Deuteronomy 1; Deuteronomy 7; Deuteronomy 9; Deuteronomy 10; Deuteronomy 14; Deuteronomy 15; Deuteronomy 16; Deuteronomy 17; Deuteronomy 18; Deuteronomy 19; Deuteronomy 20; Deuteronomy 21; Deuteronomy 22; Deuteronomy 23; Deuteronomy 24; Deuteronomy 25; Deuteronomy 30

Deuteronomy 1

1 These are the words Moshe spoke to all Isra'el on the far side of the Yarden River, in the desert, in the 'Aravah, across from Suf, between Pa'ran and Tofel, Lavan, Hatzerot and Di-Zahav.

2 It is eleven days' journey from Horev to Kadesh-Barnea by way of Mount Se'ir.

3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moshe spoke to the people of Isra'el, reviewing everything ADONAI had ordered him to tell them.

4 This was after he had defeated Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived in Heshbon, and 'Og, king of Bashan, who lived in 'Ashtarot, at Edre'i.

5 There, beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo'av, Moshe took it upon himself to expound this Torah and said:

6 "ADONAI spoke to us in Horev. He said, 'You have lived long enough by this mountain.

7 Turn, get moving and go to the hill-country of the Emori and all the places near there in the 'Aravah, the hill-country, the Sh'felah, the Negev and by the seashore - the land of the Kena'ani, and the L'vanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.

8 I have set the land before you! Go in, and take possession of the land ADONAI swore to give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, and their descendants after them.'

9 "At that time I told you, 'You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone.

10 ADONAI your God has multiplied your numbers, so that there are as many of you today as there are stars in the sky.

11 May ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, increase you yet a thousandfold and bless you, as he has promised you!

12 But you are burdensome, bothersome and quarrelsome! How can I bear it by myself alone?

13 Pick for yourselves from each of your tribes men who are wise, understanding and knowledgeable; and I will make them heads over you.'

14 "You answered me, 'What you have said would be a good thing for us to do.'

15 So I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and knowledgable, and made them heads over you - leaders in charge of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.

16 At that time I commissioned your judges, 'Hear the cases that arise between your brothers; and judge fairly between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is with him.

17 You are not to show favoritism when judging, but give equal attention to the small and to the great. No matter how a person presents himself, don't be afraid of him; because the decision is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me and I will hear it.'

18 I also gave you orders at that time concerning all the things you were to do.

19 "So we left Horev and went through all that vast and fearsome desert which you saw on the way to the hill-country of the Emori, as ADONAI our God ordered us; and we arrived at Kadesh-Barnea.

20 There I said to you, 'You have come to the hill-country of the Emori, which ADONAI our God is giving to us.

21 Look! ADONAI your God has placed the land before you. Go up, take possession, as ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Don't be afraid, don't be dismayed.'

22 "You approached me, every one of you, and said, 'Let's send men ahead of us to explore the country for us and bring back word concerning what route we should use in going up and what the cities we will encounter are like.'

23 The idea seemed good to me, so I took twelve of your men, one from each tribe;

24 and they set out, went up into the hills, came to the Eshkol Valley and reconnoitered it.

25 They took some of the produce of the land and brought it down to us; they also brought back word to us -'The land ADONAI our God is giving to us is good.'

26 "But you would not go up. Instead you rebelled against the order of ADONAI your God;

27 and in your tents you complained, 'It's because ADONAI hated us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, only to hand us over to the Emori to destroy us.

28 What sort of place is it that we're heading for? Our brothers made our courage fail when they said, "The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and finally, we have seen 'Anakim there."'

29 "I answered you, 'Don't be fearful, don't be afraid of them.

30 ADONAI your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight on your behalf, just as he accomplished all those things for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and likewise in the desert, where you saw how ADONAI your God carried you, like a man carries his child, along the entire way you traveled until you arrived at this place.

32 Yet in this matter you don't trust ADONAI your God,

33 even though he went ahead of you, seeking out places for you to pitch your tents and showing you which way to go, by fire at night and by a cloud during the day.'

34 "ADONAI heard what you were saying, became angry and swore,

35 'Not a single one of these people, this whole evil generation, will see the good land I swore to give to your ancestors,

36 except Kalev the son of Y'funeh -he will see it; I will give him and his descendants the land he walked on, because he has fully followed ADONAI.'

37 "Also, because of you ADONAI was angry with me and said, 'You too will not go in there.

38 Y'hoshua the son of Nun, your assistant -he will go in there. So encourage him, because he will enable Isra'el to take possession of it.

39 Moreover, your little ones, who you said would be taken as booty, and your children who don't yet know good from bad -they will go in there; I will give it to them, and they will have possession of it.

