Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

When You Go Out

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Adonai your God hands them over to you and you take them captive, ¹¹ suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her and would take her as a wife for yourself. ¹² Then you are to bring her into your house, and she must shave her head, trim her nails, ¹³ and remove her captive’s clothing, then sit in your house and weep for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may go to her and become her husband and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ Now if you are not pleased with her, then you may send her off wherever she wishes. But you must certainly not sell her for silver—you may not treat her as merchandise, since you have humiliated her.

¹⁵ “Suppose a man has two wives—the one loved and the other unloved—and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons. But it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife. ¹⁶ Now on the day he lets his sons inherit what he has, he must not treat the loved one’s son as firstborn, in place of the unloved one’s son, who is the firstborn. ¹⁷ Rather, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated one, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first of his vigor—the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or mother. They discipline him, but he does not listen to them. ¹⁹ Then his father and mother are to grab hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city—to the gate of his place. ²⁰ They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious—he does not listen to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones to death. So you will purge the evil from your midst—and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Hung on a Tree

²² “Suppose a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree. ²³ His body is not to remain all night on the tree—instead you must certainly bury him the same day, for anyone hanged is a curse of God.^[a] You must not defile your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Love in Practice

22 “You are not to watch your brother’s ox or sheep going astray and ignore them^[b]—you must certainly bring them back to your brother. ² If your brother is not near you or if you do not know him, then you should bring it into your house and it will remain with you until your brother comes searching for it and you return it to him. ³ You are to do the same with his donkey or his coat or anything lost by your brother, that may be lost by him and you find—you may not ignore them. ⁴ You must not watch your brother’s donkey or ox fall down on the road and ignore it—you must certainly help him lift it up again.

⁵ “A man’s apparel is not to be on a woman, nor is a man to wear woman’s clothing—for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God.

⁶ “If there happens to be a bird’s nest in front of you along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the hen sitting on the young or on the eggs, you are not to take the hen with the young. ⁷ You must certainly let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself so that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you are to make a guardrail for your roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of blood on your house if anyone falls from it.

⁹ “You are not to plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or else the whole harvest will be forfeited^[c]—both the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard. ¹⁰ You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You are not to wear a woven mixture^[d], wool and linen together. ¹² You are to make for yourself twisted threads^[e] on the four corners of your garment in which you cover yourself.

¹³ “Suppose a man takes a wife and goes to her and then dislikes her, ¹⁴ accuses her of shameful things and gives her a bad reputation by saying, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I didn’t find her virginity.’ ¹⁵ Then the father of the young woman is to take her and her mother is to bring out the signs of the young woman’s virginity to the city elders at the gate. ¹⁶ The young lady’s father is to tell the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. ¹⁷ Indeed, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, “I didn’t find your daughter’s virginity.” Yet these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ They are to spread the wedding cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ The elders of that city are to take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ Then they are to fine him 100 pieces of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name on a virgin of Israel. Then she is to be his wife—he may not send her away all his days.

²⁰ “But if this thing is true—that the signs of virginity were not found in the young lady— ²¹ then they are to bring the young woman out to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city are to stone her with stones to death, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to behave like a prostitute in her father’s house. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

²² “Suppose a man is found lying with a married woman. Then both of them are to die—the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you are to purge the evil from Israel.

²³ “Suppose there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her. ²⁴ Then you are to bring them both out to the gate of that city and stone them with stones to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because he humiliated his neighbor’s wife. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

²⁵ “But if the man finds the engaged woman in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her is to die. ²⁶ But to the young woman you are to do nothing—there is no sin in the young woman deserving of death. For this matter is the same as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him— ²⁷ for he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “Suppose a man finds a young virgin who is not engaged, grabs her and lies with her, and they are discovered. ²⁹ Then the man who lay with her is to give to the young woman’s father 50 pieces of silver, and she is to be his wife, since he has humiliated her—he may not send her away all his days.

Persons Excluded from the Community

23 “A man is not to take his father’s wife—he is not to expose his father’s nakedness.

