Translation:Deuteronomy

by Moses

For other English-language translations of this work, see Deuteronomy (Bible).

Chapter 1

¹These are the words which Moshe spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Pharan and between Tophel, and Laban, and Chatzeroth, and Di-Zahab.

²Eleven days from Choreb [by] way of mount Se'ir to Qadesh-Barne'ah

³And it was in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month on the first of the month [when] Moshe spoke to the children of Israel, as Yahweh had commanded him [to do] to them.

⁴After he his smiting of Sichon king of the Ammonites who dwells in Cheshbon, and of Og king of the Bashan, who dwells in 'Ashtarot in Edre'i.

⁵Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moshe took up and explained this teaching to say:

⁶Yahweh our God spoke to us at Choreb to say: "Greatly have you remained at this mountain.

⁷Turn and take yourselves and go to the mountain of the Amorites and all its places in the Arabah, in the hills, in the lowlands, in the desert, and by the shore, the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon, unto the great river--the Euphrates River.

⁸Look, I have given before you the land--go and see the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to them, and to their offspring after them."

⁹And he said to them at that time, to say: I am unable to bear you alone.

¹⁰Yahweh your God has greatened you, and here you are today, as the stars in the skies in greatness.

¹¹May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times as you, and bless you as told you.

¹²How will I alone bear your toil and your burden and your squabbling?

¹³Bring to you men, smart, wise, and knowledgeable to the tribes, and I will make them at your head.

¹⁴And you [the Israelites] answered me and said "The thing you have said to us is good to do".

¹⁵Then I took the heads of the tribes, smart and knowledgeable men, and I gace them as heads to you--ministers of thousands, ministers of hundreds, ministers of fifty, and ministers of tens and officers [according] to your tribes.

¹⁶Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying: "Hear [what is] between your brethren and judge righteously between a man and between his brother and between his stranger.

¹⁷Do not know faces in judgement^[1], as with the small and the large you will listen, do not show deference^[2] to the face of a man, since it is a judgement to God; the matter that is causing difficulty for you bring it to me and I will hear it".

¹⁸Then I commanded you at that time all the things you will do.

¹⁹Then we traveled from Choreb, and went [through] all that desert, large and frightening^[3], which you saw on the road of the mountain of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God commanded us, and we went to Qadesh Barne'ah.

²⁰Then I said to you "You have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us.

²¹Look, Yahweh your God has given you the land--arise and possess, as Yahweh God of your Fathers has told you. Do not fear and do not be abashed^[4].

²²Then all of you came close to me and you said: "Let's send men before us. They will inspect^[5] the land for us and return to us by the path on which we will go up, and the cities to which we will go."

²³This matter was good in my eyes, so I took twelve men from among you, one man for a tribe.

²⁴Then they turned and went up towards the mountain, and they went to the Wadi of Clusters, and spied on it.

²⁵They took by their hands from the fruit of the land, and brought it down to us, and brought back to us word and said "Good is the land that Yahweh our God is giving us".

²⁶You did not agree to go up, but rebelled against the word^[6] of Yahweh your God.

²⁷And you discussed^[7] in your tents and you said: "In hatred of us Yahweh brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us to the hand of the Amorites for our destruction.

²⁸Is it best for us to go up? Our brethren have destroyed our hearts, saying 'The nation is greater and more powerful than we are. The cities are large and fortified in the heavens, and also sons of giants we saw there."

²⁹Then I said to you "Do not be terrified, and do not be awe-struck from them.

³⁰Yahweh your God goes before you, he will fight for you, like all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.

³¹And in the wilderness that you saw, that Yahweh your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way you have gone, until you arrived at this place."

³²But in this matter, you did not have faith in Yahweh your God.

³³[He] who went before you on the road to find for you a place to stay, in fire at night to see the way your were going, and in cloud during the day.

³⁴Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and promised:

³⁵"If one of these men of this evil generation sees the land I promised to give to their fathers!

³⁶Except for Caleb son of Yephuneh--he will see it, and to him and his sons I will give the land on which he has traveled^[8], since he was fully after Yahweh."

³⁷Yahweh also became upset with me because of you, saying: "You as well will not go there.

³⁸Joshua bin^[9] Nun who is standing before you--he will go there. Strengthen him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹Your youths, that you said would be spoil, and your children who today don't know good from evil--they will go there, and to them I will give it, and they will possess it.

⁴⁰But you--turn and go towards the wilderness by way of the Red Sea."

⁴¹Then you answered, and said to me "We have sinned to Yahweh. We will go up and fight, as Yahweh our God commanded us". Then each man prepared^[10] his weapon of war, and they agreed^[11] to go up towards the mountain.

⁴²Then Yahweh said to me, "Say to them 'Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not among you, so you will not be stricken before your enemies'". ⁴³So I spoke to you, but you did not listen, and rebelled against the word^[12] of Yahweh and were presumptuous and went up towards the mountain.

⁴⁴So the Amorites that dwell on that mountain came out to meet you to chase you as bees do, and beat you in Se'ir to Chormah.

⁴⁵Then you returned and wept to Yahweh, but Yahweh did not listen to your voice and did not pay attention to you.

⁴⁶So you resided in Qadesh many days, as the days you resided there.

Chapter 2

¹Then we turned and we traveled towards the desert [by] way of the Sea of Reeds, as Yahweh said to me, and we stayed at Mount Se'ir many days.

²Then Yahweh spoke to me, saying:

³Greatly have you stayed at this mountain--turn to the north.

⁴Command the nation, saying: "You are crossing the border of your brethren, the descendants of Esav who dwell at Se'ir--they will fear you, guard yourselves.

⁵Do not attack them, since I will not give you [any] of their land, even a footpath^[13]

⁶You will obtain food from them with money, also water you will purchase from them with money and you will drink.

⁷For Yahweh your God has blessed you, in all the work of your hands; he has known your walking through this great desert these forty years, Yahweh your God with you--you have lacked nothing".

⁸So we passed our brethren the descendants of Esav who live in Se'ir by way of the Aravah, from Eilat and Etzion-Gaver, then we turned and passed [by] way of the Moabite wilderness.

⁹Then Yahweh spoke to me: "Do not fight Moab, and do not attack them in war, since I will not give you [any] of their land, because I have given 'Ar to the descendants of Lot as an inheritance".

¹⁰The Emim lived there before--a large, numerous, and powerful as the Anaqim

¹¹They are also thought of as the Refayim as the Anaqim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

¹²And in Se'ir live the Chorites before, but the descendants of Esav conquered them and destroyed them before them and lived in their place, as Israel will do to the land of its inheritance, which Yahweh has given to them.

¹³Now get up and cross the Wadi Zered.

¹⁴And the days in which we can from Qadesh-Barne'a until we crossed the Wadi Zered were thirty-eight years, until all the generation of war were gone from the camp, as Yahweh promised to them.

¹⁵Also the hand of Yahweh was upon them to take them from within the camp, until they were gone.

¹⁶And it was when the men of war were gone and dead from the nation

¹⁷Yahweh spoke to me saying:

¹⁸Today you are passing over the border of Moab--Ar.

¹⁹When you get close to the descendants of Ammon, do not harass them, and do not attack them, since I will not give you [any] of their land as inheritance".

²⁰That is also thought of as the land of the Refayim--the Refayim lived their before, and the Ammonites call them the Zamzumim.

²¹A nation a large, numerous, and powerful as the Anaqim--Yahweh destroyed them before them, so they [the Ammonites] conquered them and lived in their place.

²²As he did with the descendants of Esav who live in Se'ir--that he destroyed the Chorim before them, and conquered them and lived in their place until today.

²³And the Awim who live in towns as far as Gaza--the Cophtorim, who come out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.

²⁴Get up, go, and cross the Wadi Arnon--look, I have given to your hand Sichon kind of Cheshbon the Emorite and his land--begin to possess it, and attack him in war.

²⁵This day I will begin to but fear and awe of you over the nations under the skies that hear your story, will tremble and be frightened before you.

²⁶Then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Qedemot to Sichon king of Cheshbon words of peace, saying:

²⁷"Let me pass through your land, on the road--on the road alone, I will not turn to the right or left.

²⁸You will provide me food for money and I will eat, and water you will give me for moey and I will drink. I will only pass through on foot.²⁹As I did with the desendants of Esav who live in Se'ir, and the Moabites who live in 'Ar until I pass the Jordan to the land which Yahweh our God has given us".

³⁰But Sichon did not consent to our crossing in his [territory], because Yahweh your God made his spirit difficult and made his heart bold, in order to give him to your hand, as today.

³¹The Yahweh said to me: "Look, I have begun to give to you Sichon and his land--begin to possess his land as a possession.

³²Then Sichon came out to meet up with his entire nation for war at Yahatz.

³³Then Yahweh our God gave him to us, and we struck him, his sons, and his entire nation.

³⁴And we took all his cities at that time, and destroyed the every city, the men, women and children--we left no one.

³⁵Only the beasts were spoil for us and we plundered the cities we took.

³⁶From 'Aro'ar that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and the city on the Wadi and to the Gilead, there was no city higher than us--Yahweh our God gave everything before us.

³⁷Only the land of the descendants of Ammon you did not approach--the whole side of the Wadi Yaboq, the cities of the hill, and all God commanded us thusly.

Chapter 3

¹And we turned and went up the way to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle [at] Edrei.

²And Yahweh said to me, "Do not be afraid of him, for I will give him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon."

³So Yahweh our God gave into our hands Og king of Bashan also, and all his people. And we struck him until there was none left to him remaining.

⁴And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we didn't take from them--sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵All these cities [were] fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled towns.

⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city: men, women, and children,

⁷and all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we looted for ourselves.

⁸And we took at that time the land, from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, which is beyond the Jordan, from the brook Arnon to Mt. Hermon,

⁹ (Sidonians call Hermon "Sirion" and the Amorites call it "Senir.")

¹⁰all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

¹¹ For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Look--his bed was of iron. Is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Its length [is] nine cubits, and four cubits its width, by the cubit of a man. ^[14]

¹²And we possessed this land at that time from Aroer to Arnon. And I gave half of Mt. Gilead, and its cities, to the Reubenites and the Gadites.

¹³And the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh: all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, called the land of Rephaim.

¹⁴Jair ben Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of Geshuri and Maacathi, and called them by his own name Bashan Havoth Jair, to this day.

¹⁵ And I gave Gilead to Machir.

¹⁶ And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon.

¹⁷ And the plain, and the Jordan, and [its] border, from Chinnereth as far as the sea of the plain, the salt sea, under Ashdoth HaPisgah eastward.

¹⁸ And I commanded you at that time, saying, "Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess it. You shall pass over armed before you brothers, the children of Israel, all the warriors ^[15].

¹⁹ But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle (I know that you have much cattle) shall remain in your cities which I have given you;

²⁰ until Yahweh gives rest to your brothers, as well as to you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. Then every man [of] you shall return to his possession, which I have given you."

²¹ And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, "Your eyes see all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings--so will Yahweh do to all the kingdoms where you are passing through.

²² Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God, he will fight for you."

²³ And I pleaded with Yahweh at that time, saying,

²⁴"Lord Yahweh, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what God [is there] in the heavens or on earth who does according to your works, and according to your might?

²⁵ Let me go over, please, and see the good land which is beyond the Jordan, that good mountain, and Lebanon."

²⁶But Yahweh was angry with me because of you, and would not listen to me. And Yahweh said to me, "Do not speak to me any more about this matter.

²⁷ Go up [to] the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward and see [it] with your eyes; for you will not pass over this Jordan.

²⁸ But command Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will go over before this people, and he will cause them to inherit the land which you see."

²⁹ So we dwelt in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Chapter 4

¹ And now, Israel, listen to the laws and judgements which I am teaching you, to do them, so that you will live and inherit the land which Yahweh the God of your fathers is giving you.

² You shall not add to the matter I am commanding you, nor shall you subtract from it in keeping the command of Yahweh your God, which I am commanding you.

³ Your eyes are those that saw what Yahweh did at Ba'al Pe'or, for every man that went after Ba'al Pe'or was destroyed by Yahweh your God from among you.

⁴ But you who followed Yahweh your God are all alive today.

⁵ See, I have taught you laws and judgements, as Yahweh my God commanded me: that you should do so in the land where you are going to inherit it.

⁶ And you shall observe and do it, for it is your wisdom and cleverness in the eyes of the peoples who will hear all these laws and say: " This great nation is a wise and clever people!"

⁷ For which great nation has a god as close to it as Yahweh our God, [as in] all the times we called to Him.

⁸ And which great nation has righteous laws and judgements like this Torah, which I am placing before you?

⁹ Only, be careful, and guard yourselves closely, lest you forget the things your eyes saw, and lest they pass away from your heart, all the days of your life. And you shall inform your sons and grandsons of them.

¹⁰ The day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horev, when Yahweh said to me: "Convoke the people and I will tell them the matter [through which] they will learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth, and they shall teach their sons."

¹¹ And you approached, and stood beneath the mountain. And the mountain was burning with fire to the full heavens, darkness, clouds, and fog.

¹² And Yahweh spoke to you from the fire. You heard it by voice, but you did not see any image, only a voice.

¹³ And he told you [of] His covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten matters, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

¹⁴ And at that time Yahweh commanded me to teach you laws and judgements, that you shall do in the land which you are going to, in order to inherit it.

¹⁵ And guard yourselves closely! For you did not see any image on the day Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb, from the fire.

¹⁶ Lest you become corrupt, and make an idol, an image or any symbol or template, male or female.

¹⁷ The template of any beast on the earth, the template of any winged bird which flies in the skies.