40 But as for yourselves, turn around and head into the desert by the road to the Sea of Suf.'

41 "Then you answered me, 'We have sinned against ADONAI. Now we will go up and fight, in accordance with everything ADONAI our God ordered us.'And every man among you put on his arms, considering it an easy matter to go up into the hill-country.

42 But ADONAI said to me, 'Tell them, "Don't go up, and don't fight, because I am not there with you; if you do, your enemies will defeat you."'

43 So I told you, but you wouldn't listen. Instead, you rebelled against ADONAI's order, took matters into your own hands and went up into the hill-country;

44 where the Emori living in that hill-country came out against you like bees, defeated you in Se'ir and chased you back all the way to Hormah.

45 You returned and cried before ADONAI, but ADONAI neither listened to what you said nor paid you any attention.

46 This is why you had to stay in Kadesh as long as you did.

Deuteronomy 7

1 "ADONAI your God is going to bring you into the land you will enter in order to take possession of it, and he will expel many nations ahead of you -the Hitti, Girgashi, Emori, Kena'ani, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi, seven nations bigger and stronger than you.

2 When he does this, when ADONAI your God hands them over ahead of you, and you defeat them, you are to destroy them completely! Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy.

3 Don't intermarry with them -don't give your daughter to his son, and don't take his daughter for your son.

4 For he will turn your children away from following me in order to serve other gods. If this happens, the anger of ADONAI will flare up against you, and he will quickly destroy you.

5 No, treat them this way: break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, cut down their sacred poles and burn up their carved images completely.

6 For you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure.

7 ADONAI didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples.

8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 From this you can know that ADONAI your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations.

10 But he repays those who hate him to their face and destroys them. He will not be slow to deal with someone who hates him; he will repay him to his face.

11 Therefore, you are to keep the mitzvot, laws and rulings which I am giving you today, and obey them.

12 "Because you are listening to these rulings, keeping and obeying them, ADONAI your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors.

13 He will love you, bless you and increase your numbers; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground - your grain, wine, olive oil and the young of your cattle and sheep - in the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you.

14 You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a sterile male or female among you, and the same with your livestock.

15 ADONAI will remove all illness from you - he will not afflict you with any of Egypt's dreadful diseases, which you have known; instead, he will lay them on those who hate you.

16 You are to devour all the peoples that ADONAI your God hands over to you - show them no pity, and do not serve their gods, because that will become a trap for you.

17 If you think to yourselves, 'These nations outnumber us; how can we dispossess them?'

18 nevertheless, you are not to be afraid of them; you are to remember well what ADONAI your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt -

19 the great ordeals which you yourself saw, and the signs, wonders, strong hand and outstretched arm by which ADONAI your God brought you out. ADONAI will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

20 Moreover, ADONAI your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and those who hide themselves perish ahead of you.

21 You are not to be frightened of them, because ADONAI your God is there with you, a God great and fearsome.

22 ADONAI your God will expel those nations ahead of you little by little; you can't put an end to them all at once, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

23 Nevertheless, ADONAI your God will give them over to you, sending one disaster after another upon them until they have been destroyed.

24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their name from under heaven; none of them will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

25 You are to burn up completely the carved statues of their gods. Don't be greedy for the silver or gold on them; don't take it with you, or you will be trapped by it; for it is abhorrent to ADONAI your God.

26 Don't bring something abhorrent into your house, or you will share in the curse that is on it; instead, you are to detest it completely, loathe it utterly; for it is set apart for destruction.

Deuteronomy 9

1 "Listen, Isra'el! You are to cross the Yarden today, to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, great cities fortified up to the sky;

2 a people great and tall, the 'Anakim, whom you know about and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the descendants of 'Anak?'

3 Therefore understand today that ADONAI your God will himself cross ahead of you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them and bring them down before you. Thus will you drive them out and cause them to perish quickly, as ADONAI has said to you.

4 "Don't think to yourself, after your God has pushed them out ahead of you, 'It is to reward my righteousness that ADONAI has brought me in to take possession of this land.' No, it is because these nations have been so wicked that ADONAI is driving them out ahead of you.

5 It is not because of your righteousness, or because your heart is so upright, that you go in to take possession of their land; but to punish the wickedness of these nations that ADONAI your God is driving them out ahead of you, and also to confirm the word which ADONAI swore to your ancestors, Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov.

6 Therefore, understand that it is not for your righteousness that ADONAI your God is giving you this good land to possess. "For you are a stiffnecked people!

7 Remember, don't forget, how you made ADONAI your God angry in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt till you arrived at this place, you have been rebelling against ADONAI.

8 Also in Horev you made ADONAI angry -ADONAI was angry enough with you to destroy you!

9 I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets on which was written the covenant ADONAI had made with you. I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights without eating food or drinking water.

