and four cubits its width, by the cubit of a man.

¶12. “And this land which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the Arnon River, and half of the hill country of Gilead, and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

13.And the rest of Gilead, and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same was called the land of Rephaim.)

14.Jair ben-Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and he called them after his own name, Bashan-Havvoth-Jair, as it is to this day.

15.And I gave Gilead to Machir.

16.And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead as far as the Arnon River, the middle of the river as the border, and to the Jabbok River, the border of the children of Ammon,

17.and the plain, and the Jordan, and the border near Chinnereth, and to the Sea of the Plain, the Salt Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah which is on the east.

¶18. “And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘Jehovah your God has given you this land to possess it. All of you who are fit for battle shall pass over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel.

19.But your wives and your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,

20.until Jehovah gives rest to your brethren as He has for you, and they, too, possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving to them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall return each man to his possession which I have given you.’

21.I also commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that Jehovah your God did to these two kings. Thus shall Jehovah do to all the kingdoms to which you are passing over.

22.You shall not fear them, for Jehovah your God, He is fighting for you!’

¶23. “And I sought the favor of Jehovah at that time, saying,

24.‘O Lord Jehovah, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in the heavens or in the earth who can do such as your works and your mighty deeds.

25.I beg you, let me cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, this good hill country, and Lebanon.’

26.But Jehovah was cross with me for your sake, and He would not hear me. And Jehovah said to me, ‘Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again.

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

28.And 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 you shall see.’

29.And so, we remained in the valley before Beth-peor.

Deuteronomy 4

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¶1. “Therefore, O Israel, listen now to the statutes and to the judgments which I am teaching you to do, so that you may live when you go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2.You shall not add to the word that I am commanding you, and you shall not take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.

3.Your eyes saw what Jehovah did because of Baal-peor, for Jehovah your God destroyed from your midst all the men who followed after Baal at Peor.

4.But you who held fast to Jehovah your God are alive today, all of you.

5.Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God commanded me, to do in the land which you are entering to possess.

6.And you shall keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations which hear all these statutes. And they will say, ‘Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people!’

7.For what great nation has God so close to it as Jehovah our God is in all that we call upon Him?

8.And what great nation has righteous statutes and judgments as all this law which I am setting before you today?

9.Only, take heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, and make them known to your children and to your children’s children,

10.such as the day that you stood before Jehovah your God at Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, ‘Assemble the people to me, and I will cause them to hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all their days that they live on the land, and that they might teach their children.’

11.And you drew near and stood below the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven – darkness, a cloud, even thick darkness!

12.And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not see a form; you heard a voice only.

13.And He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, the ten commandments, and He wrote them on two stone tablets.

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

¶15. “Therefore, be very watchful for your souls, for you saw no form at all on the day Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire,

16.lest you be corrupted and make for yourselves an idol, a form of any figure: a likeness of a male or female;

17.a likeness of any beast that is on the earth; a likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky;

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

19.or lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens and regard the sun, and the moon, and the stars – all the host of heaven – and are led astray and worship them and serve them, which things Jehovah your God provided for all the nations under the whole heaven.

20.For Jehovah took you, and He brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His as an inherited people, as it is this day.

¶21. “Again, Jehovah was angry with me for your sake, and He swore that I should not cross over the Jordan and not enter into the good land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance,

22.but that I must die in this land. There is no crossing over the Jordan for me, but you are crossing over, and you will take possession of that good land.

23.Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Jehovah your God which He made with you, and you make for yourselves an idol, a likeness of anything, as Jehovah your God commanded you.

24.For Jehovah your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous God.

¶25. “When you have fathered children and children of children, and you have continued long in the land, and then you corrupt yourselves and make an idol, a likeness of anything, and you do evil in the sight of Jehovah your God to provoke Him to anger,

26.this day I call heaven and earth as witness against you, that you will certainly quickly perish from the land to which you are passing over the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days in it, but you shall be utterly destroyed.

27.And Jehovah shall scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in number among the Gentiles to which Jehovah shall drive you away.

28.And there, you shall serve gods of the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29.And from there, you will seek Jehovah your God, and you will find Him when you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30.When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in the latter days, then you will return to Jehovah your God and obey His voice.

31.For Jehovah your God is a compassionate God; He will not abandon you. He will not destroy you, and He will not forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

32.For ask, I pray you, regarding the former days which were before you, from the day when God created man upon the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other, whether there has been the like of this great thing, or has the like been heard of.

33.Has a people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you heard it, and lived?

34.Or has a god determined to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation through trials, with signs, and with wonders, and in battle with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35.You were made to see these things so that you might know that Jehovah, He is God! There is no other besides Him!

36.From heaven, He caused you to hear His voice that He might instruct you, and upon the earth, He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

37.And because He loved your fathers, He also chose their seed after them, and with great strength, He has brought you out from Egypt into His presence,

38.to dispossess before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.

39.Know, then, today, and take it into your heart that Jehovah, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

40.Therefore, you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you this day that it may go well with you and for your children after you, and so that you might prolong forever the days on the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.”

¶41. At that time, Moses separated three cities on the side of the Jordan toward the sunrise,

42.to which a manslayer, who kills his neighbor unintentionally and who did not hate him in times past, might flee, and that having fled to one of these cities, he can then live:

43.for the Reubenites, Bezer in the wilderness of the tableland; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

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

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

46.on this side of the Jordan, in the valley before Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck down when they came out from Egypt.

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

48.from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon River, and as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,

49.and all the plain on the eastward side of the Jordan, as far as the Sea of the Plain, below the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy 5

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¶1. Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your ears today, and learn them, and take care to do them.

2.Jehovah our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

3.Jehovah did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those of us here – all of us alive today.

4.Jehovah spoke with you face to face in the mount from the midst of the fire

5.(I was standing between Jehovah and you at that time to make the word of the Lord known to you, for you were afraid at the presence of the fire and would not go up to the mount), saying,

¶6. ‘I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.

7.You shall have no other god besides me.

8.You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.

9.You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, even to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

10.and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¶11. ‘You shall not bear the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who bears His name in vain.

¶12. ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah your God commanded you.

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

14.but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God. You shall do no work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or your foreigner who is in your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as you do.

15.For remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, Jehovah your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¶16. ‘Honor your father and your mother, as Jehovah your God commanded you, so that your days may be long, and so that it will go well with you, upon the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.

¶17. ‘You shall not kill.

¶18. ‘And you shall not commit adultery.

¶19. ‘And you shall not steal.

¶20. ‘And you shall not testify deceitfully against your neighbor.

¶21. ‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

¶22. “These words Jehovah spoke to all your assembly in the mount from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness with a great voice, and He added no more, but He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23.And it came to pass that when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness and the mountain burning with the fire, then you drew near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders,

24.that you said, ‘Behold, Jehovah our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire! This day, we have seen that God can speak with man, and yet, he live.

25.So why should we now die? For this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God again, and we will die!

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

27.You go near and hear all that Jehovah our God says, and then you tell us everything that Jehovah our God said to you, and we will hear it and do it.’

28.And Jehovah heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and Jehovah said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people that they spoke to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.

29.Who will give them to have such a heart, to fear me always and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and their children forever?

30.Go! Say to them, “Take yourselves back to your tents.”

31.But as for you, stand here with me, and I will speak to you every commandment, and the statutes and the judgments, which you will teach them that they may do them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

32.Therefore, you shall observe to do just as Jehovah your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or the left.

33.You shall walk in all the way which Jehovah your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and it be well with you, and you prolong the days in the land which you will possess.

Deuteronomy 6

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¶1. “And this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah your God commanded me to teach you to do in the land to which you are going over to possess,

2.so that you might fear Jehovah your God to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you, you and your son and your son’s son, all the days of your life, and that your days might be prolonged.

3.Hear, then, O Israel, and take care to do them so that it may go well with you and that you might increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as Jehovah, God of your fathers, said to you.

¶4. “Hear, O Israel! Jehovah is our God, Jehovah alone!

5.You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

6.And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart.

7.And you shall inculcate them into your children and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

8.And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

9.And you shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.

¶10. “And it shall be that when Jehovah your God has brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and goodly cities which you did not build,

11.and houses full of every good thing, which you did not fill, and wells already dug which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are full,

12.then beware, lest you forget Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.

13.You shall fear Jehovah your God, and Him shall you serve, and you shall swear by His name.

14.You shall not go after other gods, gods of the peoples who are round about you,

15.for Jehovah your God is a jealous God in your midst, lest the anger of Jehovah your God be kindled against you, and He exterminate you from the face of the land.

16.You shall not put Jehovah your God to the test as you tested Him in Massah.

17.You shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and His testimonies, and His statutes, which He has commanded you.

18.And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of Jehovah, so that it may go well with you when you go in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore to your fathers,

19.driving out all your enemies before you, just as Jehovah said.

¶20. “When your child asks you in time to come, saying, ‘Why these testimonies, and statutes, and judgments which Jehovah our God commanded you?’,

21.then you shall say to your child, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but Jehovah brought us out from Egypt with a mighty hand.

