
{1}1{/}

[*]_{R}_{I}1_{/}These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel, at 
the other side of the Jordan River, in the Arabah desert. They 
were facing Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and 
Dizahab. [*]_{R}_{I}2_{/}From Mount Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea they had had a 
journey of eleven days through the mountains of Seir. {R}_{I}3_{/}But now 
it was the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year 
after they left Egypt, when Moses told the children of Israel all 
that Yahweh had commanded him regarding them.
[=]_{R}_{I}4_{/}After defeating Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who 
lived in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan who ruled in 
Ashtaroth and in Edrei, {R}_{I}5_{/}Moses began to explain this law. They 
were in the land of Moab, at the other side of the Jordan.

{N}FIRST DISCOURSE OF MOSES: THE JUDGES{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}6_{/}Moses said, "Yahweh, our God, spoke to us at Mount Horeb: 
'You have stayed long enough at this mountain. {R}_{I}7_{/}Leave this 
place and go into the territory of the Amorites and to its 
neighboring peoples in the Arabah, the Mountains, the Lowlands, 
the Negeb and the seacoast, into the land of Canaan and Lebanon up 
to the great Euphrates River.
[=]_{R}_{I}8_{/}Look: I offer you this land; you will take possession of 
it and live in the land which Yahweh swore to give to your 
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to all their 
descendants.'
[=]_{I}9_{/}I said to you at that time: 'I alone cannot be responsible 
for all of you. {R}_{I}10_{/}Yahweh, your God, has multiplied you, and 
now, you are as numerous as the stars in heaven. {R}_{I}11_{/}May Yahweh, 
the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more and 
bless you just as he promised.
{I}12_{/}But how can I alone resolve all your problems and disputes? 
{R}_{I}13_{/}Look for intelligent, keen-sighted and experienced men from 
each of your tribes, and I will place them over the people.'
{I}14_{/}And you answered: 'What you ask us to do is right.' 
{R}_{I}15_{/}Thus, I chose from among the heads of your tribes wise and 
experienced men and placed them over you as leaders of the 
thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as secretaries 
for each tribe. {R}_{I}16_{/}And I gave this order to the judges: 'Attend 
to the complaints of your brothers, and judge with justice the 
lawsuit between an Israelite and his brother, or between an 
Israelite and a foreigner who lives in your midst.
[=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}Do not be influenced by anyone when you judge, but 
listen to the poor and the rich alike, to the powerful as well as 
the weak, and do not be afraid of anyone because you act in place 
of God. And if there arises a very difficult case for you, refer 
this to me and I will attend to it.'
{I}18_{/}At that time, I established what you had to do.

{N}REBELLION AT KADESH{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}Finally, having left Horeb, we passed through that wide 
and terrible desert that we saw, on the way to the hill country of 
the Amorites, as Yahweh had commanded us, and arriving at Kadesh-
Barnea, {R}_{I}20_{/}I said to you:
'We have come to the mountain of the Amorites which Yahweh, our 
God, gives us. {R}_{I}21_{/}Look, Israel, at the land which Yahweh gives 
you; take possession of that which was promised to your fathers. 
Do not be afraid or discouraged.'
{I}22_{/}Then all of you gathered around me and said to me: 'Better 
send some men before us to explore the land and map out the roads 
leading to the cities where we are to go.'
{I}23_{/}That was a good suggestion, so I took twelve men from among 
you, one from each tribe, {I}24_{/}who set out and climbed the 
mountains on foot until they came to the Valley of the Grapevines. 
{R}_{I}25_{/}And once there, they took with them the fruits of the 
valley, and upon their return recounted to us what they had seen. 
They told us: 'The land which Yahweh gives us is a good land.'
{I}26_{/}Nevertheless, you did not want to go up into the mountains 
but rebelled against the commands of Yahweh. {R}_{I}27_{/}And you began 
to murmur in your tents: 'Yahweh does not like us; he made us 
leave Egypt to turn us over to the Amorites who in turn will kill 
us all. {I}28_{/}Where shall we go? The messengers have frightened us 
with what they told us: The people who live in the land are 
greater and taller than us. The cities are great and are fortified 
with high walls. We have seen giants there as in times past.'
{I}29_{/}Then I said to you: 'Have no fear and do not be afraid of 
them. {R}_{I}30_{/}Yahweh who leads you will likewise fight for you as he 
did in Egypt. [=]_{R}_{I}31_{/}You have also seen what he did in the 
desert where he carried you all the way just as a father carries 
his son, until we came to this place.'
{R}_{I}32_{/}But still you would not believe Yahweh, our God, 
[=]_{I}33_{/}who went before you in all your journeys, and has 
instructed you where to set up camp; by night he has shown you the 
way with fire and by day with a cloud.
{I}34_{/}And when Yahweh heard the rumblings of your complaints, he 
was angry and he swore: {I}35_{/}Not one from this perverse generation 
will see the beautiful land which I swore to give to your fathers 
[=]_{R}_{I}36_{/}except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it and 
I will give him and his children the land upon which he trod 
because he has faithfully followed Yahweh.
[=]_{I}37_{/}Yahweh was angry with me as well because of your fault, 
and he said to me: 'Neither will you enter there; {R}_{I}38_{/}but your 
assistant, Joshua, the son of Nun, will enter. Encourage him 
because he will be the one to give Israel its inheritance. 
{I}39_{/}Your children will enter there; to them will I give the land, 
and they will possess it although you feared they would become the 
prey of your enemies. {R}_{I}40_{/}But as for you, go back into the 
desert by the Red Sea.'
{R}_{I}41_{/}And you answered me: 'We have sinned against Yahweh, our 
God. Now, we will go and fight as he has commanded us.' So each 
one took his weapons and thought it easy to climb the mountains. 
{I}42_{/}But Yahweh told me: 'Tell them not to go and fight because I 
am not with them, or else they will be defeated by the enemy.'
{I}43_{/}I told you this but you did not listen. You disobeyed the 
order of Yahweh and went up to the mountains instead. 
[=]_{R}_{I}44_{/}Then the Amorites who live on those mountains came out 
to meet you; they struck you and pursued you like bees from Seir 
to Hormah. {I}45_{/}And you returned with much weeping in the presence 
of Yahweh who did not want to hear you nor listen to your voice. 
{I}46_{/}So you were to remain at Kadesh for many days; and you know 
how long it was.

{N}THROUGH THE DESERT{/}

{1}2{/}

[*]_{R}_{I}1_{/}We, therefore, turned back and set out towards the desert 
by the way leading to the Red Sea, as Yahweh had commanded me, and 
we walked around the mountains of Seir for a long time.
{I}2_{/}Then, Yahweh said to me: {I}3_{/}'You have been going around these 
mountains for a long time; now, go north. [=]_{I}4_{/}Give this 
command to the people: You are to pass through the territory of 
your brothers, the children of Esau, who live in Seir. They will 
be afraid of you, {I}5_{/}but be very careful that you do not attack 
them because I will not give you even the parcel of land on which 
you stand. Know that I have given to Esau the mountains of Seir as 
a possession. {R}_{I}6_{/}You shall buy food and water from them with 
your silver. {R}_{I}7_{/}Think of all the blessings that Yahweh has 
bestowed on you in all our work and how he has been present in 
your journey through the desert. Yahweh has been with you for 
forty years, and never have you been in want.
{R}_{I}8_{/}So we passed through the land of our brothers, the children 
of Esau who live in Seir. We left the Arabah road that led to 
Elath and Ezion-geber, and we took the road going into the desert 
of Moab.
{I}9_{/}Then Yahweh said to me: 'Do not attack Moab or provoke them to 
fight since I will not give you any of their land. Know that I 
have given Ar to the children of Lot as a possession.'
{I}10_{/}(The Emim formerly lived there - a great and numerous people, 
and tall as the Anakim. {I}11_{/}And just like the Anakim, they were 
also known as giants, but the Moabites called them Emim. {R}_{I}12_{/}And 
the Horites also used to live in Seir but the children of Esau 
drove them out, killed them and settled in their place, as Israel 
did in the land they possess and which Yahweh gave them.)
{I}13_{/}And now rise up and pass through the brook of Zered.'
We then went to the brook of Zered. {R}_{I}14_{/}We walked for thirty-
eight years from Kadesh-Barnea until we crossed the brook, until 
the entire generation of the men old enough to fight had perished 
just as Yahweh said. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}Even the hand of Yahweh was against 
them, dealing them their death in the camps until all of them 
perished.
{I}16_{/}When finally all those who were old enough to fight died, 
{I}17_{/}Yahweh said to me: {I}18_{/}'Today you will pass through the 
frontiers of Moab, facing the city of Ar, {I}19_{/}and you will meet 
these people. Do not attack or defy them for I will not give you 
any of the land of the Ammonites. Know that I have given that land 
to the children of Lot.'
{I}20_{/}(This land was also considered the land of the giants who 
formerly lived there and whom the Ammonites called Zummim. 
{I}21_{/}They were a great and numerous people, tall and of enormous 
stature, similar to the Anakim. But Yahweh destroyed them through 
the hand of the Ammonites, and in their place he made the 
Ammonites to dwell in the land. {I}22_{/}He did the same with the 
people of Esau who dwell in Seir. They destroyed the Horites and 
took possession of their land up to this very day. {I}23_{/}He dealt 
in the same manner with the Avvim who lived in the camps as far as 
Gaza. They were expelled by the Caphtorim who killed them and 
occupied their place.)
{R}_{I}24_{/}Rise up and go to the brook of Arnon. Look, I give into your 
hands Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and all his land. 
{R}_{I}25_{/}Begin, right now, to occupy his land and fight. And I, for 
my part, will begin to instill among all the peoples under heaven 
the dread and fear of you. They will tremble when they hear your 
name; they will tremble like a woman in childbirth and they will 
lose courage when they face you.

{N}VICTORY OVER SIHON AND OG{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}26_{/}From the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, 
the king of Heshbon, with these words of peace: {I}27_{/}"I wish to 
pass through your land but I will go only by the road without 
turning aside either to the right or to the left. {R}_{I}28_{/}We ask you 
to sell us food for money that we may eat, and water that we may 
drink. And let us only pass through as the children of Esau who 
live in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for us, 
{R}_{I}29_{/}until we come to the Jordan and enter the land which Yahweh, 
our God, gives to us."
[=]_{R}_{I}30_{/}But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, would not let us pass 
through his land, (and Yahweh made him stubborn so that our God 
might give him into our hands.)
{I}31_{/}And Yahweh said to me: "You have to know that I have begun to 
give Sihon and his land over to you; begin conquering his land." 
{I}32_{/}Then, Sihon came out with all his men to meet us in battle at 
Jahaz. {R}_{I}33_{/}And Yahweh, our God, gave him over to us and we 
defeated him together with his sons and all his men. {I}34_{/}At that 
time we captured all their cities and pronounced an anathema over 
them, killing all their inhabitants, men, women and children 
without sparing anyone, {I}35_{/}except the animals which were part of 
the plunder of the cities you have occupied.
{R}_{I}36_{/}From Aroer, the city at the edge of the brook Arnon, up to 
Galaad, there was neither a village nor a city which we did not 
capture. Yahweh, our God, gave everything over to us, {R}_{I}37_{/}except 
the land of the Ammonites which we did not touch, the banks of the 
river Jabbok and the cities in the mountains, that is, all the 
places which Yahweh, our God, forbade us to take.

{1}3{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}On turning back, we went up the way to Bashan. Og, the 
king of Bashan, and all his people came out to fight us in Edrei. 
{R}_{I}2_{/}Then Yahweh said to me: "Do not be afraid because I am giving 
him into your hands together with his people and his land, that 
you may do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who 
lived in Heshbon." {R}_{I}3_{/}And Yahweh gave Og, the king of Bashan, 
and all his people into our hands; and sparing no one, we killed 
everyone by the sword.
{R}_{I}4_{/}We took possession of all their cities; there was not one of 
them that escaped us. We captured the sixty cities: the whole of 
the Argob region - the kingdom of Og, in Bashan. {I}5_{/}All these 
were cities fortified with high walls, with gates and bars, 
besides the innumerable villages in the open fields.
{R}_{I}6_{/}We completely destroyed them for the honor of Yahweh, killing 
all the people, as we had done with Sihon, the king of Heshbon: we 
wiped out all the cities, men, women and children. {I}7_{/}The only 
things that we spared and kept for ourselves were the livestock 
and the plunder from the cities. {R}_{I}8_{/}We took possession of the 
land occupied by the two Amorite kings, the land beyond the 
Jordan, from the brook of Arnon up to the Mount of Hermon 
{R}_{I}9_{/}(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion while the Amorites call it 
Senir.) {R}_{I}10_{/}And we captured all the cities on the plateau and 
all the land of Galaad and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, 
cities in the kingdom of Og, in Bashan. 
{R}_{I}11_{/}(Og, the king of Bashan, was the last survivor in the race 
of the giants. His iron bed, which is four and a half meters long 
and two meters wide, can be seen in Rabbah, a city of the 
Ammonites.)
[=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}Then, we took possession of that land. I gave to the 
tribes of Reuben and Gad half of the mountains of Gilead with 
their cities, from Aroer situated at the edge of the brook of 
Arnon. {R}_{I}13_{/}And I gave to half of Manasseh's tribe the other half 
of the kingdom of Gilead and the whole kingdom of Og, or Bashan 
with the whole of the Argob region. The whole land of Bashan was 
called the land of the giants.
{R}_{I}14_{/}Jair, a son of Manasseh, took all the territories of Argob 
up to the boundaries of Gesuri and Maacati. And he gave his name 
to these cities which until today are called villages of Jair.
{I}15_{/}I gave part of Gilead to Makhir. {R}_{I}16_{/}And to the tribes of 
Reuben and Gad, I gave the territory from Gilead up to the brook 
of Arnon (the boundary lies halfway along the brook) and up to the 
river Jabbok, the boundary of the territory of the sons of Ammon. 
{R}_{I}17_{/}It is bounded by the Arabah in the west, and in the east by 
the Jordan, from Kinnereth up to the sea in the desert, known as 
the Salt Sea, at the foot of Mount Pisgah.
[=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}Then I gave you these orders: "Yahweh, our God, has 
given you this land to own. {I}19_{/}But only your women, your 
children and your livestock, your numerous livestock, will remain 
in the cities which I have given you. {R}_{I}20_{/}All the strong men 
will go armed ahead of their Israelite brothers until Yahweh gives 
them a place where they can rest as he has given you, and they too 
possess the land which I will give you at the other side of the 
Jordan. Then each one of you will return to his own inheritance 
which I have given you."
[=]_{R}_{I}21_{/}I also gave the following order to Joshua: "You have 
seen with your own eyes what Yahweh has done with those two kings, 
and he will do the same to the kingdoms where you shall go. 
{I}22_{/}Do not be afraid because Yahweh will fight for you."
{I}23_{/}Then I asked Yahweh: {R}_{I}24_{/}"Yahweh, my Lord, you have begun 
to manifest your greatness and the power of your hand. For what 
God in the heavens and on the earth can do such works and deeds as 
you have done? {R}_{I}25_{/}Do let me go and see that splendid land at 
the other side of the Jordan, those mountains without comparison 
and Lebanon, too."
{I}26_{/}But because of your fault, Yahweh was angry with me and did 
not hear me. And Yahweh said to me: "It is enough, speak no more 
of this to me, {R}_{I}27_{/}but climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and from 
there look to the west and to the north, to the south, and to the 
east. You shall see the land, but you shall not cross over the 
Jordan. {R}_{I}28_{/}Give your orders to Joshua, encourage him and 
strengthen him because he will be the one to bring this people 
across and distribute to them the land which you see."
{I}29_{/}We, then, remained in the valley opposite Bethpeor.