² “No one with crushed or cut-off genitals is to enter the community of Adonai. ³ No one born of forbidden relations^[f] is to enter the community of Adonai—even to the tenth generation none of his descendants are to enter the community of Adonai. ⁴ No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the community of Adonai—even to the tenth generation none belonging to them is to enter the community of Adonai forever— ⁵ because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor from Petor of Aram-naharaim to curse you. ⁶ But Adonai your God refused to listen to Balaam, and Adonai your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because He loves you. ⁷ You are never to seek their shalom or welfare all your days.

⁸ “You are not to detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. You are not to detest an Egyptian, for you were an outsider in his land. ⁹ The children born to them—the third generation—may enter the community of Adonai.

¹⁰ “When you go out as an army camp against your enemies, you are to guard yourself from every evil thing. ¹¹ If there is among you a man who is not clean from a nighttime emission, he is to go outside the camp—he may not reenter the camp. ¹² Now toward evening he is to bathe in water, and when the sun sets, he may reenter the camp. ¹³ There is to be a place at hand for you outside the camp, and you are to go there outside. ¹⁴ You are to have a shovel for yourself among your weapons. Now when you sit down outside, you are to dig with it and turn and cover up what comes out of you. ¹⁵ For Adonai your God walks in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to give your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy, so that He does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Slavery, Cult Prostitutes

¹⁶ “You are not to hand over to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master. ¹⁷ Let him dwell with you in your midst, in the place he chooses within one of your town gates—the one that is good for him. You are not to mistreat him.

¹⁸ “None of the daughters of Israel is to be a cult prostitute, nor any of the sons of Israel a cult prostitute. ¹⁹ You are not to bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the House of Adonai your God for any vow, for both of these are detestable to Adonai your God.

Usury, Vows

²⁰ “You are not to charge excessive interest to your brother—on money, food or anything that may be loaned for interest. ²¹ To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you are not to charge interest, so that Adonai your God may bless you in every undertaking of your hand on the land you are going in to possess.

²² “When you make a vow to Adonai your God, you are not to delay to make good on it—for Adonai your God will certainly require it of you, and you would have sin on you. ²³ But if you refrain from making a vow, you would not have sin on you. ²⁴ Whatever comes out of your lips you are to take care to do, since you have vowed to Adonai your God a freewill offering that you have promised with your mouth.

²⁵ “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes; but you are not to put any in your basket. ²⁶ When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you are not to swing a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Marriage and Divorce

24 “Suppose a man takes a wife and marries her. Now if she doesn’t find favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent in her, he is to write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her and send her out from his house. ² When she leaves his house, she may go and become another man’s wife. ³ Now suppose the second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, and he hands it to her and she leaves his house—or suppose the second husband who took her to be his wife dies. ⁴ Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled—for that would be detestable before Adonai. You are not to bring guilt on the land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ “When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or have any duty passed over to him. He is to be free at home for one year and make his wife happy.

Preserving Life and Property

⁶ “No one is to take a pair of millstones or the upper one as collateral, for this would be taking a livelihood as collateral.

⁷ “If a man is caught kidnapping any of his brothers from Bnei-Yisrael, whether he treats him like property or sells him, then that kidnapper must die. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ “Take care in the plague of tzara’at—be very careful to do all that the Levitical kohanim instruct you, just as I commanded them, so you are to take care to do. ⁹ Remember what Adonai your God did to Miriam, along the way when you were coming out from Egypt.

Relief for the Poor

¹⁰ “When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹ You are to stand outside, and the man to whom you are making the loan is to bring the pledge outside to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, you are not to sleep with his pledge^[g]. ¹³ You must certainly restore the pledge to him when the sun sets, so that he may sleep in his coat and bless you—and it is to be righteousness for you before Adonai your God.