¹⁸ The template of any creeping thing on the earth, the template of any fish which is in the waters beneath the earth.

¹⁹ And lest you raise your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, and you be tempted away and bow down to them, and worship them whom Yahweh your God distributed to all the peoples under the heavens.

²⁰ But you were taken out by Yahweh from the iron forge, from Egypt, to be his people and inheritance, this very day.

²¹ And Yahweh raged against me because of your words, and swore that I would not pass the Jordan, or come to the good land which Yahweh is giving to you as an inheritance.

²² For I am going to die in this land. I am not going to pass the Jordan. But you will pass, and inherit this good land.

²³ Watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant Yahweh your God made with you, and you make any idol or image of anything, [against] all which Yahweh your God commanded you.

²⁴ For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, he is a jealous God.

Chapter 5

¹ And Moses called all Israel, and said to them:

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the customs which I speak in your ears today, and learn them, and make sure to perform them. ² Yahweh our god made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ It was not with our fathers that Yahweh made this covenant, but rather with us, those of us who are all alive here today. ⁴ Face to face Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain amidst the fire. ⁵ I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to tell you Yahweh's message, because you were afraid of the fire, and did not go up onto the mountain.

It was:

⁶ I am Yahweh your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, from the slave-house. ⁷ You shall have no other gods before me. ⁸ You shall not make yourselves any carved image, any likeness of what is in the sky above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters beneath the earth. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them, or serve them, because I, Yahweh your god, am a jealous god, revisiting the guilt of fathers upon sons, and to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing faithfulness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ¹¹ You shall not swear by the name of Yahweh your god falsely, because Yahweh will not hold anyone innocent who swears by his name falsely. ¹² Keep the Sabbath day, to hallow it, as Yahweh your god commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. ¹⁴ But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahweh your god. You shall not do any work: you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox, or your donkey, or your livestock, or your resident alien living in your towns, so that your slaves may rest along with you. ¹⁵ And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. And Yahweh brought you out from there with a strong hand and an arm stretched out. That is why Yahweh commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. ¹⁶ Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your god commanded you, so that your days may be long, and so that it will go well for you in the land which Yahweh your god is going to give you. ¹⁷ You shall not murder, ¹⁸ you shall not commit adultery, ¹⁹ and you shall not steal. ²⁰ And you shall not testify falsely against your neighbor. ²¹ You shall not desire your neighbor's wife, and you shall covet your neighbor's house, his field, and his male or female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything belonging to your neighbor.

²² These are the things that Yahweh said to your whole congregation on the mountain from within the fire, the cloud, and the gloom, with a loud voice. And he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me.

²³ Now, when you heard the voice from within the darkness, and the mountain burned with fire, you approached me, all your tribal leaders and elders. ²⁴ And you said, We see that Yahweh our god showed his glory and power, and we heard his voice from within the fire today. We have seen that God speaks with humans, and lives. ²⁵ And now why should we die? For this great fire will devour us. If we heard the voice of Yahweh our god any more, then we will die. ²⁶ Because who, of all flesh, has heard the voice of a living god speaking from within the fire like us, and lived? ²⁷ Go near and hear all that Yahweh our god will say, and tell us all that Yahweh our god says to us, and we will hear and do it.

²⁸ And Yahweh heard the sound of your words, when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me, I have heard the sound of the words of this people, that they said to you. They have spoken well to you. ²⁹ Oh, that they had such a heart as to fear me,^[16] and keep all my commandments always, so that it would go well for them, and for their children forever! ³⁰ Go say to them, Go back to your tents. ³¹ But you, stay here with me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and statutes, and customs, which you will teach them to do in the land which I give them to possess.

³² You must make sure to do as Yahweh your god commanded you. You must not turn away to the right or left. ³³ You must walk all the paths that Yahweh your god commands you, so that you may live, and it will go well with you, and you will live long in the land which you will possess.

Chapter 6

¹ Now these are the commandments, the rules, and the customs which Yahweh your god commanded to teach you, to do them in the land you will cross over and possess, ² in order that you might fear Yahweh your god, to keep all his rules and commandments which I commend you -- you, and your son, and your son's son -- all the days of your life, in order that your days may be lengthened. ³ Hear, O Israel, and make sure to do it, that it may go well for you, and that you may multiply greatly, as Yahweh, the god of your fathers, said to you, [in] a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our god, Yahweh alone. ⁵ Love Yahweh your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your effort.

⁶ And these words that I command you today will be in your heart. ⁷ And you will teach them to your sons, and you will speak about them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the road, and when you lie down, and when you get up. ⁸ And you will tie them as a sign on your hand, and as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ And you will write them upon the posts of your house, and on your gates.

¹⁰ And then, when Yahweh your god brings you to the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and good cities, which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses filled with goods, that you did not fill, and wells dug, that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you eat, and are full, ¹² take care not to forget Yahweh, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the slave-house. ¹³ You will fear Yahweh your god, and serve him, and swear by his name. ¹⁴ You will not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who surround you, ¹⁵ because Yahweh your god is a jealous deity among you, or else the hot wrath of Yahweh your god will burn against you, and wipe you off the surface of the ground.

¹⁶ Do not test Yahweh your god, as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ Take care to keep the commandments of Yahweh your god, and his instructions, and his rules, which he has commanded you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in Yahweh's view, so that it may go well for you, and that you may enter and take possession of the good land which Yahweh your god swore to your fathers, ¹⁹ to push out all your enemies ahead of you, as Yahweh promised.

²⁰ When your son asks in the future, "What are the instructions, and the rules, and the customs which Yahweh our god commanded you?", ²¹ then you will say to your son, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand. ²² And Yahweh showed signs and wonders, strong and severe, against Egypt, against Pharaoh, and against all his house, before our eyes. ²³ And he brought us out from there, in order to bring us in and give us the land which he swore to our fathers. ²⁴ And Yahweh commanded us to follow these rules, to fear Yahweh our god, for our own good always, to keep us alive as we are today. ²⁵ And we will have merit if we take care to do all these commandments before Yahweh our god, as he commanded us.

Chapter 7

¹ When Yahweh your god brings you in to the land which you where you are going to take possession, and has cleared 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 more numerous and stronger than you, ² and Yahweh your god hands them over to you, you are to strike them, exterminate them entirely. You must make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them. ³ You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughter to his son, or take his daughter for your son, ⁴ because your son will be turned away from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Yahweh will burn hot against them, and destroy you suddenly. ⁵ But this is how you must deal with them: tear down their altars, and shatter their sacred pillars, and cut down Asherahs, and burn their carved images with fire, ⁶ because you are a holy people to Yahweh your god. Yahweh your god chose you to be his people, treasured beyond all the peoples who live on the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were the most numerous of peoples that Yahweh joined himself to you and chose you. No, you were the least of the peoples. ⁸ Because of Yahweh's love for you, and to keep the oath which he swore to your father, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand, and freed you from the slave-house, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹ So know that Yahweh your god is God, the faithful deity, who keeps the covenant and loyalty toward those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. ¹⁰ And he repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not hesitate about those who hate him; he will repay them to their face. ¹¹ And you must keep the commandments, and the rules, and the customs which I command you to do this day.

¹² And then, as a result, if you listen to these decrees of mine, and keep and do them, Yahweh your god will keep for you the covenant and the loyalty which he swore to your fathers. ¹³ And he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you, and he will bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your corn, and your wine, and your oil, your calves and your lambs and your kids, upon the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You will be blessed above all peoples. There will be no sterile male or female, among you or your livestock. ¹⁵ And Yahweh will take away from you all sickness, and will not put on you any of the severe diseases of Egypt, which you know, and will give them to all those who hate you. ¹⁶ And you will consume all the peoples which Yahweh your god gives you. Let your eye have no compassion for them, and do not serve their gods, because that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷ You may think to yourself, "These nations are more numerous than me. How can I drive them out?" ¹⁸ Do not fear them. Keep in your memory what Yahweh your god did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: ¹⁹ the great calamities which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the strong hand, and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your god brought you out. Yahweh your god will do the same to all the peoples which you are afraid of. ²⁰ Also, Yahweh your god will send the hornet among them, until those who are left in hiding from you are destroyed. ²¹ Do not tremble before them, because Yahweh your god is among you, a great and terrifying deity. ²² And Yahweh your god will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to finish them off quickly, or else the wild animals would become too numerous for you. ²³ And Yahweh your god will deliver them to you, and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And he will hand over kings to you, and you will destroy them from under the sky. No one will be able to withstand you, until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods you must burn with fire. Do not desire the silver and gold that is on them, and take it for yourself, or else you may be entrapped by it, because it is detestable to Yahweh your god. ²⁶ You must not bring what is detestable into your house, or else you will be set aside for extermination as it is. You must utterly loathe it, because it is set aside for extermination.

Chapter 8

¹ All the commandments which I command you today you must take care to follow, so that you may live, and multiply, and enter to take possession of the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers. ² Remember all the way which Yahweh your god lead you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you, and made you hungry, and fed you with the manna, which you had not known, nor did your fathers know, in order to teach you that human beings cannot live by bread alone, but rather that by everything that comes out from the mouth of Yahweh human beings may live. ⁴ Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your feet did not develop callouses, these forty years. ⁵ Know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, Yahweh your god disciplines you.

⁶ Keep the commandments of Yahweh and walk in his paths, and fear him, ⁷ because Yahweh your god is bringing you to a good land, a land with streams of water, fountains and underground waters springing up in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil olives and honey, ⁹ a land where you will eat with no shortage of bread, lacking nothing, a land where the stones are iron, and from its hill you can dig bronze. ¹⁰ And you will eat, and be filled, and bless Yahweh your god for the good land which he gave you.

¹¹ Be careful not to forget Yahweh your god, by not keeping his commandments, and his decrees, and his rules which I command you today. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are full, and you build good houses, and live there, ¹³ and your cattle and sheep and goats multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, ¹⁴ then your heart will be proud, and you will forget Yahweh your god, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the slave-house, ¹⁵ who lead you through the great and terrifying wilderness, burning serpents, and scorpions, and desert without water, who brought you water from a flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you manna in the wilderness, which your fathers had not known, in order to humble you, and in order to test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ And you will think to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hand have made me this wealth."

¹⁸ Remember Yahweh your god, because he is the one who gives you the strength to make wealth, in order to fulfill the covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today. ¹⁹ And then, if you should forget Yahweh your god, and follow other gods, and serve them, and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. ²⁰ As the nations which Yahweh destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed, as a consequence of not listening to the voice of Yahweh your god.

Chapter 9

¹ Hear, O Israel! You are passing over the Jordan today, to go in and possess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fenced in the heavens,

² a people great and tall, children of the Anakim, whom you know. And you have heard, "Who can stand before the children of Anak?"

³ Know then today that Yahweh your God is going over ahead of you, a consuming fire. He will destroy them, and bring them down before you. And you will drive them out before you, and destroy them quickly, as Yahweh has said to you.

⁴Do not speak in your heart, when Yahweh drives them away from before you, saying, "For my righteousness Yahweh brought me in to possess this land, but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh is driving them out from before me."

⁵ [It is] not for your righteousness, and for the uprightness of your heart, [that] you are going in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you, and to establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers: to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ Know therefore that Yahweh your God does not give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Remember, do not forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you came out of the land of Egypt till to came in to this place, you have ben rebels against Yahweh.

⁸Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry against you, to [the point of wanting to] destroy you.

⁹When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed in the mountain forty days. I did not eat bread, and I did not drink water.

¹⁰And Yahweh gave me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them [it was written] according to all the words which Yahweh spoke to you in the mountain, from the midst of fire, in the day of the assembly.

¹¹ And it happened at the end of forty days and forty nights, Yahweh gave to me the two tablets of stone, tables of the covenant.

¹² And Yahweh said to me, "Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people have done corruptly, that you brought out of Egypt; they have turned quickly aside from the way which I commanded them--they have made themselves a molten image!"

¹³And Yahweh spoke to me, saying, "I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people.

¹⁴ Leave me alone, and I will destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I will make you become a nation mightier and more numerous^[17] than they."

¹⁵And I turned and came down from the mountain, and the montain burned with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant [were] in my two hands.

¹⁶And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf, you had turned quickly aside from the way that Yahweh had commanded you.

¹⁷And I took the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸ I threw myself down before Yahweh, like at first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread, nor drank water, because of all your sins which you have sinned, by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, to anger him.

¹⁹For I was afraid because of the anger and the fury with which Yahweh was angry against you, [enough] to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me this time also.

²⁰And Yahweh was very angry with Aaron, [enough] to destroy him. And I prayed also for Aaron at that time.

²¹ And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and beat it, grinding well till it [was] small as dust. And I threw its dust into the brook that went down from the mountain.

²²And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth Hattaavah, you angered Yahweh.

²³ And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, "Go up and possess the land which I have given you," then you rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh your God, and did not believe him, nor listen to his voice.

²⁴You have been rebels toward Yahweh from the day I knew you.

²⁵And I threw myself down before Yahweh, forty days and forty nights, as I threw myself down [before]; because Yahweh had said he would destroy you.

²⁶So I prayed to Yahweh, and said: "O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out from Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Remember you servants: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not turn to the stubbornness of this people, and to its wickedness, and to its sin;

²⁸ lest the land from which you brought us out say, "Because of the inability of Yahweh to bring them into the land which he had spoken to them about, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.

²⁹And they are your people, and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power, and by your outstretched arm!"

Chapter 10

¹At that time Yahweh said to me, "Carve yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make yourself a chest^[18] of wood. ² I will write on the tablets the words which were on the earlier ones, which you broke, and you are to put them in the chest."

