The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Now, Isra'el, listen to the laws and rulings I am teaching you, in order to follow them, so that you will live; then you will go in and take possession of the land that ADONAI, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
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And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
2 In order to obey the mitzvot of ADONAI your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it.
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Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what ADONAI did at Ba'al-P'or, that ADONAI destroyed from among you all the men who followed Ba'al-P'or;
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Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor.
4 but you who stuck with ADONAI your God are still alive today, every one of you.
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But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.
5 Look, I have taught you laws and rulings, just as ADONAI my God ordered me, so that you can behave accordingly in the land where you are going in order to take possession of it.
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I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage.
6 Therefore, observe them; and follow them; for then all peoples will see you as having wisdom and understanding. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, 'This great nation is surely a wise and understanding people.'
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So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people.
7 For what great nation is there that has God as close to them as ADONAI our God is, whenever we call on him?
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For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?
8 What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today?
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And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so that you won't forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these things won't vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your children and grandchildren -
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Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children;
10 the day you stood before ADONAI your God at Horev, when ADONAI said to me, 'Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their children.'
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That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children.
11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain blazed with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick mist.
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And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night.
12 Then ADONAI spoke to you out of the fire! You heard the sound of words but saw no shape, there was only a voice.
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And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice.
13 He proclaimed his covenant to you, which he ordered you to obey, the Ten Words; and he wrote them on two stone tablets.
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And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law.
14 At that time ADONAI ordered me to teach you laws and rulings, so that you would live by them in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.
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And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage.
15 "Therefore, watch out for yourselves! Since you did not see a shape of any kind on the day ADONAI spoke to you in Horev from the fire,
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So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire:
16 do not become corrupt and make yourselves a carved image having the shape of any figure - not a representation of a human being, male or female,
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So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,
17 or a representation of any animal on earth, or a representation of any bird that flies in the air,
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Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,
18 or a representation of anything that creeps along on the ground, or a representation of any fish in the water below the shoreline.
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Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.
19 For the same reason, do not look up at the sky, at the sun, moon, stars and everything in the sky, and be drawn away to worship and serve them; ADONAI your God has allotted these to all the peoples under the entire sky.
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And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven.
20 No, you ADONAI has taken and brought out of the smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for him, as you are today.
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But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today.
21 "But ADONAI was angry with me on account of you and swore that I would not cross the Yarden and go into that good land, which ADONAI your God is giving you to inherit.
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And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage:
22 Rather, I must die in this land and not cross the Yarden; but you are to cross and take possession of that good land.
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But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage.
23 Watch out for yourselves, so that you won't forget the covenant of ADONAI your God, which he made with you, and make yourself a carved image, a representation of anything forbidden to you by ADONAI your God.
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Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you.
24 For ADONAI your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
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For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.
25 "When you have had children and grandchildren, lived a long time in the land, become corrupt and made a carved image, a representation of something, and thus done what is evil in the sight of ADONAI your God and provoked him;
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If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath:
26 I call on the sky and the earth to witness against you today that you will quickly disappear from the land that you are crossing the Yarden to possess. You will not prolong your days there but will be completely destroyed.
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May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end.
27 ADONAI will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which ADONAI will lead you away, you will be left few in number.
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And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you.
28 There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can't see, hear, eat or smell.
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There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling.
29 However, from there you will seek ADONAI your God; and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and being.
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But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you.
30 In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the acharit-hayamim, you will return to ADONAI your God and listen to what he says;
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When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice:
31 for ADONAI your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.
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Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers.
32 "Indeed, inquire about the past, before you were born: since the day God created human beings on the earth, from one end of heaven to the other, has there ever been anything as wonderful as this? Has anyone heard anything like it?
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Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story.
33 Did any other people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and stay alive?
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Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?
34 Or has God ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from the very bowels of another nation, by means of ordeals, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, an outstretched arm and great terrors -like all that ADONAI your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
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Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?
35 This was shown to you, so that you would know that ADONAI is God, and there is no other beside him.
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All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.
36 From heaven he caused you to hear his voice, in order to instruct you; and on earth he caused you to see his great fire; and you heard his very words coming out from the fire.
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Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire.
37 Because he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt with his presence and great power,
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And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power;
38 in order to drive out ahead of you nations greater and stronger than you, so that he could bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is the case today;
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Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day.
39 know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI is God in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other.
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So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.
40 Therefore, you are to keep his laws and mitzvot which I am giving you today, so that it will go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land ADONAI your God is giving you forever."
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Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever.
41 Then Moshe separated three cities on the east side of the Yarden, toward the sunrise,
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Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;
42 to which a killer might flee, that is, someone who kills by mistake a person whom he did not previously hate, and upon fleeing to one of these cities might live there.
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To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death:
43 The cities were Betzer in the desert, in the flatland, for the Re'uveni; Ramot in Gil'ad for the Gadi; and Golan in Bashan for the M'nashi.
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The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.
44 This is the Torah which Moshe placed before the people of Isra'el -
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This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:
45 these are the instructions, laws and rulings which Moshe presented to the people of Isra'el after they had come out of Egypt -
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These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;
46 beyond the Yarden River, in the valley across from Beit-P'or, in the land of Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moshe and the people of Isra'el defeated when they came out of Egypt;
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On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt:
47 and they took possession of his land and the land of 'Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Emori, who were beyond the Yarden toward the sunrise;
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And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east;
48 from 'Aro'er on the edge of the Arnon Valley to Mount Si'on," that is, Mount Hermon,
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From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 "with all the 'Aravah beyond the Yarden eastward, all the way to the Dead Sea at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.
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And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.