{N}THE LAW: TRUE WISDOM{/}

{1}4{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}And now, Israel, listen to the norms and laws which I 
teach that you may put them into practice. And you will live and 
enter and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of 
your fathers, gives you.
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}Do not add anything to what I command you nor take 
anything away from it. But keep the commandments of Yahweh, your 
God, as I command you. [=]_{I}3_{/}You have seen with your own eyes 
what Yahweh has done with Baal-peor and with those who served him. 
Yahweh has destroyed them. {R}_{I}4_{/}But you who have been faithful to 
Yahweh, your God, are all alive today.
[*]_{R}_{I}5_{/}See, as Yahweh, my God, ordered me, I am teaching you the 
norms and the laws that you may put them into practice in the land 
you are going to enter and have as your own. [=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}If you 
observe and practice them, other peoples will regard you as wise 
and intelligent. When they come to know of all these laws, they 
will say, "There is no people as wise and as intelligent as this 
great nation." [=]_{R}_{I}7_{/}For in truth, is there a nation as great 
as ours, whose gods are as near to it as Yahweh, our God, is to us 
whenever we call upon him? {R}_{I}8_{/}And is there a nation as great as 
ours whose norms and laws are as just as this Law which I give you 
today?
[*]_{I}9_{/}But be careful and be on your guard. Do not forget these 
things which your own eyes have seen nor let them depart from your 
heart as long as you live. But on the contrary, teach them to your 
children and to your children's children.
[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}You were in the presence of Yahweh at Mount Horeb 
when he spoke to me, "Gather the people before me that they may 
hear my words. Thus they will fear me as long as they live in that 
land and will teach these words to their children."
[=]_{I}11_{/}Then you came nearer and stood at the foot of the 
mountain. It was burning in flames reaching up to heaven amid the 
dense fog and the dark clouds. [=]_{I}12_{/}And Yahweh spoke to you 
from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words but did 
not see any figure; you only heard a voice. [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}And Yahweh 
spoke to you that you might know his Covenant by which he 
commanded you to keep his ten commandments, which he had written 
on two slabs of stone. {I}14_{/}And as for me, he commanded me to 
teach you the norms and laws that you might put them into practice 
in the land which is going to be yours.
{R}_{I}15_{/}Think well about what you are to do. You did not see any 
form on that day when Yahweh spoke to you at Mount Horeb from the 
midst of the fire. [=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}Therefore, do not become corrupted: 
do not make an idol or a god carved in the form of a man or of a 
woman, {I}17_{/}or in the form of any animal that lives on the earth, 
or of any kind of bird that flies in the sky, {R}_{I}18_{/}or of any 
reptile that crawls on the earth, or of any fish that lives in the 
water under the earth. [=]_{I}19_{/}When you look at the heavens and 
you see the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, 
do not prostrate yourselves to adore and serve them as gods. 
[=]_{R}_{I}20_{/}Yahweh, your God, has left those for the rest of the 
peoples, but he has chosen you and has brought you from the fiery 
crucible, that is Egypt, to be his own people as you are now.
[=]_{R}_{I}21_{/}Through your fault, Yahweh became angry with me and he 
swore that I would not cross the Jordan nor enter into the 
beautiful land which he gives you as an inheritance. {R}_{I}22_{/}I will 
die in this land and not be able to cross the Jordan. You, in 
turn, will cross over and possess that beautiful land. {R}_{I}23_{/}So, 
be careful not to forget the Covenant which Yahweh has made with 
you and do not make any kind of idols, as Yahweh, your God, has 
commanded you. [=]_{R}_{I}24_{/}Know that Yahweh, your God, is a 
devouring fire, Yahweh is a jealous God.
[\u0095]_{R}_{I}25_{/}When you have children and grandchildren and have grown 
old in the land, do not be corrupted by having idols and doing 
that which offends Yahweh. If you anger him, you will perish from 
the land which is going to be yours after crossing the Jordan. 
{I}26_{/}Heaven and earth are witness to my warning: you will all be 
destroyed.
[=]_{R}_{I}27_{/}Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples and only a few 
of you will remain among the nations where Yahweh will bring you. 
[=]_{I}28_{/}There you will be obliged to serve their gods, gods made 
by human hands, gods of wood and stone, which do not see or hear, 
or eat or feel. [=]_{R}_{I}29_{/}There you will look for Yahweh, your 
God, and you will encounter him if you search for him with all 
your heart and with all your soul in the midst of your anguish. 
{R}_{I}30_{/}When this happens in the last days, you will return to 
Yahweh, and you will listen to his voice. [=]_{R}_{I}31_{/}Because 
Yahweh, your God, is a merciful God who will not reject you nor 
destroy you all, nor forget the Covenant he swore to your fathers.

{N}CHOSEN BY GOD{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}32_{/}Ask of the times past. Inquire from the day when God 
created man on earth. Ask from one end of the world to the other: 
Has there ever been anything as extraordinary as this? 
[=]_{R}_{I}33_{/}Has anything like this been heard of before? Has there 
ever been a people who remained alive after hearing as you did the 
voice of the living God from the midst of the fire?
{R}_{I}34_{/}Never has there been a God who went out to look for a people 
and take them out from among the other nations by the strength of 
trials and signs, by wonders and by war, with a firm hand and an 
outstretched arm. Never has there been any deed as tremendous as 
those done for you by Yahweh in Egypt, which you saw with your own 
eyes.
[=]_{R}_{I}35_{/}You saw this that you might know that Yahweh is God and 
that there is no other besides him. {I}36_{/}He let you hear his voice 
from heaven that you might fear him; on earth he let you see his 
blazing fire and from the midst of the fire you heard his word. 
{R}_{I}37_{/}Because of the love he had for your fathers, he chose their 
descendants after them, and he himself made you leave Egypt with 
his great power. {R}_{I}38_{/}He expelled before you peoples more 
numerous and stronger than you, and he has made you occupy their 
land: today he has given this to you as an 
inheritance.{R}_{I}39_{/}Therefore, try to be convinced that Yahweh is 
the only God of heaven and earth, and that there is no other.
[=]_{R}_{I}40_{/}Observe the laws and the commandments that I command you 
today, and everything will be well with you and your children 
after you. So you will live long in the land which Yahweh, your 
God, gives you forever."

{N}SECOND DISCOURSE OF MOSES{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}41_{/}Moses designated three cities at the other side of the 
Jordan, on the east, {I}42_{/}where one who involuntarily kills his 
neighbor may find refuge, one who has never been his enemy before. 
He should flee into one of those cities and so save himself.
{R}_{I}43_{/}These are the cities: Bezer on the desert plateau for the 
tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan 
in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.
{R}_{I}44_{/}This is the Law which Moses gave to the children of Israel. 
{R}_{I}45_{/}These are the precepts, decrees, and laws which Moses made 
known to the children of Israel after their departure from Egypt, 
{R}_{I}46_{/}at the other side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite 
Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites. This 
Sihon, who lived in Heshbon, was defeated by Moses and the 
children of Israel after their departure from Egypt {R}_{I}47_{/}and they 
took possession of his land, as they had done with Og, the king of 
Bashan. The two Amorite kings ruled at the east of the Jordan, 
{R}_{I}48_{/}from Aroer at the boundary of the brook of Arnon, up to 
Mount Sirion, also called Hermon {R}_{I}49_{/}that is, the whole plain to 
the east of the Jordan up to the Dead Sea at the foot of Mount 
Pisgah.

{N}THE TEN COMMANDMENTS{/}

{1}5{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Moses gathered the whole of Israel and said to them: 
"Listen, Israel, to the laws and norms which I teach you this day. 
Learn them and be careful to put them into practice. {R}_{I}2_{/}Yahweh, 
our God, made a covenant with us in Horeb, and his covenant 
{I}3_{/}was not only with our fathers, but with us as well who are all 
alive here today. {I}4_{/}Yahweh spoke with us face to face from the 
midst of the fire in the mountain. {I}5_{/}And I stood between Yahweh 
and you to transmit his word to you, since you could not go up the 
mountain for fear of the great fire. These were his words:
{R}_{I}6_{/}I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of 
Egypt, the house of slavery. {I}7_{/}Do not have other gods before me. 
{I}8_{/}Do not have idols, do not make any figure of things in the 
heaven or here below on the earth, or in the waters under the 
earth. {R}_{I}9_{/}Do not kneel before them or worship them, because I, 
Yahweh, am your God, a jealous God who punishes the children until 
the third and fourth generation for the wickedness of their 
fathers who hate me. {I}10_{/}But I am merciful to the thousandth 
generation to those who love me and obey my commandments.
{R}_{I}11_{/}Do not take the name of Yahweh, your God, in vain because 
Yahweh will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.
{R}_{I}12_{/}Take care to keep holy the sabbath day, as Yahweh, your God, 
commands you. {I}13_{/}You have six days to work and do your tasks. 
{R}_{I}14_{/}But the seventh day is the Day of Rest in honor of Yahweh, 
your God. Do not do any work, you or your child, or your servant, 
or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your animals. Neither will 
the foreigner who lives in your land work. Your servant will rest 
just like you. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}Remember that you were once enslaved in 
the land of Egypt from where Yahweh, your God, brought you out 
with his powerful hand and outstretched arm. For that reason, 
Yahweh, your God, commands you to observe the sabbath.
{R}_{I}16_{/}Honor your father and your mother as Yahweh, your God, has 
commanded, and you will live long and it will be well with you in 
the land which Yahweh, your God, gives you.
{I}17_{/}Do not kill.
{I}18_{/}Do not commit adultery.
{I}19_{/}Do not steal.
{I}20_{/}Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.
{I}21_{/}Do not desire the wife of your neighbor. Do not covet the 
house of your neighbor, or his field, or his servant, or his ox, 
or his donkey, or anything that is his. 
[=]_{I}22_{/}These are the words of Yahweh said to the whole assembly 
on the mountain when he spoke from the midst of the fire and the 
thick cloud. He said only this and he wrote these words on the two 
slabs of stone which he gave to me. {R}_{I}23_{/}You heard that voice in 
the midst of darkness, while the mountain was becoming 
resplendent. Then all the heads of the tribes together with the 
elders gathered around me {R}_{I}24_{/}and said: 'See, Yahweh, our God, 
has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice 
from the midst of the fire. We now know that the word of Yahweh is 
life for man. [=]_{R}_{I}25_{/}We are, nevertheless, going to die 
devoured by this terrible fire if we keep listening to the voice 
of Yahweh, our God. {R}_{I}26_{/}What man can remain alive after 
listening to the voice of the living God speaking from the midst 
of the fire, as he has now done for us? {R}_{I}27_{/}Better that you go 
nearer to hear all the things that Yahweh, our God, will say to 
you. Then tell these to us that we may put them into practice.'
[=]_{I}28_{/}Yahweh heard your words and said to me, "I have heard 
what this people said and they have spoken well. {R}_{I}29_{/}May they 
always have the same spirit, fear me and observe all my precepts 
that all may go well with you and with your children for all time. 
{R}_{I}30_{/}Rise up and tell them to return to their tents in the 
fields.
[=]_{I}31_{/}But as for you, remain here with me that I may teach you 
all the commandments, precepts and laws which you have to teach 
that they may put them into practice in the land that I will give 
them as a possession."
{I}32_{/}Observe and carry out the things that Yahweh has commanded 
us. Do not turn aside from them either to the right or to the 
left. {I}33_{/}Follow all the way which Yahweh has marked out for you, 
and you will live and be happy and you will live long in the land 
you are going to conquer.

{N}LISTEN ISRAEL: YAHWEH IS THE ONLY ONE{/}

{1}6{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}These are the commandments, the norms and the laws that 
Yahweh, your God, has commanded me to teach you so that you may 
observe them in the land which is going to be yours. [=]_{I}2_{/}Fear 
Yahweh, observe his commandments all the days of your life and his 
norms that I teach you today. So also for your children and your 
children's children that they may live long.
{R}_{I}3_{/}Listen, then, Israel, observe these commandments and put them 
into practice. If you do this, you will be well and you will 
multiply in this land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the 
God of your fathers, promised you.
{R}_{I}4_{/}Listen, Israel: Yahweh, our God, is One Yahweh. [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}And 
you shall love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, with all 
your soul and with all your strength. {I}6_{/}Engrave on your heart 
the commandments that I pass on to you today. {I}7_{/}Repeat them over 
and over to your children, speak of them when you are at home and 
when you travel, when you lie down and when you rise. 
[=]_{I}8_{/}Brand them on your hand as a sign, and keep them always 
before your eyes. {I}9_{/}Engrave them on your doorposts and on your 
city gates.
{R}_{I}10_{/}Do not forget Yahweh when he has led you into the land which 
he promised to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; for he 
will give you great and prosperous cities which you did not build, 
[=]_{I}11_{/}houses filled with everything good which you did not 
provide, wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive groves 
which you did not plant. So when you have eaten and have been 
satisfied, {R}_{I}12_{/}do not forget Yahweh who brought you out from 
Egypt where you were enslaved. [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}Fear Yahweh, your God, 
serve him and call on his Name when you have to swear an oath.
[=]_{I}14_{/}Do not go after other gods; do not serve any of the gods 
of the nations around you, {R}_{I}15_{/}because your God, who is in your 
midst, is a jealous God. And when he burns in anger, you shall 
disappear from the face of the earth. [=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}You shall not put 
Yahweh, your God, to the test, as you did in Massah. 
{I}17_{/}Observe the precepts, the commandments and the norms that 
Yahweh has commanded you. {I}18_{/}You shall do what is right and good 
in the eyes of Yahweh that you may be happy and may come to 
possess the splendid land which he swore to your fathers {I}19_{/}he 
would give you after having destroyed all your enemies before you.
[\u0095]_{I}20_{/}And when your child asks you one day: What are these 
precepts, these commandments and these norms which Yahweh has 
commanded us? {R}_{I}21_{/}You shall answer your child: We were Pharaoh's 
slaves in Egypt, but Yahweh led us out of Egypt with prodigious 
deeds. {I}22_{/}And we have seen the great and wonderful things, the 
awesome marvels he has done against Pharaoh and all his people. 
{I}23_{/}And he took us out from there to lead us into the land which 
he promised to our fathers. {R}_{I}24_{/}Yahweh has commanded us to put 
into practice all these precepts and to fear him, our God. Because 
of this, we are happy and alive today, {I}25_{/}and we shall be 
perfect in his eyes if we observe and practice these commandments 
as he has told us to do.

{1}7{/}

[*]_{R}_{I}1_{/}When Yahweh, your God, has brought you into the land 
where you are going and which you will conquer; when he drives 
away before you many peoples - the Hittites, the Girgashites, the 
Amorites and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the 
Jebusites - seven nations that are much more numerous and more 
powerful than you; {R}_{I}2_{/}when he has given them into your hand and 
you defeat them, you must destroy them all according to the law of 
anathema.
{R}_{I}3_{/}Do not make any covenant with them or have compassion on 
them. {I}4_{/}Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to 
their sons, or taking their daughters for your sons, because they 
would seduce your children to abandon me and adore strange gods 
for which the anger of Yahweh would burn against you, and then he 
would destroy you. [=]_{I}5_{/}On the contrary, this is what you must 
do: destroy their altars and break their sacred pillars into 
pieces, demolish their poles and burn their idols.

{N}HOW GOD REWARDS HIS FAITHFUL ONES{/}

[=]_[*]_{R}_{I}6_{/}You are a people consecrated to Yahweh, your God. 
Yahweh has chosen you from among all the peoples on the face of 
the earth, that you may be his own people. [=]_{R}_{I}7_{/}Yahweh has 
bound himself to you and has chosen you, not because you are the 
most numerous among all the peoples (on the contrary, you are the 
least). [=]_{R}_{I}8_{/}Rather, he has chosen you because of his love for 
you and to fulfill the oath he made to your fathers. Therefore, 
with a firm hand Yahweh brought you out from slavery in Egypt, 
from the power of Pharaoh.
[=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}So know that Yahweh, your God, is the true and faithful 
God. He keeps his covenant, and his love reaches to the thousandth 
generation for those who love him and fulfill his commandments, 
[=]_{I}10_{/}but he punishes in their own persons those who hate him 
and he repays them without delay.
{I}11_{/}So keep the commandments, the norms and the laws that today I 
command you to practice. [=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}If you observe these norms, if 
you keep and practice them, Yahweh will be faithful to his 
Covenant and will show you the love he promised to your fathers. 
{I}13_{/}He will love you, bless you and multiply you.
He will bless you with many children and abundant harvests: wheat, 
wine and oil; he will multiply the young of your cattle and of 
your sheep in the land that he promised your fathers he would give 
you.
{R}_{I}14_{/}You shall be more favored than all the peoples; there will 
be no sterile male or female among your people or in your 
livestock. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}Yahweh will remove from you all infirmities, 
he will not let any of the plagues of Egypt which you have known 
fall upon you. But he will inflict them upon those who hate you.
{R}_{I}16_{/}So, destroy all the peoples which Yahweh, your God, will put 
in your power. Do not have pity on them or serve their gods: this 
would be a trap for you.
{I}17_{/}Perhaps you will say in your heart: "These nations are more 
numerous than I am, how then am I going to drive them away?" 
{R}_{I}18_{/}Do not be afraid, remember what Yahweh, your God, has done 
with Pharaoh and with the Egyptians, {R}_{I}19_{/}those terrible trials 
which you saw with your eyes and the marvels and signs, the strong 
hand and outstretched arm with which Yahweh, your God, has freed 
you. [=]_{I}20_{/}He will do the same with all the people whom you 
fear. Yahweh will even send wasps to destroy those who remain and 
hide themselves to escape from you.
{R}_{I}21_{/}Do not be afraid of them because Yahweh, your God, is in 
your midst. He is a great and terrible God.
[=]_{I}22_{/}It is he who will drive out these nations little by 
little before your eyes. If you were to destroy them all at once, 
the wild beasts would multiply and cause you trouble.
{R}_{I}23_{/}Yahweh, your God, will give these people over to you and he 
will fill them with fear until they all perish. {R}_{I}24_{/}Yahweh will 
give their kings into your hands so that you may strike out their 
name from under heaven, and nothing will stand before you until 
you have destroyed them. [=]_{I}25_{/}Burn the images of their gods 
and do not covet the gold or silver that covers them. Do not take 
it for yourself lest you be trapped by it, because Yahweh hates 
it. {R}_{I}26_{/}None of these shall enter your house, for as they are 
accursed, the curse might return to you. Regard these as 
abominable because they are indeed "anathema" or accursed. 