10 Then ADONAI gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God; and on them was written every word ADONAI had said to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly.

11 Yes, after forty days and nights ADONAI gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

12 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Get up, and hurry down from here, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt. So quickly have they turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have made themselves a metal image!'

13 Moreover, ADONAI said to me, 'I have seen this people, and what a stiffnecked people they are!

14 Let me alone, so that I can put an end to them and blot out their name from under heaven! I will make out of you a nation bigger and stronger than they.'

15 I came down from the mountain. The mountain was blazing fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 I looked, and there, you had sinned against ADONAI your God! You had made yourselves a metal calf, you had turned aside quickly from the way ADONAI had ordered you to follow.

17 I seized the two tablets, threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 Then I fell down before ADONAI, as I had the first time, for forty days and nights, during which time I neither ate food nor drank water, all because of the sin you committed by doing what was evil in the sight of ADONAI and thus provoking him.

19 I was terrified that because of how angry ADONAI was at you, of how heatedly displeased he was, that he would destroy you. But ADONAI listened to me that time too.

20 In addition, ADONAI was very angry with Aharon and would have destroyed him; but I prayed for Aharon also at the same time.

21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it up in the fire, beat it to pieces, and ground it up still smaller, until it was as fine as dust; then I threw its dust into the stream coming down from the mountain.

22 "Again at Tav'erah, Massah and Kivrot-HaTa'avah you made ADONAI angry;

23 and when ADONAI sent you off from Kadesh-Barnea by saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,' you rebelled against the order of ADONAI your God - you neither trusted him nor heeded what he said.

24 You have been rebelling against ADONAI from the day I first knew you!

25 "So I fell down before ADONAI for those forty days and nights; and I lay there; because ADONAI had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed to ADONAI ; I said, 'Adonai ELOHIM! Don't destroy your people, your inheritance! You redeemed them through your greatness, you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand!

27 Remember your servants Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov! Don't focus on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness or on their sin.

28 Otherwise, the land you brought us out of will say, "It is because ADONAI wasn't able to bring them into the land he promised them and because he hated them that he has brought them out to kill them in the desert."

29 But in fact they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.'

Deuteronomy 10

1 "At that time ADONAI said to me, 'Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself an ark of wood.

2 I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to put them in the ark.'

3 So I made an ark of acacia-wood and cut two stone tablets like the first, then climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 He inscribed the tablets with the same inscription as before, the Ten Words which ADONAI proclaimed to you from the fire on the mountain the day of the assembly; and ADONAI gave them to me.

5 I turned, came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made; and there they remain; as ADONAI ordered me.

6 "The people of Isra'el traveled from the wells of B'nei-Ya'akan to Moserah, where Aharon died and was buried; and El'azar his son took his place, serving in the office of cohen.

7 From there they traveled to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Yotvatah, a region with running streams.

8 At that time ADONAI set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark for the covenant of ADONAI and to stand before ADONAI to serve him and to bless in his name, as they still do today.

9 This is why Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers; ADONAI is his inheritance, as ADONAI your God had said to him.

10 "I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as previously; and ADONAI listened to me that time too -ADONAI would not destroy you.

11 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Get up, and go on your way at the head of the people, so that they can enter and take possession of the land I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.'

12 "So now, Isra'el, all that ADONAI your God asks from you is to fear ADONAI your God, follow all his ways, love him and serve ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being;

13 to obey, for your own good, the mitzvot and regulations of ADONAI which I am giving you today.

14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong to ADONAI your God.

15 Only ADONAI took enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them -yourselves -above all peoples, as he still does today.

16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don't be stiffnecked any longer!

17 For ADONAI your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes.

18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fear ADONAI your God, serve him, cling to him and swear by his name.

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

22 Your ancestors went down into Egypt with only seventy people, but now ADONAI your God has made your numbers as many as the stars in the sky!

Deuteronomy 14

1 "You are the people of ADONAI your God. You are not to gash yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead,

2 because you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you to be his own unique treasure out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

3 "You are not to eat anything disgusting.

4 The animals which you may eat are: ox, sheep, goat,

5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx and mountain sheep.

6 Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat.

7 But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don't have a separate hoof;

8 while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn't chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses.

9 "Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat.

10 But whatever lacks fins and scales you are not to eat; it is unclean for you.

11 "You may eat any clean bird;

12 but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys,

13 kites, any kind of buzzard,

14 any kind of raven,

15 ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk,

16 little owls, great owls, horned owls,

17 pelicans, barn owls, cormorants,

18 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes and bats.

19 "All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten;

20 but all clean flying creatures you may eat.

21 "You are not to eat any animal that dies naturally; although you may let a stranger staying with you eat it, or sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy people for ADONAI your God. "You are not to boil a young animal in its mother's milk.

