Deuteronomy 11; Deuteronomy 12; Deuteronomy 13

Deuteronomy 11

1 "Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.

2 You must understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God: His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

3 His signs and the works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

4 what He did to Egypt's army, its horses and chariots, when He made the waters of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and He destroyed them completely;

5 what He did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place;

6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite [camp] the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

7 Your [own] eyes have seen every great work the Lord has done.

8 "Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

9 and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky.

12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

13 "If you carefully obey My commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and all your soul,

14 I will provide rain for your land in season, the early and late rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and oil.

15 I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

16 Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods.

17 Then the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land the Lord is giving you.

18 "Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and souls, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.

19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your fathers.

22 For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow-to love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, and remain faithful to Him-

23 the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

24 Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as He has promised you.

26 "Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:

27 [there will be] a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today,

28 and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God, and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

30 Aren't these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it,

32 be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances I set before you today.

Deuteronomy 12

1 "Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth.

2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are driving out worship their gods-on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every flourishing tree.

3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

4 Don't worship the Lord your God this way.

5 Instead, you must go to the place the Lord your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling.

6 You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 You will eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 "You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone [is doing] whatever seems right in his own eyes.

9 Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security,

11 then the Lord your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

12 You will rejoice before the Lord your God-you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the [sacred] places you see.

14 You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

15 "But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer,

16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

17 Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.

18 You must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God chooses-you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you do,

19 and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.

20 "When the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, 'I want to eat meat' because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want.

21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it.

23 But don't eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

24 Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water.

25 Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

26 "But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the Lord chooses.

27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your [other] sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat.

28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper 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 annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land,

30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I'll also do the same.'

31 You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice for their gods every detestable thing the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 You must be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.

Deuteronomy 13

1 "If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,

2 and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, 'Let us follow other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us worship them,'

3 do not listen to that prophet's words or to that dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.

4 You must follow the Lord your God and fear Him. You must keep His commands and listen to His voice; you must worship Him and remain faithful to Him.

5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has urged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the place of slavery, to turn you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from you.

6 "If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods'-which neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 any of the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other-

8 you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare [him] or shield him.

9 Instead, you must kill him. Your hand is to be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

10 Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

11 All Israel will hear and be afraid, and they will no longer do anything evil like this among you.

12 "If you hear it said about one of your cities the Lord your God is giving you to live in,

13 that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, 'Let us go and worship other gods,' which you have not known,

14 you are to inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened among you,

15 you must strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Completely destroy everyone in it as well as its livestock with the sword.

16 You are to gather all its spoil in the middle of the city square and completely burn up the city and all its spoil for the Lord your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever; it is not to be rebuilt.

17 Nothing set apart for destruction is to remain in your hand, so that the Lord will turn from His burning anger and grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.

18 This [will occur] if you obey the Lord your God, keeping all His commands I am giving you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.