22.And Jehovah worked signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes.

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

24.And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good forever, to preserve us, as it is this day.

25.And it will be our righteousness before Jehovah our God if we are careful to do all this law just as He has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 7

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¶1. “When Jehovah your God brings you into the land to which you are going in order to possess it, then He will clear out many nations before you – the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites – seven nations more numerous and mightier than you.

2.And Jehovah your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall strike them down, utterly devoting them. Make no covenant with them and show them no pity.

3.And do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.

4.For it will turn your son away from following me, and they will serve other gods. Then Jehovah’s anger will be kindled against you, and He will destroy you quickly.

5.But you shall do thus to them: pull down their altars, and break down their pillars, and cut down their sacred groves, and burn up their idols with fire.

6.For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God; Jehovah your God chose you to be a treasured people to Him out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

7.Jehovah did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8.But because of Jehovah’s love for you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slaves, out of the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

9.And you know that Jehovah your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and who keep His commandments, unto a thousand generations,

10.and that He repays to their face those who hate Him, to destroy them. He will not delay concerning him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.

11.So, take heed to the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

¶12. “And it shall come to pass that because you take heed to these judgments and keep them and do them, Jehovah your God will keep with you the covenant and lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers.

13.And He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground – your grain, and your new wine, and your fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle, and the offspring of your flock – in the land which He swore to your fathers to give to you.

14.You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be a barren male or female among you or your livestock.

15.And Jehovah will turn all sickness away from you and all the malignant diseases of the Egyptians, of which you know. He will not lay them upon you but will put them upon all who hate you.

16.And you shall consume all the nations which Jehovah your God delivers to you. Your eye shall have no pity on them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¶17. “When you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I! How can I dispossess them?’

18.do not be afraid of them. You shall surely remember what Jehovah your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians,

19.the great trials which your eyes beheld, and the signs, and the wonders, and the strong hand and the outstretched arm with which Jehovah your God brought you out. Thus will Jehovah your God do to all the nations whose presence you fear.

20.And Jehovah your God will also send the hornet among them, until those who remain and who hide themselves from you perish.

21.Do not tremble before them, for Jehovah your God is in your midst, a great and fearful God.

22.And Jehovah your God will clear out these nations before you little by little. You cannot destroy them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase against you.

23.But Jehovah your God will deliver them up before you, and He will discomfit them with great confusion until they are exterminated.

24.And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall wipe out their name from under heaven. No man will be able to stand against you, until you have exterminated them.

25.The idols of their gods shall you burn up with fire. You shall not covet the silver and gold on them and take it for yourself lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God.

26.And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is a thing devoted.

Deuteronomy 8

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¶1. “Every commandment that I command you today, you shall take care to do, so that you may live, and multiply, and enter in and possess the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers.

2.And you shall remember all the way which Jehovah your God led you these forty years in the wilderness to humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3.For He humbled you and caused you to hunger, then fed you with the manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of Jehovah shall man live.

4.Your garment did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell these forty years.

5.Know also in your heart, that just as a man chastens his child, Jehovah your God chastens you.

6.Therefore, keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

7.For Jehovah your God is bringing you into a good land: a land of rivers of water, of springs, and depths that come forth in the valley and the mountain;

8.a land of wheat, and barley, and vine, and fig, and pomegranate; a land of olive oil and honey;

9.a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you shall lack nothing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you may dig copper.

10.And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Jehovah your God for the good land which He has given you.

11.Take heed to yourself, lest you forget Jehovah your God and do not keep His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes which I am commanding you today,

12.lest when you eat and are full, and build good houses and dwell in them,

13.and your herds and your flocks multiply, and silver and gold multiply to you, yea, all that you have multiplies,

14.then your heart be lifted up and you forget Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves,

15.who led you through the great and fearful wilderness with fiery serpent and scorpion, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought forth water for you from the rock of flint,

16.who fed you manna in the wilderness which your fathers did not know (that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in your latter days),

17.and you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand brought me this wealth.’

18.But remember Jehovah your God, for it is He who gives you power to produce wealth, so that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

19.For it shall be, if you ever forget Jehovah your God, and you go after other gods, and serve them and bow down to them – I testify against you today – that you shall certainly perish.

20.Like the nations which Jehovah is destroying before you, so shall you be destroyed because you did not take heed to the voice of Jehovah your God.

Deuteronomy 9

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¶1. “Hear, O Israel. You are passing over the Jordan today, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and walled up to heaven,

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

3.Know then, this day, that Jehovah your God, He is going over before you. As a consuming fire will He annihilate them, and He will subdue them before you, and you will dispossess them and destroy them quickly, just as Jehovah has said to you.

4.When Jehovah your God thrusts them out from before you, do not think in your heart, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness, Jehovah brought me in to possess this land’, for it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Jehovah is dispossessing them before you.

5.Not because of your righteousness or because of the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations is Jehovah your God dispossessing them before you, and in order to establish the word which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

6.Know then, it is not because of your righteousness that Jehovah your God is giving this good land to you to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

7.Remember! Do not forget that you provoked Jehovah your God to wrath in the wilderness, for from the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Jehovah.

8.And at Horeb, you provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you so as to have destroyed you.

9.When I went up into the mount to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I remained on the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

10.And Jehovah gave me the two stone tablets, written by the finger of God, and on them were all the words that Jehovah had spoken with you in the mount from the midst of the fire on the day of the Assembly.

11.And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant,

12.and Jehovah said to me, ‘Get up! Go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out from Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten image.’

13.Jehovah also spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

14.Leave me alone, and I will annihilate them and blot out their name from under heaven, and of you will I make a nation mightier and greater than they.’

15.Then I turned and went down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16.And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Jehovah your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which Jehovah had commanded you.

17.And I took the two tablets, and I cast them out of my two hands and shattered them before your eyes.

18.Then I threw myself down before Jehovah as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all your sin that you had sinned in doing evil in the sight of Jehovah, provoking Him to anger,

19.for I was afraid before the anger and the fury with which Jehovah raged against you, to utterly destroy you. But Jehovah listened to me at that time also.

20.And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron so as to have destroyed him, and I also prayed for Aaron at that time.

21.And I took your sin, the calf that you had made, and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was ground fine as dust, and I cast its dust into the stream that descended from the mount.

22.(And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you repeatedly provoked Jehovah to wrath.

23.And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land which I have given to you’, then you rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and you did not believe Him, and you did not listen to His voice.

24.You have been rebelling against Jehovah since the day I knew you.)

25.And I threw myself down before Jehovah forty days and forty nights, as I had thrown myself down before, because Jehovah had thought to annihilate you.

26.And I prayed to Jehovah, and said, ‘My Lord Jehovah, do not destroy your people and your inheritance whom you redeemed by your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27.Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness, or their sin.

28.Lest the land out of which you brought us say, “Because Jehovah was not able to bring them to the land of which He had spoken to them, and because of His hatred of them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”

29.For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your mighty power and with your outstretched arm.’

Deuteronomy 10

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¶1. “At that time, Jehovah said to me, ‘Hew out for yourself two stone tablets like the first, and come up the mount to me, and make for yourself a wooden ark.

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

3.And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two stone tablets like the first, and I went up the mount with the two tablets in my hand.

4.And He wrote on the tablets the same writing as on the first ones, the ten commandments which Jehovah spoke to you in the mount, from the midst of the fire on the day of the Assembly; and Jehovah gave them to me.

5.And I turned and came down from the mount and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And they are there, as Jehovah commanded me.

¶6. “(And the children of Israel journeyed from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his place.

7.From there they journeyed to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water.)

¶8. “At that time, Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before Jehovah to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day.

9.Therefore, there is no portion or inheritance for Levi with his brothers. Jehovah is his inheritance, just as Jehovah your God said to him.

10.And I stayed in the mount according to the days of the first time, forty days and forty nights, and Jehovah listened to me at that time also; Jehovah would not destroy you.

11.And Jehovah said to me, ‘Get up and go on your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

¶12. “So, Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you now, except to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

13.to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?

14.Behold, the heavens, even the heaven of heavens, belong to Jehovah your God, the earth and all that is in it!

15.Yet, Jehovah delighted in your fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them – you – out of all peoples, as it is this day.

16.Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not keep stiffening your neck!

17.For Jehovah your God, He is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and terrible, who has no respect of persons, and He will not take a bribe.

18.He executes judgment for orphan and widow, and He loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

19.Therefore, you shall love the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

20.Jehovah your God shall you fear; Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cling, and by His name shall you swear.

21.He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done with you these great and fearful things, which your eyes have seen.

22.Your fathers went down to Egypt as seventy persons, but now, Jehovah your God has made you as the stars of heaven for number.

Deuteronomy 11

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¶1. “You shall therefore love Jehovah your God, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and His judgments, and His commandments always.

2.And this day you have known (but not your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of Jehovah your God) His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm,

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

4.and what He did to the army of Egypt, to its horses, and to its chariotry when He caused the waters of the Red Sea to overflow their faces as they pursued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them until this day,

5.and what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place,

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

7.Yea, your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which He did.