¹⁴ “You are not to oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is from your brothers or the outsiders in your land within your town gates. ¹⁵ On that day you are to give him his wages—the sun is not to set on it—for he is poor and sets his heart on it. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and you will have sin on you.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be put to death for children, and children are not to be put to death for fathers—each one is to be put to death for his own sin. ¹⁷ You are not to twist justice for an outsider or orphan, and you are not to take as collateral a widow’s clothing. ¹⁸ But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you are not to turn back to get it. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow—in order that Adonai your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²¹ When you harvest your vineyard, you are not to pick over it afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²² You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Justice From the Court

25 “Suppose there is a dispute between people and they approach the court, the judges hear their case, and declare one righteous and the other guilty. ² Now if the guilty one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to make him lie down and be flogged before him, with the number of lashes in proportion to his guilt. ³ He may strike him 40 times but no more. Otherwise he would beat him with too many a wound beyond these, and your brother would be degraded in your eyes.

⁴ “You are not to muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

⁵ “If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the dead man’s wife is not to be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother is to go to her and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁶ Now the firstborn that she bears is to carry on the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to take his brother’s widow, his brother’s widow is to go to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel—he is unwilling to perform a brother-in-law’s duty for me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow is to come to him in the sight of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and reply, ‘So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ Then his name is to be called in Israel ‘the house of the pulled-off sandal.’

¹¹ “Suppose people fight with one another, a man and his brother, and the wife of the one approaches to rescue her husband from the hand of the one hitting him; and she puts out her hand and grabs him by his genitals. ¹² Then you are to cut off her hand—your eye will show no pity.

¹³ “You are not to have stones of different weights in your bag—large and small. ¹⁴ You are not to have in your house ephahs of different measures—large and small. ¹⁵ You must have a full and honest weight and a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long on the land that Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do these things, all who do injustice, are detestable to Adonai your God.

Beware, Blot Out Amalek

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way as you came out from Egypt— ¹⁸ how he happened upon you along the way and attacked those among you in the rear, all the stragglers behind you, when you were tired and weary—he did not fear God. ¹⁹ Now when Adonai your God grants you rest from all the enemies surrounding you in the land Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget!

Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

 Moses Pleads to Enter

²³ “I pleaded with Adonai at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘O Lord Adonai, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand—for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do deeds and mighty acts like Yours? ²⁵ Please! Let me cross over and see the good land across the Jordan—that good hill country and the Lebanon.’

²⁶ “But Adonai was angry with me because of you, so He would not listen to me. ‘Enough!’ Adonai said to me, ‘Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah, look around to the west and the north and the south and the east, and see with your eyes—for you will not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will enable them to inherit the land that you will see.’ ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Bnei-Yisrael Must Listen and Obey

4 “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and possess the land that Adonai the God of your fathers is giving you. ² You must not add to the word that I am commanding you or take away from it—in order to keep the mitzvot of Adonai your God that I am commanding you. ³ Your eyes have seen what Adonai did at Baal Peor, for Adonai your God has destroyed from among you everyone who followed Baal Peor. ⁴ But you who held tight to Adonai your God are alive today—all of you.

⁵ “See, just as Adonai my God commanded me, I have taught you statutes and ordinances to do in the land that you are about to enter to possess. ⁶ You must keep and do them, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For what great nation is there that has gods so near to them, as Adonai our God is whenever we call on Him? ⁸ What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances that are righteous—like all of this Torah that I am setting before you today?

⁹ “Only be watchful and watch over your soul closely, so you do not forget the things your eyes have seen and they slip from your heart all the days of your life. You are to make them known to your children and your children’s children. ¹⁰ The day that you stood before Adonai your God in Horeb, Adonai said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me and I will make them hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and so that they teach their children.’

Words from the Fiery Mountain

¹¹ “You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain while the mountain was blazing with fire up to the heart of the heavens—darkness, cloud, and fog. ¹² Adonai spoke to you from the midst of the fire. The sound of words you heard, but a form you did not see—only a voice. ^{[a] 13} He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to do—the Ten Words—and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. ^{[b] 14} Adonai commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, so that you might do them in the land you are crossing over to possess.