³ So I made a chest of acacia wood, and carved two tablets of stone, like the first ones, and I went up to the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ Then he wrote on the tablets, just like the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And Yahweh gave them to me. ⁵ I turned and went down from the mountain, and I put the tablets in the ark which I had made. There are there, just as Yahweh commanded me.

⁶ Then the people of Israel travelled from Beeroth of the people of Jaakan to Mosera. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son took his place. ⁷ From there they travelled to the Gudgodah, and from the Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers.

⁸ At that time Yahweh separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to serve him, and to bless his name, up to the present day. ⁹ This is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers. Yahweh is his inheritance, just as Yahweh your god promised him. ¹⁰ I stayed on the mountain, just like the first time, forty days and forty nights. Yahweh listened to me that time as well, [so] Yahweh decided not to destroy you. ¹¹ Yahweh said to me, "Get up and lead the people on your journey, so that they may come in and take over the land which I swore to their ancestors to give them." ¹² And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your god ask of you, except to fear Yahweh your god, to walk in all his paths, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your god with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ to observe the commandments of Yahweh, and his regulations, which I commend you today for your own good. ¹⁴ Indeed, the sky, the highest of skies, belongs to Yahweh your god, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet delighted in your ancestors and loved them, and chose their descendants after them, you, above all the peoples, as it is today. ¹⁶ So circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiff-necked any more. ¹⁷ For Yahweh your god is the God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the great El, mighty and terrifying, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. ¹⁸ He gives justice to the orphan and the widow, and he loves the immigrant,^[19] giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ So you are to love the resident foreigner living among you,^[20] for you yourselves were foreigners living in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You are to fear Yahweh your god. You shall serve him, and cling to him, and swear by his name. ²¹ He is the one you are to praise. He is your god, who has done for you these great and terrifying things which your eyes have seen. ²² As seventy persons your ancestors went down into Egypt, and now Yahweh your god has made you like the stars of the sky in number.

Chapter 11

¹ And you must love Yahweh your god, and observe his observances, and regulations, and customs, and commands, always. ² Know today that I am not [speaking] with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the discipline of Yahweh your god, his greatness, his strong hand, and his arm stretched out, ³ and his signs, and his deeds which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; ⁴ and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their houses, and to their chariots, how he overflowed the waters of the Red Sea upon them as they pursued you, and Yahweh destroyed them to this day; ⁵ and what he did for you in the wilderness, until you came to this place; ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households, and their tents, and all living things which they had, in the midst of all Israel. ⁷ But your eyes have seen all Yahweh's great deeds which he has done.

⁸ And you must keep all the commands which I command you today, so that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land which you will cross over to possess; ⁹ and so that you may prolong your days in the land which Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey; ¹⁰ because the land where you will go in to take possession is not like the land of Egypt, which you left behind, where you planted your seed and watered it with your foot,^[21] like a garden of vegetables. ¹¹ But the land which you will cross over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by rain from the sky, ¹² a land which Yahweh your god cares for. The eyes of Yahweh your god are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ And so, if you listen carefully to my commands which I command you today, to love Yahweh your god, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ I will give you rain for your land in its appointed times, the autumn rain and the spring rain,^[22] so that you may gather your grain, and wine, and oil. ¹⁵ I will give grass in your field for your livestock, so that you may eat and be filled. ¹⁶ Take care, so that your mind is not deluded, and you turn away and serve other gods, and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the wrath of Yahweh will be aroused against you, and he will close the sky, and there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its produce, and you will be quickly destroyed from upon the good land which Yahweh gives you.

¹⁸ So set my words upon your heart and your soul, and tie them as a sign on your hand, and let them be frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ Teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days may be extended, and the days of your children, on the land which Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors, like the days of the sky above the earth, ²² because if you are careful to observe all these commandments which I command you to do, to love Yahweh your god, to walk in all his paths, and to stay close to him, ²³ then Yahweh will drive out all these nations away from you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than yourselves. ²⁴ Every place where the soles of your feet step will be yours. From the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the furthest sea your territory will be. ²⁵ No man will be able to withstand you. Yahweh your god will place the terror of you and the fear of you on all the land which you step foot on, just as he said to you.

²⁶ Look — today I am setting in front of you a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the blessing if you observe the commands of Yahweh your god, which I command you today; ²⁸ the curse if you do not observe the commands of Yahweh your god, and turn away from the path which I command you today, to follow other gods which you have not known. ²⁹ Then, when Yahweh your god has brought you in to the land which you go to possess, you will place the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not on the other side of Jordan, where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites who live on the desert across from the Gilgal, near the Oaks of Moreh? ³¹ You shall cross over the Jordan to go and take possession of the land which Yahweh your god gives you, and you will take possession of it and settle there. ³² And you must take care to observe all the rules and customs which I set before you today.

Chapter 12

¹ These are the rules and customs which you must observe in the land which Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, has given to you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. ² You must destroy all the places where the nations which you are driving out served their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. ³ You must tear down their altars, and break their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire, and cut apart of the images of their gods, and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You must not do so to Yahweh, your god.

⁵ But as for the place where Yahweh will select from all tribes, to place his name there, you will inquire at his dwelling and come there. ⁶ There you will bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offerings of your hands, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of you cattle, sheep, and goats. ⁷ There you will eat before Yahweh your god, and you will rejoice in all you put your hand to, you and your households, whom Yahweh your god has blessed.

⁸ You must not do all the things we do here today, each person doing whatever seems right to him, ⁹ when you have not yet come to your rest, to the inheritance which Yahweh your god is about to give you. ¹⁰ When you cross over the Jordan and settle in the land which Yahweh your god will give you as an inheritance, and he gives you rest from all your enemies all around, and you dwell in safety, ¹¹ then there will be a place which Yahweh your god will choose to make his name dwell. There you will bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave-offerings of your hands, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh. ¹² And you will celebrate before Yahweh your god: you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who lives within your gates, because he has no allotted inheritance with you. ¹³ Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place that you see. ¹⁴ Instead, in the place which Yahweh will choose in one of your tribes, there you must offer your burnt offerings, and there you must do all that I command you.

¹⁵ However, you may slaughter whatever you desire, and eat flesh in all your gates with the blessing of Yahweh your god, which he has given you: both ritually impure and pure people may eat it, just as a gazelle or hart.^{[23] 16} Only do not eat the blood. You must pour it on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, wine, or oil; nor the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, or goats; nor any of the vows which you have vowed, nor your freewill offerings, nor the heave-offerings of your hand. ¹⁸ Rather, you must eat them before Yahweh in the place which Yahweh your god will choose: you, your son, your daughter, you male slave, your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. You will rejoice before Yahweh your god in whatever you set your hands to do. ¹⁹ Be sure not to forsake the Levite as long as you live on the earth.

²⁰ When Yahweh your god expands your territory as he has promised you, and you say, "I will eat meat," because you desire to eat meat, you may eat meat, whatever your heart desires. ²¹ If the place where Yahweh your god has chosen to put his name is too far from you, then you may slaughter it, whether it is from your cattle, or sheep, or goats which Yahweh has given you. As I have commanded you, you may eat in all your gates whatever your heart desires. ²² Just as a gazelle or a hart is eaten, you may eat them. People ritually impure or pure alike may eat them. ²³ Only make certain not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you may not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You may not eat it; you must pour it on the earth like water. ²⁵ You may not eat it, so that you may do well, and your sons after you, because you do what is right in Yahweh's view. ²⁶ Only your holy things that you have, and your vows, you must take and bring to the place which Yahweh had chosen. ²⁷ You must give your burnt offerings, the flesh and the bood, upon the altar of Yahweh your god. The blood of your sacrifices you must pour on the altar of Yahweh your god, but the flesh you may eat. ²⁸ Observe and obey all things things which I command you, so that you may do well, and your sons after you forever, because you do what what is good and right in the view of Yahweh your god.

²⁹ When Yahweh your god cuts off the nations, where you are going to drive them out, from before you, and you take possession of them, and dwell in the land, ³⁰ be careful not to be ensnared by following them after they are annihilated from among you. Do not inquire of their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve gods? I will do likewise." ³¹ You must not treat Yahweh your god in this manner, because they have done for their gods everything that repulses Yahweh, which he hates; because they have burned even their own sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.

^32(13:1)[24] Whatever I command you, observe it. Do not add to it or take away from it.

Chapter 13

¹⁽²⁾ If there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a portent, ²⁽³⁾ and the sign or portent occurs, which he spoke of, saying, "Let us follow other gods, which you did not know before, and let us serve them"; ³⁽⁴⁾ you must not listen to the things that prophet or that dreamer of dreams says, because Yahweh your god is testing you, to find out whether love Yahweh your god with all your heart and soul. ⁴⁽⁵⁾ You must follow Yahweh your god, and fear him, and observe his commandments, and listen to his voice, and serve him, and stay close to him. ⁵⁽⁶⁾ And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams must be put to death, because he has spoken to turn you away from Yahweh your god, who brought you from the land of Egypt, who released you from the house of slavery; to throw you off the path which Yahweh your god commanded you to walk on. You must burn out the evil among you.

⁶⁽⁷⁾ If your brother, who is your mother's son, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your friend who is like your own soul, incites you in secret, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," whom neither you nor your ancestors knew before, ⁷⁽⁸⁾ the gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near you or far away from you, from one end of the earth to another, ⁸⁽⁹⁾ you must not agree with him. You must not listen to him. You must not look on him with pity; you must not spare him or pardon him. ⁹⁽¹⁰⁾ But you must kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people, ¹⁰⁽¹¹⁾ when you stone him with stones until he dies, because he tried to push you away from Yahweh your god, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹¹⁽¹²⁾ Then all Israel will hear, and be afraid, and never again do anything like this wickedness among you.

¹²⁽¹³⁾ Suppose you hear in one of your cities, which Yahweh has given you to live in, ¹³⁽¹⁴⁾ "Worthless men have gone out from among you, and have incited the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,'" whom you have not known before. ¹⁴⁽¹⁵⁾ Then you must make a thorough and diligent investigation. And if it should really be true that this loathsome thing has been done among you, ¹⁵⁽¹⁶⁾ you must certainly kill the inhabitants of that city by the mouth of the sword, dedicating it to extermination,^[25] and all who are in it, even its livestock, by the mouth of the sword. ¹⁶⁽¹⁷⁾ You must all the loot within it into its city square and burn the city with fire, and all its loot entirely, to Yahweh your god. It must be a ruin forever; it must not be rebuilt. ¹⁷⁽¹⁸⁾ And you must not hold onto anything from the herem,^[26] so that Yahweh may turn back from his fierce anger, and give you mercy, and have compassion for you, and increase your number as he swore to your ancestors, ¹⁸⁽¹⁹⁾ when you listen to the voice of Yahweh your god, to keep all his commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the view of Yahweh your god.

Chapter 14

¹ You are the sons of Yahweh your god. You must not cut yourselves or make baldness between your eyes^[27] for the dead. ² For you are a holy people belonging to Yahweh your god, and Yahweh has chosen you to be his own people out of all the peoples who are on the earth.

³ You must not eat any abominable thing. ⁴ These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the ayyal, the tsebi, the yahmur, the aqqo, the dishon, the t'o, and the zemer.^{[28] 6} Every animal with a cloven hoof, a hoof divided into two section, which chews its cud, you may eat it among the animals. ⁷ However, you may not eat these among those that chew the cud or divide the hoof: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax, because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof. They are ritually impure for you. ⁸ And the swine, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew cud, is unclean for you. You may not eat or touch their carcass.

⁹ These you may eat of all aquatic things. Whatever has fins and scales, you may eat. ¹⁰ But whatever does not have fins and scales, you may not eat. It is ritually impure for you.

¹¹ You may eat of all ritually pure birds. ¹² But these are those you may not eat: the nesher, the bearded vulture, the ozniyyah, ^{[29] 13} the raah, the ayyah, any kind of dayyah,^{[30] 14} any kind of raven, ¹⁵ the bat hayyaanah, the tahmas, the shahaf, any kind of netz,^{[31] 16} the kos, the yanshuf, the tanshemeth,^{[32] 17} the qaath, the rahamah, the shalakh,^{[33] 18} the hasidah, any kind of anafah, the hoopoe, and the bat.^{[34] 19} Every kind of crawling thing that flies is ritually impure for you. They must not be eaten. ²⁰ You may eat of all ritually pure birds.

²¹You must not eat anything that dies naturally. You may give it to the resident alien within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, because you are a holy people to Yahweh your god.

Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

²² You are required to tithe the produce of everything you plant that the field brings forth each year. ²³ You will eat before Yahweh your god in the place which he will choose for his name to dwell: the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats. Thus you will learn to fear Yahweh your god always. ²⁴ And if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far away from you which Yahweh your good chooses for his name to dwell, when Yahweh your god has blessed you, ²⁵ then you may exchange it for money, and take the money in your hand, and go to the place which Yahweh your god will choose. ²⁶ Then you will spend that money on whatever your heart desires: on cattle, on sheep or goats, on wine, on beer, or on whatever your heart desires. And you will eat it there in front of Yahweh your god, and you will celebrate with your household. ²⁷ And do not forsake the Levite within your gates, because he has allotted inheritance alongside you.