22 "Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field,

23 and eat it in the presence of ADONAI your God. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fear ADONAI your God always.

24 But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place where ADONAI chooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, when ADONAI your God prospers you,

25 you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place which ADONAI your God will choose,

26 and exchange the money for anything you want - cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please - and you are to eat there in the presence of ADONAI your God, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.

27 "But don't neglect the Levi staying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours.

28 At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns.

29 Then the Levi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied - so that ADONAI your God will bless you in everything your hands produce.

Deuteronomy 15

1 "At the end of every seven years you are to have a sh'mittah.

2 Here is how the sh'mittah is to be done: every creditor is to give up what he has loaned to his fellow member of the community -he is not to force his neighbor or relative to repay it, because ADONAI's time of remission has been proclaimed.

3 You may demand that a foreigner repay his debt, but you are to release your claim on whatever your brother owes you.

4 In spite of this, there will be no one needy among you; because ADONAI will certainly bless you in the land which ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess -

5 if only you will listen carefully to what ADONAI your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.

6 Yes, ADONAI your God will bless you, as he promised you - you will lend money to many nations without having to borrow, and you will rule over many nations without their ruling over you.

7 "If someone among you is needy, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which ADONAI your God is giving you, you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from giving to your needy brother.

8 No, you must open your hand to him and lend him enough to meet his need and enable him to obtain what he wants.

9 Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh'mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to ADONAI against you, and it will be your sin.

10 Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, ADONAI your God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake -

11 for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, 'You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.'

12 "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free.

13 Moreover, when you set him free, don't let him leave empty-handed;

14 but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from what ADONAI your God has blessed you with, you are to give to him.

15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today.

16 But if he says to you, 'I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one;

17 then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave.

18 Don't resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. Then ADONAI your God will bless you in everything you do.

19 "All the firstborn males in your herd of cattle and in your flock you are to set aside for ADONAI your God; you are not to do any work with a firstborn from your herd or shear a firstborn sheep.

20 Each year you and your household are to eat it in the presence of ADONAI your God in the place which ADONAI will choose.

21 But if it has a defect, is lame or blind, or has some other kind of fault, you are not to sacrifice it to ADONAI your God;

22 rather, eat it on your own property; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, like the gazelle or the deer.

23 Just don't eat its blood, but pour it out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 16

1 "Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to ADONAI your God; for in the month of Aviv, ADONAI your God brought you out of Egypt at night.

2 You are to sacrifice the Pesach offering from flock and herd to ADONAI your God in the place where ADONAI will choose to have his name live.

3 You are not to eat any hametz with it; for seven days you are to eat with it matzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live.

4 No leaven is to be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat from your sacrifice on the first day in the evening is to remain all night until morning.

5 You may not sacrifice the Pesach offering in just any of the towns that ADONAI your God is giving you;

6 but at the place where ADONAI your God will choose to have his name live - there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.

7 You are to roast it and eat it in the place ADONAI your God will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents.

8 For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for ADONAI your God; do not do any kind of work.

9 "You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain.

10 You are to observe the festival of Shavu'ot [weeks] for ADONAI your God with a voluntary offering, which you are to give in accordance with the degree to which ADONAI your God has prospered you.

11 You are to rejoice in the presence of ADONAI your God - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L'vi'im living in your towns, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you - in the place where ADONAI your God will choose to have his name live.

12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; then you will keep and obey these laws.

13 "You are to keep the festival of Sukkot for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and winepress.

14 Rejoice at your festival - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, the L'vi'im, and the foreigners, orphans and widows living among you.

15 Seven days you are to keep the festival for ADONAI your God in the place ADONAI your God will choose, because ADONAI your God will bless you in all your crops and in all your work, so you are to be full of joy!

16 "Three times a year all your men are to appear in the presence of ADONAI your God in the place which he will choose - at the festival of matzah, at the festival of Shavu'ot and at the festival of Sukkot. They are not to show up before ADONAI empty-handed,

17 but every man is to give what he can, in accordance with the blessing ADONAI your God has given you.

18 "You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities] ADONAI your God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

19 You are not to distort justice or show favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of even the upright.

20 Justice, only justice, you must pursue; so that you will live and inherit the land ADONAI your God is giving you.

21 "You are not to plant any sort of tree as a sacred pole beside the altar of ADONAI your God that you will make for yourselves.

22 Likewise, do not set up a standing-stone; ADONAI your God hates such things.

Deuteronomy 17

1 "You are not to sacrifice to ADONAI your God a cow or sheep that has a defect or anything wrong with it; that would be an abomination to ADONAI your God.