8.Therefore, you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong and go in and possess the land to which you are going over to possess

9.and that you may prolong the days on the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¶10. “But the land into which you are going, in order to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt out of which you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, like a garden of green herbs.

11.For the land to which you are crossing over to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven.

12.It is a land for which Jehovah your God cares; the eyes of Jehovah your God are upon it continually, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.

13.And it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14.that I will give your land rain in its time, the early and the latter rain, and you will gather your grain, and your new wine, and your fresh oil.

15.And I will provide grass in your field for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full.

16.Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn away, and you serve other gods and worship them.

17.For the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens and there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its produce, and you will quickly perish from the good land which Jehovah is giving you.

18.Therefore, lay up these words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be for frontlets between your eyes.

19.And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

20.And you shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates,

21.so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give to them, like the days of heaven upon the earth.

22.For if you will diligently keep all this commandment which I am commanding you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him,

23.then Jehovah will dispossess all these nations before you, and you will possess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

24.Every place upon which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, and to the sea beyond shall be your territory.

25.No man will stand before you. Jehovah your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon the face of all the land upon which you will tread, just as He said to you.

¶26. “Behold, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

27.the blessing when you obey the commandments of Jehovah your God which I am commanding you today,

28.and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside from the way that I command you today, to walk after other gods which you have not known.

29.And it shall come to pass that when Jehovah your God brings you into the land into which you are entering to possess it, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal.

30.Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the Oaks of Moreh?

31.For you are crossing over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it.

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

Deuteronomy 12

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¶1. “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall take heed to do in the land which Jehovah, God of your fathers, gave to you to possess all the days that you live on the land.

2.You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree.

3.And you shall tear down their altars, and break down their pillars, and burn up their sacred groves with fire, and cut down the idols of their gods, and blot out their name from that place.

4.You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God.

5.But only to the place where Jehovah your God chooses out of all your tribes to set His name for His dwelling shall you seek, and there shall you go.

6.And there, you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock.

7.And there, you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you shall rejoice in every endeavor of your hand, you and your households with which Jehovah your God has blessed you.

8.You shall not do altogether as we are doing here, today, each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

9.for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that Jehovah your God is giving you.

10.But when you have crossed over the Jordan and have settled in the land which Jehovah your God will cause you to inherit, and when He has given you rest from all your enemies round about and you dwell in safety,

11.then there will be a place which Jehovah your God will choose as a dwelling place for His name. There shall you bring all that I have commanded you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hand, and all the best of your votive offerings which you may vow to Jehovah.

12.And you, and your sons and your daughters, and your male slaves and your female slaves, shall rejoice before Jehovah your God with the Levite who is within your gates because he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13.Take heed to yourself, that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

14.but only at the place that Jehovah will choose in one of your tribes. There you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15.However, you may kill and eat flesh, all that your soul desires, within any of your gates, according to the blessing which Jehovah your God gives to you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, whether gazelle or stag.

16.Only, you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

17.You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your fresh oil, or the firstborn of your herd or your flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or an excise offering of your hand,

18.but you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gate, must eat it before Jehovah your God at the place which Jehovah your God chooses, and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in every endeavor of your hand.

19.Take heed to yourself, lest you forsake the Levite, all your days upon your land.

¶20. “When Jehovah your God enlarges your territory, just as He has said to you, and you say ‘I will eat flesh’, because your soul desires to eat flesh, you may eat flesh, whatever your soul desires.

21.If the place where Jehovah your God chooses to set His name is distant from you, then you may slaughter an animal from your herd or your flock which Jehovah has given to you, just as I commanded you, and you may eat whatever your soul desires within your gates.

22.Just as the gazelle or stag is eaten, so may you eat it, the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.

23.Only, be certain not to eat the blood because the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

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

25.You shall not eat it so that it will go well with you and your children after you, because you are doing what is right in the sight of Jehovah.

26.But your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take up and go to the place which Jehovah shall choose.

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

28.Take heed and hear all these words which I command you, so that it will go well with you and your children after you forever because you are doing what is good and right in the sight of Jehovah your God.

¶29. “When Jehovah your God has cut off the nations before you where you are going in to dispossess them, and you have dispossessed them and dwell in their land,

30.take heed to yourself, lest you be ensnared by following them after they have been destroyed before you, and lest you inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

31.You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God, for every abomination to Jehovah which He hates, they do for their gods; yea, even their sons and their daughters they burn up in the fire for their gods.

32.Be careful to do everything that I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

Deuteronomy 13

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¶1. “Now, if a prophet rise up in your midst, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,

2.and the sign or the wonder come to pass that he spoke to you, and then if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and serve them,’

3.do not heed the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for Jehovah your God is testing you, to know whether you love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4.You shall follow after Jehovah your God, and Him shall you fear, and His commandments shall you keep, and His voice shall you heed, and Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cling!

5.And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he spoke apostasy against Jehovah your God, the One who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slaves, to thrust you out from the way in which Jehovah your God commanded you to walk. And you shall purge the evil from your midst.

6.If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ that you have not known, you or your fathers,

7.gods of the peoples who are round about you, whether close to you or far from you, from one end of the earth even to the other,

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

9.But you shall surely kill him! Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward, the hand of all the people.

10.And you shall stone him with stones that he die, because he is seeking to thrust you away from Jehovah your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.

11.And all Israel shall hear of it and fear, and they shall not do this wicked thing any more in your midst.

12.If you shall hear in one of your cities which Jehovah your God is giving you to dwell there, someone saying,

13.‘Men, children of Belial, have gone out from your midst, and they have thrust the inhabitants of their city away from God, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known,’

14.then you shall make inquiry, and search it out, and ask diligently, and behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that this abomination has been committed in your midst,

15.you shall surely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. Devote it, and all that is in it, even its cattle, with the edge of the sword.

16.And you shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its square, and burn up with fire the city and all its spoil – everything – unto Jehovah your God. And it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be rebuilt.

17.And nought of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand, so that Jehovah will turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers,

18.if you will take heed to the voice of Jehovah your God to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the sight of Jehovah your God.

Deuteronomy 14

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¶1. “You are the children of Jehovah your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor shall you make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

2.For you are a holy people unto Jehovah your God, and Jehovah has chosen you to be a treasured people to Him out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

¶3. “You shall not eat any abominable thing.

4.These are the beasts which you may eat: the ox, sheep, and goat,

5.the deer, and gazelle, and roebuck, and wild goat, and pygarg, and wild ox, and mountain-goat.

6.Even every beast among the beasts that divides the hoof, completely splitting the cleft into two hooves, bringing up the cud, you may eat.

7.But this you shall not eat of those that bring up the cud, or those that divide the hoof completely: the camel, and the arnebeth, and the rock badger, for they bring up the cud but do not divide the hoof. They shall be unclean to you.

8.And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not bring up the cud, shall be unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, nor shall you touch their carcass.

¶9. “This you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fin and scale, you may eat.

10.But whatever does not have fin and scale, you may not eat. It shall be unclean to you.

11.You may eat any clean bird.

12.But this is which you may not eat of them: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey,

13.and the kite, and the falcon, and the vulture after its kind,

14.and every raven after its kind,

15.and the owl, and the night hawk, and the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind,

16.and the little owl, and the great owl, and the ibis,

17.and the pelican, and the Egyptian vulture, and the cormorant,

18.and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

19.And every swarming, flying creature shall be unclean to you. They may not be eaten.

20.You may eat any clean bird.

21.You shall not eat of any carcass. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your gates and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people unto Jehovah your God. Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

¶22. “You must tithe all the yield from your seed which the field produces year by year

23.(and you shall eat before Jehovah your God at the place which He will choose as a dwelling place for His name), a tithe of your grain, your new wine, and your fresh oil, and the firstborn of your herd or your flock, so that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always.

24.And if the way be too long for you so that you are not able to carry it or the place where Jehovah your God chooses to set His name is too far for you because Jehovah your God has blessed you,

25.then you may exchange it into money, then bind the money in your hand and go to the place which Jehovah your God will choose.

26.Then you shall exchange the money for whatever your soul desires, for ox, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or whatever your soul desires. (And you shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and you and your household shall rejoice.)

27.And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28.At the end of three years, you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall lay it up within your gates.

29.And the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance with you), and the sojourner, and the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates shall come and eat, and be full, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Deuteronomy 15

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¶1. “At the end of seven years, you shall make a release.

2.And this is the manner of the release: every creditor is to release his hand on what he lent to his neighbor; he shall not oppress his neighbor or his brother, for Jehovah’s release has been proclaimed.

3.You may exact it of a foreigner, but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release,

4.except when there shall be no poor man with you, for Jehovah will greatly bless you in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,

5.if you will but diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God, to take care to do all this commandment which I command you today.

6.For Jehovah your God has blessed you, just as He said to you, and you will lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

7.If one of your brothers with you, in any of your gates, is poor in your land, which Jehovah your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or close up your hand to your poor brother.

8.But you shall open your hand freely to him, and you shall certainly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he lacks.