{N}DO NOT FORGET GOD WHEN YOU HAVE EVERYTHING{/}

{1}8{/}

[\u0095]_{I}1_{/}Be careful to fulfill all the commandments which I give 
you today, that you may live and increase, and conquer the land 
which Yahweh promised on oath to your fathers.
{R}_{I}2_{/}Remember how Yahweh, your God, brought you through the desert 
for forty years. He humbled you, to test you and know what was in 
your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 
[=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}He made you experience want, he made you experience 
hunger, but he gave you manna to eat which neither you nor your 
fathers had known, to show you that man lives not on bread alone, 
but that all that proceeds from the mouth of God is life for man. 
{I}4_{/}Your garment did not even fray, or your foot swell all these 
forty years. [=]_{I}5_{/}Understand, then, that Yahweh has taught you 
in the same way that a father teaches his child.
{R}_{I}6_{/}Observe the commandments of Yahweh, your God; follow his ways 
and revere him. {R}_{I}7_{/}For Yahweh, your God, will bring you into 
that good land, a land of streams and rivers, of subterranean 
waters that gush forth in the valleys and mountains, {R}_{I}8_{/}a land 
of wheat and barley, of grapes and figs, of pomegranates and 
olives, a land of oil and honey, {R}_{I}9_{/}a land where the bread you 
eat is not rationed and where you will lack nothing, a land with 
iron in stones and copper mines in the mountains.
{I}10_{/}You shall eat until you are satisfied, and you shall bless 
Yahweh for the good land he has given you.
{R}_{I}11_{/}So take care that you do not forget Yahweh, your God, by 
neglecting the commandments, norms and laws that I give you today. 
{I}12_{/}And when you have eaten and have been satisfied, when you 
have built comfortable homes and live in them, {I}13{/}when your 
livestock have multiplied, when you have silver and gold in 
abundance, and an increase of good things of every kind, 
[=]_{R}_{I}14_{/}then do not let your heart become proud and do not 
forget Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 
the house of slavery. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}It is he who has led you across 
this great and terrible desert, full of fiery serpents and 
scorpions, an arid land where there is no water. But for you he 
made water gush forth from the hardest rock. [=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}And he fed 
you in the desert with manna which your fathers did not know.
He made you experience want and put you to the test, so that it 
would be for your good later on, [=]_{I}17_{/}lest you say, "With my 
own strength I have attained all these good things." 
[=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}Remember Yahweh, your God, the one who gave you power to 
become prosperous, as you are today, in fulfillment of the 
Covenant he promised under oath to your fathers.
{I}19_{/}But if you forget Yahweh and follow other gods, if you pay 
them homage and bow before them, I warn you right now that you 
will surely perish. {R}_{I}20_{/}In the same way that Yahweh destroyed 
the nations that stood in your way, so will he destroy you if you 
disobey Yahweh, your God.

{1}9{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}Listen, Israel: you are to cross the Jordan today to take the 
land of greater and stronger nations than yourself, nations with 
grand cities whose walls reach up to heaven. {I}2_{/}They are a great 
people, they are tall - the Anakites whom you have seen and of 
whom you heard it said that nothing can overcome them. {R}_{I}3_{/}But 
today you will see Yahweh, your God, crossing the Jordan before 
you. He will destroy them all and he will subject them to you. 
Then, you will seize the land from them and make them perish, as 
Yahweh promised you. 
{R}_{I}4_{/}When Yahweh, your God, has destroyed them in your presence, 
do not think: 'Yahweh brought me to this land and gave it to me 
because of my own goodness.' Yahweh drove those nations out 
because of their wickedness. [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}It is not by your merits nor 
because you are good that you will conquer the land: Yahweh will 
deprive them of the land because they have done evil, and also to 
fulfill the promise he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob.

{N}YOU ARE A STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE{/}

[\u0095]_{I}6_{/}Know, therefore, that Yahweh has given you your 
inheritance, this excellent land, not because of any merit of 
yours since you are a rebellious people. [*]_{R}_{I}7_{/}Remember and do 
not forget that it was because you rebelled that Yahweh became 
angry with you in the desert, for you have been rebellious towards 
Yahweh from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here.
{R}_{I}8_{/}Then at Horeb, you provoked his anger and he was ready to 
destroy you. [=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}When I went up the mountain to receive the 
slabs of stone, the tables of the Covenant that Yahweh made with 
you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights 
without eating or drinking. {I}10_{/}And Yahweh gave me the two slabs 
of stone written with his finger, containing all the words that he 
told you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, on the day 
of the Assembly.
[=]_{R}_{I}11_{/}And when Yahweh gave me the two slabs of stone, the 
tables of the Covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty 
nights, {R}_{I}12_{/}he said to me: "Go down from this mountain at once 
because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become 
corrupt, they have suddenly abandoned the way that I taught them 
and they have made an idol for themselves."
{I}13_{/}And Yahweh also said to me: "I see this people; they are a 
rebellious people. {I}14_{/}Let me alone and I will destroy them and 
wipe out their name from under heaven. And out of you, I will make 
another people more numerous and greater than they." {R}_{I}15_{/}I, 
therefore, went down from the mountain, from the summit which was 
burning, holding in my hands the two tables of the Covenant. 
{R}_{I}16_{/}And I saw that you had sinned against Yahweh, your God, and 
that you had made a molten calf. {I}17_{/}How suddenly had you turned 
aside from the way which Yahweh had taught you! Holding the two 
slabs with both hands, I hurled them down and broke them into 
pieces in the sight of all.
{I}18_{/}Then I fell prostrate before Yahweh and, as before, I passed 
forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking, for the 
sin which you had committed by doing evil in the sight of Yahweh 
and arousing his anger. [=]_{I}19_{/}I was afraid that the wrath and 
anger of Yahweh against you had reached the point that he wanted 
to destroy you. And Yahweh listened to me, once more.
{I}20_{/}Yahweh was also very angry with Aaron and he was ready to 
destroy him. In the same way, I interceded for Aaron also. 
[=]_{R}_{I}21_{/}Regarding the sin, that calf which you had made - I 
threw it in the fire, broke it into pieces and ground it until it 
was fine as dust. Then I threw the dust into the brook that flows 
down from the mountain.
{I}22_{/}At Taberah and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattavah, you 
provoked the wrath of Yahweh. {I}23_{/}And when he wanted you to leave 
Kadesh-barnea saying,"Go up and take possession of the land that I 
have given you," you rebelled again. You did not believe Yahweh 
nor did you want to listen to his voice. [=]_{I}24_{/}You have been 
rebellious against Yahweh ever since I have known you.
{I}25_{/}So, I lay prostrate before Yahweh for forty days and forty 
nights because he said he would destroy you. {R}_{I}26_{/}I prayed to 
Yahweh and said to him: "O Lord God, do not destroy your people 
and your inheritance, whom you redeemed with your might, whom you 
brought out of Egypt with the strength of your hand. 
{R}_{I}27_{/}Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; do not 
look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wickedness, 
or on their sins, [=]_{R}_{I}28_{/}that it may not be said in the land 
from which you brought us out: 'Yahweh was not able to bring them 
to the land which he had promised them. He does not like them, so 
he brought them out of Egypt to slay them in the desert.' {R}_{I}29_{/}Do 
not forget that they are your people and your possession whom you 
brought out of Egypt with your great power and outstretched arm."

{1}10{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}At that time, Yahweh said to me, "Make two slabs of stone 
like the first ones and come up to me. And make an ark of wood 
also. {R}_{I}2_{/}I shall write on the slabs the words that were on the 
first slabs which you broke. Then you shall put them in the ark."
[=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}So I made an ark of acacia wood, and made two slabs of 
stone like the first. And I climbed up the mountain carrying 
these. {I}4_{/}He wrote on the slabs, just as he had done with the 
first, the ten sayings that he spoke to you on the mountain from 
the midst of the fire, on the day of the Assembly; and Yahweh gave 
them to me. {R}_{I}5_{/}Upon my return, coming down from the mountain, I 
placed the tables in the ark which I made, and there they are as 
Yahweh commanded me.
[=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}The children of Israel left for the wells of Bene-jaakan, 
going through Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and his 
son Eleazar succeeded him. {I}7_{/}From there, they went to Gudgodah, 
and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks and springs. 
{R}_{I}8_{/}It was then that Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry 
the Ark of the Covenant, to become his servants, to stand before 
the Lord, and to give blessings by calling on his name, as they do 
until this day. {R}_{I}9_{/}For that reason, Levi has no share in the 
inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, as 
Yahweh, your God, told him.
{I}10_{/}I therefore stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty 
nights as I did the first time. Yahweh again listened to my prayer 
and gave up his plan to destroy you. {I}11_{/}And Yahweh said to me: 
"Rise up and lead this people that they may go and take possession 
of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them as an 
inheritance."

{N}SERVE AND LOVE GOD{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}12_{/}So now, Israel, what is it that Yahweh, your God, asks 
of you but to fear him and follow all his ways? Love him and serve 
him with all your heart and with all your soul. {I}13_{/}Observe the 
commandments of Yahweh and his laws which I command you today, for 
your good.
[=]_{R}_{I}14_{/}See: the heavens, those that are seen and those that are 
unseen, the earth and all that is in it, everything belongs to 
Yahweh, your God. {R}_{I}15_{/}Nevertheless, it was on your fathers that 
Yahweh set his heart. He loved them, and after them, he chose 
their descendants - you - preferring you to all the peoples, as 
you can see this day.
[=]_{I}16_{/}Purify your hearts, then, and do not be defiant towards 
Yahweh because [=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}Yahweh is the God of gods and the Lord of 
lords. He is the great God, the strong and terrible God. When he 
judges, he treats everyone equally; he does not let himself be 
bought by gifts. [=]_{I}18_{/}He renders justice to the orphan and the 
widow, and loves the stranger, giving him bread and clothing. 
[=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}Love the stranger then, because you yourselves were 
strangers in the land of Egypt. {R}_{I}20_{/}Fear Yahweh, your God, serve 
him, follow him and call on his name when you have to make an 
oath. {R}_{I}21_{/}He is your pride and he is your God, who has done 
those amazing things for you. [=]_{R}_{I}22_{/}When you went down to 
Egypt, your ancestors were no more than seventy persons, but now, 
Yahweh, your God, has made you as many as the stars of heaven.

{1}11{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}So, love Yahweh, your God, and observe all that he has 
commanded you: his laws, norms and commandments. {I}2_{/}You, with 
whom I am speaking, understand all this. Perhaps this may be more 
difficult for your children who have not known the teaching of 
Yahweh or seen his greatness and strength. {R}_{I}3_{/}But you saw the 
signs and the marvels he did in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his 
land, {R}_{I}4_{/}and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses 
and chariots, when he buried them in the waters of the Red Sea, 
destroying them as they pursued us.

[=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}Remember, too, all that Yahweh did for you in the desert, 
until you came to this place, {R}_{I}6_{/}what he did to Dathan and 
Abiram, the sons of Eliab, from the tribe of Reuben, when the 
earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with all their families, 
their tents and their followers, in the midst of all Israel. 
{I}7_{/}You have seen with your eyes all these great wonders that 
Yahweh has done. {I}8_{/}Therefore, observe all these commandments 
that I give you, that you may gather strength and occupy the land 
which you are going over to possess. {I}9_{/}And you will live long in 
the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers and to their 
descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
[\u0095]_{R}_{I}10_{/}For the land you are to enter and possess is not like 
the land of Egypt which you left, where after having sown your 
seeds, you had to water them like a vegetable garden with your 
feet on the water wheel, {R}_{I}11_{/}but a land of mountains and 
valleys, which drinks water from the rain that comes from the 
heavens. {R}_{I}12_{/}Yahweh, your God, cares for this land and his eyes 
are constantly fixed on it from the beginning of the year until 
its end.
[=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}If you truly obey the commandments that I give you 
today, if you love Yahweh and serve me with all your heart and 
with all your soul, {I}14_{/}I will give rain to your land in season, 
both in autumn and in spring, that you may harvest your wheat, 
wine and oil. {I}15_{/}Your field will give you grass for your cattle, 
and you will eat until you are satisfied. {I}16_{/}But if you turn 
aside, if you serve other gods and bow before them, {I}17_{/}the anger 
of Yahweh will break out against you. He will close up the heavens 
and it will cease to rain; the land will not yield its fruit and 
you will suddenly perish in that beautiful land which Yahweh gives 
you.
[=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}Engrave these words of mine on your heart and in your 
soul, brand them on your hand as a sign, and keep them always 
before your eyes. {I}19_{/}Teach them to your children. Speak of them 
when you are at home and when you travel, when you lie down and 
when you rise. {I}20_{/}Engrave them on your doorposts and on your 
city gates. [=]_{I}21_{/}Then your days and the days of your children 
will be multiplied in the land which Yahweh swore to give to your 
fathers, and you will dwell in that land as long as the heavens 
are above the earth.
{I}22_{/}For if you observe the commandments that I command you to 
practice, if you love Yahweh and follow his ways, clinging to him, 
{I}23_{/}Yahweh will destroy all those nations before you and you will 
seize the land from greater and more powerful nations.
[=]_{R}_{I}24_{/}Every place where you set foot will be yours; your 
territory will be from the desert up to Lebanon and from the 
Euphrates River up to the Western Sea. {R}_{I}25_{/}No one will be able 
to stand against you. In all the land that you tread, Yahweh will 
make the peoples fear and be afraid when they hear of you, as he 
himself has said.

{N}THERE WILL BE ONE SANCTUARY{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{I}26_{/}See that on this day, I set before you a blessing and 
a curse. {I}27_{/}A blessing if you obey the commandments of Yahweh 
that I command you today; {I}28_{/}a curse if you disobey these 
commandments and turn aside from the way that I show you now, to 
follow strange gods which are not yours. [=]_{R}_{I}29_{/}When Yahweh, 
your God, has brought you into the land you are going to conquer, 
you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on 
Mount Ebal. {R}_{I}30_{/}(Those mountains are at the other side of the 
Jordan, beyond the western road, in the land of the Canaanites who 
dwell in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oak of Moreh.) 
{R}_{I}31_{/}Now you are going to cross the Jordan to take possession of 
the land which Yahweh gives you. You are to possess it and live in 
it, {I}32_{/}and be careful to carry out all the laws and precepts 
which I now set before you.

