Rewards of Obedience

11 “Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and always keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments [it is your obligation to Him]. ² Know this day that I am not speaking to your children who have not known [by personal experience] and who have not seen [firsthand] the instruction and discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm; ³ and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; ⁴ and what He did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the ^[a]Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how the Lord ^[b]completely destroyed them; ⁵ and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; ⁶ and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that ^[c]followed them, in the midst of all Israel.^{(A) 7} For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.

⁸ “Therefore, you shall keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land which you are crossing over [the Jordan] to possess; ⁹ so that you may live long on the land which the Lord swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land [of great abundance,] ^[d]flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered ^[e]it with your foot like a garden of vegetables. ¹¹ But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, ¹² a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ “It shall come about, if you listen obediently and pay attention to My commandments which I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul [your choices, your thoughts, your whole being]— ¹⁴ that ^[f]He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early [fall] rain and the late [spring] rain, so that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your [olive] oil. ¹⁵ And ^[g]He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. ¹⁶ Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the Lord] and serve other gods and worship them, ¹⁷ or [else] the Lord’s anger will be kindled and burn against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “Therefore, you shall impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as ^[h]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. ¹⁹ You shall teach them [diligently] to your ^[i]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths], speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. ²⁰ You shall write them on the ^[j]doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as ^[k]long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in all His ways and to hold tightly to Him— ²³ then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. ²⁴ Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall become yours; your territory shall be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea (the Mediterranean). ²⁵ No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the fear and the dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.

²⁶ “Behold, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you do not listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following (acknowledging, worshiping) other gods which you have not known.

²⁹ “It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.^{(B) 30} Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? ³¹ For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, ³² and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

Laws of the Sanctuary

12 “These are the statutes and judgments (precepts) which you shall be careful to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. ² You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and smash their [idolatrous] pillars and burn their ^[l]Asherim in the fire; you shall cut down the carved and sculpted images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. ⁴ You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. ⁵ But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to establish His ^[m]Name there for His dwelling [place], and there you shall come [to worship Him]. ⁶ There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, your freewill (voluntary) offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And there you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all to which you put your hand, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes. ⁹ For you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, ¹¹ then it shall come about that the place which the Lord your God will choose for His Name [and Presence] to dwell; there you shall bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the [voluntary] contribution of your hand [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choice votive offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹² And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

¹³ “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every [cultic] place you see, ¹⁴ but [only] in the place which the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I am commanding you.

¹⁵ “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your [city] gates, whatever you wish, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you [as His generous provision for daily life]. The [ceremonially] unclean and the clean may eat it, such as the gazelle and the deer. ¹⁶ Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You are forbidden to eat within your [city] gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand. ¹⁸ But you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all ^[n]that you undertake. ¹⁹ Be careful that you do not neglect the Levite [who serves God] ^[o]as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God extends your territory, as He promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you want to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whatever ^[p]you wish. ²¹ If the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His Name (Presence) is too far away from you, then you may slaughter [animals] from your herd or flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your [city] gates whatever you wish. ²² Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat it [but not make it an offering]; the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean alike may eat it. ²³ Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life (soul), and you shall not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, so that all may be well with you and with your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ However, you shall take your holy things which you have [to offer] and your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, you shall take them and go to the place which the Lord will choose. ²⁷ And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat.

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

²⁹ “When the Lord your God cuts off and destroys before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and settle in their land, ³⁰ beware that you are not lured (ensnared) into following them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, so that I too may do likewise?’ ³¹ You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, for they have done for their gods every repulsive thing which the Lord hates; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [as sacrifices] to their gods.

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

Shun Idolatry

13 “If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder which he spoke (foretold) to you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us follow after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve and worship them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and all your soul [your entire being]. ⁴ You shall walk after the Lord your God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to draw you away from the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

⁶ “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or ^[r]the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as [precious to you as] your own life (soul), entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (gods whom neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other), ⁸ you shall not consent to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him. ⁹ Instead, you shall most certainly execute him; your hand shall be first [to be raised] against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ So you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

¹² “If you hear [it said] in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to live in, ¹³ that some worthless and evil men have gone out from among you and have tempted the inhabitants of their city [to sin], saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), ¹⁴ then you shall investigate and search out [witnesses] and ask thorough questions. If it is true and the matter is established that this loathsome thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it, even its livestock with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ Then you shall collect all its spoil (plunder) into the middle of its open square and burn the city and set fire to the spoil as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall not be built again. ¹⁷ Nothing from that which is put under the ban (designated for destruction) shall cling to your hand, so that the Lord may turn away from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to and obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.