9.Take heed to yourself, lest there be a thought in your wicked heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, a year of release, draws near,’ and your eye be evil toward your poor brother and you give him nothing, and then, he cries out to Jehovah concerning you, for it is a sin in you.

10.You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, for on account of this thing, Jehovah your God will bless you in all your work and in every endeavor of your hand.

11.For there will never cease to be a poor man in the land; therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand freely to your brother, to your afflicted, and to your poor in your land.’

12.If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years, then in the seventh year, you shall send him away from you, free.

13.And when you send him away free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed.

14.You must supply him amply from your flock, and from your threshing floor, and from your winepress; from that which Jehovah your God has blessed you shall you give him.

15.And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, but Jehovah your God redeemed you. That is why I am commanding this thing of you today.

16.But if it be that he says to you, I will not go out from you, because he loves you and your house since it is well with him with you,

17.then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear and into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And you shall also do the same for your female slave.

18.Let it not be a hardship in your eyes when you send him away free from you; for double the wages of a hired man has he served you six years, and Jehovah your God will bless you in all that you do.

¶19. “Every firstborn male that is born in your herd and in your flock shall you consecrate to Jehovah your God. You shall not do work with the firstborn of your bullock, nor shall you shear the firstborn of your flock.

20.You shall eat it before Jehovah your God, year by year, at the place which Jehovah shall choose, you, and your household.

21.And if there is a blemish in it, lameness, or blindness, or any ill blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to Jehovah your God.

22.You may eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as with a gazelle or stag.

23.Only, you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 16

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¶1. “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover of Jehovah your God, for in the month of Abib, Jehovah your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

2.And you shall kill the Passover of Jehovah your God, from flock or herd, at the place which Jehovah will choose as a dwelling place for His name.

3.You shall not eat that which is leavened with it. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it (the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

4.Furthermore, no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh which you kill at evening on the first day remain till the morning.

5.You may not kill the Passover within any of your gates which Jehovah your God is giving you,

6.but at the place which Jehovah your God will choose as a dwelling place for His name shall you kill the Passover, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.

7.And you shall roast and eat it at the place which Jehovah your God chooses, and in the morning, you shall return and go to your tents.

8.Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn Assembly to Jehovah your God. You shall do no work.

¶9. “You shall count for yourself seven weeks. From when the sickle is first put to the grain, you shall begin to count seven weeks.

10.Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to Jehovah your God. A freewill tribute shall be in your hand which you shall give, according as Jehovah your God has blessed you.

11.And you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, in the place which Jehovah your God will choose as a dwelling place for His name.

12.And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and observe these statutes.

¶13. “You shall keep the Feast of Booths for yourself seven days, when you have gathered the fruit of your threshing floor and of your winepress.

14.And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son and your daughter, and your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates.

15.Seven days shall you keep a feast to Jehovah your God in the place where Jehovah will choose, for Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce, and in all the work of your hands; and you will indeed be joyful.

¶16. “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. And no one shall appear before Jehovah empty-handed,

17.each man with a gift in his hand according to the blessing that Jehovah your God will have given to you.

¶18. “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all of your gates which Jehovah your God gives to you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

19.You shall not pervert justice. You shall not have respect of persons, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of wise men and subverts the words of righteous men.

20.You shall pursue perfect righteousness, so that you may live and possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.

21.You shall not plant for yourself a sacred grove of any tree beside an altar of Jehovah your God which you make for yourself.

22.Neither shall you set up for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates.

Deuteronomy 17

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¶1. “You shall not sacrifice to Jehovah your God a bullock or a sheep in which is a blemish, or anything ill-favored, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God.

2.If there is found in your midst, in one of your gates which Jehovah your God gives to you, a man or a woman who is doing evil in the sight of Jehovah your God, by transgressing His covenant,

3.and he goes and serves other gods, and worships them, whether the sun or the moon, or any of the host of the heavens, which I have not commanded,

4.and it be made known to you, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. And, behold, it be true and the thing certain, that this abomination is being committed in Israel,

5.then you shall bring that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, out to your gates – the man or the woman – and you shall stone them with stones, that they die.

6.By the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is put to death die. He shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness.

7.The hand of the witnesses shall be upon him first to put him to death, and afterward, the hand of all the people. And you shall purge the evil from your midst.

¶8. “If a matter for judgment is too difficult for you, between blood and blood, between cause and cause, or between wound and wound, matters of dispute in your gates, then you shall rise and go up to the place which Jehovah your God will choose.

9.And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, or to the judge who shall be in those days, and inquire. And they shall declare the sentence of judgment to you.

10.And you shall do according to the sentence which they declare to you in the place which Jehovah will choose. And you shall give heed to do according to all that they instruct you.

11.According to the direction with which they instruct you, and according to the judgment that they tell you, shall you do. You shall not turn from the word which they declare to you, to the right nor to the left.

12.But the man who acts presumptuously, not obeying the priest who is standing there to minister to Jehovah your God, or the judge, that man shall die. And you shall purge the evil from Israel.

13.And all the people shall hear, and they shall fear and not act presumptuously again.

14.When you come into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you and have possessed it and settled in it, then you will say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me.’

15.You must set over you a king whom Jehovah your God will choose; you will set one from among your brothers as king over you. You may not appoint over you a foreigner, one who is not your brother.

16.Only, he shall not multiply to himself horses, nor return the people to Egypt in order to heap up horses, for Jehovah has said to you, ‘You are never again to return by this way.’

17.Nor shall he multiply wives to himself, so that his heart will not turn aside, and he shall not greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

18.And it will come to pass, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from that which is before the Levitical priests.

19.And it will be with him, and he will read it all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them,

20.so that his heart will not be exalted above his brothers, so that he will not turn from the commandment, either to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days over his kingdom, he, and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

Deuteronomy 18

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¶1. “There is no portion nor inheritance with Israel for the priests, the Levites – the whole tribe of Levi. The offerings made by fire to Jehovah, even of His portion, shall they eat.

2.But there shall be no portion for him among his brethren. Jehovah is his portion just as He said to him.

3.And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from things slaughtered for sacrifice, whether a bullock or a sheep: the shoulder shall be given to the priest, and the two cheeks, and the stomach.

4.The firstfruits of your grain, your new wine, and your fresh oil, and the first fleece of your flock, you shall give to him.

5.For Jehovah your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons forever.

6.And if a Levite comes from one of your gates, from anywhere in Israel where he was sojourning, and he goes with all the desire of his soul to the place that Jehovah chooses,

7.then he shall minister in the name of Jehovah his God, as do all his brethren, the Levites who stand there before Jehovah.

8.They shall eat equal portions, apart from the proceeds of their fathers’ estates.

¶9. “When you have come into the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

10.There shall not be found among you, a man who causes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

11.or a charmer, or an enquirer of a medium, or one with a familiar spirit, or one who consults the dead.

12.For all who do these things are an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations, Jehovah your God is dispossessing them before you.

13.You shall be perfect with Jehovah your God.

14.For these nations which you shall dispossess gave heed to soothsayers and to those practicing divination. But as for you, Jehovah your God does not permit such for you.

15.A prophet like me will Jehovah your God raise up for you, from among you, from your kinsmen (to him, you must listen),

16.according to all that you asked when we were at Horeb with Jehovah your God on the day of the Assembly, saying, “I cannot hear again the voice of Jehovah my God or view any longer this great fire, lest I die!”

17. And Jehovah said to me, “What they have said is good.

18.I will raise up for them, from among their kinsmen, a prophet like you, and I will put my words into his mouth, and he will tell them all that I command him.

19.And it shall be that whoever will not listen to my words which he will speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20.However, the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I did not command him to say, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

21.And if you say in your heart, ‘How can we recognize the word which Jehovah did not say to him?’

22.when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, and the thing does not happen, nor does it come about, that is the thing Jehovah did not say to him. The prophet spoke it presumptuously. You shall not fear him.

Deuteronomy 19

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¶1. “When Jehovah your God cuts off the nations, whose land Jehovah your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

2.you shall separate three cities for yourself within your land which Jehovah your God is giving you to possess.

3.You will prepare the road for yourself, and divide the territory of your land which Jehovah your God is giving you as a possession into three parts, and it shall be that every manslayer may flee there.

4.And this is the requirement for the manslayer who flees there, that he may live. Whoever strikes his neighbor unintentionally, and had not hated him in times past,

5.such as when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron comes loose from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and live,

6.lest the avenger of blood pursue after the manslayer while his heart is hot, and he overtake him because the journey is long, and he strikes him down, even though there is no judgment of death against him, as he had no hatred toward him previously.

7.This is why I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

8.And if Jehovah your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and He give you all the land which He promised to give your fathers,

9.if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in His ways forever, then you shall add for yourself three more cities, besides these three,

10.that innocent blood not be shed within your land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and blood-guilt be upon you.

11.But if a man has hatred toward his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and he rises up against him and strikes him down so that he dies, and then flees to one of these cities,

12.then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

13.Your eye shall have no pity for him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with you.

¶14. “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, with which they of former times set the boundaries in your inheritance which you inherited in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you to possess.