{1}12{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}These are the precepts, the norms and the laws that you 
shall endeavor to put into practice all the days of your life in 
the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you.
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}Totally destroy all the places where the peoples you are 
going to drive away had worshiped their gods. Do this in the high 
mountains as well as in the hills and under every green tree. 
[=]_{I}3_{/}Destroy their altars, smash their pedestals, burn their 
sacred pillars, and break into pieces the images of their gods. 
Wipe out in those places even the name of their gods.
{I}4_{/}Do not build similar sanctuaries for Yahweh, [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}for he 
himself has already chosen a place among all the tribes to put his 
Name there and dwell in it. There you will go and look for Yahweh. 
{R}_{I}6_{/}To that place you will bring your burnt offerings and your 
sacrifices, tithes and offerings. There you will present the 
offerings that you promised to God and those which you voluntarily 
offer, as well as the firstlings of your cattle and sheep.
{I}7_{/}There you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh and feast 
together with your families, enjoying everything you have reaped 
through the blessing of Yahweh. [=]_{I}8_{/}You shall not do there as 
we do here. For now everyone does what seems best for him, 
{I}9_{/}because we have not yet come to the place of rest, that is, 
the land which Yahweh is giving you as your inheritance.
{R}_{I}10_{/}When you cross the Jordan and settle in the land which 
Yahweh will give you, when he has delivered you from all your 
enemies, you will at last find rest. {I}11_{/}Then you shall bring to 
the place chosen by Yahweh as a dwelling place for his Name, 
everything which I commanded: the burnt offerings, the sacrifices, 
the tithes and the first-fruits of the work of your hand, and the 
selected offerings which you promised by vow to Yahweh: {I}12_{/}There 
you shall celebrate your banquets before Yahweh: you and your 
children, your servants as well as the Levites who live among you, 
since they have no portion or inheritance as you have.
[\u0095]_{I}13_{/}Be careful not to offer your holocaust in any place. 
{R}_{I}14_{/}Only in the place chosen by Yahweh in the land of one of 
your tribes are you to offer your holocaust, and only there will 
you do all that I command you. [=]_{I}15_{/}However, in all your 
cities you may slaughter and eat meat, as much as you like of the 
animals Yahweh has blessed you with. Both the clean and the 
unclean may eat of it, just as you would eat gazelle or deer. 
{R}_{I}16_{/}Only you must not eat the blood but pour it out upon the 
earth like water.
{I}17_{/}You may not eat in your cities the tithes of your wheat, wine 
and oil, or the firstlings of your herd or your flock, or any of 
the things which you have offered to Yahweh either freely or by 
vow. {R}_{I}18_{/}These you are to eat before Yahweh in the place Yahweh 
has chosen, together with your children and your servants, and you 
will feast before Yahweh, your God, enjoying the fruit of your 
labor. {I}19_{/}Be careful not to forget the Levite as long as you 
live.
{I}20_{/}When Yahweh has extended your boundaries as he promised you, 
and you would like to eat meat, you may do so whenever you like. 
{I}21_{/}If the place chosen by Yahweh for his dwelling is too far, 
then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which Yahweh has 
given you, in the manner that I have prescribed for you. {I}22_{/}You 
may eat it within your cities as much as you like, but you shall 
eat it just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten: all may equally 
eat of it - the clean and the unclean. [=]_{I}23_{/}Only take care not 
to eat the blood because blood and life are one and you must not 
eat the life with the flesh. {R}_{I}24_{/}Do not eat it but pour it as 
water is poured upon the land, {I}25_{/}that all may go well with you 
and with your children after you, doing what is pleasing in the 
eyes of Yahweh.
{I}26_{/}In turn, you shall bring with you the things you have 
consecrated and offered by vow to Yahweh and go to the place 
chosen by Yahweh. {R}_{I}27_{/}There you will sacrifice your holocausts, 
the flesh as well as the blood, on the altar of Yahweh, your God. 
Pour out the blood on the altar, and then eat the flesh.
{I}28_{/}Be careful to obey all that I command you, and all shall 
always be well with you and with your children after you, for 
doing what is right and good in the eyes of Yahweh.
{R}_{I}29_{/}Yahweh, your God, will destroy before you the nations you 
drive away. When you have destroyed them and dwell in their land, 
be careful after having destroyed them. {I}30_{/}Let it not be that 
you fall in the trap and follow their example. Do not look at 
their gods saying: "How did this nation serve their gods? We will 
do the same."
[=]_{R}_{I}31_{/}This you shall not do, even to honor Yahweh your God, 
since in order to honor their gods, {I}32_{/}they have done everything 
that Yahweh abhors, including burning their children in honor of 
their gods.

{N}DO NOT BE LED ASTRAY{/}

{1}13{/}

[\u0095]_{I}1_{/}Do all that I command you with out adding or taking 
anything away from it.
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}What about the prophet or the professional dreamer who 
gives you signs or miracles? [=]_{I}3_{/}If these signs or these 
marvels happen, and he takes advantage of them to say: "Come and 
let us follow other gods (gods which are not ours), and let us 
serve them," {R}_{I}4_{/}do not pay attention to the words of this 
prophet or dreamer; because Yahweh, your God, is testing you to 
know if you really love him with all your heart and with all your 
soul. [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}It is Yahweh, your God, you will follow and him 
will you fear. Obey his commandments and listen to his voice. 
Serve him and cling to him.
{R}_{I}6_{/}As for the prophet or dreamer, he must die because he has 
spoken to draw you away from Yahweh, your God, who brought you out 
of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. This prophet 
must die because he wanted you to stray from the path that Yahweh 
has commanded you to follow. In this way you will purge the evil 
from your midst.
{I}7_{/}If your brother, the child of your father, or if your son or 
daughter, or the woman you love or your close friend secretly 
tries to lure you, saying: "Come, let us serve other gods," gods 
whom neither you nor your fathers have known, {I}8_{/}the gods of 
either the neighboring nations that surround you along the 
boundaries of your land or those far away, {I}9_{/}do not yield to him 
or listen to him. Do not pity him, or pardon him or cover up for 
him, {R}_{I}10_{/}but denounce him. You shall deal him his death and your 
hand shall be the first raised against him, and then the hand of 
all the people. {R}_{I}11_{/}You shall kill him by stoning because he 
tried to draw you away from Yahweh, your God, who brought you out 
of the land of Egypt, from that house of slavery. {R}_{I}12_{/}All in 
Israel will hear of this and they will fear, and never dare to do 
such evil.
{I}13_{/}You may hear that in some of the cities that Yahweh will give 
you to dwell in, {I}14_{/}some evil people have appeared. You will 
perhaps hear that they have perverted their fellow residents and 
have invited them to serve new and strange gods. {I}15_{/}Then 
carefully inquire about them and try to discover the truth of the 
matter. If it is certain and you have confirmed that such a 
shameful thing has indeed been done, {I}16_{/}you shall kill by the 
sword all the inhabitants of that city. You shall curse the city 
and all that is in it, even the animals. {I}17_{/}Then you shall pile 
up all the plunder in the center of the square and set the city on 
fire with all the plunder so as to fulfill the curse of Yahweh. 
This city will forever be a heap of ruins, and will never again be 
rebuilt.
{R}_{I}18_{/}You shall not take hold of anything from this city, not even 
the smallest thing, in order to appease the wrath of Yahweh, and 
that he may have mercy on you. Then he will bless you and fulfill 
the promise he has sworn to your fathers {R}_{I}19_{/}if you listen to 
the voice of Yahweh, observing all his commandments that I command 
you today, and doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh, your 
God.

{1}14{/}

[=]_[*]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Yahweh holds you as his sons, so you will not cut 
yourselves or cut the hair on your forehead for the dead. {R}_{I}2_{/}You 
are a people, holy and consecrated to Yahweh, your God. Yahweh has 
chosen you from among all the peoples on the face of the earth to 
be his very own people.

{N}ANIMALS "CLEAN" AND "UNCLEAN"{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{I}3_{/}Do not eat anything that is unclean. {I}4_{/}These are the 
animals that you may eat: ox, sheep, goat, {I}5_{/}deer, gazelle, 
roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. {I}6_{/}You 
may eat any animal that chews the cud and has a split hoof.
{I}7_{/}But of those that chew cud or have a split hoof, you may not 
eat the following: camel, hare, and rock badger, because they do 
chew the cud but do not have a divided hoof - these are unclean 
for you. Neither shall you eat the meat {I}8_{/}of the pig because 
although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. Regard it 
as unclean: do not eat their meat or touch their carcass.
{R}_{I}9_{/}Of all the animals that live in the water, you may eat the 
following: all that has fins and scales, {I}10_{/}but not those that 
do not have fins and scales. Consider them as unclean. {I}11_{/}You 
may eat all clean birds. {I}12_{/}But do not eat the following: eagle, 
vulture, osprey, {I}13_{/}buzzard, kite, the different kinds of 
falcons, {I}14_{/}all kinds of ravens, - {R}_{I}15_{/}ostrich, nighthawk, sea 
gull, and all the different kinds of hawk, {I}16_{/}eagle, owl and 
ibis, swan, {I}17_{/}pelican, purple gallinule, cormorant, {I}18_{/}stork, 
the different kinds of heron, hoopoe, and bat. {I}19_{/}Consider as 
unclean all winged insects. Do not eat them. {I}20_{/}But you may eat 
all clean birds.
[=]_{R}_{I}21_{/}Do not eat any animal that you find dead. You may give 
it to the foreigner who lives in your city, or sell it to the 
stranger, for you are a people consecrated to Yahweh, your God.
Do not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

{N}TITHES{/}

[\u0095]_{I}22_{/}Every year separate the tenth part from the yield of what 
you have sown in your fields. {R}_{I}23_{/}In the presence of Yahweh, in 
the place he has chosen as the dwelling place for his Name, you 
shall eat the tithe of your wheat, your oil and your wine, and the 
firstlings of your herd and flock that you may learn to honor 
Yahweh, your God, all the days of your life.
{R}_{I}24_{/}The journey may be too long for you to bring those tithes to 
the place Yahweh has chosen as a dwelling place for his Name. In 
that case, when Yahweh your God, blesses you, exchange them all 
for money. {I}25_{/}Take the money in your hand and go to the place 
chosen by Yahweh. {I}26_{/}There you shall buy whatever you like - 
oxen or sheep, or wine or strong drink - anything you like. And 
there you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh, and shall rejoice - 
you and your household. {I}27_{/}And do not forget the Levite who 
dwells in your cities, since he has nothing of his own and no 
inheritance as you have.
{I}28_{/}Every three years, separate the tithes of all the year's 
harvest but store them in the city. {I}29_{/}Then the Levite among you 
who has no inheritance of his own, and the foreigner, the orphan 
and the widow who live in your cities may come and eat, and be 
satisfied. So Yahweh will bless all the works of your hands, all 
that you undertake.

{N}THE YEAR OF FORGIVENESS{/}

{1}15{/}

[=]_[*]_{I}1_{/}Every seven years you shall pardon debts. {I}2_{/}You 
shall do this in the following manner: the creditor shall pardon 
any debt of his neighbor or brother, and shall stop exacting it of 
him because Yahweh's pardon has been proclaimed. {I}3_{/}You may 
demand that a foreigner pay back his debts but you shall pardon 
the debt of your brother. {I}4_{/}However you should have no poor in 
your midst for Yahweh will give you prosperity in the land that 
you have conquered. {R}_{I}5_{/}If you listen to the voice of Yahweh, 
your God, and obey all that he has commanded you, which I now 
remind you of, he will bless you as he promised. {I}6_{/}You shall 
lend to many nations but you shall not borrow; you shall drive 
away many nations and they shall not have dominion over you.

{N}THE POOR AND ENSLAVED{/}

[\u0095]_{I}7_{/}If there is anybody poor among your brothers, who lives in 
your cities in the land that Yahweh gives you, do not harden your 
heart or close your hand, {I}8_{/}but be open-handed and lend him all 
that he needs.
{I}9_{/}Be careful that you do not harbor in your heart these perverse 
thoughts: "The seventh year, the year of pardon, is near," so you 
look coldly at your poor brother and lend him nothing. He may cry 
to Yahweh against you, and you will be guilty. {R}_{I}10_{/}When you give 
anything, give it willingly, and Yahweh, your God, will bless you 
for this in all your work and in all that you undertake.
[=]_{I}11_{/}The poor will not disappear from this land. Therefore I 
give you this commandment: you must be open-handed to your 
brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.
[=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}If your fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself 
to you as a slave, he shall serve you for six years, and in the 
seventh, you shall set him free. {I}13_{/}When you set him free, do 
not let him go empty-handed, {I}14_{/}but give him something from your 
flock, from your store of wheat and wine, something from the good 
things that Yahweh has blessed you with.
{R}_{I}15_{/}Remember that you too were a slave in the land of Egypt, and 
Yahweh, your God, has given you freedom. Because of this, I give 
you this commandment.
[=]_{I}16_{/}But if your slave says: "I do not want to leave," because 
he loves you and your household and knows that he will be well off 
with you, {I}17_{/}you shall then take an awl and thrust it through 
his ear into the door of your house, and he will serve you 
forever. You shall do likewise with your maidservant.
{I}18_{/}Do not think it hard on you to give him freedom, because for 
six years you have gained from him twice as much as from a hired 
servant.
[=]_{I}19_{/}You shall consecrate to Yahweh all the male firstlings 
that are born of your cattle or sheep. You shall not use the 
firstling of your cattle for work, nor shear the firstling of your 
sheep.
{I}20_{/}You shall eat these every three years in the presence of 
Yahweh with all your family in the place Yahweh has chosen. 
{R}_{I}21_{/}You shall not sacrifice an animal to Yahweh if it has any 
defect, if it is lame or blind, {I}22_{/}but shall eat it in your 
house; the clean as well as the unclean may eat of it, as you 
would eat a gazelle or a deer. {R}_{I}23_{/}Only take care that you do 
not eat the blood, you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

{N}ISRAEL'S THREE FEASTS{/}

{1}16{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover in 
honor of Yahweh since it was in this month that Yahweh, your God, 
brought you out of Egypt by night. {R}_{I}2_{/}On the Passover, you shall 
sacrifice oxen and sheep to Yahweh in the place he has chosen for 
his Name to dwell. [=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}For the Passover supper, you are not 
to eat leavened bread, but for seven days, you shall eat 
unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt 
hastily. So you shall remember all the days of your life the day 
on which you left Egypt.
{I}4_{/}For seven days, no leaven shall be seen throughout your 
territory; nor shall any of the flesh you sacrificed on the 
evening of the first day be left for the following day.
{R}_{I}5_{/}You may not offer the Passover sacrifice in any city which 
Yahweh gives you, {R}_{I}6_{/}but only in the place chosen by Yahweh as 
the dwelling place for his Name.
Sacrifice the Passover in the evening, at sunset, at the time you 
came out of Egypt. {R}_{I}7_{/}You shall roast it and eat it in the place 
chosen by Yahweh, your God. And then, in the morning you shall 
return to your house. {I}8_{/}You shall eat unleavened bread for six 
days, and on the seventh, you shall celebrate a solemn assembly in 
honor of Yahweh and you shall not work.
[=]_{I}9_{/}You shall count seven weeks, beginning from the day you 
start cutting the standing wheat. [=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}Then you shall 
celebrate the Feast of the Seven Weeks for Yahweh, your God, 
making a voluntary offering from your harvest in proportion to the 
way Yahweh, your God, blesses you.
{I}11_{/}At the place Yahweh has chosen as the dwelling place for his 
Name, you shall feast, you and your children, your servants, the 
Levite who lives in your cities, the foreigner, the orphan and the 
widow who live among you. {R}_{I}12_{/}Remember that you were a slave in 
Egypt and be careful to put these precepts into practice.
{I}13_{/}Celebrate too the Feast of the Tents for seven days, after 
gathering the produce of your threshing floor and of your 
winepress. {I}14_{/}Rejoice during this feast - you and your children, 
your servants, the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow 
who live in your city. {I}15_{/}You shall feast for seven days in 
honor of Yahweh at the place chosen by him; because Yahweh will 
bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, 
so that your joy may be complete.
[=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}Three times a year all your men shall present themselves 
before Yahweh, your God, in the place chosen by him: on the Feast 
of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of 
Tents. And you shall not present yourselves empty-handed, {I}17_{/}but 
each one will offer in proportion to what he has, according to the 
blessing that Yahweh has bestowed upon you.

{N}REGARDING JUSTICE{/}

{R}_{I}18_{/}Appoint judges and secretaries for your tribes in every city 
which Yahweh gives you, that they may judge the people according 
to justice.
[=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}You shall not bend the law or show partiality. Do not 
accept gifts because gifts blind the eyes of the wise and subvert 
the cause of the righteous. {R}_{I}20_{/}Justice! Seek justice if you 
want to live and inherit the land which Yahweh, your God, gives 
you.
{R}_{I}21_{/}Do not plant any tree or sacred pillar near the altar of 
your God. {I}22_{/}Do not put up there the sacred stones that Yahweh 
hates.