²⁸ At the end of three years you will bring all the tithe of your produce on that year, and store it up within your gates. ²⁹ Then the Levite, because he has no allotted inheritance alongside you, and the resident alien, and the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates will come and eat, and be satisfied. As a result, Yahweh your god will bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Chapter 15

¹ At the end of [every] seven years you will grant a release of debts. ² This is the manner of the release: every lender who lends to his fellow must release it. He must not exact it of his fellow, his brother, because it is known as Yahweh's release. ³ You may exact it of a foreigner, but what you are owed by your brother your hand must release, ⁴ except if there are no poor people among you, because Yahweh will bless you in the land which Yahweh your god is giving you to take as your possession, ⁵ if only you will obey the voice of Yahweh your god, observing all these commandments which I command you today, ⁶ because Yahweh your god will bless you, as he told you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ When there is among you a poor person among your brothers within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your god will give you, you must not harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. ⁸ Rather, you must open your hand to him, and lend to him sufficient for what he is lacking. ⁹ Be careful not to think wickedly, "The seventh year of release is coming soon," and then act stingily against your poor brother by giving him nothing, so that he calls to Yahweh against you, so that sin is held against you. ¹⁰ You must give to him, and do not be upset when you give to him, because on account of this thing Yahweh your god will bless you in all your work, in all you put your hand to, ¹¹ because the poor will never disappear from the land. Therefore I command you, "Open your hand to your brother, to your poor, to your needy in your land."

¹² If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must send him away from you a free man. ¹³ When you send him away free, you must not send him empty-handed. ¹⁴ Furnish him generously generally from your flock, your threshing-floor, and wine-press. Give to him just as Yahweh your god has blessed you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh your god set you free. That is why I am giving you this commandment today. ¹⁶ But if it should happen that he says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loved you and your household, because it has been good for him to stay with you, ¹⁷ then you are to take an awl and push it through his ear into the door, and then he will be your slave forever. You shall do likewise for a female slave. ¹⁸ Do not look at this as a hardship when you send him away from you a free man, because he has served six years, worth double the wages of a hired worker,^[35] and Yahweh your god will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹ You must consecrate to Yahweh your god every firstborn male born among your cattle, sheep, and goats. You must do no work with the firstborn among your bulls, and you must not shear the firstborn of your sheep. ²⁰ You and your household must eat them before Yahweh your god each year, in the place which Yahweh will choose. ²¹ But if it has any defect: lame, or blind — any serious blemish — you must not sacrifice it to Yahweh your god. ²² Ritually unclean and clean alike may eat it within your city gates, like a gazelle or a stag. ²³ Only do not eat its blood. You must pour it on the ground like water.

Chapter 16

¹ Observe the month of Abib,^[36] and keep the passover of Yahweh your god, because it was in the month of Abib that Yahweh your god brought you out of Egypt by night. ² You will make the passover sacrifice^[37] to Yahweh your god, of cattle or sheep,^[38] in the place where Yahweh chooses for his name to dwell. ³ Do not eat anything leavened; for seven days you must eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of oppression, because you came out from the land of Egypt in haste, so that you may remember the day when you came out from Egypt all the days of your life. ⁴ No leavened bread must be seen in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat which you sacrificed the first day at evening should remain until dawn.

⁵ You are not permitted to make the passover sacrifice within your city gates which Yahweh your god has given you. ⁶ Rather, you must make the passover sacrifice at the place which Yahweh your god will choose for his name to dwell, in the evening, at sunset, at the date when you came out from Egypt. ⁷ You must roast it and eat it in the place which Yahweh your god chooses, and in the morning you must turn and go to your tents. ⁸ Six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day will be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your god. You must do not work.

⁹ Count off seven weeks for yourself. Begin counting the seven weeks from the beginning of the grain harvest. ¹⁰ Then you will observe the festival of weeks to Yahweh your god with a voluntary offering in your hand, in an amount proportional to how Yahweh your god has blessed you. ¹¹ Then rejoice before Yahweh your god — you and your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, and the Levite within your city gates, the foreigner, the orphan, the widow among you — in the place where Yahweh your god has chosen to place his name. ¹² Remember that you were a slave in Egypt. Observe and carry out these regulations.

¹³ You must observe the festival of Sukkot seven days, after you have gathered your grain and wine. ¹⁴ Rejoice in your feast — you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levite, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your city gates. ¹⁵ For saven days you will observe the festival to Yahweh your god in the place which Yahweh will choose, because Yahweh your god will bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands. You will certainly rejoice.

¹⁶ Three times each year all your males must appear before Yahweh your god in the place which he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They must not appear before Yahweh empty-handed. ¹⁷ Each must bring a gift proportional to the blessing which Yahweh your god has given you.

¹⁸ You shall set judges and magistrates in all your city gates which Yahweh your god gives you throughout your tribes, and they must judge the people with righteous justice. ¹⁹ Your must not pervert justice. You must not show partiality, and you must not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. ²⁰ You must pursue justice wholeheartedly,^[39] so that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your god gives you.

²¹ You must not plant an Asherah of any tree near the altar of Yahweh your god which you will make for yourself. ²² And you must not set up any pillar, which Yahweh your god hates.

Chapter 17

¹ You must not sacrifice to Yahweh your god any bull, sheep, or goat that has any defect, any bad feature, because that is an abomination to Yahweh your god.

² If there is found among you, within any of your city gates which Yahweh your god gives to you, a man or a woman who has done wickedness in the view of Yahweh your god, transgressing his covenant, ³ who has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, whether the sun, or the moon, or any of the army of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴ and you are told about it, and you hear and investigate diligently, and find that it is true, that the accusation is confirmed, that such an abomination has been done in Israel, ⁵ then you must bring out that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to your city gates, that man or that woman, and you must stone them with stones to death.

⁶ On the testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses a capital offender is to be put to death. He is not to be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ⁷ The hand of the witnesses will be the first against him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. You must put away the evil from among you.

⁸ If a matter arises that is too difficult for you to judge, whether it is a capital matter,^[40] or a lawsuit,^[41] or a matter of violence,^[42] matters of legal dispute within your city gates, then you must get up and go up to the place which Yahweh your god has chosen. ⁹ You must go to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who will be in those days, and inquire, and they will give you the verdict. ¹⁰ Then you will follow the instructions which they give, which they tell you from that place where Yahweh will choose, and you must be careful to do all that they instruct you. ¹¹ You must follow the legal decision which they render to you, following their verdict they tell you. You must not deviate from their instruction which they tell you, to the right or the left. ¹² Any man who behaves arrograntly, refusing to listen to the priest who stands there ministering to Yahweh your god, or to the judge, must die. You must put away the evil from Israel. ¹³ Then all the people will hear, and be afraid, and will no longer behave arrogantly.

¹⁴ When you come in to the land which Yahweh your god gives you, and take possession of it and settle there, and say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the nations which surround me," ¹⁵ you must set over you a king whom Yahweh your god will choose. You must set over yourself a king from among your brothers; you are not permitted to set over yourself a foreign man, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ However, he must not acquire many horses for himself, and he must not cause the people to return to Egypt to acquire many horses. Yahweh has said to you, "You must never go back that way again." ¹⁷ And he must not take many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away. And he must not acquire a great deal of silver and gold.

¹⁸ And then, when he sits upon his royal throne, he must write himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one which is before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ It must be with him, so he can read in it all the days of his life, in order to learn to fear Yahweh his god, to keep all the words of this law and these regulations, to follow them, ²⁰ so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers, and so that he does not deviate from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his descendants, in the midst of Israel.

Chapter 18

¹ The priests, the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, will have no allotted inheritance with the Israelites. They will eat the offerings made by fire to Yahweh, and his inheritance. ² They will have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, just as he said to them.

³ And this will be the priest's due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox, a sheep, or a goat. They must give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach.^{[43] 4} You must give him the first of your grain, your wine, your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, ⁵ because Yahweh your god has chosen him, out of all your tribes, to serve and wait upon the name of Yahweh, him and his descendants forever.

⁶ And if a Levite comes from any of your city gates in all Israel, where he has sojourned, and come with all his soul's desire to the place which Yahweh will choose, ⁷ then he may minister in the name of Yahweh his god, like all his brothers, the Levitues who stand there before Yahweh. ⁸ They will each recieve equal portions to eat, besides what comes from his sales concerning fathers.^[44]

⁹ When you come in to the land which Yahweh your god gives you, do not learn to do the sorts of abominations practiced by these nations. ¹⁰ There must not be found among you anyone who passes his son or daughter through fire, who obtains oracles, who tells fortunes,^[45] who practices divination, who practices sorcery,^{[46] 11} who casts spells,^[47] who conjures ghosts or spirits, or who inquires of the dead; ¹² because all who do these things are an abomination to Yahweh. On account of these abominations Yahweh your god is about to drive them out in front of you. ¹³ You must be blameless with Yahweh your god, ¹⁴ because these nations, which you will drive out, listened to fortune-tellers, and to oracles. But as for you, Yahweh your god does not allow it.

¹⁵ A prophet from among you, from your brothers, like me, will be raised up for you by Yahweh your god. You must listen to him, ¹⁶ just as you requested of Yahweh your god at Horeb on the day of the assembly, "Let me no longer hear the voice of Yahweh my god, and do not let me see this great fire any more, so that I do not die."

¹⁷ Yahweh said to me, "What they have spoken is acceptable. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ And then, whoever will not listen to my words which he will speak in my name, I will punish him for it. ²⁰ However, a prophet who arrogantly speaks a message in my name, which I have not commanded him to say, or who will speak in the name of other gods — that prophet must die. ²¹ And if you say in your heart, "How will we know if Yahweh has not spoken a message?" ²² When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, and the message does not come to fruition, that is something that Yahweh did not say. The prophet has said it arrogantly; do not be afraid of him.

Chapter 19

¹ When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your god is giving you, and you drive them out and live in their cities and in their houses, ² then you must set aside three cities within your land which Yahweh your god gives you to possess. ³ Prepare a way, and divide your the territory in three ways, your land which Yahweh your god gives you to inherit, so that a manslayer may flee there.

⁴ This is the rule for the manslayer who flees there in order to survive, who kills his fellow man unintentionally, without premeditated malice. ⁵ For example, if he goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut down trees, and he swings an axe to cut a tree, and the head slips off the shaft and happens to strike his fellow man, so that he dies. Then he may flee to one of these cities, and live. ⁶ Otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer when his heart is angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, even though he did not deserve to die, because he had no premeditated malice. ⁷ This is why I command you, "Separate for yourselves three cities." ⁸ And if Yahweh your god enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, to give you all the land which he promised to give your ancestors, ⁹ because you have observed these commandments which I command you today, to love Yahweh your god, and to walk in his paths every day; then you must add another three cities in addition to these three. ¹⁰ Then no innocent blood will be shed within your land that Yahweh your god gives you as an inheritance, or else the blood will be your responsibility. ¹¹ But if any man hates his fellow man, and ambushes him, and rises up against him, and strikes him fatally, and he dies, and then he flees to one of these cities; ¹² then the elders of his city must send people to take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ You must not take pity on him. You must remove the innocent blood from Israel, so that it will go well for you.

¹⁴ You must not move your neighbors landmark, which had previously been set up to mark the boundaries of your inheritance, which you will inherit in the land which Yahweh your god gives you to possess.

¹⁵ One witness must not suffice against a man for any wrongdoing or any sin, for any sin that he commits. The testimony of two witnesses or the testimony of three witness will be required for a judgment. ¹⁶ If a lying witness gives false testimony against anyone, ¹⁷ then both of the men who have a dispute must stand in front of Yahweh, in front of the priests and the judges who will be in those days, ¹⁸ then the judges will make a diligent inquiry, and if they find that the witness is giving false testimony, and has perjured himself against his brother, ¹⁹ then you must do to him as he would have had done against his brother. And so you will remove wickedness from among you. ²⁰ Then the others will hear, and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing as this among you. ²¹ You shall have no pity: life for life, eye for eye, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Chapter 20

¹ When you go out for battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, a people more numerous than yourselves, do not be afraid of them, because Yahweh your god is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. ² Then, when you near the battlefield, the priest will approach and speak to the people. ³ He will say to them, "Hear, Israel! Today you approach the battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid. Do not flee. Do not be terrified of them, ⁴ because Yahweh your god goes with you, to make war for you with your enemies, to give you victory."

⁵ Then the officers will speak to the people: "Which man among you has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, so that he does not die in the battle, and another man dedicates it. ⁶ And what man has planted a vineyard, but not eaten of it?^{[48] 7} And what man is there who is engaged to a woman, but has not taken her? Let him go back to his home, so that he does not die and some other man take her."

⁸ And the officers will continue speaking to the people, and say, "What man is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go back to his home, so that he does not make his brothers' hearts as faint as his." ⁹ Then, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they will appoint army captains to lead the people.

¹⁰ When you approach a city to wage war against it, proclaim [terms of] peace to it. ¹¹ Then, if they reply peacefully, and open [their gates] to you, then all the people found there will become forced laborers to serve you. ¹² But if they will not make peace with you, but make war with you, you will besiege it. ¹³ When Yahweh your god has delivered it into your hand, you will kill all its males with the mouth of the sword. ¹⁴ However, the women, the little ones, the livestock, and everything in the city, all its plunder, you will seize for yourself. You will eat the plunder of your enemies which Yahweh your god has given you. ¹⁵ This is what you are to do to all the cities which are far off from you, which are not among the cities of these nations. ¹⁶ However, from the cities of these peoples which Yahweh your god is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to leave anything that breathes alive. ¹⁷ You must utterly destroy them: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as Yahweh your god commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they do not teach you to carry out all their detestable things which they do for their gods, and sin against Yahweh your god.

¹⁹ When you carry out a long siege of a city, making war against it in order to capture it, you must destroy its trees by cutting them down with an axe, because you can eat from them. Do not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a human, that you should carry out a siege against it?^{[49] 20} However, the trees which you know are not fruit trees^[50] you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city which makes war against you until it is defeated.