¶15. “A lone witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or any sin, regarding any sin that he has committed. By the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be confirmed.

16.If a malicious witness rise up against a man to accuse him of apostasy,

17.then the two men who have the controversy shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who are in those days.

18.And the judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and behold, the witness is a false witness if he has accused his brother falsely,

19.and you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. And you shall purge the evil from your midst.

20.And those who remain shall hear, and they shall fear, and will no longer do this evil thing in your midst.

21.And your eye shall have no pity; life shall pay for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy 20

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¶1. “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horse and chariot, and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for Jehovah your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

2.And it shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall come near and speak to the people.

3.And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to the battle against your enemies. Do not let your heart faint! Do not fear, neither be terrified, nor tremble before them.

4.For Jehovah your God, He is going with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory.’

5.The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘What man is there who has built a new house and not lived in it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man live in it.

6.And what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not begun to enjoy it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy it instead.

7.And what man is there who is betrothed to a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’

8.And the officers will again speak to the people and say, ‘What man is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that his brothers’ heart be not melted like his heart.’

9.And it shall be that when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.

¶10. “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then you shall proclaim terms of peace to it.

11.And it shall be that if it answers you, ‘Peace’, and it opens to you, then it shall be that all the people found in it will become forced labor for you, and they shall serve you.

12.However, if it will not make peace with you, but would make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.

13.And when Jehovah your God gives it into your hand, you shall kill every male in it with the edge of the sword.

14.Only, the women and the little ones, and the livestock, and all that is in the city – all its spoil – you shall take for yourself, and you may eat the spoil of your enemies whom Jehovah your God has delivered up to you.

15.Thus shall you do to all the cities that are very distant from you, those which are not of the cities of these nations.

16.But from the cities of these peoples which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not save alive any that breathe,

17.but you shall utterly devote them, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as Jehovah your God has commanded you,

18.so that they cannot teach you to do according to all their abominations which they do unto their gods, and you sin against Jehovah your God.

¶19. “When you lay siege against a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy a tree of it from which you can eat, by wielding an ax against it. You shall not cut it down to remove it from before you in the siege, for the tree of the field is for man.

20.Only, a tree which you know is not a tree for food, that, you may destroy and cut down, and you shall build siege-works against the city which is making war with you, until it falls.

Deuteronomy 21

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¶1. “If someone is found slain in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you to possess, lying in the open country, and it is not known who struck him down,

2.then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure to the cities that are round about the slain man.

3.And it shall be, that the city nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city, shall take a heifer from the herd with which work has never been done, which has never pulled in a yoke.

4.And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a rugged valley which has neither been worked nor sown, and there, in the valley, they shall break the neck of the heifer.

5.And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for Jehovah your God chose them to minister and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and according to their word shall every controversy and every wound be judged.

6.And all the elders of that city, those nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

7.And they shall testify and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.

8.Atone for your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Jehovah! And do not lay the guilt for innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ Then atonement for the blood-guilt will have been made for them.

9.So shall you purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is correct in the sight of Jehovah.

¶10. “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Jehovah your God delivers them into your hands, and you have taken them captive,

11.and you see among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and you desire her, and would take her as a wife for yourself,

12.then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.

13.And she shall take off of her the garment of her captivity, and she shall remain in your house and mourn her father and her mother for a full month. Then, after that, you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

14.And should it happen that you find no delight in her, then you shall let her go wherever she wants, but you may not in any circumstance sell her for money. You shall not treat her as a slave because you have humbled her.

¶15. “If a man has two wives, the one loved, and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated have borne him sons, and it be that the firstborn son is hers who is hated,

16.then it shall be that in the day he causes his sons to inherit what is his, he cannot make the son of the loved woman the firstborn instead of the hated woman’s son, who is the firstborn.

17.But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated woman as the firstborn, to give him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

¶18. “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, not taking heed of them when they chasten him,

19.then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, even to the gate of his place,

20.and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This, our son, is stubborn and rebellious. He will not take heed to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’

21.And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die, and you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear of it, and fear.

¶22. “And when there is a sentence of death against a man for sin and he is put to death, and you have hanged him on a tree,

23.his corpse shall not remain on the tree overnight, but you shall certainly bury him on that day, for a hanged man is accursed of God. And so, you will not defile your land that Jehovah your God is giving you for a possession.

Deuteronomy 22

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¶1. “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly return them to your brother.

2.And if your brother is not near you, or you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother looks for it. Then, you shall return it to him.

3.And you shall do likewise with his donkey, and you shall do likewise with his garment. Yea, you shall do likewise with any lost thing of your brother’s which was lost by him and that you found. You are not allowed to hide yourself.

4.You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down in the way and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly help to get it up.

¶5. “What pertains to a man shall not be worn by a woman, neither shall a man wear a woman’s garment, for all who do such are an abomination to Jehovah your God.

¶6. “If there happens to be a bird’s nest before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young birds or eggs, and the mother is sitting on the young birds or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother that is upon the young.

7.You shall certainly let the mother go free and take the young for yourself, so that it may go well with you, and you prolong your days.

¶8. “When you build a new house, you shall also make a parapet for your roof, that you do not bring blood-guilt upon your house should anyone fall from it.

¶9. “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds, lest the harvest of the seed that you sow and the yield of the vineyard be forfeited to God.

10.You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

11.You shall not wear material made of wool and linen together.

¶12. “You shall make fringes for yourself on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

¶13. “When a man takes a wife and goes in to her, and then hates her,

14.and accuses her of wanton acts, and brings upon her a bad name, and says, ‘I took this woman and came near her, but did not find evidence of her virginity,’

15.then the father and her mother shall take the young woman, and they shall produce the evidence of the young girl’s virginity to the city elders at the gate.

16.Then the father of the girl shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, and he has hated her.

17.And, behold, he has accused her of wanton acts, saying, “I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.’ And then, they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the city.

18.And the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.

19.And they shall fine him one hundred pieces of silver and give it to the father of the young woman because he brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days.

20.But if this thing be true, if they do not find evidence of the young woman’s virginity,

21.then they shall bring the young woman out to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die because she has committed folly in Israel, in committing whoredom in her father’s house. So shall you purge out the evil from your midst.

¶22. “If a man be found lying with a woman who has a husband, then they both shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So shall you purge out the evil from Israel.

23.If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and a man comes upon her in the city, and he lies with her,

24.then you shall bring both of them out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they die, the girl because she did not cry out, being in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife. So shall you purge out the evil from your midst.

25.But if the man comes upon a young girl who is engaged in the open country, and the man forces her, and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.

26.And you shall do nothing to the girl. There is no sin unto death in the young girl, for this matter is just as when a man rises up against his neighbor, and murders him,

27.because he found her in the open country, and the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

28.If a man comes upon a girl, a virgin who is not engaged, and takes hold of her and lies with her, and they be discovered,

29.then the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and she shall become his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not send her away all his days.

¶30. “A man shall not take his father’s wife; he shall not uncover his father’s skirt.

Deuteronomy 23

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¶1. “No man wounded by crushing or whose male organ is cut off shall enter into the Assembly of Jehovah.

2.No one born of incest shall enter into the Assembly of Jehovah. Even to the tenth generation, none of his shall enter into the Assembly of Jehovah.

3.An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the Assembly of Jehovah. Even to the tenth generation, none of them shall ever enter into the Assembly of Jehovah,

4.because they did not meet you with bread and water in the way when you came out of Egypt, and because he hired Balaam ben-Beor from Pethor of Aram-naharaim against you, to curse you.

5.But Jehovah your God would not listen to Balaam, and Jehovah your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Jehovah your God loves you.

6.You shall not seek their peace or their good all your days forever.

7.You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land.

8.The children who are born to them, their third generation, may enter into the Assembly of Jehovah.

¶9. “When you, as an army, go out against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

10.If there is a man among you who becomes unclean by reason of a nocturnal accident, he shall go outside of the camp. He may not come into the midst of the camp.

11.But when dusk comes, he shall wash with water, and when the sun has gone down, he may come into the midst of the camp.

12.And there shall be a place outside of the camp, and you shall go out there, outside,

13.and you shall have a spade with your equipment, and it shall be, when you sit down outside, that you shall dig with it, and then turn back the dirt and cover your excrement.

14.For Jehovah your God walks about in the midst of your camp, to save you, and to deliver up your enemies before you. Therefore, your camp shall be holy, so that He does not see an indecent thing among you and turn away from you.

¶15. “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

16.He shall dwell with you in your midst, in whichever place he chooses in one of your gates that seems good to him. You shall not oppress him.

¶17. “There shall be no temple prostitute of the daughters of Israel, nor a temple prostitute of the sons of Israel.

18.You shall not bring the hire of a harlot nor the price of a dog into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow, for they both are an abomination to Jehovah your God.

¶19. “You shall not lend at interest to your brother, whether interest on money, interest on food, or interest on anything that may be lent.

20.You may lend at interest to the foreigner, but you may not lend at interest to your brother, so that Jehovah your God will bless you in every endeavor of your hand on the land into which you are going to possess it.