{1}17{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh, your God, an ox or a sheep 
that has any blemish or defect because Yahweh abhors this.
{R}_{I}2_{/}If there is among you, in any of the cities which Yahweh will 
give you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of 
Yahweh to the point of breaking his covenant, {I}3_{/}if they go to 
serve other gods and bow before them - to the sun, or the moon, or 
the stars of heaven - which I have forbidden, {R}_{I}4_{/}and this has 
been reported to you or you learn of it, you shall begin to 
investigate the matter well. If you have proved that this 
abomination has indeed been committed in Israel, {R}_{I}5_{/}you shall 
bring to the gates of the city that man or woman who committed the 
misdeed, and you shall stone him or her to death. {R}_{I}6_{/}But you 
will need the testimony of two or three witnesses to condemn a 
person to death. No one will be condemned by the accusation of 
only one witness. [=]_{I}7_{/}The hands of the witnesses shall throw 
the first stones to kill the accused. Afterwards all the people 
shall stone him. In this way, you will make the evil disappear 
from your midst.
[=]_{R}_{I}8_{/}If a very difficult case is presented to you which you 
cannot resolve in the city tribunal, either about murder, a legal 
dispute or a quarrel because of injuries, you shall go up to the 
place chosen by Yahweh, your God; {R}_{I}9_{/}you shall approach the 
Levite priests and the judge in office at that time. You shall 
consult them and they will point out to you the decision on the 
case. {I}10_{/}You shall carry out the decision that they have made 
for you in that place chosen by Yahweh, and you shall act in 
accordance with what they have instructed you. {I}11_{/}You shall 
follow the instructions or the verdict they have given you without 
turning aside either to the right or to the left from the decision 
they made for you.
{R}_{I}12_{/}He who dares to act in another way and does not listen to 
the priest who stands there in the service of Yahweh, or to the 
judge, that man will die. You shall banish evil from Israel. 
{I}13_{/}So all the people upon knowing this shall fear and not make 
decisions without the right to do so.

{N}THE KINGS{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}14_{/}When you come to the land which Yahweh, your God, 
gives you, when you have conquered it and live in it, you shall 
perhaps say: "I would like to have a king like all the neighboring 
nations." {R}_{I}15_{/}Then you have to appoint a king chosen by Yahweh 
from among your brothers. You shall not appoint a foreign king who 
is not a brother Israelite.
[=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}Ensure that your king does not acquire many horses, lest 
he again send his people to Egypt to get more horses. For Yahweh 
commanded you never to go back that way.
{I}17_{/}Neither shall he have many women lest they pervert his heart. 
And neither let him pile up gold and silver.
{R}_{I}18_{/}When he ascends the throne, let him copy for his use this 
Law from the book of the Levite priests. [=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}He shall bring 
it with him and read it every day of his life, that he may learn 
to fear Yahweh, keeping all the sayings of the Law and putting his 
precepts into practice.
{R}_{I}20_{/}So let him not become conceited nor look down on his 
brothers, nor turn aside from this commandment either to the right 
or to the left, so that he and his children may lengthen the days 
of their reign in the midst of Israel.

{N}THE PRIESTS OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI{/}

{1}18{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}The Levite priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no 
share or inheritance as the rest of the children of Israel have, 
but they shall live on the burnt offerings in honor of Yahweh, and 
on what is consecrated to him. {I}2_{/}The Levite shall have no share 
in the inheritance received by his brother because Yahweh is his 
inheritance as he has promised.
{R}_{I}3_{/}This will be the right of the priests from what is offered, 
whether ox or sheep: to the priest shall be given the shoulder, 
the jaws and the stomach. {I}4_{/}You shall also give him the 
firstfruits of your wheat, your wine and your oil, as well as the 
first wool from the shearing of your sheep, {R}_{I}5_{/}for Yahweh chose 
him from among all the tribes to be the servant of his Name, he 
and his children forever.
[=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}If a Levite comes from one of the cities of the territory 
of Israel where he resides, and he wishes to enter into the place 
chosen by Yahweh, {R}_{I}7_{/}he shall officiate in the Name of Yahweh, 
his God, like all his Levite brothers who stand there with him in 
the presence of Yahweh. {I}8_{/}He shall eat the same portion, 
regardless of what he has obtained from the sale of his family 
goods.

{N}PROPHETS AND "THE" PROPHET{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}9_{/}When you have entered into the land which Yahweh, your 
God, gives you, do not imitate the evil deeds of those people. 
{I}10_{/}You must not have in your midst anyone who makes his child 
pass through the fire, or one who practices divination, or anyone 
who consults the stars, who is a sorcerer, [=]_{R}_{I}11_{/}or one who 
practices enchantments or who consults the spirits, no diviner or 
one who asks questions of the dead. {I}12_{/}For Yahweh abhors those 
who do these things, and it is precisely for this reason that he 
drives them away before you. [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}You must be blameless for 
Yahweh, your God.
{R}_{I}14_{/}Those people that you are to drive away listened to 
sorcerers and diviners, but Yahweh, your God, has provided you 
with something different. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}He will raise up for you a 
prophet like myself from among the people, from your brothers, to 
whom you shall listen. {R}_{I}16_{/}Remember that in Horeb, on the day of 
the Assembly, you said: "I am afraid to die and I do not want to 
hear the voice of Yahweh again or see again that great fire." 
{I}17_{/}So Yahweh said to me: "They have spoken well. [=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}I 
shall raise up a prophet from their midst, one of their brothers, 
who will be like you. I will put my words into his mouth and he 
will tell them all that I command. {R}_{I}19_{/}If someone does not 
listen to my words when the prophet speaks on my behalf, I myself 
will call him to account for it. [=]_{R}_{I}20_{/}But any prophet who 
says in my name anything that I did not command, or speaks in the 
name of other gods, that prophet shall die."
{I}21_{/}You will perhaps ask: "How are we going to know that a word 
does not come from Yahweh?" {R}_{I}22_{/}If any prophet speaks in the 
name of Yahweh and if that which he says does not happen, you 
shall know that the word does not come from Yahweh. The prophet 
has spoken to boast and you shall not pay any attention to him.

{N}CITIES OF REFUGE{/}

{1}19{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}When Yahweh, your God, has destroyed the nations whose 
land he will give you, when you have driven them away and you 
occupy their houses, {R}_{I}2_{/}you shall set aside three cities in the 
midst of the land which Yahweh, your God, gives you in possession. 
{R}_{I}3_{/}Open a way to them and divide in three parts the territory 
that Yahweh, your God, gives you in possession: so that anyone who 
has killed someone may find refuge in those cities.
{R}_{I}4_{/}But who may find refuge there to save himself? The person who 
caused the death of his neighbor with whom he had had no quarrel 
before. {I}5_{/}For example, if someone goes to the forest with a 
companion to cut firewood and as he wields the axe to cut a tree, 
the blade comes off its handle, mortally wounding his companion, 
he can flee into one of those cities and so save himself. {I}6_{/}The 
avenger of blood must not be allowed, in his rage, to hunt the 
killer and catch up with him because the distance is great, and 
kill him in turn, when in reality the latter is not guilty of 
murder, since he had had no previous quarrel with his companion.
{I}7_{/}For this reason, I command you to set aside these three 
cities. {I}8_{/}But perhaps Yahweh will extend your frontiers as he 
has sworn to your fathers, and give you all the land that he 
promised to your fathers, {R}_{I}9_{/}on condition that you keep his 
commandments and do what I tell you today, that is, that you love 
Yahweh, your God, and follow his ways at all times. Then you shall 
add three more to these three cities.
[=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}In that way, innocent blood shall not be shed in the 
midst of the land which Yahweh, your God, gives you as your 
inheritance, and you will not be guilty of such shedding of blood.
{R}_{I}11_{/}But if a man, because of a feud with his neighbor, ambushes 
him and falls on him and wounds him fatally, and if afterwards the 
aggressor flees into one of these cities, {I}12_{/}the heads of this 
city shall order that he be arrested there in the place of asylum. 
And he shall be put in the hands of the relatives of the victim 
that they may kill him. {R}_{I}13_{/}Do not show pity to him for you must 
remove from Israel the shedding of innocent blood, so that you may 
have prosperity.
{R}_{I}14_{/}In the inheritance you receive in the land which Yahweh, 
your God, will give as your possession, do not move the boundaries 
of your neighbor set by your ancestors.
[=]_{I}15_{/}A sole witness is not enough to condemn anyone, whatever 
be the crime or offense of which the person is accused. Only by 
the testimony of two or three witnesses can a case be resolved. 
{I}16_{/}If only one witness rises against a person and accuses him of 
an offense, {R}_{I}17_{/}both parties involved shall appear before Yahweh 
in the presence of the priests and judges then in office, who may 
deal with it.
{R}_{I}18_{/}The judges will examine the case in detail, and if it turns 
out that the witness had lied in falsely accusing his brother, 
{I}19_{/}they shall impose on him the punishment which the lying 
witness tried to impose on his brother. So shall you uproot evil 
from your midst, {I}20_{/}because others, upon knowing it, shall fear 
and not do the same.
[=]_{I}21_{/}Do not feel sorry for him: life for life, eye for eye, 
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

{N}WAR{/}

{1}20{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}When you go to war against your enemies and you see horses, 
chariots and an army more numerous than yours, then have no fear 
because Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, is with 
you.
{I}2_{/}When the hour of battle draws near, the priest shall advance 
to the head of the army and shall speak to the people saying: 
{R}_{I}3_{/}"Listen, Israel, today you are to enter into battle against 
your enemies. Do not let your heart be discouraged, or afraid or 
troubled, and do not tremble before them, {R}_{I}4_{/}for Yahweh, your 
God, is with you, to fight in your favor against your enemies and 
save you." {I}5_{/}So the secretaries shall say to the people: "Is 
there anyone of you who has just built a new house and has not 
dedicated it? Let him go home; lest he die in battle and another 
dedicate it. {I}6_{/}Is there anyone among you who has planted a new 
vineyard and has not yet enjoyed its fruits? Let him go home, lest 
he die in the war and another enjoy its fruit. [=]_{R}_{I}7_{/}Is there 
anyone who has made a promise to marry and has not yet been 
married? Let him go back to his home at once, lest he die in 
combat and another take the woman as his wife."
{I}8_{/}They shall also say: "Is there anyone who is afraid or 
weakhearted? Let him go home immediately, lest his fear discourage 
others." {I}9_{/}When they have finished speaking, commanders shall be 
put at the head of the people.
{I}10_{/}When you draw near to a city to lay siege to it, you shall 
first offer it peace. [=]_{I}11_{/}If it accepts your proposal and 
opens the gates to you, all the people found in it shall become 
your slaves and serve you.
{I}12_{/}If they do not accept the peace that you offer them and 
declare war against you, you shall lay siege to the city. 
{R}_{I}13_{/}And when Yahweh, your God, gives it into your hands, you 
shall kill by the sword all the men, {I}14_{/}but the women and 
children, the livestock and all the other things which you find 
there shall be your booty, and you shall eat from the plunder of 
your enemies which Yahweh has given over to you.
{I}15_{/}This you shall do to all the cities which are very far from 
you and which are not in the country which you will possess. 
{I}16_{/}But in the cities which Yahweh gives you as an inheritance, 
you shall not leave anything that lives. {R}_{I}17_{/}You must destroy 
them all according to the law of anathema - the Hittites, 
Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites - as 
Yahweh, your God, has commanded you, {R}_{I}18_{/}that they may not teach 
you all those evil things which they have done to honor their 
gods, for by imitating them you shall sin against Yahweh, your 
God.
{I}19_{/}If, on attacking a city, you have to lay siege to it for a 
long time before capturing it, you shall not destroy the fruit 
trees around it nor cut them with your axe, that you may eat their 
fruit. Do not cut them, then. Are the trees of the field men that 
they should also be stricken? {I}20_{/}If there are trees in the field 
which are not fruit-bearing, but are for other uses, cut them down 
and make ladders and instruments out of them with which you may 
seize the city that offers you resistance.

{N}LAWS AND RIGHTS{/}

{1}21{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}If the corpse of a slain man is found in the land which 
Yahweh, your God, will give you, and it is not known who killed 
him, {R}_{I}2_{/}your judges and leaders shall go out to measure the 
distance between the victim and the surrounding cities to 
{R}_{I}3_{/}determine which city is nearest to the dead man.
And the leaders of that city shall take a calf that has never been 
used for work or borne a yoke. {I}4_{/}And they shall bring it down to 
an overflowing brook, to a place which has never been plowed or 
sown, and there they shall break its neck. {R}_{I}5_{/}The priests, 
descendants of Levi, shall be present for they were chosen by 
Yahweh to minister and give the blessings in his name, and they 
are those who decide on all lawsuits or criminal cases.
[=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}Then all the elders of the city nearest to the man found 
dead shall wash their hands in the brook over the calf whose neck 
was broken. {I}7_{/}And they shall pronounce these words, "Our hands 
did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see it. 
{R}_{I}8_{/}Forgive, O Yahweh, your people of Israel whom you rescued, 
and do not charge them with this shedding of innocent blood." 
{I}9_{/}So they shall be absolved from this blood; you shall have 
removed from your midst the guilt of innocent blood and have done 
what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.
{R}_{I}10_{/}When you go to war against your enemies, and Yahweh, your 
God, delivers them over to you, {I}11_{/}if you see among the captives 
a beautiful woman, and you fall in love with her and desire to 
have her as your wife, {I}12_{/}you shall bring her to your house. 
First, she shall shave her head and clip her nails. {I}13_{/}She shall 
take off the dress of a captive and stay in your house. And she 
will mourn for her father and mother for a month, after which you 
may have relations with her. So you shall be her husband and she 
your wife. {I}14_{/}If in time she does not please you anymore, you 
shall set her free. You shall not sell her for money, nor make her 
your slave, since you have taken her by force.
{R}_{I}15_{/}When a man has two wives and prefers one to the other, 
supposing that both of them bear him children, and the firstborn 
is the son of the wife he loves less, [=]_{I}16_{/}then on the day he 
divides the inheritance among his children, he cannot give the 
right of the firstborn to the son of the woman he prefers, at the 
expense of the true firstborn who is the son of the woman he loves 
less. [=]_{I}17_{/}On the contrary, he should recognize the child of 
the woman he loves less as the firstborn and give him a double 
share of all his property. He is his firstborn, and to him belongs 
the right of the firstborn.
{R}_{I}18_{/}If a man has a stubborn and rebellious child who does not 
pay attention to what his father or mother commands, and does not 
listen to them when they call him, {I}19_{/}his parents shall seize 
him and bring him before the leaders of the city, to the gate of 
judgment, {I}20_{/}and shall say to them: "This son of ours is 
stubborn and rebellious, he does not pay any attention to us; he 
is spoiled and a drunkard." {R}_{I}21_{/}Then all the men of this town 
shall stone him to death. In this way shall you banish evil from 
your midst, and all Israel upon knowing this shall fear.
{R}_{I}22_{/}If a man, guilty of any crime that deserves death, has been 
put to death by hanging him on a tree, [=]_{R}_{I}23_{/}his body must not 
remain hanging there through the night. But you shall bury him on 
the same day because the hanged man is a curse of God. So you 
shall not defile the land which Yahweh, your God, gives you as an 
inheritance.

{N}GIVE BACK WHAT YOU FIND{/}

{1}22{/}

[=]_{I}1_{/}If you find the lost ox or sheep of your brother, do not 
pretend that you did not see it, but bring it back to its owner. 
{R}_{I}2_{/}If your brother does not live near you, or you do not know to 
whom the animal belongs, you shall keep it in your house until its 
owner comes looking for it. Then you shall return it to him.
{I}3_{/}Do the same with his ass, his clothes, or with anything lost 
by your brother that you happen to find. Do not pretend not to 
notice them. {I}4_{/}If you see the ass of your brother or his ox fall 
down by the way, do not pretend not to notice it, but help your 
brother lift the animal up.
{I}5_{/}A woman must not wear a man's clothing, nor a man the clothing 
of a woman, because whoever does such a thing deserves the 
reprobation of Yahweh.
[=]_{I}6_{/}If you find along your way a bird's nest in a tree or on 
the ground, and the mother-bird is sitting upon the birdlings or 
upon the eggs, you shall not bring with you the mother-bird 
together with the young, {I}7_{/}but you shall let the mother go and 
take only the young. Then you shall prosper and live long.