Chapter 21

¹ If someone is found killed in the land which Yahweh your god gives you to possess, fallen in the field, his killer unknown, ² then the elders and judges will come out and measure the distance to the cities which are nearby the person who was killed. ³ Then, for whichever city is nearest to the person killed, the elders of that city will take a heifer which has not been made to work, which has not pulled a yoke. ⁴ The elders of that city will bring down the heifer to a river which flows year-round,^[51] in a place neither tilled nor sown, and will break the heifer's neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, will approach, because Yahweh your god has chosen them to minister and to bless Yahweh's name. They will settle every civil or criminal case.^{[52] 6} And all the elders of the city which is nearest to the person killed will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck is broken in the valley. ⁷ They will respond and say, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, and our eyes have not seen it. ⁸ Yahweh, consider your people Israel innocent, whom you have delivered, and do not place responsibility for this innocent blood on your people Israel."^[53] And the blood will not be held against them. ⁹ And you will put away the innocent blood from among you, when you do what is right in the view of Yahweh.

¹⁰ When you go out for battle against your enemies, Yahweh your god delivers them into your hand, and you take prisoners, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her, to take her as your wife, ¹² then you may bring her to your house. She must shave her hair, and trim her nails. ¹³ And she must take off the clothing she wore when she was captured, and stay in your house and mourn her father and mother a full month. After that you may sleep with her, and be her husband, and she will become your wife. ¹⁴ Then, if you do not like her, you may set her free. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, because you have dishonored her.

¹⁵ If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and the beloved and the hated have born him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the hated one, ¹⁶ then at the time when he gives his property as an inheritance to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the beloved one as his firstborn instead of the son of the hated one, the [actual] firstborn. ¹⁷ Instead, he must acknowledge the son of the hated one as firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all his property, because he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ If a man should have a son who is rebellious and insubordinate, who will not listen to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and they discipline him but he will not listen to them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother will take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, the city gates.^{[54] 20} They will say to the elders of his city, "This son of ours is rebellious and insubordinate. He does not listen to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard." ²¹ Then all the men of his city will stone him to death with stones, and you will put away the evil from among you. All Israel will hear and be afraid.

²² If any man commits a sin punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him from a tree,^{[55] 23} his corpse must not remain all night on the tree, but you must bury the same day, because a hanged person is cursed by God, so as not to pollute the land which Yahweh your god is giving you as an inheritance.

Chapter 22

¹ You must not see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering around and ignore them. You must bring them back to your brother. ² And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know who he is, then you are to bring it into your house, and it will be with you until your brother comes looking for it. Then you must return it to him. ³ In the same way you must treat his donkey, and likewise his tunic, and so you must do for anything belonging to your brother that is lost, which he has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it. ⁴ You must not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen by the road and ignore it. You must help him raise it up.

⁵ A woman must not have on male attire, and a man must not wear a woman's garment, because everyone who does this is destestable to Yahweh your god.

⁶ If you chance upon a bird's nest as you go along, in any tree, or on the ground, with chicks or eggs, and the mother sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not the mother with the young. ⁷ You must let the mother go, and the young you may take for yourself, so that you may be well and live long.

⁸ If you build a new house, you must make a parapet for your roof, so that there will not be blood [guilt] in your house, if someone falls off of it.

⁹ You must not plant your vineyard with a mixture of different kinds, or else the produce of the seed you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard, will be forfeit.^{[56] 10} You must not plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You must not wear shaatnez — wool and linen together.

¹² You must make yourself fringes on the four corners of your clothing with which you cover yourself.

¹³ Suppose a man takes a wife, and has relations with her, and hates her, ¹⁴ and accuses her of shameful deeds, and harms her reputation, and says, "I took this woman, and when I was intimate with her I discovered that she was not a virgin."

¹⁵ Then the father of the young woman, and her mother, will take the evidences of the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶ Then the father of the young woman will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he hates her. ¹⁷ And now he has accused her of shameful deeds, saying, 'I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.' Now here are [the evidences of] my daughter's virginity." Then they will spread the cloth in front of the elders of the city. ¹⁸ Then the elders of the city will take that man and flog him, ¹⁹ and they will impose a fine on him of one hundred silver [shekels], and given to the father of the young woman, because he has damaged the reputation of a virgin in Israel. She will be his wife; he is not permitted to divorce her at any time. ²⁰ But if his accusation is true, if the evidences of the young woman's virginity are not found, ²¹ then they will bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city will stone her with stones until death, because she has behaved recklessly in Israel, whoring in her father's house. You must root out the evil among you.

²² If a man is found having intercourse with a woman married to a husband, then both of them must die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. You must put away the evil from Israel.

²³ If there is a young woman, a virgin, betrothed to a man, and someone finds her in the city and lays with her, ²⁴ then you will bring them both to that city's gate, and stone them with stones until death: the young woman because she did not scream in the city, and the man because he has disgraced his neighbor's wife. You must put the evil away from among you. ²⁵ And if the man finds a young woman who is betrothed in a field, and the man overpowers her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her will die, ²⁶ but you must not do anything to the young woman. The young woman has committed no sin worthy of death, because this situation is like when a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, ²⁷ When he found her in the field, the young woman shouted, and there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man finds a young woman, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, ²⁹ the man who lay with her will give the young woman's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she will be his wife. Because he has disgraced her, he is not permitted to divorce her all his days.

³⁰ A man must not take his father's wife; he must not uncover his father's blanket.

Chapter 23

¹ Someone with crushed testicles or his penis cut off must not enter the congregation of Yahweh.

² A bastard may not enter the congregation of Yahweh. Even to the tenth generation he may not enter the congregation of Yahweh.

³ An Ammonite or a Moabite may not enter the congregation of Yahweh. Even to the tenth generation, he may not enter the congregation of Yahweh forever, ⁴ because they did not greet you with bread and water on the way when you came from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Aram to curse you. ⁵ But Yahweh your god was not willing to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your god turned the curse to a blessing for you, because Yahweh your god loves you. ⁶ You must not seek their peace or their wellbeing as long as you live, forever.

⁷ You must not detest an Edomite, because he is your brother. You must not detest an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land. ⁸ Their descendants may enter the congregation of Yahweh in the third generation.

⁹ When the encampment goes out against your enemies, keep every evil thing away from you. ¹⁰ If there is among you a man who happens to become ritually impure by night, he must leave the camp. He must not enter the camp. ¹¹ Then as evening approaches, he will wash himself with water, and when the sun goes down he may return to camp.

¹² You will have a place outside the camp, to go out to. ¹³ You will have among your gear a trowel, and then when you relieve yourself outside, you will dig with it and turn and cover your excrement, ¹⁴ because Yahweh your God walks about in the midst of your camp, to give you victory and defeat your enemies. Your camp must be holy, so that he does not see among you something unclean^[57] and turn away from you.

¹⁵ If a slave has run away from his master to you, you must not return him to his master. ¹⁶ He is to live with you, among you, in the place which he chooses in one of your walled cities, wherever he prefers. You must not oppress him.

¹⁷ There must be no prostitute, male or female, among the Israelite people.^{[58] 18} You must bring revenue from a female prostitute, or the earnings of a male prostitute,^[59] to the house of Yahweh your god to fulfil any vow, because the both of them are detested by Yahweh your god.

¹⁹ You must not lend with interest to your brother: interest of money, interest of food, any sort of interest. ²⁰ To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you may not charge interest, so that Yahweh your god may bless you in everything you undertake^[60] on the land which you enter to possess.

²¹ When you take a vow to Yahweh your god, you must not delay paying it, because Yahweh your god will certainly require it from you, and it would be a sin for you. ²² But if you do not vow at all, it would not be a sin for you. ²³ You must keep and perform what passes your lips when you vow to Yahweh your god a freewill offering which you promise.

²⁴ When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at will, but you must not put any in a container. ²⁵ When you enter your neighbor's grain field, you may pick ears by hand, but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor's grain.

Chapter 24

¹ If a man takes a wife and marries her, but is not pleased with her because he has found something objectionable^[61] about her, then he may write a divorce document for her, place it in her hand, and send her out of the house. ² When she has left his house, she may go and belong to another man. ³ And if the other husband dislikes her, and writes her a divorce document, and places it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the other husband who took her as his wife dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she is defiled, because that is detestable to Yahweh. You must not cause the land, which Yahweh your god gives you as an inheritance, to sin.

⁵ When a man takes a new wife, he must not go out to war nor have any sort of obligation placed upon him. He is to be free at his home for one year, to rejoice with his his wife which he has taken.

⁶ You man must take as a security deposit a pair of millstone, or an upper millstone, because that would be taking a life as a security deposit. ⁷ If a man is found kidnapping any of his brothers, of the Israelites, and enslaves or sells him, then the kidnapper is to die. You must put away the evil from among you.

⁸ During an outbreak of leprosy, be careful to observe diligently the instructions of the priests and Levites. Make sure to do as I commanded you. ⁹ Remember what Yahweh your god did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt. ¹⁰ When you lend anything to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to collect his pledge. ¹¹ You must stay outside, and the man whom you are lending to will bring the pledge outside to you. ¹² And if the man is poor, you must not sleep with his pledge.

¹³ You must return his pledge to him when the sun goes down, so that he can sleep in his own tunic, and bless you. It will count as righteousness for you before Yahweh your god. ¹⁴ You must not oppress a hired laborer who is poor, whether he is one of your brothers or a foreigner who is in your land living in one of your cities. ¹⁵ On the same day you must give him his wages, and the sun must not go down upon it, because he is poor, and he relies on them, or else he may cry out against you to Yahweh, and it would be a sin to you.

¹⁶ Fathers must not be put to death for sons, and sons must not be put to death for fathers. A man will die for his own sin.

¹⁷ You must not deny justice to a foreigner or an orphan, and you must not take a widow's clothing in pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your god delivered you from there. That is why I command you to do this thing.

¹⁹ When you harvest your grain in your field, and leave a sheaf in the field, you must not go back to retrieve it. It will be for the foreigner, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your god may bless you in everything your hands do. ²⁰ When you shake out your olive tree, you must not shake out the branches again later. It will be for the foreigner, for the orphan, and for the widow. ²¹ When you harvest in your vineyard, you must not glean it again. It will be for the foreigner, for the orphan, and for the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I command you to do this thing.

Chapter 25

¹ If there is a dispute between men, and they enter legal proceedings to be judged, [the judges] must vindicate the righteous and condemn the wicked. ² And then, if the guilty party deserves to be beaten, the judge will have him lie down and be beaten in front of him, a number of times proportional to his offense. ³ He may give him forty stripes, no more, or else he might beat him more than this excessively, and your brother would seem contemptible to you.

⁴ You must not muzzle an ox treading grain.

⁵ If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, the dead one's wife must not be married to an outsider. Her husband's brother will come to bed with her, and take her as his wife in levirate marriage. ⁶ And then the firstborn she has will carry on the name^[62] of his dead brother, so that his name does not vanish from Israel. ⁷ And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then she will go up to the gate,^[63] to the elders, and say, "My husband's brother refuses to raise up his brother's name in Israel. He is unwilling to perform the levirate duty."

⁸ And the elders of his city will call and speak to him, and should he stand firm and say, "I do not want to take her," ⁹ then his brother's wife will come near him as the elders look on, and untie his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and she will then say, "This is what is done to a man who will not build his brother's household." ¹⁰ And his lineage^[64] will be known in Israel as the household of the one whose sandal was untied.

¹¹ If two men are fighting with one another, and the wife of the one approaches to rescue her husband from his attacker, and reaches out her hand and grabs him by the balls, ¹² then you must cut off her hand. You must not pity her.

¹³ You must not have in your bag varying weights, large and small^{[65] 14} You must not have in your house varying measures,^[66] large and small. ¹⁵ Your weight must be whole and just, and your measure must be whole and just, so that your days may be lengthened on the land which Yahweh your god gives you, ¹⁶ because Yahweh your god detests all who do such things, all who do injustice.

¹⁷ Remember what Amalek^[67] did to you on the way, as you came out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you on the way and launched an attack behind you against your stragglers when you were tired and weary, and did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore, when Yahweh your god gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land which Yahweh your god gives you to possess as an inheritance, wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. Do not forget.

Chapter 26

¹ Now, when you enter the land which Yahweh your god gives you to inherit, and take possession and settle in it, ² take the first of all produce of the ground which you bring from your land that Yahweh your god gives you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where Yahweh your god will choose to set his name. ³ Go to the priest who is there in those days, and say to him, "I proclaim today to Yahweh your god that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give us."

⁴ Then the priest will take the basket from your hand, and set it in front of the altar of Yahweh your god. ⁵ In response, you will say before Yahweh your god, "A lost^[68] Aramean [was] my father, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a few men, and there he became a great nation, strong and numerous. ⁶ And the Egyptians abused us, and oppressed us, and set harsh slavery over us. ⁷ And we cried out to Yahweh, the god of our ancestors, and Yahweh heard our call and saw our oppression, and our exhaustion, and our distress. ⁸ And Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm, with great terror and signs and wonders. ⁹ And he brought us to this place, and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And now, look, I have brought the first of the produce of the land which you gave me, Yahweh." And you will set it before Yahweh your god, and do homage before Yahweh your god. ¹¹ Then you will enjoy every good thing that Yahweh your god gives you and your household: you, and the Levite, and the sojourner^[69] who is among you.