¶21. “If you vow a vow to Jehovah your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for Jehovah your God surely requires it of you, and it would be a sin for you.

22.But if you refrain from making a vow, that is not sin for you.

23.You shall keep and do what goes out of your lips, just as for a vow that you vow to Jehovah your God, which you spoke with your mouth.

¶24. “If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes, as much as you like, but you may not put any into your vessel.

25.If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck ears of grain with your hand, but you may not wield a sickle on your neighbor’s grain.

Deuteronomy 24

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¶1. “When a man takes a woman and marries her, and it be that she does not find favor in his eyes because he finds in her some indecency, then he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her away from his house.

2.When she leaves his house, then she may go and become another man’s wife.

3.But if the latter man hate her, he shall also write her a bill of divorce and put it in her hand, and he shall send her away from his house, or if the latter man who took her as his wife die,

4.her first husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before Jehovah, that you do not bring guilt upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as a possession.

5.When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the host, nor shall any duty be laid upon him. He shall be free at his home for one year, and he shall make his wife whom he took happy.

¶6. “No man shall take a millstone or an upper millstone as a pledge, for he would be taking a life as a pledge.

¶7. “If a man be found to have kidnapped any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and abuses him or sells him, then that thief shall die, and you shall purge the evil from your midst.

¶8. “Take heed to be very careful regarding the plague of leprosy and to do everything that the priests, the Levites, instruct you! Take heed to do just as I commanded them.

9.Remember what Jehovah your God did to Miriam on the way, when you came out of Egypt.

¶10. “When you lend your neighbor anything as a loan, you shall not go into his house to take his pledge.

11.You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you made the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.

12.And if the man is poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

13.You shall certainly return the pledge to him when the sun is going down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before Jehovah your God.

14.You shall not oppress a poor and needy hired man of your brethren or of your stranger who is in your land within your gates.

15.You shall give him his wage for that day, and you shall not let the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and his life depends on it, or he will cry out against you to Jehovah, and it will be sin to you.

¶16. “Fathers shall not be put to death on account of children, and children shall not be put to death on account of fathers. Each man shall be put to death for his own sin.

17.You shall not pervert the judgment of a stranger or an orphan, and you shall not take a widow’s clothing as a pledge.

18.And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but Jehovah your God redeemed you from there. That is why I have commanded you to do this thing.

¶19. “When you reap your harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to collect it. Let it be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Jehovah your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.

20.When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over it afterward. Let it be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow.

21.When you cut the clusters of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward. Let it be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow.

22.And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing.

Deuteronomy 25

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¶1. “If there is a dispute between men, and they come for judgment, and they judge them, then they shall justify the righteous man and condemn the guilty man.

2.And it shall be that if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, then the judge shall make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with a number of strokes in proportion to his wrongdoing.

3.He may have him struck no more than forty times. Otherwise, should he beat him with more stripes than these, then your brother would become contemptible in your eyes.

¶4. “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is threshing.

¶5. “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not go abroad to have a stranger for a husband. Her brother-in-law shall go in to her, and take her as a wife for himself, and do the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

6.And it shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall rise up in the name of his dead brother, that his name be not wiped out from Israel.

7.But if the man does not desire to take his sister-in-law, then the sister-in-law shall go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up a name for his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me.’

8.Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And, if he persists, and he says, ‘I am not willing to take her’,

9.then his sister-in-law shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall take his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So is it done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’

10.And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him whose sandal was taken off.’

¶11. “When men strive together, a man with his brother, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and seizes his private parts,

12.then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

¶13. “You shall not have different weights in your bag, a large and a small.

14.You shall not have different measures in your house, a large and a small.

15.You shall have a perfect and just weight, and you shall have a perfect and just measure, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which Jehovah your God is giving you.

16.For everyone who does such things, everyone who does unjustly, is an abomination to Jehovah your God.

¶17. “Remember what Amalek did to you in the way when you came out of Egypt,

18.that he met you in the way and struck at all the feeble lagging behind you, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God.

19.Therefore, it shall be, when Jehovah your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You must not forget it!

Deuteronomy 26

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¶1. “And it shall be, when you have come into the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you have possessed it, and settled in it,

2.that you shall take from the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that Jehovah your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place which Jehovah your God will choose as a dwelling place for His name.

3.And you shall go to the priest who shall be in those days, and you shall say to him, ‘I declare this day to Jehovah your God that I have come into the land which Jehovah swore to our fathers to give to us.’

4.And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and place it before the altar of Jehovah your God.

5.And you shall testify and say before Jehovah your God, ‘A perishing Syrian was my father, and he went down to Egypt, and sojourned there with a few people, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.

6.And the Egyptians did evil to us, and they afflicted us, and laid hard labor upon us.

7.And we cried out to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression.

8.And Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs, and with wonders.

9.And He has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10.And behold, I have brought now the first of the fruit of the ground which you, O Jehovah, have given to me.’ And you shall place it before Jehovah your God, and worship before Jehovah your God.

11.And you shall rejoice in all the good that Jehovah your God has given you and your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger who is in your midst.

12.When you have finished rendering all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, and have given to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and they are filled,

13.then you shall say before Jehovah your God, ‘I have taken the holy portion out of my house, and I have certainly given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.

14.I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I taken any of it when unclean, nor did I give any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah my God; I have done according to all that you commanded me.

15.Look down from your holy dwelling place, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you gave us, just as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

16.This day, Jehovah your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore, you shall keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.

17.Today, you have declared Jehovah to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways, and keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and give heed to His voice.

18.And today, Jehovah has declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, just as He said to you, so that you may keep all His commandments,

19.and to set you high above all the nations that He made, for praise, and for renown, and for glory, and for you to be a holy people for Jehovah your God, just as He said.”

Deuteronomy 27

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¶1. And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “Keep every commandment which I am commanding you today.

2.And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones, and you shall whitewash them with lime.

3.And you shall write all the words of this law on them when you have crossed over, because you will have entered into the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as Jehovah, God of your fathers, said to you.

4.It shall also be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, as I have commanded you today, on Mount Ebal, and whitewash them with lime.

5.And there you shall build an altar to Jehovah your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool upon them.

6.You shall build the altar of Jehovah your God of uncut stones. Then you shall offer burnt offerings on it to Jehovah your God.

7.And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and there you shall eat and rejoice before Jehovah your God.

8.And you shall write all the words of this law on the stones very plainly.”

¶9. And Moses, with the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Keep silent, and hear, O Israel! This day you have become the people of Jehovah your God.

10.Therefore, you shall obey the voice of Jehovah your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I have commanded you today.”

11. And Moses commanded the people on that day, saying,

12.“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin.

13.And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14.And the Levites shall answer, and say to every man of Israel with a loud voice,

15.‘Cursed be the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination to Jehovah, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and he sets it up in secret!’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16.‘Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17.‘Cursed be he who removes his neighbor’s boundary marker!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18.‘Cursed be he who causes a blind person to go astray in the way!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19.‘Cursed be he who perverts judgment for a stranger, an orphan, or a widow!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20.‘Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, because he uncovered his father’s skirt!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21.‘Cursed be he who lies with any animal!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22.‘Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23.‘Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24.‘Cursed be he who strikes down his neighbor in secret!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25.‘Cursed be he who takes a bribe to cause the blood of an innocent soul to be shed!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26.‘Cursed be anyone who does not accede to the words of this law, to do them!’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

Deuteronomy 28

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¶1. “And it shall come to pass, if you will diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God, to take care to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that Jehovah your God will set you high above all the nations of earth.

2.And all these blessings will come upon you, and overtake you, if you obey the voice of Jehovah your God.

3.Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.

4.Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, the offspring of your cattle and the offspring of your flock.

5.Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.

6.Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7.Jehovah will deliver up your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before your face. They shall come out against you by one way, but flee before you seven ways.

8.Jehovah will command the blessing upon you in your storehouses, and in every endeavor of your hands, and He will bless you in the land, which Jehovah your God is giving you.

9.Jehovah will establish you as a holy people for Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and walk in His ways.

10.And all the peoples of earth shall see that you are called by the name of Jehovah, and they shall be afraid of you.

11.And Jehovah will cause you to have an abundance of good, in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Jehovah your God swore to your fathers to give you.

12.Jehovah will open to you His treasury of good, the heavens, to give your land rain in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand, and you will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.

13.And Jehovah will make you the head, and not the tail, and you shall only be above, and never be below, if you give heed to the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you today, to keep and to do,

14.that you turn not aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, right or left, to go after other gods to serve them.

¶15. “But it shall come to pass if you will not give heed to the voice of Jehovah your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

16.Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.

17.Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.

18.Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, the offspring of your cattle, and the offspring of your flock.

19.Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20.Jehovah will send upon you the curse, confusion, and rebuke, in every endeavor of your hand that you do, until you are destroyed, yea, until you perish quickly because of the wickedness of your deeds with which you forsake me.

21.Jehovah will cause the pestilence to cling to you, until He has consumed you from off the land into which you are going, to possess it.

22.Jehovah will strike you down with consumption, and with the fever, and with inflammation, and with a burning heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish.