{I}8_{/}When you build a new house, you shall construct a small wall 
around the roof, lest someone should fall from it, and your house 
become stained with blood.
{I}9_{/}Do not sow any other seed in your vineyard because when you do 
this, you can neither eat from the produce of the grapes nor from 
the produce of the other plants.
{I}10_{/}Do not plow with an ox and an ass together.
[=]_{I}11_{/}Do not wear a garment woven from wool and linen together.
[=]_{I}12_{/}Make for yourself tassels on the four corners of your 
cloak with which you cover yourself.
{R}_{I}13_{/}It may happen that a man takes a wife and afterwards does 
not like her, {I}14_{/}so he reproaches her for her behavior, and 
defames her by saying: "I married this woman, but when I went to 
bed with her, I found out that she was not a virgin." {R}_{I}15_{/}In 
this case, the father and mother of the young woman shall take the 
sheet of the wedding night which proves that she was a virgin, and 
will show this to the judges of the city. {R}_{I}16_{/}The father of the 
young woman shall then say to the judges: "I have given my 
daughter as wife to this man, but now that he no longer likes her, 
{R}_{I}17_{/}he pretends that when he married her she was not a virgin. 
And yet, see, here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." 
{R}_{I}18_{/}They shall spread the sheet before the judges of the city. 
If the man is guilty, the judges shall arrest him and have him 
whipped.
{R}_{I}19_{/}They shall also fine him a hundred silver coins which they 
shall give to the father of the young woman because the man 
publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. The husband shall have her as 
his wife and cannot repudiate her as long as he lives.
{R}_{I}20_{/}But if what the man says is true, and the proof of her 
virginity is not found, {R}_{I}21_{/}then you shall bring her to the door 
of her father's house and the people shall stone her to death for 
having committed an evil deed in Israel - becoming a prostitute 
while still in her father's house. So shall you banish evil from 
your midst.
[=]_{R}_{I}22_{/}If a man is caught lying with a married woman, the two 
shall die: the adulterer and the adulteress. So shall you banish 
evil from Israel.
{I}23_{/}If a young woman has been promised in marriage to a man, and 
another man meets her in the city and lies with her, {R}_{I}24_{/}they 
shall bring the two and stone them to death: the young woman 
because she did not cry for help when she was in the city, and the 
man because he dishonored the future wife of his neighbor. So 
shall you banish evil from your midst.
{R}_{I}25_{/}But if in the fields, a man meets a young woman promised in 
marriage, and violates her by force, then only the man shall die. 
{R}_{I}26_{/}The young woman shall not suffer punishment. She does not 
deserve death, for this case is similar to a highwayman who falls 
upon a man and murders him; in the same manner, the young woman 
was assaulted. {I}27_{/}She was alone in the fields, she cried but no 
one came to help her.
[=]_{R}_{I}28_{/}If a man meets a young virgin who is not promised in 
marriage to another man, and that man violates her by force, and 
they are caught by surprise, [=]_{R}_{I}29_{/}the man who lay with her 
shall give to the father of the young woman fifty pieces of 
silver, and take her as his wife, because he has dishonored her, 
and he cannot send her away all his life.

{N}ACT WORTHILY AS A CONSECRATED PEOPLE{/}

{1}23{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}No man shall take the wife of his father; let him not 
dishonor his father.
{R}_{I}2_{/}The man whose testicles are crushed and whose penis is cut 
shall not be admitted into the assembly of Yahweh. [=]_{I}3_{/}Nor 
shall the half-breed be admitted into the assembly of Yahweh, even 
to the tenth generation. {I}4_{/}The Ammonite or Moabite shall never 
be admitted into the assembly of Yahweh even after the tenth 
generation, [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}because when you came forth from Egypt, they 
did not go out to meet you with bread and water, but instead they 
hired Balaam, the son of Beor, from the Pethor in Mesopotamia, to 
curse you. [=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}But Yahweh, your God, did not listen to Balaam 
and turned the curse into a blessing because Yahweh loves you. 
{R}_{I}7_{/}You shall never share your prosperity or happiness with these 
peoples.
{I}8_{/}You shall not regard the Edomite as abominable, for he is your 
brother, or the Egyptian, because you were a pilgrim in his land. 
[=]_{I}9_{/}From the third generation, their descendants can be 
admitted into the assembly of Yahweh. 
{I}10_{/}When you set out against your enemies, you shall keep 
yourselves from every evil act. {R}_{I}11_{/}If there is among you a man 
who is not clean by reason of nocturnal emission, he shall go and 
stay outside the camp. {I}12_{/}When evening comes, he shall bathe 
himself and after sunset, he may enter the camp.
{I}13_{/}You shall have a place outside the camp for your natural 
necessities. {I}14_{/}You shall bring a stick with your equipment with 
which you may dig a hole, and then cover up the excrement with the 
unearthed soil. {R}_{I}15_{/}Because Yahweh, your God, walks in the midst 
of the camp to protect you and give your enemy into your hands; 
your camp must be sacred, that Yahweh may not see anything 
indecent in it; otherwise, he will turn away from you.
[=]_{I}16_{/}You shall not turn over to his master the slave who ran 
away from his house and sought refuge with you. {I}17_{/}He shall stay 
with you among your household, in the place that he chooses in one 
of your cities, where it seems best for him. You shall not oppress 
him.
[=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}There shall not be among the daughters of Israel a 
consecrated prostitute, or a consecrated homosexual among the sons 
of Israel.
{R}_{I}19_{/}You shall not bring into the house of Yahweh, your God, a 
gift for prostitutes, or the wages of a dog, that is, a 
homosexual, to pay for the vow that you have made, for both of 
these are abominable in the eyes of Yahweh. [=]_{I}20_{/}You shall not 
lend with interest to your brothers, either in money or food, or 
in any other thing. {R}_{I}21_{/}You can lend with interest to a 
foreigner, but not to your brother, so that Yahweh, your God, may 
bless you in all your undertakings in the land you are to possess. 
[=]_{I}22_{/}If you make any vow to Yahweh, you shall not be late in 
fulfilling it for Yahweh will surely require it of you and it 
would be charged as sin against you. {I}23_{/}If you abstain from 
making vows, you do not commit any sin. {I}24_{/}Fulfill your promises 
and, if you make any vow, you shall offer what you have promised 
to Yahweh.
[=]_{I}25_{/}If you go through the vineyard of your neighbor, you may 
eat as many grapes as you wish, but you may not bring any away. 
{I}26_{/}If you pass through the wheat fields of your neighbor, you 
may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle 
to your neighbor's standing wheat.

{1}24{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}If a man marries a woman, and then dislikes her because 
of some notable defect he discovers in her, he may write a 
certificate of divorce, give it to the woman, and send her out of 
his house.
{R}_{I}2_{/}If afterwards she becomes the wife of another man {R}_{I}3_{/}and he 
also dislikes her and sends her out with a certificate of divorce; 
or, if this second man who took her to be his wife dies, 
[=]_{I}4_{/}the first husband who sent her away cannot take her back 
as wife, since she has been defiled. It is an abomination in the 
eyes of Yahweh for him to take her back. You shall not defile the 
land which Yahweh will give you for an inheritance.

{N}SOLIDARITY IN SOCIETY{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}The newly married man shall not go to war or be given 
other public duties. He shall be exempt from everything throughout 
the year, that he may stay in his house and make his wife happy.
{I}6_{/}Mill and grindstone shall not be taken as a pledge. Can life 
be taken as a pledge?
[=]_{R}_{I}7_{/}If a man is caught kidnapping an Israelite, that is to 
say, one of his brothers, to sell him as a slave, the kidnapper 
must die. So shall you banish evil from the midst of your people.
[=]_{R}_{I}8_{/}Be careful of contagious leprosy. Obey and put into 
practice what the Levite priests tell you to do; fulfill what I 
commanded them. [=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}Remember what Yahweh, your God, did to 
Miriam, when the people were on the way coming out of Egypt.
{I}10_{/}When you lend anything to your neighbor, you shall not go 
into his house to take anything as pledge. {I}11_{/}Wait outside, and 
he shall come out of the house to give you the pledge. 
[=]_{R}_{I}12_{/}If you have taken as pledge the cloak of a poor man, you 
shall not keep it overnight; [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}you shall return it to him 
when the sun goes down that he may sleep in his cloak. Then the 
poor shall bless you and you shall be righteous in the eyes of 
Yahweh, your God.
[=]_{I}14_{/}Do not exploit the lowly and the poor daily-wage earner, 
whether he be one of your brothers or a foreigner whom you find in 
your land in any of your cities. [=]_{I}15_{/}Pay him daily before the 
sun goes down, because he is poor and he depends on his earnings. 
Then he will not cry to Yahweh against you, and you will have no 
sin.
[=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}The fathers shall not be put to death for the sin of 
their children, nor the children for the sin of their fathers. 
Everyone must pay for his own sin. {I}17_{/}Do not violate the right 
of the foreigner, or of the orphan, or take as pledge the clothing 
of a widow. {R}_{I}18_{/}Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and 
Yahweh, your God, rescued you. This is why I command you to do 
this.
[=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}When you harvest the wheat in your fields, if you drop a 
sheaf, do not return to pick it up, but let it be there for the 
foreigner, the orphan and the widow. Yahweh will bless you for 
this in all your work.
{R}_{I}20_{/}When you harvest your olives, do not go back to beat the 
trees another time, what is left shall be for the foreigner, the 
orphan and the widow. {R}_{I}21_{/}When you gather the grapes in your 
vineyard, do not return to look for what has been left. This will 
be the share of the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. 
{R}_{I}22_{/}Remember that you were a slave in Egypt. This is why, I 
command you to do this.

{1}25{/}

[=]_{R}_{I}1_{/}When there is a dispute between two persons, let them go 
to the judges. These will declare who is righteous and who is 
guilty. {I}2_{/}If he deserves flogging, the judge shall make him fall 
down on the ground in his presence and shall have him flogged with 
the number of stripes in proportion to his sin. [=]_{I}3_{/}You may 
give him forty stripes - not more - otherwise, the punishment 
would be too much and your brother would be dishonored in your 
eyes.
[=]_{I}4_{/}Do not muzzle an ox when it threshes the grain.
[=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}If two brothers live together and one of them dies 
without any child, the wife of the dead man shall not marry anyone 
other than the brother of her husband. He shall take her as his 
wife and shall give offspring to his brother. {R}_{I}6_{/}The first son 
she bears will perpetuate the name and the family of the dead. In 
this way his name shall not be wiped out of Israel.
{R}_{I}7_{/}If the brother-in-law refuses to take her for his wife, she 
shall present herself at the city gates and say to the elders, "My 
brother-in-law refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel. 
He does not want to perform his duty as brother-in-law in my 
favor."
{R}_{I}8_{/}Then the judges shall call this man and speak to him. If he 
persists and says: "I do not want to take her for my wife," 
{R}_{I}9_{/}his sister-in-law shall go up to him and in the presence of 
the judges remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face and 
say these words, "So shall it be done to the man who does not 
perpetuate the name of his brother." {R}_{I}10_{/}His family shall be 
called in Israel "the house of the barefooted one."
{I}11_{/}If two men fight with each other and the wife of one draws 
near to save her husband from the blows of the other, extends her 
hand and grasps him by the testicles, {I}12_{/}you shall cut off the 
woman's hand without pity.
{I}13_{/}You shall not keep in your bag two weights, one heavier and 
the other lighter, {I}14_{/}nor shall you have in your house a large 
measure and a small one. [=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}You shall have a full and exact 
weight, and an equally just and exact measure, that you may 
lengthen your days in the land which Yahweh, your God, gives you. 
{I}16_{/}Because Yahweh hates him who does such things and any kind of 
injustice.
{R}_{I}17_{/}Remember what Amalek did to you when you were on the road, 
coming out of Egypt. [=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}He went out to meet you on the way 
and when you were weak and tired attacked all who were left 
behind. He had no fear of God. [=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}Therefore, when Yahweh, 
your God, after subduing all your enemies around you, has given 
you rest in the land which he gives you, you shall wipe out the 
remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.

{N}THE ISRAELITE PROCLAIMS HIS FAITH{/}

{1}26{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}When you come into the land which Yahweh, your God, gives 
you as an inheritance, when you possess it and dwell in it, 
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}you shall take the firstfruits of all your harvests, 
place them in a large basket and bring it to the place chosen by 
Yahweh, your God, as the dwelling place for his Name.
{R}_{I}3_{/}Present these to the priest who is in office, and say to him, 
"On this day, I confess that Yahweh, my God, let me enter into the 
land he promised our fathers that he would give us." {R}_{I}4_{/}Then the 
priest shall take the large basket from your hands and place it 
before the altar of Yahweh, your God, {R}_{I}5_{/}and you shall say these 
words before Yahweh, "My father was a wandering Aramean. He went 
down to Egypt to find refuge there, while still few in number; but 
in that country, he became a great and powerful nation. 
[=]_{I}6_{/}The Egyptians maltreated us, oppressed us and subjected us 
to harsh slavery. {R}_{I}7_{/}So we called to Yahweh, the God of our 
fathers, and Yahweh listened to us. He saw our humiliation, our 
hard labor and the oppression to which we were subjected. {R}_{I}8_{/}He 
brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting his power 
with signs and awesome wonders. {I}9_{/}And he brought us here to give 
us this land flowing with milk and honey. {I}10_{/}So now I bring and 
offer the firstfruits of the land which you, Yahweh, have given 
me."
{R}_{I}11_{/}You shall place these before Yahweh, bow before him and 
worship Yahweh, your God. Afterwards, you and your household shall 
feast on all the good things Yahweh has given you and your family. 
The Levite and the foreigner who lives among you shall also feast 
with you.
[=]_{I}12_{/}On the third year, the year of tithing, when you have 
finished separating the tithes from all your harvests and have 
given them to the Levite, the foreigner, the widow and the orphan, 
that they may eat within your very city until they are satisfied, 
{I}13_{/}you shall say in the presence of Yahweh,
"I have brought out of my house the sacred share. I have given it 
to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow according 
to the commandments that you have given me, without going against 
any of them or forgetting them. {R}_{I}14_{/}Of that tithe I have not 
eaten anything in time of mourning, or removed any of it while I 
was unclean. I have offered nothing to the dead. I have obeyed the 
voice of Yahweh, my God, and have done as he has commanded me.
[=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}From your sanctuary, from on high in the heavens, look 
down and bless your people Israel, as you bless the land which you 
have given us just as you had promised to our fathers, the land 
flowing with milk and honey."
{R}_{I}16_{/}On this day, Yahweh, your God, commands you to fulfill these 
norms and these commandments. Obey them now and put them into 
practice with all your heart and with all your soul.
{R}_{I}17_{/}Today Yahweh has declared to you that he will be your God, 
and so you shall follow his ways, observing his norms, his 
commandments and his laws, and listening to his voice.
{I}18_{/}Today Yahweh has declared that you will be his very own 
people even as he had promised you, and you must obey all his 
commandments. {R}_{I}19_{/}He, for his part, will give you honor, renown 
and glory, and set you high above all the nations he has made, and 
you will become a nation consecrated to Yahweh, your God, as he 
has declared.

{N}RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT{/}

{1}27{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Moses and the elders of Israel gave this order to the 
people: "Observe all the commandments that I give you today. 
{R}_{I}2_{/}When you cross the Jordan to go to the land which Yahweh, 
your God, will give you, set up large stones and plaster them with 
lime. [=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}Then you shall write upon them all the words of 
this Law at the time that you cross over, that you may enter the 
land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, will give you as he 
has promised, a land flowing with milk and honey.
{R}_{I}4_{/}When you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on 
Mount Ebal as I command you today, and plaster them with 
lime.{R}_{I}5_{/}Set up there an altar in honor of Yahweh, built with 
unhewn stones. {R}_{I}6_{/}Build the altar to Yahweh with uncut stones 
and on this altar offer burnt offerings to Yahweh, your God. 
{R}_{I}7_{/}There you shall also sacrifice peace offerings; you shall eat 
and feast in the presence of Yahweh, your God. {R}_{I}8_{/}Write plainly 
upon these stones all the words of this Law."
[*]_{R}_{I}9_{/}Then Moses and the priests from the tribe of Levi said to 
the people of Israel: "Pay attention and listen, Israel. Today you 
have become the people of Yahweh, your God: {I}10_{/}Listen, 
therefore, to his voice and put into practice the commandments and 
the norms that I give you today."
{I}11_{/}On that day, Moses gave this command to the people: 
{R}_{I}12_{/}When you have crossed the Jordan River, the tribes of 
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin shall stand on 
Mount Gerizim to repeat the blessings over the people, 
[=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}while those of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and 
Naphtali shall stand on Mount Ebal to repeat the curses.
{I}14_{/}The Levites shall declare to all the Israelites with a loud 
voice:
[=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}Cursed be the man who makes an idol covered with metal, 
a thing hateful to Yahweh, the work of the hands of a craftsman, 
and sets it up in a hidden place! All the people shall answer: 
Amen!
[=]_{I}16_{/}Cursed be he who despises his father or mother! And the 
people shall respond: Amen!
{I}17_{/}Cursed be he who moves the boundaries of his neighbor's 
inheritance. All the people shall respond: Amen!
{I}18_{/}Cursed be he who leads the blind astray from the way! All the 
people shall respond: Amen!
{I}19_{/}Cursed be he who does not respect the rights of the 
foreigner, the orphan and the widow! All the people shall respond: 
Amen!
{I}20_{/}Cursed be he who lies with the wife of his father and 
dishonors his father's bed! All the people shall respond: Amen! 
[=]_{I}21_{/}Cursed be he who sins with any kind of animal! The people 
shall respond: Amen!
[=]_{I}22_{/}Cursed be he who lies with his sister, whether the 
daughter of his father or mother! All the people shall respond: 
Amen!
{R}_{I}23_{/}Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law! All the people 
shall say: Amen!
{I}24_{/}Cursed be he who treacherously murders his neighbor! All the 
people shall say: Amen!
{I}25_{/}Cursed be he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person! 
All the people shall say: Amen!
[=]_{R}_{I}26_{/}Cursed be he who does not affirm the words of this Law 
by putting them into practice! And all the people shall say: Amen!