¹² When you have finished tithes all the tithes of your increase, in the third year, the tithing year, and have given to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, and they eat in your gates and are filled; ¹³ then you will say before Yahweh your god, "I have utterly removed what is holy^[70] from the house, and I have also given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, the widow, following all your commands which you commanded. I have not ignored your commands, and I have not forgotten. ¹⁴ I have not eaten of it when I was mourning, and I have not removed any of it for unholy use, and I have not given any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my god. I have done just as you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from your holy habitation, from the sky, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey."

¹⁶ This day Yahweh your god commands you to perform these regulations and customs. And you must hear and perform them with all your heart and all your soul. ¹⁷ You have made Yahweh promise today to be your god, and to walk in his paths, and to listen to his regulations and commands and customs, and to hear his voice. ¹⁸ And Yahweh has made you promise today to be his particular people, just as he said to you, and to keep all his commands, ¹⁹ and to place you above all the nations which he made in praise, and in reputation, and in glory, and in being a holy people for Yahweh your god, as he has said.

Chapter 27

¹ And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, "Keep every command which I command you today. ² And then, on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your god gives you, you will set up for yourself large stones, and plaster them with lime.^{[71] 3} And you will write on them all the words of this law when you pass over, so that you may come to the land which Yahweh your god gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ And then, when you cross the Jordan, you will set up these stones which I command you today at Mount Ebal,^[72] and plaster them with lime. ⁵ And you will build there an altar to Yahweh your god, an altar of stones. Do not touch them with any iron tool. ⁶ Of whole stones you will build the altar of Yahweh your god, and you will offer on it burnt offerings to Yahweh your god. ⁷ And you will offer peace-offerings, and eat there, and celebrate before Yahweh your god. ⁸ And you will write on the stones all the words of this law, in clear writing.

⁹ Then Moses, with the Levite priests, spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, Israel! Today you become the people of Yahweh your god. ¹⁰ And you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your god, and carry out his commands and regulations which I command you today."

¹¹ And Moses commanded the people on that day, saying, ¹² "These will stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these will stand to curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Levites will thensay to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

¹⁵ "A curse on any man who makes a graven or cast image, detestable to Yahweh, the craftsmanship of a smith, and hides it."

And all the people will reply and say, "Amen."

¹⁶ "A curse on anyone who disrespects his father or his mother."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

¹⁷ "A curse on anyone who moves his comrade's property line."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

¹⁸ "A curse on he who leads a blind man the wrong way."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

¹⁹ A curse on him who twists justice away from an immigrant, an orphan, or a widow."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²⁰ "A curse on him who lies his father's wife, because he uncovers his father's garment."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²¹ "A curse on him who lies with any animal."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²² "A curse on him who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²³ "A curse on him who lies with his mother-in-law."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²⁴ "A curse on anyone who attacks his comrade in secret."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²⁵ "A curse on him who takes payment to kill innocent blood."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

²⁶ "A curse on him who does not confirm all the words of this law by carrying them out."

And all the people will say, "Amen."

Chapter 28

¹ And if you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe all his commands which I command you today, then Yahweh your god will place you above all the nations of the earth, ² and all these blessings will happen to you, and hold onto you, if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

³ You will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the field. ⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the fruit of your soil, and the fruit of your livestock, your newborn cattle and your little sheep and goats. ⁵ Your basket and breadbowl will be blessed. ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out. ⁷ Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise against you to be struck down in front of you. They will go out against you one way, and they will flee from you seven ways. ⁸ Yahweh will command the blessing to be with you in your barns, and in all that you do, and he will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

⁹ Yahweh will set you up as his holy people, just as he swore to you, if you keep the commands of Yahweh your god, and walk in his paths. ¹⁰ And all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by Yahweh's name, and they will fear you. ¹¹ Yahweh will make your prosperous with good fortune: in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of the ground, on the ground which Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give you. ¹² Yahweh will open to you his good storehouse, the sky, to give your land rain in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow. ¹³ And Yahweh will set you at the head, and not at the tail, and you will be only above, and you will not be below, if you listen to the commands of Yahweh your God which I command today, to observe them. ¹⁴ And you will not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to follow other gods, to serve them.

¹⁵ And if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh your god, to observe all his commands and statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you, and hold on to you. ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field; ¹⁷ cursed in your basket and breadbowl; ¹⁸ cursed, the fruit of your womb, and fruit of your ground, your newborn cattle and your little sheep and goats. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in, and cursed when you go out. ²⁰ Yahweh will send against you malediction, destruction, and chastisement, in whatever reach out your hand to do, until you are wiped out, until you die out quickly because of your evil deeds as you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will make a plague stick to you until he has finished you off from the land which you enter to take possession. ²² Yahweh will strike you with wasting disease,^[73] and with fever, and with inflammation,^[74] and with scorching heat, and with drought,^[75] and with the blasting east wind, and with mildew. And they will pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your sky which is above your head will be brass, and the earth which is beneath you will be iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky until you are wiped out.

²⁵ Yahweh will make you be struck down in front of your enemies. You will go out against them one way, and flee from them seven ways, and you will be a horror among all the earth's kingdoms. ²⁶ And your corpse will be food for all birds of the sky, and for wild animals, and no one will drive them away. ²⁷ Yahweh will strike you the boils of Egypt, and with hemorrhoids,^[76] and with scabs,^[77] and with the itch,^[78] of which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ Yahweh will strike you with insanity, and with blindness, and terror of heart. ²⁹ And then you will grope about at noon, as a blind man gropes about in the dark, and you will not succeed in your ways, and you will be only oppressed and robbed forever, with no one to rescue.

³⁰ You will betroth a wife, and another man will rape^[79] her. You will build a house, and not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but never harvest^{[80] 31} Your ox will be butchered as you watch, and you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be seized as you watch, and it will not be returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to rescue. ³² Your sons and your daughers will be given to another people, and your eyes will look, pining for them all day long, and your hand will be powerless. ³³ The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, will be eaten by a nation you do not know, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crush all those days. ³⁴ And then you will be driven mad by what your eyes see. ³⁵ Yahweh will strike you with severe boils on the knees and on the legs, which cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you, and your king that you appoint over you, to a nations which you and your ancestors did not know, and there you will serve other gods, wood and stone. ³⁷ Then you will become a horror, a proverb, a mockery, among all the nations where Yahweh will drive you. ³⁸ You will carry much seed to the field, and harvest little, because locusts will consume it. ³⁹ You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will not drink wine, nor harvest, because caterpillars will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory, but you will not smear yourself with oil, because your olives will fall off. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² All your trees and the fruit of your land will be possessed by grasshoppers.^[81]

⁴³ The sojourner among you will rise up high, far above you, and you will be lowered far down. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him. He will become the head, and you will become the tail.

⁴⁵ And all these curses will come upon you, and pursue you, and take hold of you, until you are wiped out, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your god, to observe his commands and ordinances which he commanded. ⁴⁶ And they will be on you as a sign and wonder, and on your seed forever, ⁴⁷ because you did not serve Yahweh your god with joyfulness, with a glad heart, because of your wealth.^{[82] 48} And you will serve your enemies which Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in all sorts of poverty. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ Yahweh will bring against you a nation from afar, from the edge of the earth, as a raptor swoops down, a nation whose language you do not know, who will not respect the old ⁵⁰ a cruel-faced nation, which will not respect the aged, nor have compassion for the young. ⁵¹ He will eat the fruit of your animals, the fruit of your soil, until you are destroyed, and he will not leave you any grain, wine, or oil; young cattle or newborn sheep or goats, until you perish. ⁵² He will lay siege to all your gates, until your high walls, your fortified walls, come down, which you made you secure through all your land. He will besiege you through in all your gates in all your land which Yahweh your god has given you. ⁵³ And you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters which Yahweh your god has given you, in the siege and in the afflication as your enemies afflict you.

⁵⁴ The sensitive man among you, and the noble, will look at his brother with ill intent, and at his beloved wife,^[83] and at his surviving children who are still alive. ⁵⁵ So he will not give any of them any of the flesh of his sons that he eats, because he has nothing left in the siege, and the distress, when your enemies besiege you in all your fortified cities.

⁵⁶ The sensitive woman among you, and the noble, who would not even touch the sole of her foot to the ground because she is so noble and sensitive, will look with ill intent at her beloved husband, and at her son, and at her daughter, ⁵⁷ and at the afterbirth that comes out between her feet, and at her sons she gives birth to, when she will eat them, because is totally impoverished, in secret during the siege and distress when your enemy besieges your fortified cities. ⁵⁸ If you will not be careful to carry out all the words of this law, which are written in this book, to fear this glorious and terrifying name -- Yahweh Your God -- ⁵⁹ then Yahweh will astonish you with plagues, and plagues of your seed: great and lasting plagues, and severe and lasting illnesses. ⁶⁰ And he will return to you all the sicknesses of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ In addition, Yahweh will bring on you every illness, and every plague, which is not written in this law-book until you are destroyed. ⁶² And only a few men will be left of you, although you were like the stars of the sky in number, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your god. ⁶³ And then, just as Yahweh had been eager to do good to you and to multiply you, then he will be eager to wipe you out, and to destroy you, and tear you from the land which you are going to possess. ⁶⁴ Yahweh will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you will not find peace, and there will be no place to rest the sole of your foot, and there Yahweh will give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a fainting soul. ⁶⁶ Your life will hang in doubt before you, terrorized day and night, unsure if you will live. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" And at evening you will say, "If only it were morning!", because of your heart's terror as you fear, and because of what your eyes will see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh will return you to Egypt in ships, by the route which I told you, "You will never see it again." There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Chapter 29

¹ These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to carve out^[84] with the Israelites in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.^[85]

² Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, "You have seen all that Yahweh before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants, and to all his land; ³ the great temptations which your eyes saw, the signs, and all those great miracles. ⁴ But Yahweh did not give you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day. ⁵ And I have lead you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. ⁶ You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or beer, so that you would know that I, Yahweh, am your god. ⁷ And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of the Bashan came out to meet us for battle, and we defeated them. ⁸ And we took their land, and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ Keep the words of this covenant, and do them, in order to prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰ You all stand today before Yahweh your god: your tribal leaders, your elders, and your officers; all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and your resident alien who is in your camp, from your wood-cutter to your water-carrier,^{[86] 12} in order to cross over into the covenant of Yahweh your god, and into his oath, which Yahweh your god carves out^[87] with you today, ¹³ in order to set you up today as his own people, with himself as your own god, just as he said to you, and just as he swore to your fathers: to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

¹⁴ Not only with you do I carve out this covenant and this curse, ¹⁵ but with those standing here with us today before Yahweh our god, and with those not here with us today -- ¹⁶ Because you know how we lived in Egypt's land, and how we crossed through among the nations that we crossed through. ¹⁷ And you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and silver and gold, which were with them. -- ¹⁸ lest there be among you a man, or woman, or clan, or tribe, whose heart turns today from Yahweh our god, to go serve the gods of the nations, lest there be among you a root yielding bitterness and wormwood, ¹⁹ and then, when he hears the words of this curse, he blesses himself in his heart, saying, "I will have peace, though I walk stubborn-hearted," to destroy the moist with the dry.^{[88] 20} Yahweh will be unwilling to forgive him, because then the Yahweh's anger and zeal will be kindled against that man, and every curse written in this book will stalk him, and Yahweh will blot out his memory under the sky. ²¹ Yahweh will set him apart for ill from all Israel's tribes, as in all the curses of the covenant written in this law-book.

²² And the next generation of your sons who arise after you will say, along with the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see this land's plagues, and the sicknesses that Yahweh sickens it with -- ²³ sulfur and salt, burning of all its land; it will not be sown, and no grass will grow up in it, like the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh turned over in his anger and fury -- ²⁴ and all the nations will say, "Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What is this furious anger?"

²⁵ Then it will be said, "Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the god of their ancestors, which he carved out with them when he brought them from Egypt's land. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods, and bowed to them, gods they did not know, who were not assigned to them. ²⁷ And Yahweh's anger burned against this land, to bring upon it all every curse written in this book. ²⁸ And Yahweh plucked them from the ground in anger, and in wrath, and in great fury, and tossed them into another ground, as it is this day."

²⁹ The secrets belong to Yahweh our god, and the things revealed to us and to our children forever, to do everything this law says.

Chapter 30

¹ And then, when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have placed in front of you, you will remember them among the all the nations where Yahweh your god has expelled you. ² And you will return to Yahweh your god, and obey his voice, following all that I command you today, you and your sons, with all your heart and with all your soul. ³ And Yahweh will return you from captivity, and have compassion for you, and return and gather you from all the nations where Yahweh your god has scattered you. ⁴ If any of you are expelled to the edge of the sky, from there Yahweh your god will gather you, and from there he will take you, ⁵ and Yahweh your god will bring you to the land your fathers possessed, and you will possess it, and he will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶ And Yahweh your god will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, so that you may live. ⁷ And Yahweh your god will place all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you, who hunted you. ⁸ And you will return and listen to the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commands which I command you today. ⁹ And Yahweh your god will make you succeed in whatever your hand does, in the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your animals, and the fruit of your soil, for the better, because Yahweh will once again eagerly do you good, just as he was eager for your fathers; ¹⁰ if you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your god, to keep his commands and rules written in this law-book, if you turn to Yahweh your god with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹ For this command that I command you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you might say, "Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it for us, so that we can hear it and do it?" ¹³ And it is not across the sea, that you might say, "Who will cross over for us, across the sea, and bring it for us, so that we can hear and do it?" ¹⁴ This message is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.