23.And your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the land that is under you, iron.

24.Jehovah will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It shall come down on you from heaven, until you be destroyed.

25.Jehovah will deliver you up to be struck down before your enemies. You shall go out against them by one way, but flee seven ways before them, and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

26.And your carcass shall be meat for every bird of the sky, and for the beast of the land, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27.Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with hemorrhoids, and with the itch, and with the scab, of which you cannot be cured.

28.Jehovah will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with confusion of mind.

29.And you shall grope about at midday, just as the blind grope in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways, and shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, and there will be no one to help.

30.You shall betroth a wife, and another man will ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you will not enjoy it.

31.Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen in front of you, and it will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to save them for you.

32.Your sons and your daughters will be delivered up to another people, and your eyes will look, and fail for longing for them all the day long, and your hand will have no strength.

33.The fruit of your ground, and all your toil, a nation, whom you do not know, will eat, and you will only be oppressed and crushed continually.

34.And you will be driven to distraction by the sight of your eyes, which you will see.

35.Jehovah will strike you in the knees and in the legs with sore boils which you cannot cure, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

36.Jehovah will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known. And there, you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.

37.And you shall become an astonishment, a byword, and a mockery, among all the peoples where Jehovah will drive you.

38.You will take much seed out to the field, but you will gather little, for the young locust will consume it.

39.You shall plant vineyards, and you shall labor, but you will not drink wine nor gather its grapes, for the worm will devour them.

40.You shall have olive trees throughout your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with oil, for your olive tree will cast its fruit.

41.You shall beget sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.

42.The swarm will devour all your trees, and the fruit of your ground.

43.The stranger who is in your midst shall rise up very high above you, and you will come down very low.

44.He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you will be the tail.

45.And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

46.And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and upon your seed, forever,

47.because you did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.

48.But your enemies whom Jehovah will send against you will you serve in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the lack of everything. And He shall put an iron yoke on your neck, until He has destroyed you.

49.Jehovah will lift up a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, that flies like the eagle, a nation whose tongue you cannot understand,

50.a nation of fearsome countenance which neither respects the faces of the old, nor pities the young.

51.And they will eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you be destroyed; they will not leave you grain, new wine, or fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle, or the offspring of your flock until they cause you to perish.

52.And they will besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls in which you trust throughout your land come down, for they will besiege you in all your gates throughout your land which Jehovah your God has given you.

53.And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom Jehovah your God gave to you, during the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.

54.As for the tender and very delicate man among you, his eye will be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children that he has left,

55.not giving to one of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating because he has nothing left in the siege, and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.

56.And the tender and delicate woman among you, who would hardly set the sole of her foot on the earth because of delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

57.and toward her afterbirth that comes forth from between her feet, even toward her children whom she bore, for she will eat them secretly for the lack of anything to eat in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates.

58.If you do not take care to do all the words of this law written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovah, your God,

59.then Jehovah will make your afflictions and the afflictions of your seed extraordinary, severe and lasting afflictions, and severe and lasting sicknesses.

60.And He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

61.Also, every sickness and every affliction which is not written in the book of this law, Jehovah will bring them upon you until you are destroyed.

62.And you shall be left with few men, whereas you had been like the stars of heaven for multitude, for you did not obey the voice of Jehovah your God.

63.And it shall come to pass, that just as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, even so will Jehovah rejoice over you to put you to death, and to exterminate you, and you shall be uprooted from the land that you went in to possess.

64.And Jehovah will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there will you serve other gods of wood and stone that you and your fathers have not known.

65.And among those nations will you not find rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. And there, Jehovah will give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul.

66.And your lives will hang in doubt before you, and night and day you will live in fear, and you will have no certainty in your lives.

67.In the morning, you will say, ‘Oh, that it was evening!’ and at evening, you will say, ‘Oh, that it was morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you will feel and because of the sight of your eyes which you will see.

68.And Jehovah will return you by way of ships to Egypt, which I told you you would never see again. And there will you offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male slaves and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

Deuteronomy 29

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¶1. These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them at Horeb.

¶2. And Moses summoned all Israel, and said to them, “You have seen all that Jehovah did in your sight in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,

3.the great trials which your eyes beheld, the signs, and those great wonders,

4.but Jehovah has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear to this day.

5.And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your garments have not worn out upon you, nor has your sandal worn out on your foot.

6.You have not consumed bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you may know that I am Jehovah your God.

7.When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to meet us in battle, and we struck them down.

8.And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of the Manassites.

9.Therefore, keep the words of this covenant, and do them, so that you might prosper in all that you do.

10.You are standing today, all of you, before Jehovah your God, your heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel,

11.your little ones, your wives, and your stranger who is in the midst of your camp, from he who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,

12.so that you may enter into the covenant of Jehovah your God, and into His oath, which Jehovah your God is making with you today,

13.so that He may establish you today as His people, and that He will be your God, just as He has said to you, and just as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14.And it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath,

15.but with him who is standing here with us today before Jehovah our God and him who is not here with us today

16.(for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of the nations, which you passed through

17.and saw their abominations, and their idols of wood, and stone, silver, and gold, which are among them),

18.lest there be among you a man or a woman, or a family, or a tribe whose heart would turn away today from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations, and lest there be among you a root that bears poisonous and bitter fruit,

19.and it come to pass, when he hears the words of this oath, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart’, in order to destroy the watered with the thirsty.

20.Jehovah will not be willing to forgive him, but rather, Jehovah’s anger and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and every curse that is written in this book shall rest on him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven.

21.And Jehovah will set him apart for evil among all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law.

22.And the following generation of your children that rises up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land, and its infirmities with which Jehovah has sickened it,

23.‘All its land is sulfur, and salt, and burning. It is not sown, and nothing sprouts, and no grass at all grows on it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in His anger and in His fury.’

24.And all the nations will say, ‘Why has Jehovah done such as this to this land? What provoked the fierceness of this great anger?’

25.And they will say, ‘It is because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out from the land of Egypt,

26.and they went and served other gods, and bowed themselves to them, gods whom they did not know and whom He had not assigned to them.

27.And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

28.And Jehovah rooted them up out of their ground in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath, and He cast them out into another land, as it is this day.’

29.The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may perform all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 30

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¶1. “And it shall be that when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations to which Jehovah your God has driven you,

2.and you return to Jehovah your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,

3.then Jehovah your God will return your captivity and show you compassion. Yea, Jehovah your God will relent and gather you up out of all the nations where He had scattered you.

4.Even if you have been banished to the end of heaven, from there will Jehovah your God gather you up, and from there will He fetch you.

5.And Jehovah your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it, and He will do good to you and multiply you more than your fathers.

6.And Jehovah your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.

7.And Jehovah your God will put all these curses upon your enemies and upon those who hate you, who persecute you.

8.And you shall return and obey the voice of Jehovah, and observe all His commandments which I command you today.

9.And Jehovah your God will cause you to have an abundance in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your land, for good, because Jehovah will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers,

10.if you will obey the voice of Jehovah your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in the book of this law, and if you return to Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

11.For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you, nor is it far off.

12.It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who shall go up to heaven for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it that we may do it?’

13.Neither is it over the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it that we may do it?’

14.But the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

15.See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil!

16.For I am commanding you today to love Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live, and multiply, and that Jehovah your God may bless you in the land that you are going in to possess.

17.But, if your heart turns away, and you do not obey, and you are led astray, and worship other gods, and serve them,

18.I declare to you today, that you will surely perish, and you will not prolong the days on the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to go in to possess.

19.I summon heaven and earth to bear witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. So choose life, that you and your offspring may live.

20.Love Jehovah your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him, for He is your life, and your length of days, that you may dwell on the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Deuteronomy 31

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¶1. And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

2. And he said to them, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in, and Jehovah has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’

3.Jehovah your God, He will pass over before you. He will exterminate those nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua is he who will go over before you, just as Jehovah said.

4.And Jehovah will do to them just as He did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He exterminated them.

5.And Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to every command that I have commanded you.

6.Be strong and courageous! Fear not! And do not be afraid of them, for Jehovah your God, He is going with you. He will neither fail you, nor forsake you.”

¶7. And Moses called for Joshua, and he said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous! For you are going with this people into the land which Jehovah swore to their fathers to give them, and you will cause them to inherit it.

8.And it is Jehovah who is going before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or be dismayed.”

¶9. And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and to all the elders of Israel.

10. And Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the year of release, at the Feast of Booths,

11.when all Israel comes to appear before Jehovah your God, at the place which He shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

12.Assemble the people, the men, and the women, and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and take heed to do all the words of this law.

13.And their children who do not know it may hear and may learn to fear Jehovah your God all the days which you live on the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.”

¶14. And Jehovah said to Moses, “Behold, your time to die draws near. Call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge!” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

15.And Jehovah appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

16.And Jehovah said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up and go whoring after the gods of the foreign land, into the midst of which they are going, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.

17.And my anger will 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 distresses shall come upon them. And they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because God is not in our midst?’

18.But I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done because they turned to other gods.