¹⁵ “So be very watchful over your souls since you saw no form on the day that Adonai spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a graven image in the likeness of any figure—the form of a male or female, ¹⁷ the form of any animal that is on the earth, the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the water under the earth— ¹⁹ and so that you do not lift up your eyes toward the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars—all the heavenly host—and are drawn away and bow down and worship them. Adonai your God has allotted them to all the peoples under all the heavens. ²⁰ But you, Adonai has taken, and He brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt to be a people for His own inheritance, as you are this day.

²¹ “Furthermore Adonai was angry with me because of your words, and He swore that I would not cross over the Jordan or enter the good land that Adonai your God is giving you for an inheritance. ²² For I must die in this land; I am not crossing over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of that good land. ²³ Watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of Adonai your God, which He cut with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything that Adonai your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For Adonai your God is a consuming fire^[c]—a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and children’s children and have been in the land a long time, and you act corruptly and make a graven image in the form of anything and do evil in the sight of Adonai your God, provoking Him to anger, ²⁶ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will certainly be carried off quickly from the land you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days on it, for you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ Adonai will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Adonai will drive you. ²⁸ There you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which do not see or hear or eat or smell. ²⁹ But from there you will seek Adonai your God and you will find Him, when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰ “When you are in distress and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you will return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For Adonai your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them.

³² “Indeed, ask now about the former days that were before you, from the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of the sky to the other. Has there ever been such a great thing as this, or has anything like it been heard? ³³ Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard—and lived? ³⁴ Or has any god ever tried to come to take for himself a nation from within a nation—by trials, by signs and wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—like all that Adonai your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ You were shown, so that you might know that Adonai is God—there is no other besides Him. ^{[d] 36} From the heavens He made you hear His voice to instruct you,^[e] and on earth He caused you to see His great fire—you heard His words from the midst of the fire. ³⁷ Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them. Then He brought you out from Egypt with His presence, by His great power— ³⁸ to drive out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

³⁹ “So you will know today and take to heart that Adonai, He is God, in the heavens above and on the earth below—there is no other. ⁴⁰ You must keep His statutes and His mitzvot, which I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land that Adonai your God is giving you for all time.”

⁴¹ Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the east. ⁴² There the manslayer might flee, who kills his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him previously. He may flee to one of these cities and live: ⁴³ Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramot in the Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in the Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴ This is the Torah, which Moses set before Bnei-Yisrael. ⁴⁵ These are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to Bnei-Yisrael when they came out from Egypt— ⁴⁶ beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and Bnei-Yisrael struck down when they came out from Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of the Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan toward the east— ⁴⁸ from Aroer, which is on the edge of the wadi Arnon, as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹ and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, as far as the sea of the Arabah^[f], under the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Words

5 Moses called to all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I am speaking in your hearing today, learn them and make sure to do them. ² Adonai our God cut a covenant with us in Horeb. ³ Not with our fathers has Adonai cut this covenant but with us—all of us alive here today. ⁴ Adonai spoke with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. ⁵ (I was standing between Adonai and you at that time, to tell you the word of Adonai, because you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.)

‘He said:

⁶ ‘I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

⁷ ‘You shall not have other gods beside Me.

⁸ ‘Do not make for yourself a graven image—no image of what is in the heavens above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. ⁹ Do not bow down to them or worship them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, ¹⁰ but showing lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot.

¹¹ ‘You must not take the Name of Adonai your God in vain, for Adonai will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His Name in vain.

¹² ‘Observe Yom Shabbat to keep it holy, as Adonai your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you are to labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Adonai your God. In it you are not to do any work—not you or your son or your daughter, or your slave or your maid, or your ox, your donkey or any of your livestock or the outsider within your gates, so that your slave and your maid may rest as you do. ¹⁵ You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore Adonai your God commanded you to keep Yom Shabbat.

¹⁶ ‘Honor your father and your mother just as Adonai your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and it may go well with you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.^[g]

¹⁷ ‘Do not murder.

‘Do not commit adultery.

‘Do not steal.