¹⁵ See, I have placed in front of you today life and goodness, and death and evil, ¹⁶ as I command you today to love Yahweh your god, to walk in his paths, and to keep his commands and rules and customs, so that you will live and multiply, and Yahweh your god will bless you in the land where you go to take possession of it. ¹⁷ And if your heart turns, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to bow to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I decree to you today that you will surely perish. You will not be very many days on the land which you cross over the Jordan to go there and possess. ¹⁹ Today I call the sky and the land as witnesses. I have set in front of you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, so that you and your seed will live, ²⁰ to love Yahweh your god, to listen to his voice and to cling to him, because he is your life and the length of your days, to settle on the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers: to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Chapter 31

¹ And Moses went and said these things to all Israel. ² He said to them, "I am one hundred twenty years old now.^[89] I can no longer come and go, and Yahweh said to me, 'You will not cross this Jordan.' ³ Yahweh your god will cross before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will disposses them. Joshua will cross over before you, just as Yahweh said. ⁴ And Yahweh will do to them just as he did to Siḥon and to Og, the Amorite kings, and to their land which he destroyed. ⁵ And Yahweh will give them up in front of you, and you must follow all his commands which he commands you. ⁶ Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid or tremble at them, because Yahweh your god will go with you. He will not abandon or forsake you."

⁷ And Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in full view of all Israel, "Be strong and brave, because you will go with this nation to the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. ⁸ And Yahweh will go before you. He will be with you. He will not abandon or forsake you. Do not be afraid or in terror."

⁹ And Moses wrote this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried Yahweh's ark of the covenant, and to all Israel's elders. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, "At the end of [every] seven years, at the time for the year of release, during the feast of tabernacles, ¹¹ when all Israel comes to see^[90] the face of Yahweh your god in the place which he will choose, you will read this law aloud in front of all Israel. ¹² Assemble the people: the men, the woman, the little ones, and the resident alien who is within your gates, in order to hear and to learn, so they will fear Yahweh your god and be sure to do all the words of this law. ¹³ And sons, who do not know, will hear and learn to fear Yahweh your god all the days that you live on the land which you cross the Jordan to possess."

¹⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Now the days approach when you will die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, and I will instruct him." And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ And Yahweh appeared in the tent in a cloud-pillar, and the cloud-pillar stood over the tent door. ¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Soon you will rest with your ancestors, and this nation will rise up and go whoring after the gods of the foreigners of this land, among whom they^[91] are going. And they will abandon me and my covenant which I made with them. ¹⁷ And my anger will burn against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them, and they will be eaten up. And many catastrophes and distresses will find them, so that they will say in that day, "These evils have found us out because our god is not among us, haven't they?" ¹⁸ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evils which they did, because they turned to other gods. ¹⁹ So now, write this song, and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths, so that I will have this song as a witness against the Israelites. ²⁰ When I bring them to the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten their fill, and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and they will reject me and break my covenant. ²¹ And then, when many disasters and distresses find them out, this song will reply to them as a witness in front of them, because it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed, because I know what they think in their hearts today, [even] before I have brought them to the land which I swore."

²² And Moses wrote this song on that day, and taught it to the Israelites. ²³ And he commanded Joshua bin^[9] Nun, "Be strong and brave, because you will bring the Israelites to the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you."

²⁴ And then, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, ²⁵ Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of Yahweh's covenant, ²⁶ "Take this law-book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your god to be a witness against you, ²⁷ because I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Even now, when I am still alive with you today, you are rebellious toward Yahweh. How much more so after I die? ²⁸ Gather me all your tribal elders, and your officers, and I will speak these words in their ears, and call sky and land as witnesses against you, ²⁹ because I know, after I die, that you will become entirely corrupt, and turn from the path which I command you, and disaster will befall you in days to come, because you will do evil in Yahweh's sight, to provoke him by the work of your hands.

³⁰ Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly the words of this song, until they were finished.

Chapter 32

¹Heavens hear, hear my words;
Earth 'ear each word.
²Teaching tumble in a Torrential Downpour,
Drops of dew drenching grass
Glinting on golden grain as silver.

³Notifying nations of the name of God,
Glorifying the great name of God
⁴Perfect projects and perfect judgement.
⁵Does He create corruption coldly evil?
No, His petty and perverse people produce.
⁶Foolish family, unknowing He's your father
Creator and crafter of clay made you!
⁷Remember rightly reposed generations,
Many, many moons ago,
Find your father, certainly you'll find
Truth told of times past
⁸Great god gathered people;
Sent and separated the sons of Israel
⁹God's group gathered in Israel
¹⁰Dry in a desert, dreadful despair,
Found fair and filled by the Father
¹¹Even as an eagle embracing his young,
Calling, carrying in cavernous shoulderblades,
Wind whipped by his wide wings
¹²God guided them, no gluttonous idol
¹³Brought them to beautiful, bountiful hills
To eat the fruit of fertile, flowering fields
And, sitting, suck honey from the stone,
Obtain oil from the onerous rock,
¹⁴Bring butter from the balking herd,
Share shortly milk from the sheep,
Finding fat, fruitful wheat,
And great goblets of grapes' blood.

¹⁵But fortune found them fattened and thick;
Couldn't keep from giving kicks,
Fighting fruitful God, for fatness
¹⁶Worked him to wrath with worship,
Singing songs to strange gods;
Adding abominations awakened His wrath.
¹⁷Worshiped wraiths, wicked demons
Glorifying Gods; never God
Newer niceties; never god
Finding fruits from their fathers' enemies.
¹⁸Forgot your formation, formation by God
¹⁹God greatly grew hateful
Seemed scornful, sinful sons
²⁰Faithless family, God's face
Surely he shall show you no more
²¹Jolting japes, God's jealousy
Verifying villany with vanities, God's wrath
Raise their wrath with their raging destroyer
Sensless searing will send them destruction
²²Flaming fire from God
Hellfire announced anger at earth
Breaking, burning the biggest mountains
Eating everything on the whole earth
²³Troubles, torments, tips of my arrows
²⁴Being burnt by burning hunger
Eaten entirely by burning 'eat
Broken by burials, bitter destruction
Toxic teeth, beasts' teeth
Sickness of snakes, sharpness of beasts
²⁵Swords surround, scares within
Babies, baldies, both are killed
²⁶Said to scatter, stop remembrance

²⁷Except enemies, evil and godless
Surely shouting, showing strength
Seems our strength has saved us, not God's
²⁸Carrying no counsel, keeping no understanding
²⁹If understanding was undefiled until their ending
Winning if they were wise in God
³⁰One wins whacking a thousand
Two tie up ten thousand
Rejecting the rock, they rejected victory
³¹Rock routs, ravishing enemies
Gods of gold given to God
The real rock routs idols
³²Their grapes are grapes of gall, as Gomorrah's,
Vines the vines of vanquished Sodom
³³Wine is wicked poison of wasps
³⁴Goods greatly different from God's

³⁵Great God, great vengeance
Nobody knows its nearness but God
Just judgement for sinful judges
³⁶Great God giving judgements
Favoring followers of his fierce judgement
Fallen are followers of false gods
³⁷Where are wicked gods worshipped by the unwise
³⁸That consumed carefully constructed sacrifices?
Pray for protection, their promise, you wicked
³⁹Great God is the only god
Surely he does not share his shaking power
⁴⁰His 'and in 'eaven, life eternal

⁴¹Gripping His glittering sword, giving judgements
Evil to hateful enemies is given
⁴²Arrows aimed, blades 'oned
Ravishing revenge on raging enemies
⁴³Worshipers will work vengeance
God will grind great enemies.^[92]

⁴⁴ And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun. ⁴⁵ And Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel. ⁴⁶ And he said to them, Set your hearts to all the words that I announce to you today, which you must command your sons to observe, by doing all the words of this law; ⁴⁷ because it is no empty message for you, because it is your life. And by this message you will lengthen your days on the ground which you are about to cross over the Jordan to seize.

⁴⁸ And Yahweh spoke to Moses that very day, saying, ⁴⁹ Go up to this Mount of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, facing Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am about to give to the Israelites as a possession. ⁵⁰ And die on the mountain that you climb, and be gathered to your peoples, as Aaron your brother died on Hor, the mountain, and was gathered to his peoples; ⁵¹ because of how you acted faithlessly among the Israelites at the waters of Meribat-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat me as holy among the Israelites. ⁵² Yet you will see the land in front of you, but you may not go there to the land which I am about to give to the Israelites.

Chapter 33

¹ And this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death. ² And he said, Yahweh came from Sinai, and beamed from Seir upon them. He shone from Mount Paran, and came with myriads of the holy, lightning flashing from his right hand to them.^{[93] 3} He cherished his people;^[94] all his holy ones are in your hand, and they sat at your feet, receiving your words. ⁴ Moses commanded us a law, a heritage of Jacob's congregation. ⁵ And he was king in Jeshurun; the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel.

⁶ May Reuben live, and not die; may his men be numerous.

⁷ And this is for Judah. He said, Hear, O Yahweh, Judah's voice, and bring him to his people. Let his power be great;^[95] help him from his adversaries.

⁸ And for Levi he said, Your Thummim and your Urim belong to the man, your faithful one, whom you tested at Massah, whom you contended with by the waters of Meribah. ⁹ He said of his father, and of his mother, I do not know him, and he did not acknowledge his brothers. He did not acknowledge his own son, because they observed your word and kept your covenant. ¹⁰ They will teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law. They will put incense before you, and a burnt offering on your altar. ¹¹ Bless his wealth, O Yahweh, and be pleased with the work of his hands. Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him, and those who hate him, so they cannot rise again.

¹² And for Benjamin he said, The beloved of Yahweh will dwell securely beside him, as he surrounds^[96] him all day, settled between his shoulders.

¹³ And for Joseph he said, May his land be blessed of Yahweh, by the treasure of the sky, by dew, and by the abyss which crouches beneath, ¹⁴ by the choicest produce of the sun, and by crops month by month, ¹⁵ and by the top of ancient mountains, and by treasures of eternal hills, ¹⁶ and by treasure of earth and its fullness, and the delight of him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come upon the head of Joseph, on the pate of the prince among his brothers. ¹⁷ His firstborn bull is his glory, and his horns are an aurochs' horns. With them he pushes peoples, altogether the edges of earth. They are myriads of Ephraim; they are thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸ And for Zebulun he said, Celebrate, O Zebulun, as you go out, and Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹ They will call peoples to the mountain. There they will slaughter righteous sacrifices. They will nurse on the abundance of seas, and treasures hidden in the sand.

²⁰ And for Gad he said, Blessed be he who magnifies Gad. He dwells like a lion, and tears off arm and scalp. ²¹ He saw first to himself, because there a commander's estate was set, and he came [with] heads of the people. He carried out the righteousness of Yahweh, and his judgments with Israel.

²² And for Dan he said, Dan is a lion cub; he leaps^[97] from the Bashan.

²³ And for Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with delight, and full of Yahweh's blessing: you will possess the west^[98] and south.

²⁴ And for Asher he said, May Asher be blessed with children, the delight of his brothers; let him dip his foot in oil. ²⁵ May your bolts be iron and brass, and your might^[99] as your days.

²⁶ There is none like the God of Jeshurun, riding skies as you rescue; the clouds are his excellence. ²⁷ The ancient god is a refuge, and beneath are the eternal arms. He will drive out the enemy before you, and say, Destroy them. ²⁸ Israel will dwell secure, alone; the fountain of Jacob is toward a land of grain and wine. Yes, his skies will drip with dew. ²⁹ How fortunate you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield who aids you, the sword of your dignity? Your enemies will come crawling to you, and you will trample their shrines.

Chapter 34

¹ And Moses went up from the plains of Moab, to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And Yahweh showed him all the land of the Gilead, as far as Dan, ² and all Naphtali, and all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the western sea, ³ and the Negev, and the oval of the valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. ⁴ And Yahweh said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed. I have shown it to your own eyes, but you will not go there.

⁵ And Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, as Yahweh said. ⁶ And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, and no man knows his burial site to this day. ⁷ And Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, his vigor unabated. ⁸ And the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, and the days of weeping to mourn Moses were finished.

⁹ And Joshua bin^[9] Nun was filled with a wise spirit, because Moses laid his hands on him, and the Israelites listened to him, and did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

¹⁰ And never again did there arise in Israel the likes of Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, ¹¹ for all the signs and wonders which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, ¹² and for all the strong hand, and for all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.