2 "If there is found among you, within any of your gates [in any city] that ADONAI your God gives you, a man or woman who does what ADONAI your God sees as wicked, transgressing his covenant

3 by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky - something I have forbidden -

4 and it is told to you, or you hear about it; then you are to investigate the matter diligently. If it is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done in Isra'el;

5 then you are to bring the man or woman who has done this wicked thing to your city gates, and stone that man or woman to death.

6 The death sentence is to be carried out only if there was testimony from two or three witnesses; he may not be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness.

7 The witnesses are to be the first to stone him to death; afterwards, all the people are to stone him. Thus you will put an end to this wickedness among you.

8 "If a case comes before you at your city gate which is too difficult for you to judge, concerning bloodshed, civil suit, personal injury or any other controversial issue; you are to get up, go to the place which ADONAI your God will choose,

9 and appear before the cohanim, who are L'vi'im, and the judge in office at the time. Seek their opinion, and they will render a verdict for you.

10 You will then act according to what they have told you there in that place which ADONAI will choose; you are to take care to act according to all their instructions.

11 In accordance with the Torah they teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you.

12 Anyone presumptuous enough not to pay attention to the cohen appointed there to serve ADONAI your God or to the judge - that person must die. Thus you will exterminate such wickedness from Isra'el -

13 all the people will hear about it and be afraid to continue acting presumptuously.

14 "When you have entered the land ADONAI your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, 'I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.'

15 In that event, you must appoint as king the one whom ADONAI your God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you - you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman.

16 However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch as ADONAI told you never to go back that way again.

17 Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.

18 "When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L'vi'im use.

19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fear ADONAI his God and keep all the words of this Torah and these laws and obey them;

20 so that he will not think he is better than his kinsmen; and so that he will not turn aside either to the right or to the left from the mitzvah. In this way he will prolong his own reign and that of his children in Isra'el.

Deuteronomy 18

1 The cohanim, who are L'vi'im, and indeed the whole tribe of Levi, is not to have a share or an inheritance with Isra'el. Instead, their support will come from the food offered by fire to ADONAI and from whatever else becomes his.

2 They will have no inheritance with their brothers, because ADONAI is their inheritance - as he has said to them.

3 "The cohanim will have the right to receive from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep, the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.

4 You will also give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep.

5 For ADONAI your God has chosen him from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of ADONAI, him and his sons forever.

6 "If a Levi from one of your towns anywhere in Isra'el where he is living comes, highly motivated, to the place which ADONAI will choose,

7 then he will serve there in the name of ADONAI his God, just like his kinsmen the L'vi'im who stand and serve in the presence of ADONAI.

8 Such a Levi will receive the same share as they do, in addition to what he may receive from selling his inherited ancestral property.

9 "When you enter the land ADONAI your God is giving you, you are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, a diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer,

11 a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer.

12 For whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI, and because of these abominations ADONAI your God is driving them out ahead of you.

13 You must be wholehearted with ADONAI your God.

14 For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners; but you, ADONAI your God does not allow you to do this.

15 "ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him,

16 just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested ADONAI your God, 'Don't let me hear the voice of ADONAI my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!'

17 On that occasion ADONAI said to me, 'They are right in what they are saying.

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him.

19 Whoever doesn't listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to account for himself to me.

20 "'But if a prophet presumptuously speaks a word in my name which I didn't order him to say, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet must die.'

21 You may be wondering, 'How are we to know if a word has not been spoken by ADONAI?'

22 When a prophet speaks in the name of ADONAI, and the prediction does not come true -that is, the word is not fulfilled -then ADONAI did not speak that word. The prophet who said it spoke presumptuously; you have nothing to fear from him.

Deuteronomy 19

1 "When ADONAI your God cuts off the nations whose land ADONAI your God is giving you, and you take their place and settle in their cities and houses,

2 you are to set aside three cities for yourselves in your land that ADONAI your God is giving you to possess.

3 Divide the territory of your land, which ADONAI your God is having you inherit, into three parts; and prepare the roads, so that any killer can flee to these cities.

4 The killer who will live if he flees there is someone who has killed his fellow member of the community by mistake, who did not hate him in the past.

5 An example would be if a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and takes a stroke with the axe to fell a tree, but the head of the axe flies off the handle, hits his neighbor and kills him. Then he is to flee to one of these cities and live there.

6 Otherwise the next-of-kin avenger, in the heat of his anger, may pursue the killer, overtake him because the distance [to the city of refuge] is long, and strike him dead - even though he didn't deserve to die, inasmuch as he hadn't hated him in the past.

7 This is why I am ordering you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

8 "If ADONAI your God expands your territory, as he swore to your ancestors that he would, and gives you all the land he promised to give to your ancestors -

9 provided you keep and observe all these mitzvot I am giving you today, loving ADONAI your God and always following his ways - then you are to add three more cities for yourselves, besides these three;

10 so that innocent blood will not be shed in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus blood guilt be on you.