{N}BLESSINGS AND CURSES{/}

{1}28{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Well now, if you obey in truth the voice of Yahweh, your 
God, practicing and observing all the commandments which I give 
you today, Yahweh, your God, shall raise you high above all the 
nations of the earth. {R}_{I}2_{/}Then all these blessings shall reach 
you and come upon you for having obeyed the voice of Yahweh, your 
God:
{I}3_{/}Blessed shall you be in the city and in the field. {I}4_{/}Blessed 
shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, the 
young of your asses, the offspring of your cattle and sheep. 
{I}5_{/}Blessed shall be your basket and your bowl of dough. 
{I}6_{/}Blessed shall you be when you begin and when you finish.
{I}7_{/}Yahweh will bring down your enemies who rise against you, and 
put them at your feet. By one way they shall come out against you 
but by seven ways they shall flee from you.
{R}_{I}8_{/}Yahweh will order the blessing to be with you in your 
granaries and in your activities. He shall bless you in the land 
which Yahweh, your God, gives you.
{I}9_{/}Yahweh shall make you a holy people, as he has sworn, if you 
keep his commandments and follow in his ways. [=]_{I}10_{/}Then all 
the nations of the earth shall see that you are under the 
protection of Yahweh and they will respect you.
{I}11_{/}Yahweh shall fill you with all kinds of good things, 
increasing the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock and 
the fruit of your land which Yahweh promised on oath to your 
fathers that he would give you.
{I}12_{/}Yahweh shall open the heavens for you, his rich treasury, to 
give rain in its season which your fields need, and he shall bless 
all that you plan to do. You shall lend to many nations but it 
shall not be necessary for you to borrow anything from them.
{R}_{I}13_{/}Yahweh will set you at the head of the nations and not at 
the tail; you shall always be on top and never below, if you 
fulfill the commandments of Yahweh, your God, which I command you 
today, {I}14_{/}observing them and putting them into practice, without 
turning aside either to the right or to the left to follow and 
worship other gods.
[=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}But if you do not obey the voice of Yahweh, your God, 
and do not take care to practice all his commandments and norms 
which I command you today, all these curses shall come upon you:
{I}16_{/}Cursed shall you be in the city and in the field. {I}17_{/}Cursed 
shall your granary be, and cursed shall your storage houses be. 
{I}18_{/}Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your 
land, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your sheep. 
{I}19_{/}Cursed shall you be in everything you do, from beginning to 
end.
{I}20_{/}Yahweh will send misfortune, destruction and fear upon 
everything you do until you are destroyed and perish quickly on 
account of the evil deeds you have done in forsaking Yahweh. 
{I}21_{/}He shall make pestilence cling to you until you disappear 
from the land which you are entering today to make it yours.
{I}22_{/}Yahweh will punish you with tuberculosis, fever, 
inflammation, fiery heat, wheat-smug and mildew that shall pursue 
you until you die.
{I}23_{/}The heavens above you shall be brass and the earth under you 
shall be iron. {I}24_{/}Instead of rain, Yahweh shall make ashes and 
powder fall from heaven until you are destroyed.
{I}25_{/}Yahweh shall let you be defeated before your enemies. By one 
way you shall go out to fight them but by seven ways you shall 
flee from them. All the nations of the earth shall be horrified to 
see you.
{R}_{I}26_{/}Your dead bodies shall serve as food for all the birds of 
the air, and no one shall chase them away. [=]_{R}_{I}27_{/}Yahweh shall 
strike you with the boils and plagues of Egypt, with tumors, 
scurvy and itch, from which you cannot be healed.
{I}28_{/}Yahweh shall punish you with madness and blindness and 
confusion of mind. {I}29_{/}In the same way that the blind grope in 
darkness, so shall you grope in broad daylight, and you shall not 
succeed. You shall always be oppressed and robbed, with no one to 
defend you.
[=]_{I}30_{/}You shall be engaged to marry a woman, but another man 
shall lie with her. You shall build a house but not live in it. 
You shall plant a vineyard but not eat its grapes. {I}31_{/}Your ox 
shall be slaughtered before you but you shall not eat of it. 
Before your very eyes, you shall be robbed of your ass, which will 
never be recovered. Your sheep shall be turned over to your 
enemies, but no one shall come to defend you.
{I}32_{/}Your sons and daughters shall be handed over to foreign 
nations and you shall yearn for them continually but you will be 
unable to take action.
{I}33_{/}A people unknown to you shall eat the fruit of your fields, 
the fruit of all your toil. And you shall never cease to be 
exploited and oppressed all your life. {I}34_{/}You shall be driven 
mad by what you see.
{I}35_{/}Yahweh will strike you with the most malignant boils on the 
knees and legs, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of 
your foot to the crown of your head.
{R}_{I}36_{/}Yahweh will bring you and the king you have chosen to a 
nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there 
you shall serve other gods made of wood and stone.
{I}37_{/}All the nations to which Yahweh will bring you will be 
astonished, and will make you a byword and the butt of jokes.
[=]_{I}38_{/}You shall sow many seeds in your fields but shall harvest 
very little because the locusts shall devour them. {I}39_{/}You shall 
plant and cultivate a vineyard but shall not drink wine or eat 
grapes because the worms shall devour them.
{R}_{I}40_{/}You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, 
but they shall not give you even a drop of oil to anoint yourself, 
for the olives shall drop off and rot. {I}41_{/}You shall have sons 
and daughters but they shall not be yours for they shall be taken 
into captivity. {I}42_{/}All your trees and all the produce of your 
land shall be infested with insects.
{I}43_{/}The foreigner who lives with you shall prosper every day at 
your expense as you become poorer. {I}44_{/}He shall lend to you and 
you shall have to borrow; he shall always be the head and you the 
tail.
{R}_{I}45_{/}All these curses shall fall upon you, pursue you and oppress 
you until all of you perish, for you did not listen to the voice 
of Yahweh, your God, or obey the commandments and the norms which 
he gave you. {I}46_{/}These shall be forever upon you and your 
descendants as an awesome sign.
{R}_{I}47_{/}For having not served Yahweh, your God, with joy and 
gladness of heart when you lacked nothing, {I}48_{/}you shall serve 
the enemies Yahweh will send against you, while you go hungry, 
thirsty, naked and suffer all kinds of misery. They shall put a 
yoke of iron upon your neck until they have destroyed you all.
[=]_{I}49_{/}Yahweh shall make a nation from afar come against you, as 
swift as the eagle flies, {I}50_{/}a nation whose language you do not 
understand, a cruel nation that does not show respect to the old 
or compassion to the young. {I}51_{/}They shall consume the offspring 
of your livestock and the produce of your land so that you perish, 
leaving you with no wheat or wine or oil or the young of your 
cattle and sheep until they finish you off.
{R}_{I}52_{/}They shall besiege you in all your cities until the highest 
and most fortified walls in which you placed your trust fall down 
throughout your land. You shall remain besieged within your cities 
throughout the land which Yahweh, your God, will give you.
[=]_{I}53_{/}You shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your 
sons and daughters which Yahweh has given you, in the siege and 
anguish to which your enemy will reduce you.
{I}54_{/}The most refined among you shall look with distrust at his 
brother, his wife and his children who are still alive 
{I}55_{/}refusing to share with them the flesh of his children that he 
is eating, because nothing is left to him during the siege and the 
anguish to which your enemy shall reduce you in your cities.
{I}56_{/}The most tender and delicate woman among your people, so 
delicate and tender that she will not dare go barefoot, shall look 
with distrust at the husband of her heart, and also at her son and 
daughter. {I}57_{/}She shall hide from them to eat the placenta from 
her womb and the children to whom she gave birth, for lack of any 
other food, when your enemy lays siege to your cities and reduces 
you to the most extreme misery.
{R}_{I}58_{/}If you do not put into practice all the words of this Law 
which are written in this book and do not fear that glorious and 
terrible Name, Yahweh, your God, {I}59_{/}he will punish you, you and 
your descendants, with fearful plagues, severe and lasting 
plagues, malignant sicknesses and incurable diseases.
{R}_{I}60_{/}He will make all the plagues of Egypt fall upon you, which 
you were afraid of, and these shall cling to you. {R}_{I}61_{/}Even more, 
Yahweh shall order all the diseases and plagues which are not 
recorded in this book of the Law to be with you until you are 
wiped out. {R}_{I}62_{/}For not having obeyed the voice of Yahweh, your 
God, only a few of you will remain, although before, you were as 
numerous as the stars of the heaven.
{I}63_{/}So it shall happen, that in the same manner that it pleased 
Yahweh to do you good and to multiply you, it shall also please 
him to pursue and destroy you. You shall be plucked off the land 
you are entering to conquer.
{I}64_{/}Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations, from one end 
of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of 
wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
{R}_{I}65_{/}In those nations, you shall not have peace or rest for the 
sole of your foot. There Yahweh shall give you a cowardly heart, 
swollen eyes and anxious soul by day and by night. {I}66_{/}Your life 
shall be before you as a pendant that hangs on a thread, and you 
shall be in dread night and day. [=]_{I}67_{/}In the morning you shall 
say: "Would it were evening!" but in the evening you shall say: 
"Would it were morning!" because of the fear that makes your heart 
tremble when you behold what your eyes see.
[=]_{R}_{I}68_{/}Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt for your sin, in 
spite of what he said to you: "You shall not see it again." There 
you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as slaves, but 
no man will buy you."
{R}_{I}69_{/}These are the words of the Covenant which Yahweh commanded 
Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, 
besides the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.

{N}ANOTHER CONCLUSION{/}

{1}29{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Moses summoned all the people of Israel and said to them: 
"You have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of 
Egypt, to Pharaoh, to his servants and to all his land, {I}2_{/}the 
great plagues which you yourselves witnessed, the signs and the 
marvels. [=]_{I}3_{/}But to this very day, Yahweh has not given you a 
heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
{R}_{I}4_{/}Yahweh made you wander in the desert for forty years, but 
your clothes did not wear out and neither did your sandals from so 
much journeying. {R}_{I}5_{/}You did not have bread to eat, or wine or 
fermented liquor to drink, so that you might know that I, Yahweh, 
am your God. {R}_{I}6_{/}And when we came to this place, Sihon, the king 
of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, set out to fight against 
us, but we defeated them {R}_{I}7_{/}and seized their lands, which we 
then gave as an inheritance and a possession to Reuben, Gad and to 
half of the tribe of Manasseh.
[=]_{R}_{I}8_{/}So observe the conditions of this Covenant and put them 
into practice, that you may succeed in whatever you do. {R}_{I}9_{/}You 
are all here today in the presence of Yahweh, your God: your 
leaders, your elders, your secretaries, all the men of Israel, 
[=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}with your sons and daughters, and with your wives, 
together with the foreigner who lives in your field, who cuts the 
firewood or fetches water for you. {R}_{I}11_{/}You are here in this 
place to celebrate a Covenant with Yahweh, your God. {R}_{I}12_{/}Through 
this oath he makes you his people and he becomes your God, as he 
said to you and promised to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob.
{R}_{I}13_{/}And not only with you do I make this covenant and this oath 
today, {I}14_{/}but I make it both with those who are here with you 
today in the presence of Yahweh and with those who are not here.
{R}_{I}15_{/}You know very well how we lived in the land of Egypt and how 
we crossed through other lands. {I}16_{/}You have seen the 
abominations and the loathsome idols they kept: of stone, wood, 
gold and silver.
[=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}So may there be no man or woman, family or tribe among 
you whose heart turns away from Yahweh to go and serve the gods of 
those nations. May no poisonous and bitter plants sprout among 
you.
{R}_{I}18_{/}If anyone does not heed the words of this sworn Covenant, 
thinking, "I shall have peace though I do as I please, the just 
and the sinner perish together," [=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}Yahweh shall not pardon 
him. His rage and jealousy shall burn against that man, and all 
the curses written in this book await him. Yahweh will wipe out 
his name from under the heavens, {R}_{I}20_{/}and will separate him from 
the tribes of Israel to his misfortune, according to all the 
curses of the Covenant expressed in this book of the Law.
{I}21_{/}The future generations that will come after you and the 
foreigners who come from distant countries shall see the plagues 
of this land and the plagues Yahweh inflicted on it, and they 
shall say, [=]_{R}_{I}22_{/}"A land of salt and sulfur is this one, 
burned and unsown; not even grass can be seen. So it was with 
Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, when Yahweh destroyed them 
and laid them waste in his anger and rage."
{R}_{I}23_{/}All the nations shall ask: "Why has Yahweh dealt so with 
this nation? What does such anger mean?" {R}_{I}24_{/}And they shall 
answer: "This happened because they abandoned the Covenant which 
Yahweh, the God of their fathers, made with them when he brought 
them out of Egypt, {I}25_{/}because they went to serve other gods and 
worshiped them, gods that were not theirs and to whom Yahweh had 
not entrusted them.
{I}26_{/}Therefore Yahweh was angry with that land, bringing upon it 
all the curses written in this book. {I}27_{/}Yahweh has pulled them 
out of their land with anger, rage and great indignation, and cast 
them into another land, as you can see today.
{R}_{I}28_{/}The secret things belong to Yahweh, our God, but what he 
made known to us belongs to us and our children forever. So we 
have to put into practice all the provisions of this Law!

{1}30{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}When these things come upon you according to this blessing 
and this curse that I have set before you, you will recall them 
among the nations where Yahweh, your God, has driven you. 
{R}_{I}2_{/}Then you will return to him, you and your children; you will 
listen to his voice with all your heart and with all your soul, 
obeying all that I command you today.
[=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}So Yahweh, your God, will bring back the captives of your 
people, he will have pity on you, and will gather you again from 
all the nations where Yahweh has scattered you. {I}4_{/}Though you are 
driven out at the other end of the earth, [=]_{I}5_{/}Yahweh will 
gather you even from there, and will take you once again to the 
land which your fathers possessed so that it may also be yours. He 
will make you happy and make you more numerous than your fathers.

{N}MY COMMANDS ARE NOT BEYOND YOUR REACH{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}Yahweh, your God, will circumcise your heart and the 
heart of your descendants that you may love Yahweh with all your 
heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. {R}_{I}7_{/}So 
Yahweh, your God, will inflict all these curses upon your enemies 
who hate you and persecute you.
{I}8_{/}You shall again listen to Yahweh and put into practice all his 
commandments that I give you today. {R}_{I}9_{/}Yahweh, your God, will 
make you succeed in everything you do. He will multiply for your 
good your children, the offspring of your livestock and the fruits 
of your land. For Yahweh will again be pleased to treat you well, 
as he did your fathers. {R}_{I}10_{/}For you shall turn to Yahweh, your 
God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and observe his 
commandments and norms, in a word, everything written in this book 
of the Law.
[=]_{I}11_{/}These commandments that I give you today are neither too 
high nor too far for you. [=]_{I}12_{/}They are not in heaven that you 
should say: "Who will go up to heaven to get these commandments 
that we may hear them and put them into practice." {R}_{I}13_{/}Neither 
are they at the other side of the sea for you to say: "Who will 
cross to the other side and bring them to us, that we may hear 
them and put them into practice."
{I}14_{/}On the contrary, my word is very near you; it is already in 
your mouth and in your heart, so that you can put it into 
practice.