19.Therefore, write for yourselves now this song, and teach it to the children of Israel! Put it in their mouth, so that this song will be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

20.For I will bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I swore to their fathers, and they will eat and be full, and grow fat, and turn to other gods, and serve them, and spurn me, and break my covenant.

21.And it shall come to pass, when many evils and distresses have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness because it will not be forgotten by the mouth of their seed. For I know their thoughts which they are having today, even before I have brought them into the land concerning which I swore.”

22.So, Moses wrote this song on that day, and he taught it to the children of Israel.

23.And He gave Joshua ben-Nun a charge, and He said, “Be strong, and be courageous! For you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

¶24. And it came to pass, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book to their completion,

25.that Moses commanded the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying,

26.“Take this book of the law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.

27.For I know of your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Jehovah, and how much more so after my death?

28.Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing, and I will call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.

29.For I know that after my death, you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and that evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

¶30. And Moses spoke in the ears of all the Assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended:

Deuteronomy 32

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¶1. “Give ear, O heaven, and let me speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2.My doctrine will drop like the rain, my speech will distill like the dew, like raindrops upon grass and like showers upon herbs,

3.for I will proclaim the name of Jehovah. Ascribe greatness to our God,

4.the Rock! His work is perfect! Yea, all His ways are just. A God who is faithful and without iniquity; righteous and upright is He.

5.They have dealt corruptly with Him. They are not His children; they are a blemished generation, perverse and crooked.

6.Is this how you repay Jehovah, O foolish people without wisdom? Is He not your Father? He created you! He made you and established you!

7.Remember the days of old! Consider the years of many generations! Ask your father, and he will make it known to you, your elders, and they will tell you!

8.When the Most High gave an inheritance to Gentiles, when He divided the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.[2]

9.But Jehovah’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.

10.He found him in a desert land. And in the howling waste of a wilderness, He surrounded him, He watched over him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

11.Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, and spreading out its wings it takes them, bearing them on its feathers,

12.Jehovah alone led him, and there was no foreign god with Him.

13.He caused him to ride on the high places of the earth. And he ate the produce of the field, and He caused him to suck honey from a rock, and oil from a flinty rock,

14.curds from cattle, and milk from sheep, with the fat of lambs, and rams from Bashan, and he-goats, with the choicest wheat, and you drank wine, the blood of the grape.

15.But Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked. You grew fat; you grew thick; you were satisfied. Then he forsook God who made him, and treated the Rock of his salvation with contempt.

16.They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations, they provoked Him to anger.

17.They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, new gods that came in from close by, whom your fathers had not feared.

18.Of the Rock who bore you, you were unmindful, and you forgot God, who travailed with you.

19.And Jehovah saw it, and He despised them because of the provocations of His sons and His daughters.

20.And He said, ‘Let me hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.’

21.They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities. Therefore, I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22.For a fire is kindled in my anger, and it shall burn to the depths of Sheol, and it shall consume the earth and its increase, and set the foundations of the mountains ablaze.

23.I will heap troubles upon them; I will spend all my arrows on them,

24.until they be exhausted by famine, and consumed by flame and bitter destruction. I will also send the teeth of beasts against them, with poison of serpents of the dust.

25.A sword without shall bereave, and in the bedchambers terror, both the young man and the virgin, the nursing infant with the man of gray hair.

26.I said I would cut them to pieces, that I would erase the memory of them from mankind,

27.except that I wanted to avoid provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries misconstrue it and say, ‘Our power is superior; Jehovah did not do all this.’

28.For they are a nation in which counsel has perished, and there is no understanding in them.

29.If only they were wise, they would consider this! They would understand their latter end!

30.How could one pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except that their Rock had sold them, and Jehovah had delivered them up?

31.For their rock is not like our Rock. (Even our enemies are judges of this.)

32.For their vine is of Sodom’s vine and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters are bitter.

33.Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of adders.

34.Is this not stored up with me, sealed up among my treasures?

35.Vengeance is mine, and recompense. In time, their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is near, and the things prepared will come quickly upon them.

36.Jehovah will certainly judge His people, but He will have pity on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone, whether to hold on or let go.

37.And He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge,

38.who ate the fat of their sacrifices? They drank the wine of their drink offerings. Let them rise up and help you. Let that be a refuge for you!’

39.See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me! I kill, and I restore to life. I wound, and I heal. And there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

40.Yea, I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, ‘I live forever.’

41.If I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold in judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me.

42.I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh, from the blood of the slain and the captive, and from the head of the leaders of the enemy.

43.Sing joyfully, O nations, with His people! For He will avenge the blood of His servants and render vengeance to His enemies, and He will make atonement for His land, and His people.”

¶44. And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea ben-Nun.

45. And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel.

46. And he said to them, “Apply your hearts to all the words that I am testifying among you today, so that you command your children to be careful to do all the words of this law.

47.For it is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life, and by this thing you will prolong your days in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

¶48. And Jehovah spoke to Moses that same day, saying,

49.“Go up to this mountain of Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and see the land of Canaan which I am giving to the children of Israel for a possession.

50.And die there upon the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people,

51.because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify me in the midst of the children of Israel.

52.Yet, you may see the land opposite, but you shall not go there into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 33

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¶1. This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death.

2. And he said, “Jehovah came from Sinai, and appeared to them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. From His right hand came the Holy One with myriads; fire was his mandate.

3.Yea, O beloved of nations, in your hands are all His saints, and they follow in your steps, each one raised up through your words.”

4. Moses commanded us a law, the possession of the Assembly of Jacob.

5. And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people, the tribes of Israel, gathered themselves together.

6. “May Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.”

7. And this was for Judah, and he said, “Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people. His hands strove for himself, but you shall be the help against his enemies.”

8. And concerning Levi, he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim belong to your godly man, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah,

9.he who said to his father and mother, ‘I do not recognize him,’ and he did not acknowledge his kinsman, and did not know his children. But they obeyed your word and kept your covenant.

10.They will teach Jacob your judgments, and your law to Israel; they will offer incense into your nostrils and whole burnt offerings upon your altar.

11.Bless his substance, O Jehovah, and accept the work of his hands. Pierce the loins of them who rise against him and of them who hate him, that they not rise again.”

12. Of Benjamin he said, “Let the beloved of Jehovah dwell in safety by him, covering him all the day long. And he shall dwell between his shoulders.”

13. And of Joseph he said, “Blessed of Jehovah be his land with precious things of heaven, of dew, and of the deep that lies beneath,

14.and with precious produce of the sun, and precious yield of the moons,

15.and with chief things of ancient mountains, and with precious things of the everlasting hills,

16.and with precious things of the earth, and its fullness, even the favor of Him who dwelt in the thorn-bush. May it come upon the head of Joseph, even on the crown of the one separated from his brothers.

17.The glory of the firstborn of his ox is his, and his horns are horns of an aurochs. With them, he shall push the peoples together to the ends of the earth. For they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

18. And of Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents.

19.They shall call peoples to the mountain. There, they shall sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall suck the abundance of seas, and of treasures hidden in sand.”

20. And of Gad he said, “Blessed is he who enlarges Gad. He settles down like a lion, and he tears off arm and head.

21.And he chose the first for himself, and there was the hidden lawgiver’s portion, when he had come with heads of the people. He executed the righteousness of Jehovah, even His judgments, with Israel.”

22. And of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s whelp. He shall spring from Bashan.”

23. And of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full of the blessing of Jehovah. Possess the sea and the south!”

24. And of Asher he said, “Blessed with children is Asher. May he be accepted by his brothers, and dip his foot in oil.

25.Your bars are of iron and bronze, and according to your days may your strength be.

26.There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens with your help, and the skies in His majesty.

27.The ancient God is a hiding place, and beneath are everlasting arms, and He shall drive out the enemy from before you and say, ‘Destroy!’

28.Then Israel will dwell in safety alone. The eye of Jacob will be on a land of grain and new wine, and his heavens will drop down dew.

29.Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Jehovah? A shield! Your help, who is also your majestic sword! Also, your enemies shall cower before you, and you shall tread upon their high places.”

Deuteronomy 34

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¶1. And Moses went up from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah that is across from Jericho, and the Lord caused him to see all the land, with Gilead unto Dan,

2. and all of Naphtali, and the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the territory of Judah to the sea beyond,

3.and the Negev, and the area in the valley-plain of Jericho (the “City of Palm Trees”), to Zoar.

4. Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your seed.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over there.”

5. And Moses, the slave of Jehovah, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord.

6. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, before Beth-peor, but no man knows where his grave is to this day.

7. And Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes had not grown dim, nor had his vigor abated.

8. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the Plains of Moab thirty days, until the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

9. And Joshua ben-Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the children of Israel gave heed to him, and they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

10. And no prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face,

11.with all the signs, and the wonders which Jehovah sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,

12.with all the mighty power and with every great, fearful deed which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.


Footnotes

[1] Literally, only “ – if one of these men . . .” The curse intended with this oath is so unthinkable – God’s own death and damnation – that it is not even uttered.

[2] Masoretic text: “Israel”.

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