Footnotes

1. I.e do not show deference to some
2. Unsure of meaning of verb
3. Or "awe-inspiring" or "terrible"
4. Unsure of meaning of verb
5. Unsure of meaning of verb
6. Literally "mouth"
7. Unsure of meaning of verb
8. The promised land, since he was one of the men sent to scout it
9. bin In Hebrew names, ben means son of. For reasons that are not known, it is spelled bin when it appears in the name of Joshua son of Nun.
10. Literally "belted"
11. Unsure of meaning of verb
12. Literally "mouth"
13. Literally "until the way of the leg-end"
14. The "cubit of a man" is generally taken to refer to the distance between one elbow and tip of the middle finger--usually 17 or 18 inches.
15. (1:18 warriors) Literally, "sons of force" (Strong's Concordance).
16. (5:29) Oh, that they had such a heart as to fear me - literally "Who would give that this heart of theirs would be to them to fear me".
17. (9:14) numerous: or, abundant
18. Hebrew aron, a box or chest. This is the "ark of the covenant."
19. The Hebrew word is ger, describing someone who is a foreigner in the country where he lives.
20. Literally, you are to love the ger.
21. (11:10) with your foot. The phrase may refer to the use of irrigation machinery controlled by a person's feet.
22. (11:14) These were the two rainy seasons in the land of Canaan.
23. (12:15) The word slaughter is the same as the regular verb for sacrifice, although in this case it is the non-sacrificial slaughter of animals that is intended. The phrase "just as a gazelle or hart" is an indication that sacrificial animals (like the bull, sheep, or goat) may in the promised land be eaten freely just as a non-sacrificial animal. This is in contrast to the earlier situation, described in Leviticus 17, where all goats, sheep, and oxen were required to be presented sacrificially before they could be eaten, while non-sacrificial animals did not fall under the same requirements. Now, in Deuteronomy, the new legislation announces that sacrificial animals may be eaten in a non-sacrificial setting, just as wild game, without any need for the participants to be ritually pure as would have been the case in a sacrifice.
24. Where English Bibles tend to make this verse the final verse of chapter 12, Hebrew Bibles tend to make it the first verse of chapter 13. As chapter divisions were added over a thousand years after the Hebrew Bible was written, the choice of where to put chapter divisions is somewhat arbitrary. Instead of attempting to determine which is "correct," this translation simply follows the English convention here, while providing the alternative versification immediately afterward.
25. dedicating it to extermination. That is, the Hebrew verb hrm. For the institution of herem, see Deuteronomy 20:10-18.
26. (13:17) herem. There is no exact English equivalent word. It refers to that which has been dedicated to be completely destroyed for Yahweh. See Deuteronomy 20:10-18 for a description of herem.
27. (14:1) between your eyes. It is difficult to take this literally. Hair does not generally grow on the bridge of the nose. [https://archive.org/details/criticalexegetic00drivuoft S. R. Driver] takes this expression as referring to the forehead.
28. (14:5) All these words are of uncertain meaning, but commentators tend to see this verse as referring to various deer, gazelles, and possibly wild sheep.
29. (14:12) The nesher is generally translated as "eagle" or "griffon-vulture." The identity of the ozniyyah is uncertain.
30. (14:13) None of the three terms are definitively known today. Many translations see the first two as terms for kites.
31. (14:15) The words are of uncertain meaning; various suggestions have been made.
32. (14:16) The identities of the words are uncertain, but usually these are identified as varieties of owls.
33. (14:17) The exact identities of these birds are uncertain. Various suggestions have been made.
34. (14:18) The exact identities of the hasidah and anafah are uncertain. Various suggestions have been made.
35. (16:18) double. According to S. R. Driver, this is because over a six-year period a slave would cost half as much as a worker hired over the same time period. Although Driver does not make explicit the reasoning, he may have in mind the code of Hammurabi, which set unskilled labor at a rate of approximately 10 shekels per year (law #273), compared to the monetary value of a slave, which Exodus 21:32 sets at 30 shekels. Comparing these two figures, one could come to the conclusion that a slave does six years of labor for 30 shekels, which is double the three years of hired labor one could get for the same price. On the other hand, wages significantly higher than those of Hammurabi's code have been recorded elsewhere, and could complicate this neat picture.
36. (16:1) Abib. The month which is now referred to as Nisan in the Jewish calendar, roughly equivalent to today's March or April.
37. (16:2) make the passover sacrifice. Literally, sacrifice the passover, where the word passover refers to an animal and not the holiday generally.
38. (16:2) sheep. The word here translated as sheep is a bit broader than the English word, and can also include goats.
39. (16:20) pursue justice wholeheartedly. Literally, pursue justice justice.
40. (17:8) whether it is a capital matter. Literally, between blood and blood.
41. (17:8) or a lawsuit. Literally, between plea and plea.
42. (17:8) a matter of violence. Literally, between strike and strike.
43. (18:3) stomach. Hebrew qebah. Ruminants have four stomachs. Driver reads the Hebrew word qebah here as referring to the fourth stomach.
44. (18:8) sales concerning fathers. Whatever this Hebrew expression once meant, it is now unclear. Possible explanations include the Levite's sale of inherited possessions before leaving, or support of some kind from his family.
45. (18:10) who tells fortunes. The precise meaning of this Hebrew phrase is uncertain.
46. (18:10) who practices sorcery. There is some uncertainty about what this word in Hebrew means.
47. (18:11) casts spells. Or perhaps some other magical practice; the precise meaning is uncertain.
48. (20:6) eaten of it. Literally, profaned it. Driver explains this by reference to Leviticus 19:23-25, in which the first three years of fruit were considered sacred, and could not be eaten by the owner. In the fourth year, the fruit would be not holy, "profane", and the owner would be free to eat it.
49. (20:19). For is the tree of the field a human, that you should carry out a siege against it? The translation of this verse follows an emendation (affecting only a vowel, not a consonant) approved by S. R. Driver, reading he-adam instead of the Masoretic Text's ha-adam. If instead we attempt to translate the Masoretic Text as it stands, we get something like, For humankind is (a metaphorically strong way of saying "lives on"?) the trees of the field, to enter before you into the siege (this last clause becomes difficult to understand). The King James Version attempts to follow the Masoretic reading, while a variety of modern translations follow the emendation (NIV, ESV, NASB, Holman, NET, JPS 1917, ASV, RV).
50. 20:20 fruit trees. Literally, trees of food.
51. (21:4) The Hebrew word nahal, translated here as "river," can refer either to a river, or to a wadi which is a river during the rainier seasons, and which dries up partway through the year leaving a dry streambed and valley. Thus "continuous", Hebrew etan, is used to specify that the sort of nahal referred to in this river is one substantial enough to flow year-round. This translation follows Driver's opinion that etan means "flowing year round" rather than "rough," as in the King James Version's "rough valley."
52. (21:5) They will settle every civil or criminal case. Literally, And by their mouth, every [legal] dispute or strike. This translation takes "dispute" to refer to less serious cases, such as monetary lawsuits, and "strike" to refer to things like cases involving assault. The modern categories "civil" and "criminal" may not match up precisely to these terms, but the point is that they have authority over all sorts of cases.
53. (21:8) do not place responsibility for this innocent blood on your people Israel. More literally, do not place innocent blood within your people Israel.
54. (21:19) to the city gates: literally, to the gate of his place.
55. (21:22) hang him from a tree: the Hebrew words for "hang" and "tree" are talah and etz, respectively. The word etz is used not only for living trees, but also for sticks, wood, and things made of wood. In the Book of Esther, Haman builds an etz, or gallows, on which to hang (talah) Mordecai.
56. (22:9) forfeit. Here this translation follows the interpretation of S. R. Driver, who takes tiqdash as "forfeit." In generally, the verb refers to holiness, in this case as Driver has it to the idea that the improperly planted vineyard's produce will be sacred in the sense that it's owner may not use the produce, but is required to donate it to a sanctuary. A translation along these lines is also found in the ASV, RV, JPS (1917), NLT, ESV. Another line of interpretation, found in numerous translations including the KJV, takes the term as meaning "defiled" in this context.
57. (23:14) something unclean. Literally, nakedness of a thing.
58. (23:17) More literally, There must be no Qedeshah from Israel's daughters, and there must be no Qadesh among Israel's sons. The translation hinges on the meaning of Qadesh and Qedeshah, often interpreted as male or female "sacred prostitutes," whose prostitution has a religious function. The meaning is disputed, and more recent scholarship has argued that the term may refer to a prostitute in a more mundane way. See the entry "Qedeshah" by David A. Glatt-Gilad, in Adele Berlin (editor), The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (2nd edition, 2011), for a summary of the question and brief bibliography.
59. (23:18) the earnings of a male prostitute. Literally, the price of a dog. Traditionally understood in rabinic sources as anything which one got in trade for a dog.
60. (23:20) undertake: literally, stretch out your hand.
61. (24:1) something objectionable. The Hebrew phrase is erwat dabar, literally "nakedness of a thing," the same phrase used to describe unburied feces in Deuteronomy 23:13
62. (25:6) The people of the biblical world did not have last names in the modern sense, so the idea is not that one needs a child to carry on the "Smith" or "Katter" name or what have you. But father's names did appear in the extended form of names, where a person would be identified as "Judah son of Jacob," for example. In this sense the son carries on his father's name, and becomes the legal heir to his father's estate and caretaker to his father's widow in her old age.
63. (25:7) to the gate. Many biblical passages assume that weighty legal matters are handled by a city's elders in the gates of the entrance to the city. A "city", in biblical terms, is simply a settlement of people surrounded by a wall, whether we would call that settlement a military base, a town, or a city in modern terms.
64. (25:10) lineage. In Hebrew shem, usually translated "name." However in this case, as in verse 6, it stands for the descendants and household of the man referred to. It is not the man himself who will be called "the household of the one whose sandal was untied," but it is his household and posterity that are referred to by the word "household."
65. (25:13) varying weights. Literally, stone and stone, large and small. The reference is to an ongoing concern in the Bible, that someone would keep weights of various measures, in order to manipulate measurements and defraud someone in a transaction.
66. (25:14) varying measures. Literally ephah and ephah; an ephah referred specifically to a measure of about 22 liters.
67. (25:17) Amalek. That is, a nomadic people known as Amalekites.
68. (26:5) lost. Or perishing.
69. (26:11) sojourner. Hebrew ger, a term referring to someone with a legal and social status approximately equivalent to "resident alien."
70. (26:13) I have utterly removed what is holy. Hebrew, bi'arti haqqodesh, which uses a verb (bier) which refers to removal but in a strong or emphatic way — it also refers to extermination. "What is holy" refers to the tithe owed to God, and paid out via donation to Levites, sojourners, widows, and orphans. The underlying idea, which would require something "holy" to be "exterminated" from one's house, is that holy and non-holy things a threat when outside of their proper domain. Bringing unclean things into a temple would summon divine wrath, but so would keeping something holy away from religious use and in one's own home for personal use. See Driver's commentary on this verse, and also Mary Douglas's work on Leviticus for a broader overview of the concept of holiness in the Hebrew Bible.
71. (27:2) plaster them with lime. Creating a white writing surface. Lime would be crushed and mixed with water, producing a sort of whitewashing sludge or liquid.
72. (27:4) Ebal. A mountain, mostly of limestone, near Shechem, near modern-day Nablus. It sits across from Gerizim, which is on the other side of the valley which contained Shechem and now contains Nablus.
73. (28:22) wasting disease. Hebrew, shahefet. The exact meaning is uncertain.
74. (28:22) inflamation. Hebrew dalleqet, which appears only here, but is related to a root having to do with burning. The exact meaning is not certain.
75. (28:22) drought. This translation reads the underlying Hebrew word as horeb (drought) rather than the traditional Masoretic reading hereb (sword).
76. (28:27) hemorrhoids. The exact meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain; it may instead be plague-boils or something along those lines.
77. (28:27) scabs. The exact meaning of this term is uncertain.
78. (28:27) itch. The exact meaning of this term is uncertain.
79. (28:30) rape. The Hebrew term is shagal, for which the Masoretes substuted shakab ("lie with") every time it appears. It was apparently a word more offensive than the more commonly used biblical terms for sexual relations. The word shagal is almost always used of rape, and is in every passage used in a negative sense. It is never used for sexual relations occurring normally between a husband and wife.
80. harvest. Literally, make unholy. The background assumption has to do with the law which required the first few years of a vineyard's fruit to be regarded as holy, and reserved for priestly use. To have a vineyard reach the point where the owner himself can enjoy it's fruit is to, literally, "make it unholy."
81. (28:42) grasshoppers. The Hebrew term refers to some kind of winged insect capable of destroying plants, but the exact meaning of tsaltsel is not certain.
82. (28:47) because of your wealth. Literally, from abundance of everything.
83. (28:54) his beloved wife. Literally, "the wife of his bosom."
84. (29:1) carve out. Literally, cut. This is typical language in the Bible for making a covenant. As a (loose) analogy consider the English idiom "cut a deal."
85. (29:1) Depending on the passage, the mountain where God made a covenant with Israel is referred to either as Horeb or Sinai, and the Bible locates it south of the land of Israel. Modern scholarship has not successfully linked these stories to any known historical location. The land of Moab, on the other hand, is known to have existed to the east of the Dead Sea, to the north of Edom and the south of Ammon.
86. (29:11) wood-cutter . . . water-carrier. Compare Joshua 9:21-27, where some Canaanites were allowed to remain among the Israelites, but on the condition that they lived in an inferior economic position as "wood-cutters and water-carriers."
87. (29:12) carves out. As in verse 1
88. (29:16) the watered with the dry. S. R. Driver takes this as an idiom referring literally to both well-watered plants and dry plants, and therefore to everyone, following the metaphor in the previous verse comparing the evil person to a bitter plant.
89. (31:2) now. Literally, the day.
90. (31:11) to see. The consonantal Hebrew text reads lrʾwt, which this translation vocalizes as lir-ot, "to see." The Masoretic tradition vocalizes the word as le-ra-ot "to appear."
91. The references to the nation of Israel in chapter 31 go back and forth between singular and plural.
92. This translation is poetic, not literal
93. (33:2) lightning flashing from his right hand to them. In Hebrew, from his right hand eshdat to them. The meaning of eshdat is uncertain. One traditional reading is fiery law.
94. (33:3) his people. Following the Septuagint here; the Masoretic text reads, he cherished peoples.
95. Let his power be great. Hebrew, yada(y)w rab lo, here interpreted by way of a common metaphor in which yada(y)w (his hands) is interpreted as "his power." The phrase is also sometimes interpreted as he contends for himself with his own hands. Another suggestion is that the phrase should instead read, yedeka rib lo, "contend for him with your [God's] hands."
96. (33:12) surrounds. This Hebrew term, hofef, is found only here, and is of uncertain meaning.
97. (33:22) leaps. The Hebrew word appears only here, and is therefore of doubtful meaning.
98. (33:23) the west. Or the sea [of Galilee].
99. (33:25) might. The Hebrew word occurs only here, and is therefore of uncertain meaning.