11 "However, if someone hates his fellow member of the community, lies in wait for him, attacks him, strikes him a death blow, and then flees into one of these cities;

12 then the leaders of his own town are to send and bring him back from there and hand him over to the next-of-kin avenger, to be put to death.

13 You are not to pity him. Rather, you must put an end to the shedding of innocent blood in Isra'el. Then things will go well with you.

14 "You are not to move your neighbor's boundary marker from the place where people put it long ago, in the inheritance soon to be yours in the land ADONAI your God is giving you to possess.

15 "One witness alone will not be sufficient to convict a person of any offense or sin of any kind; the matter will be established only if there are two or three witnesses testifying against him.

16 "If a malicious witness comes forward and gives false testimony against someone,

17 then both the men involved in the controversy are to stand before ADONAI, before the cohanim and the judges in office at the time.

18 The judges are to investigate carefully. If they find that the witness is lying and has given false testimony against his brother,

19 you are to do to him what he intended to do to his brother. In this way, you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

20 Those who remain will hear about it, be afraid and no longer commit such wickedness among you.

21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy 20

1 "When you go out to fight your enemies and see horses, chariots and a force larger than yours, you are not to be afraid of them; because ADONAI your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

2 When you are about to go into battle, the cohen is to come forward and address the people.

3 He should tell them, 'Listen, Isra'el! You are about to do battle against your enemies. Don't be fainthearted or afraid; don't be alarmed or frightened by them;

4 because ADONAI your God is going with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies and give you victory.'

5 "Then the officials will speak to the soldiers. They are to say, 'Is there a man here who has built a new house, but hasn't dedicated it yet? He should go back home now; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will dedicate it.

6 "'Is there a man here who has planted a vineyard, but hasn't yet made use of its fruit? He should go back home; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will use it.

7 "'Is there a man here who is engaged to a woman, but hasn't married her yet? He should go back home; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will marry her.'

8 "The officials will then add to what they have said to the soldiers: 'Is there a man here who is afraid and fainthearted? He should go back home; otherwise his fear may demoralize his comrades as well.'

9 When the officials have finished speaking with the soldiers, commanders are to be appointed to lead the army.

10 "When you advance on a town to attack it, first offer it terms for peace.

11 If it accepts the terms for peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people there are to be put to forced labor and work for you.

12 However, if they refuse to make peace with you but prefer to make war against you, you are to put it under siege.

13 When ADONAI your God hands it over to you, you are to put every male to the sword.

14 However, you are to take as booty for yourself the women, the little ones, the livestock, and everything in the city - all its spoil. Yes, you will feed on your enemies' spoil, which ADONAI your God has given you.

15 This is what you are to do to all the towns which are at a great distance from you, which are not the towns of these nations.

16 "As for the towns of these peoples, which ADONAI your God is giving you as your inheritance, you are not to allow anything that breathes to live.

17 Rather you must destroy them completely - the Hitti, the Emori, the Kena'ani, the P'rizi, the Hivi and the Y'vusi - as ADONAI your God has ordered you;

18 so that they won't teach you to follow their abominable practices, which they do for their gods, thus causing you to sin against ADONAI your God.

19 "When, in making war against a town in order to capture it, you lay siege to it for a long time, you are not to destroy its trees, cutting them down with an axe. You can eat their fruit, so don't cut them down. After all, are the trees in the field human beings, so that you have to besiege them too?

20 However, if you know that certain trees provide no food, you may destroy them and cut them down, in order to build siege-works against the town making war with you, until it falls.

Deuteronomy 21

1 "If, in the land ADONAI your God is giving you to possess, a murder victim is found lying in the countryside; and the perpetrator of the murder is not known;

2 then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.

3 After it has been determined which town is the closest, the leaders of that town are to take a young female cow that has never been put to work or yoked for use as a draft animal.

4 The leaders of that town are to bring the heifer down to a vadi with a stream in it that never dries up, to a place that is neither plowed nor sown; and they are to break the cow's neck there in the vadi.

5 Then the cohanim, who are L'vi'im, are to approach; for ADONAI your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in the name of ADONAI; they will decide the outcome of every dispute and matter involving violence.

6 All the leaders of the town nearest the murder victim are to wash their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the vadi.

7 Then they are to speak up and say, 'This blood was not shed by our hands, nor have we seen who did it.

8 ADONAI, forgive your people Isra'el, whom you redeemed; do not allow innocent blood to be shed among your people Isra'el.' And they will be forgiven this bloodshed.

