Deuteronomy 11-13

New Life Version

Love and Obey the Lord

11 “Love the Lord your God. Always do what He tells you and keep all His Laws. ² I am not speaking to your children. They have not seen how the Lord worked and how great He is. ³ They have not seen the special things you have seen, what He did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land. ⁴ They have not seen what He did to Egypt’s army, the horses and war-wagons. He made the water of the Red Sea flow over them while they were coming after you. He destroyed every one of them. ⁵ They have not seen what He did to you in the desert until you came to this place. ⁶ They do not know what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, those of their house, their tents, and every living thing that followed them among Israel. ⁷ But your own eyes have seen all the great work the Lord has done.

⁸ “So keep every Law which I am telling you today. And you will be strong and go in and take the land which is to be yours. ⁹ You will live long in the land the Lord promised to your fathers and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land you are going in to take is not like the land you came from in Egypt. There you planted your seed and watered it using your feet, like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are about to go into and take for your own is a land of hills and valleys. It drinks water from the rain of heaven. ¹² The Lord your God cares for this land. His eyes watch over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

¹³ “Listen to and obey all the Laws I am telling you today. Love the Lord your God. Work for Him with all your heart and soul. If you do, ¹⁴ He will give the rain for your land at the right times, the early and late rain. So you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. ¹⁵ He will give grass in your fields for your cattle. And you will eat and be filled. ¹⁶ Be careful not to let your hearts be fooled so you turn away and work for other gods and worship them. ¹⁷ Or the anger of the Lord will burn against you. He will shut the heavens so there will be no rain and the ground will not give its fruit. Then you will be quick to die from the good land the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “Keep these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. Tie them as something special to see upon your hand and on your forehead between your eyes. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them beside the door of your house and on your gates. ²¹ And your days and the days of your children will become many in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² Be careful to obey all this Law which I am telling you. Love the Lord your God. Walk in all His ways and hold on to Him. If you do, ²³ the Lord will drive out all these nations in front of you. And you will take for your own what has belonged to nations greater and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where your foot steps will be yours. Your land will be from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the sea in the west. ²⁵ There no man will be able to stand in front of you. The Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land where you walk, as He has promised you.

²⁶ “See, I am putting in front of you today good and a curse. ²⁷ Good will come to you if you listen to the Laws of the Lord your God, which I am telling you today. ²⁸ But a curse will come to you if you do not listen to the Laws of the Lord your God and turn aside from the way I am telling you today, by following other gods you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord your God brings you into the land which is to be yours, you are to speak on Mount Gerizim about the good and on Mount Ebal the curses. ³⁰ You know they are on the other side of the Jordan, west of the road where the sun goes down. They are in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, beside Gilgal, next to the trees of Moreh. ³¹ You are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take the land the Lord your God is giving you. It will be your land and you will live in it. ³² Be careful to obey all the Laws which I am giving you today.

The One Place for Worship

12 “These are the Laws you should be careful to obey in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you for your own as long as you live on the earth. ² Be sure to destroy all the places of worship of the nations whose place you are taking. Destroy them on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. ³ Break down their altars and crush their pillars of worship. Burn their wooden female gods of worship named Asherim with fire. Cut down the objects made to look like their gods. And destroy their name from that place. ⁴ But do not act like this toward the Lord your God. ⁵ Look for the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your family groups. There He will make His name known, and make His home there, and there you will come. ⁶ Bring to this place your burnt gifts, your gifts of worship, the tenth part of what you receive, the gifts of your hands, your promises, your free-will gifts, and the first-born of your cattle and your flock. ⁷ You and those of your house will eat there before the Lord your God, and have joy in all that you do, in which the Lord your God has brought good to you. ⁸ You will not do at all the things we are doing here today, for every man is doing whatever is right in his own eyes. ⁹ For you have not yet come to the resting place and the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ You will cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you. He will give you rest from all those around you who hate you, so you will be safe. ¹¹ Then bring all I tell you to the place where the Lord your God will choose to make His name known. Bring your burnt gifts, your gifts of worship, the tenth part of what you receive, the gifts of your hands, and all the special gifts that you promised to the Lord. ¹² Be full of joy before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, and the Levite within your town who has no share of their gift. ¹³ Be careful that you do not give your burnt gifts in just any place you see. ¹⁴ But give your burnt gifts in the place which the Lord chooses in the land where your families live. There you should do all that I tell you.