{N}CHOOSE LIFE{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}See, I set before you on this day life and good, 
evil and death. {R}_{I}16_{/}I command you to love Yahweh, your God and 
follow his ways. Observe his commandments, his norms and his laws, 
and you will live and increase, and Yahweh will give you his 
blessing in the land you are going to possess. {I}17_{/}But if your 
heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and 
bow before other gods to serve them, {R}_{I}18_{/}I declare on this day 
that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are 
going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan. 
[=]_{R}_{I}19_{/}Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be 
witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, 
blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your 
descendants may live, {R}_{I}20_{/}loving Yahweh, listening to his voice, 
and being one with him. In this is life for you and length of days 
in the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers, to 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

{N}JOSHUA SUCCEEDS MOSES{/}

{1}31{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}When Moses finished telling all Israel these words, he 
said, {R}_{I}2_{/}"I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I can no 
longer deal with anything - Remember that Yahweh told me that I 
shall not cross the Jordan River. [=]_{R}_{I}3_{/}Now Joshua shall be at 
your head, as Yahweh has said. He, your God, will go before you to 
destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them away.
{R}_{I}4_{/}Yahweh shall deal with these cities as he dealt with Sihon 
and Og, the Amorite kings, and their land, which he destroyed. 
{I}5_{/}So when he has given these nations over to you, you shall do 
the same, according to what I have commanded you.
[=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}Be valiant and strong, do not fear or tremble before them 
for Yahweh, your God, is with you; he will not leave you or 
abandon you."
[=]_{R}_{I}7_{/}After this, Moses called Joshua and said to him in the 
presence of all Israel: "Be valiant and strong, you shall go with 
this people into the land which Yahweh swore to their fathers he 
would give them and you shall give it to them as their possession. 
{I}8_{/}Yahweh shall go before you. He shall be with you; he shall not 
leave you or abandon you. Do not fear, then, or be discouraged."
[=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}Moses put this Law in writing and entrusted it to the 
priests, descendants of Levi, who carried the Ark of the Covenant 
of Yahweh, as well as to all the leaders of Israel, {I}10_{/}giving 
this order to them: "Every seven years, at the time fixed for the 
Year of Pardon, on the Feast of the Tents, [=]_{R}_{I}11_{/}when all 
Israel assembles to present themselves before Yahweh in the place 
chosen by him, you shall read this Law in the hearing of all 
Israel.
{R}_{I}12_{/}Assemble the people - men, women and children, and the 
foreigner who lives in your cities - that they may listen to it, 
learn to fear Yahweh and take care to put into practice all the 
words of this Law. {R}_{I}13_{/}Your children who do not know it yet 
shall hear it and learn to fear Yahweh, your God, all the days 
that they live in the land which you are going to conquer after 
crossing the Jordan."
{R}_{I}14_{/}Yahweh said to Moses: "The day of your death is already 
near. Call Joshua that the two of you may present yourselves to me 
in the Tent of Meeting, that I may give him my orders."
So Moses and Joshua presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. 
[=]_{I}15_{/}Yahweh appeared to them in the Tent in a column of cloud; 
the column was at the entrance of the Tent. [=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}And Yahweh 
said to Moses:
"Now you are going to rest with your fathers. Then this people 
shall rebel and prostitute themselves to strange gods, the gods of 
the land which they are going to enter. They shall abandon me and 
break the Covenant I have made with them. {R}_{I}17_{/}On that day, I 
shall be angry with them, I shall abandon them and hide my face 
from them. They will be devoured, and many evils and adversities 
will come upon them so that they will say: "Have not these evils 
come upon me because my God is not in our midst anymore?" {I}18_{/}But 
on that day I shall hide my face from them because of all the evil 
which they have done in going after other gods. 
{R}_{I}19_{/}So, write this song and teach it to the children of Israel 
and have them remember it, for this song shall be my witness 
against the children of Israel. {R}_{I}20_{/}For I shall bring them to 
the land which I swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk 
and honey, but after they have eaten and are satisfied and have 
grown fat, they shall turn to other gods and pay homage to them 
while despising me and breaking my Covenant.
{I}21_{/}And when these evils and calamities without number come upon 
them, this song shall bear witness against them, since their 
descendants will not forget it. I know very well the plans they 
are already making even before they have entered the land which I 
promised them." {R}_{I}22_{/}On that day, Moses wrote this song and 
taught it to the children of Israel. {R}_{I}23_{/}Then Moses told Joshua, 
son of Nun, "Be valiant and strong, for you shall bring the 
children of Israel to the land which Yahweh promised to them, and 
I shall be with you."
{R}_{I}24_{/}When he finished writing in a book all the words of this 
Law, {R}_{I}25_{/}Moses gave this order to the Levites who carried the 
Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, {R}_{I}26_{/}"Take the book of this Law. 
Place it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, your 
God. There it shall remain as a witness against you, {R}_{I}27_{/}because 
I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. If today, as I live 
among you, you are rebellious against Yahweh, how much more shall 
you be after my death?
[=]_{R}_{I}28_{/}Gather together around me all the leaders and 
secretaries of all the tribes, I am going to say these words in 
their hearing, and I shall ask heaven and earth to witness against 
you. 
{R}_{I}29_{/}For I know that after my death, you shall do perverse things 
and shall stray from the way that I have pointed out to you. And 
misfortune shall come upon you in the future for doing what is 
evil in the eyes of Yahweh, provoking his anger with the work of 
your hands."
{R}_{I}30_{/}Then, before the whole assembly of Israel, Moses recited 
this song until the end.

{N}SONG OF MOSES{/}

{1}32{/}

[*]_{I}1_{/}Listen, O heavens, as I speak; hear, earth, the words of 
my mouth.
[=]_{I}2_{/}May my teaching be drenching as the rain,
and my words, permeate gently as the dew:
like abundant rain upon the grass,
like a gentle shower on the tender crops.
{R}_{I}3_{/}For I will proclaim the name of the Lord and declare the 
greatness of our God.
[=]_{R}_{I}4_{/}He is the Rock,
and perfect are all his works,
just are all his ways.
A faithful God he is,
upright and just and unerring.
{I}5_{/}Yet he has been treated perversely
by his degenerate children -
a deceitful and crooked generation.
[=]_{I}6_{/}Is this how you repay the Lord,
you foolish and senseless people?
He is your father, your creator,
who formed you and set you up.
{I}7_{/}Recall the days of old,
think of the years gone by;
your father will teach you about them,
your elders will enlighten you.
[=]_[*]_{R}_{I}8_{/}When the Most High divided mankind and gave the 
nations their inheritance,
he set up boundaries for the peoples
after the number of the sons of God.
{I}9_{/}But the Lord keeps for himself his portion
Jacob, his chosen one.
[=]_[*]_{I}10_{/}In the wilderness he found them,
in a barren, howling wasteland;
he shielded them and cared for them
as the apple of his eye.
{I}11_{/}Like an eagle watching its nest,
hovering over its young,
supporting them on its spread wings
and carrying them on its pinions,
[=]_{I}12_{/}the Lord alone led them,
without the aid of a foreign god.
[=]_{I}13_{/}He made them ride on the heights
and live on the produce of the earth.
He gave them honey to suck from the rock,
olive oil from the hard stony crag,
[=]_{I}14_{/}curds from the herd, milk from the flock,
fattened lambs and goats and Bashan bulls,
the finest wheat and the best grape wine.
[=]_{R}_{I}15_{/}Israel grew up well nourished -
you were fat, heavy and overfed.
But they abandoned God, their creator;
they rejected the rock, their savior.
{I}16_{/}They made him jealous with their strange gods;
they angered him with their abominable deeds.
[=]_[*]_{I}17_{/}They sacrificed not to him but to the demons, to gods 
they had not known,
to newly arrived gods they feared
but which their fathers never revered.
{R}_{I}18_{/}They have disowned the Rock who fathered them;
they have forgotten the God who gave them birth.
{I}19_{/}The Lord saw this, and in his anger rejected his sons and 
daughters.
{I}20_{/}He said, "I will hide my face from them
and see what will become of them.
They are so perverse, so unfaithful!
[=]_[*]_{I}21_{/}They made me jealous with their false gods
and angered me with their idols.
I will, therefore, make them envious of a foolish people,
I will provoke them to anger with an empty-headed nation.
{R}_{I}22_{/}For my wrath has kindled a fire,
burning the world of death to its depths,
devouring the earth and its harvests,
setting ablaze the foundations of the mountains.
[=]_{I}23_{/}I will send them trouble upon trouble
and spend all my arrows upon them;
{I}24_{/}I will afflict them with famine, deadly diseases and 
pestilence.
I will send them wild beasts and venomous snakes.
{R}_{I}25_{/}Their children will fall by the sword; terror shall reign 
within,
destroying both young man and virgin,
both the sucking child and the old man.
[*]_{I}26_{/}I said I would scatter them afar
and blot out their memory among mankind,
[=]_{I}27_{/}but I feared the enemy's boasting, lest the adversary 
misunderstand
and say; 'We have triumphed,
the Lord has brought this about.'
[*]_{I}28_{/}They are a senseless and undiscerning nation.
Had they wisdom, they would have known
{I}29_{/}the meaning of this and the end awaiting them.
[=]_{I}30_{/}For how could one or two men put to flight a thousand or 
ten thousand,
unless their Rock had abandoned them,
unless their Lord had given them up?
{I}31_{/}Even our enemies understand this:
their rock indeed is not like our Rock:
[=]_{R}_{I}32_{/}They are an offshoot of Sodom's vinestock,
an outgrowth from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are poison, their clusters bitter,
{I}33_{/}their wine contains venom
from the cruel fangs of deadly vipers.
[*]_{I}34_{/}I have kept this in reserve
and sealed up in my storehouse.
[=]_{I}35_{/}Vengeance and recompense is mine.
Their feet will slip in due time,
their day of calamity is at hand,
and swiftly their doom will come.
[=]_{I}36_{/}The Lord will give justice to his people
and have mercy on his servants,
when he sees their strength failing
and both slave and free disappearing.
{I}37_{/}He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock they thought 
could be their refuge,
{I}38_{/}who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of 
their libations?
Let them rise up now and help you,
let them give you protection!
[=]_{R}_{I}39_{/}Learn this now - that I alone am He; there is no god 
besides me.
It is I who give both death and life;
it is I who wound and heal as well
and out of my hand no one can deliver.
[=]_[*]_{I}40_{/}I raise my hand to heaven and swear:
as truly as I live forever,
{I}41_{/}when I sharpen my glittering sword and my hand takes hold of 
judgment,
I will deal out vengeance upon my foes
and retribution upon those who hate me.
{I}42_{/}My arrows will drip with blood,
my sword will sink deep into the flesh - blood of the wounded and 
slain captives,
flesh of beheaded enemy leaders.
[=]_{I}43_{/}Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge 
his servants' blood,
take vengeance on his adversaries,
and perform the rite of expiation
for his people and his land.
{R}_{I}44_{/}Moses recited the words of this song in the hearing of the 
people, and Joshua, son of Nun, was with him.
{R}_{I}45_{/}When Moses had finished reciting these words to all Israel, 
{I}46_{/}he said to them, "Be attentive to all these words which I 
declare to you today. Repeat them to your children so that they 
may take care to put all these laws into practice. {R}_{I}47_{/}It is no 
slight matter: on this depends your life, and by this, you shall 
lengthen your days in the land you are going to conquer after 
crossing the Jordan."
[=]_{I}48_{/}Yahweh spoke to Moses on that same day and he said: 
{R}_{I}49_{/}"Go up to the mountains of Abarim in the land of Moab and 
climb Mount Nebo facing Jericho. From there you shall see the land 
of Canaan which I give to the children of Israel. [=]_{R}_{I}50_{/}Then 
you shall die on Mount Nebo and join your fathers as your brother 
Aaron died on Mount Hor and went to join them. [=]_{R}_{I}51_{/}Remember 
that you did not trust me at the waters of Meribah in the desert 
of Zion, when you did not proclaim me before the Israelites. 
{I}52_{/}Therefore you shall not enter the Land, but shall only see it 
from afar."

{N}BLESSINGS OF MOSES{/}

{1}33{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}This is the blessing that Moses gave to the children of 
Israel before he died. He said:
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}"Yahweh has come from Sinai; he rises above the horizon 
of Seir for his people. He has shone from Mount Paran; he has come 
to Meribah of Kadesh for them; his midday radiance has reached 
Ashdot.
{R}_{I}3_{/}Yahweh loves these tribes and his hand protects his holy 
ones; they bow before his feet, waiting for his teaching.
{I}4{/}-{R}_{I}5_{/}He came to Israel as king, and made himself the 
inheritance of the children of Israel when the leaders assembled 
and the tribes of Israel gathered together.
{I}6_{/}Let Reuben live and not die, nor let his men be few."
{R}_{I}7_{/}This is the blessing for Judah: "Listen, Yahweh, to the voice 
of Judah, and let him be with his people. His hands will fight for 
him and will help him against his opponents."
[=]_{I}8_{/}He said of Levi: "You have given, O Yahweh, your Thummim 
and Urim to him who loves you, whom you tested at Massah and 
reproached at Meribah. [=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}He said to his parents 'I do not 
know you,' and disowned his brothers and sisters and children. He 
has observed your words and kept your Covenant. [=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}They 
teach Jacob your decrees, Israel your Law. They offer you incense 
and make sacrifices on your altar.{I}_11_{/}Bless, O Yahweh, his 
courage and accept his service. Strike the back of his foes, that 
his enemies may not rise against him anymore."
{I}12_{/}He said of Benjamin: "Beloved of Yahweh, you put your trust 
in him who protects you, and you dwell in his hills."
[=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}He said to Joseph: "Your land has received the blessings 
of Yahweh, the dew from heaven and the waters that gush forth from 
the deep, {I}14_{/}the sun-ripened fruits and the liberal produce of 
the months, {I}15_{/}the best of the ancient mountains and the 
everlasting hills, the generous land and all that is in it. 
[=]_{R}_{I}16_{/}May the blessing of him who arose in the bush descend 
upon the head of Joseph, for he is the chosen one among his 
brothers. [=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}Joseph is his firstling bull, glory to him! 
His horns are those of a wild ox, with which he strikes all the 
people at the same time. See the multitudes of Ephraim, and the 
thousands of Manasseh!"
{I}18_{/}He said to Zebulun: "Rejoice, Zebulun, when you journey. 
Rejoice, Issachar, in your tents. {R}_{I}19_{/}They call the peoples to 
the sacred mountain for the prescribed sacrifices. They enjoy the 
riches of the sea and the hidden treasures of the sand."
{I}20_{/}He said of Gad: "Blessed be he who enlarges Gad. Like a 
lioness, he couches and tears the arm and head. {R}_{I}21_{/}He chooses 
the best part, the part reserved for the leader. He has led the 
people. He has fulfilled the justice of Yahweh and his decisions 
in favor of Israel."
{R}_{I}22_{/}He said of Dan: "Dan is a lion's cub that leaps forth from 
Bashan."
{R}_{I}23_{/}He said of Naphtali: "Naphtali is filled with favors, filled 
with the blessing of Yahweh. May your land reach to the south and 
to the sea!"
{I}24_{/}He said of Asher: "May Asher be blessed among the sons. May 
he be preferred to his brothers and let him put his feet in oil. 
{I}25_{/}May his fastening bars be iron and bronze. May you be strong 
as long as you live.
[=]_{R}_{I}26_{/}There is none like our God, O Israel, who walks above 
the heavens, riding above the clouds, and comes to help you in his 
zeal.
{R}_{I}27_{/}The eternal God is a refuge; from eternity he frees you with 
his arm. He drives your enemy away before you and says to you: 
'Destroy him.'
[=]_{R}_{I}28_{/}Israel dwells in safety. The fountain of Jacob flows in 
the land of wheat and wine, and dew comes from heaven.
{R}_{I}29_{/}Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by 
Yahweh? He is the shield that protects you, the sword that gives 
you victory! Your enemies shall flee from you, but you, you are 
outstanding in everything."

{N}MOSES' DEATH{/}

{1}34{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}From the barren plain of Moab, Moses went up to Mount 
Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And Yahweh showed 
him all the Land: from Gilead to Dan, {R}_{I}2_{/}the whole of Naphtali, 
the land of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, the whole land of Judah, as 
far as the Western Sea, {R}_{I}3_{/}the Negeb, the Plains, the valley of 
Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. {R}_{I}4_{/}And Yahweh 
said to him: "This is the land about which I swore to Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, promising it to their descendants. I have let you 
see it with your own eyes, but you shall not enter it."
{R}_{I}5_{/}Moses, the servant of God, died there in the land of Moab, 
according to the will of Yahweh. [=]_{I}6_{/}They buried him in the 
valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but to this very 
day, no one knows where his tomb is.
[=]_{I}7_{/}Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. He 
did not lose his vigor and his eyes still saw clearly. {R}_{I}8_{/}The 
children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab for 
thirty days. [=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}But Joshua, son of Nun, was full of the 
spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him. The 
children of Israel obeyed him and did as Yahweh had commanded 
Moses.
[=]_{R}_{I}10_{/}No prophet like Moses has appeared again. Yahweh 
conversed with him face to face. {R}_{I}11_{/}What signs and wonders he 
worked in Egypt against Pharaoh, against his people and all his 
land! {R}_{I}12_{/}What a powerful hand was his that worked these 
terrible things in the sight of all Israel!