‘Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.^[h][i]

¹⁸ ‘Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

¹⁹ “These words Adonai spoke to all your assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud and the fog, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

Live and Prolong Your Days

²⁰ “As soon as you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, you came near to me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²¹ Then you said, ‘Adonai our God has just shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. This day we have seen that God speaks with man, and yet he keeps on living. ²² Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of Adonai our God any more, then we will die. ²³ For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ²⁴ You go near and hear all that Adonai our God says. Then you tell us all what Adonai our God tells you, and we will hear it and do it.’

²⁵ “Adonai heard the tone of your words when you spoke to me, and Adonai said to me, ‘I have heard the tone of the words that this people has spoken to you—they have done well in all they have spoken. ²⁶ If only there were such a heart in them to fear Me and keep all My mitzvot always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever! ²⁷ Go say to them, “Return to your tents.” ²⁸ But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will tell you the whole commandment—both the statutes and the ordinances that you are to teach them. And they will do them in the land I am giving them to possess.’

²⁹ “So you must take care to do as Adonai your God has commanded you—do not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³⁰ You are to walk in all the way that Adonai your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may be well with you and you may prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and ordinances that Adonai your God commanded to teach you to do in the land you are crossing over to possess— ² so that you might fear Adonai your God, to keep all His statutes and mitzvot that I am commanding you and your son and your son’s son all the days of your life, and so that you may prolong your days. ³ Hear, therefore, O Israel, and take care to do this, so that it may go well with you and you may increase mightily, as Adonai the God of your fathers has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Shema Israel, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI Echad

⁴ “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one^[j]. ⁵ Love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ^{[k] 6} These words, which I am commanding you today, are to be on your heart. ⁷ You are to teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand, they are to be as frontlets^[l] between your eyes, ⁹ and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

When You Prosper, Do Not Forget

¹⁰ “Now when Adonai your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—to give you great and good cities that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you eat and are full, ¹² then watch yourself so that you do not forget Adonai, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹³ You must fear Adonai your God and serve Him,^[m] and swear by His Name. ¹⁴ You must not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for Adonai your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of Adonai your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “You are not to test Adonai your God, as you tested Him at Massah. ^{[n] 17} Diligently keep the mitzvot of Adonai your God, and His testimonies and His statutes that He has commanded you. ¹⁸ You are to do what is right and good in the sight of Adonai, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and possess the good land that Adonai swore to your fathers— ¹⁹ to drive out all your enemies from before you, as Adonai has spoken.

When Your Son Asks

²⁰ “When your son asks you in time to come, saying ‘What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Adonai our God commanded you?’ ²¹ then you are to tell your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out from Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Before our eyes Adonai showed signs and wonders, great and terrible—on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house. ²³ Then He brought us out from there so that He might bring us in, to give us the land that He swore to our fathers. ²⁴ Adonai commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Adonai our God—for our good always, to keep us alive, as is the case this day. ²⁵ It will be righteousness^[o] to us, if we take care to do all this commandment before Adonai our God, just as He has commanded us.’

No Mixing With Idolaters

7 “When Adonai your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out many nations before you—the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you— ² and Adonai your God gives them over to you and you strike them down, then you are to utterly destroy them. You are to make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ³ You are not to intermarry with them—you are not to give your daughter to his son, or take his daughter for your son. ⁴ For he will turn your son away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of Adonai will be kindled against you, and He will swiftly destroy you. ⁵ Instead, you are to deal with them like this: tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images with fire. ⁶ For you are a holy people to Adonai your God—from all the peoples on the face of the earth, Adonai your God has chosen you to be His treasured people.^[p]

⁷ “It is not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that Adonai set His love on you and chose you—for you are the least of all peoples. ⁸ Rather, because of His love for you and His keeping the oath He swore to your fathers, Adonai brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹ “Know therefore that Adonai your God, He is God—the faithful God who keeps covenant kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot, ^{[q] 10} but repays those who hate Him to their face, to annihilate them. He will not hesitate with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. ¹¹ Therefore you are to keep the commandment—both the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today, to do them.

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