¹⁵ “But you may kill and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you want, as the Lord your God has given you His good gifts. Both the clean and the unclean may eat of it, as you would of the gazelle and the deer. ¹⁶ Only do not eat the blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You are not allowed to eat within your towns the tenth part of your grain, or new wine, or oil, or the first-born of your cattle or flock, or any of your promised gifts, or your free-will gifts, or the gifts of your hands. ¹⁸ But you should eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, your men and women servants, and the Levite who is within your towns. Be full of joy before the Lord your God in everything you do. ¹⁹ Be careful that you do not stop caring for the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “The Lord your God will give you more land as He has promised you. And when you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you want to eat meat, then you may eat as much meat as you want. ²¹ If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may kill from your cattle or flock which the Lord has given you, as I have told you, and you may eat within your towns whatever you want. ²² You will eat it just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten. Both the clean and unclean may eat of it. ²³ Only be sure not to eat the blood. For the blood is the life. You must not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ Do not eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so it may go well with you and your children after you. For you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. ²⁶ Take your holy things which you may have and all the special gifts you promised to give to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷ Give your burnt gifts, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your gifts will be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God. And you will eat the flesh. ²⁸ Be careful to listen to all these words I am telling you. Then it will go well with you and your children after you forever. For you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Israel to Watch out for False Gods

²⁹ “The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations whose land you will take. You will take their place and live in their land. ³⁰ But be careful that you are not fooled into following them, after they are destroyed before you. Do not ask about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods so that I may do the same?’ ³¹ Do not act this way toward the Lord your God. For they have done for their gods every sinful act which the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.

³² “Be careful to do whatever I tell you. Do not add to it or take away from it.

Worshiping False Gods

13 “A man who tells what is going to happen or a dreamer of dreams may come among you. He may give you something special to see or do a powerful work. ² And what he tells you will happen might come true. But if he says to you, ‘Let us follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let us worship them,’ ³ do not listen to the words of that man who tells you what will happen or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is putting you to the test to see if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ Follow the Lord your God and fear Him. Keep His Laws, and listen to His voice. Work for Him, and hold on to Him. ⁵ But that man who tells what is going to happen or that dreamer of dreams must be put to death, because he has talked to you about turning away from the Lord your God Who brought you from the land of Egypt and set you free from the land where you were servants. That man tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God told you to walk. You must take the sinful away from you.

⁶ “Your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your friend who is as your own soul, might tempt you in secret. They might say, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (whom you and your fathers have not known. ⁷ They might be gods of the nations who are around you, near you, or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other). ⁸ Do not agree with him or listen to him. Do not look on him with pity. And do not show him loving-kindness or hide him. ⁹ You must kill him. Your hand should be first against him to put him to death, and then the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ Kill him with stones, because he has tried to turn you away from the Lord your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land where you were servants. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid. No one will do such a sinful thing among you again.

¹² “You might hear that in one of the cities the Lord your God has given you to live in ¹³ that some men of no worth have gone out from among you to tempt those who live in their city. They might say, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,’ (whom you have not known). ¹⁴ Then you should ask around and try to find out if this is true. If it is true that this sinful thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you must be sure to go against those of that city with the sword. Destroy all of it, all that is in it, and its cattle, with the sword. ¹⁶ Then gather all that is left into the center of the city. Burn the city and all that is left in it with fire as a whole burnt gift to the Lord your God. It will be destroyed forever. It will never be built again. ¹⁷ Let nothing of the things to be destroyed be kept in your own hand so the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show loving-kindness to you. He will show you loving-pity and make you a nation of many, just as He promised your fathers. ¹⁸ But you must listen to the voice of the Lord your God. Obey all His Laws which I am telling you today. Do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.