9 Thus you will banish the shedding of innocent blood from among you, by doing what ADONAI sees as right.

10 "When you go out to war against your enemies, and ADONAI your God hands them over to you, and you take prisoners,

11 and you see among the prisoners a woman who looks good to you, and you feel attracted to her and want her as your wife;

12 you are to bring her home to your house, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails

13 and remove her prison clothing. She will stay there in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month; after which you may go in to have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.

14 In the event that you lose interest in her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes; but you may not sell her for money or treat her like a slave, because you humiliated her.

15 "If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and unloved wives have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the child of the unloved wife;

16 then, when it comes time for him to pass his inheritance on to his sons, he may not give the inheritance due the firstborn to the son of the loved wife in place of the son of the unloved one, who is in fact the firstborn.

17 No, he must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the unloved wife by giving him a double portion of everything he owns, for he is the firstfruits of his manhood, and the right of the firstborn is his.

18 "If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them;

19 then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of that place,

20 and say to the leaders of his town, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn't pay attention to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.'

21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you, and all Isra'el will hear about it and be afraid.

22 "If someone has committed a capital crime and is put to death, then hung on a tree,

23 his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God -so that you will not defile your land, which ADONAI your God is giving you to inherit.

Deuteronomy 22

1 "You are not to watch your brother's ox or sheep straying and behave as if you hadn't seen it; you must bring them back to your brother.

2 If your brother is not close by, or you don't know who the owner is, you are to bring it home to your house; and it will remain with you until your brother asks for it; then you are to give it back to him.

3 You are to do the same with his donkey, his coat or anything else of your brother's that he loses. If you find something he lost, you must not ignore it.

4 "If you see your brother's donkey or ox collapsed on the road, you may not behave as if you hadn't seen it; you must help him get them up on their feet again.

5 "A woman is not to wear men's clothing, and a man is not to put on women's clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI your God.

6 "If, as you are walking along, you happen to see a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground with chicks or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you are not to take the mother with the chicks.

7 You must let the mother go, but you may take the chicks for yourself; so that things will go well with you, and you will prolong your life.

8 "When you build a new house, you must build a low wall around your roof; otherwise someone may fall from it, and you will be responsible for his death.

9 "You are not to sow two kinds of seed between your rows of vines; if you do, both the two harvested crops and the yield from the vines must be forfeited.

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

11 You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool and linen together.

12 "You are to make for yourself twisted cords on the four corners of the garment you wrap around yourself.

13 "If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her,

14 brings false charges against her and defames her character by saying, 'I married this woman, but when I had intercourse with her I did not find evidence that she was a virgin';

15 then the girl's father and mother are to take the evidence of the girl's virginity to the leaders of the town at the gate.

16 The girl's father will say to the leaders, 'I let my daughter marry this man, but he hates her,

17 so he has brought false charges that he didn't find evidence of her virginity; yet here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity'-(

18 )and they will lay the cloth before the town leaders.

19 The leaders of that town are to take the man, punish him, and fine him two-and-a-half pounds of silver shekels, which they will give to the girl's father, because he has publicly defamed a virgin of Isra'el. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives.

20 "But if the charge is substantiated that evidence for the girl's virginity could not be found;

21 then they are to lead the girl to the door of her father's house, and the men of her town will stone her to death, because she has committed in Isra'el the disgraceful act of being a prostitute while still in her father's house. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

22 "If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, both of them must die -the man who went to bed with the woman and the woman too. In this way you will expel such wickedness from Isra'el.

23 "If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a man, and another man comes upon her in the town and has sexual relations with her;

24 you are to bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them to death - the girl because she didn't cry out for help, there in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor's wife. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

25 "But if the man comes upon the engaged girl out in the countryside, and the man grabs her and has sexual relations with her, then only the man who had intercourse with her is to die.

26 You will do nothing to the girl, because she has done nothing deserving of death. The situation is like the case of the man who attacks his neighbor and kills him.

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

28 "If a man comes upon a girl who is a virgin but who is not engaged, and he grabs her and has sexual relations with her, and they are caught in the act,

29 then the man who had intercourse with her must give to the girl's father one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels, and she will become his wife, because he humiliated her; he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

30 "A man is not to take his father's wife, thus violating his father's rights.

Deuteronomy 23

1 "A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly of ADONAI.

2 "A mamzer may not enter the assembly of ADONAI, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly of ADONAI.

3 "No 'Amoni or Mo'avi may enter the assembly of ADONAI, nor may any of his descendants down to the tenth generation ever enter the assembly of ADONAI,

4 because they did not supply you with food and water when you were on the road after leaving Egypt, and because they hired Bil'am the son of B'or from P'tor in Aram-Naharayim to put a curse on you

5 But ADONAI your God would not listen to Bil'am; rather, ADONAI your God turned the curse into a blessing for you; because ADONAI your God loved you.

