- And it shall be, when the Lord your God shall have brought you into the land which he swore unto your fathers (to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob) to give you — great and beautiful cities which you built not, and houses full of all good things which you filled not, and wells dug which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees which you planted not — when you shall have eaten and be full, then beware lest you forget the Lord, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name. You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people who are round about you — for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you — lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and destroy you from off the face of the earth.
- You shall not test the Lord your God, as you tested him in Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes which he has commanded you. And you shall do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore unto your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you as the Lord has spoken.
- And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you? — then you shall say unto your son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and severe, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us.
- When the Lord your God shall bring you into the land to which you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you — the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you — and when the Lord your God shall deliver them before you, you shall smite them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them. Neither shall you make marriages with them. Your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son; for they will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy you suddenly. But thus shall you deal with them: You shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their engraved images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
- The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, and repays them that hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that hates him; he will repay him to his face. You shall therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments which I command you this day, to do them.
- Wherefore, it shall come to pass, if you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God shall keep unto you the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto your fathers. And he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep, in the land which he swore unto your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you know upon you, but will lay them upon all them that hate you. And you shall consume all the people whom the Lord your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall have no pity upon them. Neither shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare unto you.
- If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? — you shall not be afraid of them, but shall well remember what the Lord your God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt — the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand and the stretched out arm whereby the Lord your God brought you out; so shall the Lord your God do unto all the people of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from you, are destroyed. You shall not be frightened at them, for the Lord your God is among you, a mighty God, and terrible. And the Lord your God will put out those nations before you by little and little. You may not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon you. But the Lord your God shall deliver them unto you, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they are destroyed. And he shall deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under heaven. There shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them. The engraved images of their gods shall you burn with fire. You shall not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto you, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Neither shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be a cursed thing like it; but you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing.
- All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live. Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell these forty years. You shall also consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey, a land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness. You shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you.
- Beware that you forget not the Lord your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes which I command you this day, lest — when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and dwelled therein, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied — then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end; and you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before your face, so shall you perish, because you would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
- Hear, O Israel: You are to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak? Understand therefore this day that the Lord your God is he who goes over before you; as a consuming fire, he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before your face. So shall you drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said unto you.
- Speak not in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord does drive them out from before you. Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore that the Lord your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness, for you are a stiffnecked people.
- Remember and forget not how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you did depart out of the land of Egypt until you came unto this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Also, in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I remained in the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither did eat bread nor drink water. And the Lord delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spoke with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. Furthermore, the Lord spoke unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.
- So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. And I took the two tablets and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did neither eat bread nor drink water because of all your sins which you sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger, for I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry against you to destroy you. But the Lord listened unto me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, to have destroyed him. And I prayed for Aaron also the same time. And I took your sin — the calf which you had made — and burned it with fire, and stamped it and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust. And I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
- And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-Hattaavah, you provoked the Lord to wrath. Likewise, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and you believed him not, nor listened to his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
- Thus, I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not your people and your inheritance, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, lest the land from which you brought us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness. Yet they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought out by your mighty power and by your stretched out arm.
- At that time, the Lord said unto me, Hew two other tablets of stone, like unto the first, and come up unto me upon the mount, and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, save the words of the everlasting covenant of the Holy Priesthood, and you shall put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tablets of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the ten commandments which the Lord spoke unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.
- And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth (of the children of Jaakan) to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead. From there they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of waters. At that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore, Levi has no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord your God promised him.
- And I stayed in the mount according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord listened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy you. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them.
- And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good? Behold, the heaven, and the Heaven of heavens, is the Lord’s, your God; the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in your fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you, above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffnecked. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, who regards not persons, nor takes reward. He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love therefore the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cleave, and swear by his name. He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy people, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.
- Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments always. And know this day, for I speak not with your children who have not known and who have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God: his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his miracles, and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness until you came into this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.
- Therefore shall you keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land to which you go to possess it, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey. For the land to which you go in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs. But the land to which you go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven, a land which the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
- And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day — to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul — that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, and lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord gives you.
Chapter 3