6 So you are never to seek their peace or well being, as long as you live.

7 "But you are not to detest an Edomi, because he is your brother; and you are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

8 The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of ADONAI.

9 "When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to guard yourself against anything bad.

10 If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp; he is not to enter the camp.

11 When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp.

12 Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine.

13 You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement.

14 For ADONAI your God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [ADONAI] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you

15 "If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master.

16 Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

17 "No woman of Isra'el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra'el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.

18 Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house of ADONAI your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to ADONAI your God.

19 "You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest

20 To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that ADONAI your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

21 "When you make a vow to ADONAI your God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for ADONAI your God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin

22 If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for

23 but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to ADONAI your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.

24 "When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket.

25 When you enter your neighbor's field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor's grain.

Deuteronomy 24

1 "Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house.

2 She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man's wife;

3 but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies.

4 In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to ADONAI, and you are not to bring about sin in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as your inheritance.

5 "If a man has recently married his wife, he is not to be subject to military service; he is to be free of external obligations and left at home for one year to make his new wife happy.

6 "No one may take a mill or even an upper millstone as collateral for a loan, because that would be taking as collateral the debtor's very means of sustenance.

7 "If a man kidnaps any of his brothers, fellow members of the community of Isra'el, and makes him his slave or sells him, that kidnapper must die; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

8 "When there is an outbreak of tzara'at, be careful to observe and do just what the cohanim, who are L'vi'im, teach you. Take care to do as I ordered them.

9 Remember what ADONAI your God did to Miryam on the road after you left Egypt.

10 "When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to enter his house to take his collateral.

11 You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you.

12 If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession;

13 rather, you must restore the pledged item at sunset; then he will go to sleep wearing his garment and bless you. This will be an upright deed of yours before ADONAI your God.

14 "You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town.

15 You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you to ADONAI, and it will be your sin.

16 "Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.

17 "You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow's clothing as collateral for a loan.

18 Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and ADONAI your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

19 "When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that ADONAI your God will bless you in all the work you do.

20 When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

21 When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

Deuteronomy 25

1 "If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one;

2 then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense;

3 but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.

4 "You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

5 "If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband's brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.

6 The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra'el.

7 If the man does not wish to marry his brother's widow, then his brother's widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, 'My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra'el; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother for me.'

8 The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, 'I don't want to marry her,'

9 then his brother's widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, 'This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother's family.'

10 From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra'el as 'the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.'

11 "If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker's private parts with her hand,

12 you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

13 "You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light.

14 You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small.

15 You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the land ADONAI your God is giving you.

16 For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable to ADONAI your God.

17 "Remember what 'Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt,

18 how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God.

19 Therefore, when ADONAI your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of 'Amalek from under heaven. Don't forget!

Deuteronomy 30

1 "When the time arrives that all these things have come upon you, both the blessing and the curse which I have presented to you; and you are there among the nations to which ADONAI your God has driven you; then, at last, you will start thinking about what has happened to you;

2 and you will return to ADONAI your God and pay attention to what he has said, which will be exactly what I am ordering you to do today - you and your children, with all your heart and all your being.

3 At that point, ADONAI your God will reverse your exile and show you mercy; he will return and gather you from all the peoples to which ADONAI your God scattered you.

4 If one of yours was scattered to the far end of the sky, ADONAI your God will gather you even from there; he will go there and get you.

5 ADONAI your God will bring you back into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you prosper there, and you will become even more numerous than your ancestors.

6 Then ADONAI your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your children, so that you will love ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being, and thus you will live.

7 ADONAI your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hated and persecuted you;

8 but you will return and pay attention to what ADONAI says and obey all his mitzvot which I am giving you today.

9 Then ADONAI your God will give you more than enough in everything you set out to do - the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land will all do well; for ADONAI will once again rejoice to see you do well, just as he rejoiced in your ancestors.

10 "However, all this will happen only if you pay attention to what ADONAI your God says, so that you obey his mitzvot and regulations which are written in this book of the Torah, if you turn to ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being.

11 For this mitzvah which I am giving you today is not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach.

12 It isn't in the sky, so that you need to ask, 'Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?'

13 Likewise, it isn't beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, 'Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?'

14 On the contrary, the word is very close to you - in your mouth, even in your heart; therefore, you can do it!

15 "Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil -

16 in that I am ordering you today to love ADONAI your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings ; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and ADONAI your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

17 But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you are drawn away to prostrate yourselves before other gods and serve them;

18 I am announcing to you today that you will certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Yarden to enter and possess.

19 "I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants,

20 loving ADONAI your God, paying attention to what he says and clinging to him - for that is the purpose of your life! On this depends the length of time you will live in the land ADONAI swore he would give to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov."