the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,


the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, the bat,


and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you – they may not be eaten.


You may eat any clean bird.


You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.


You must be certain to tithe all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year.


In the presence of the Lord your God you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the place he chooses to locate his name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.


When he blesses you, if the place where he chooses to locate his name is distant,


you may convert the tithe into money, secure the money, and travel to the place the Lord your God chooses for himself.


Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it.


As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you.


At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages.


Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.


At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation of debts.


This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”


You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite owes you, you must remit.


However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land that he is giving you as an inheritance,


if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.


For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.


If a fellow Israelite from one of your villages in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive to his impoverished condition.


Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs.


Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite and you do not lend him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned.


You must by all means lend to him and not be upset by doing it, for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt.


There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.


If your fellow Hebrew – whether male or female – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free.


If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.


You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them.


Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today.


However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,


you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).


You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.


You must set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks.


You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he chooses.


If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God.


You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.


However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.


Observe the month Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month he brought you out of Egypt by night.


You must sacrifice the Passover animal (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to locate his name.


You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt.


There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning.


You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you,


but you must sacrifice it in the evening in the place where he chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt.


You must cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents.


You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day.


You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.


Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering that you will bring, in proportion to how he has blessed you.


You shall rejoice before him – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.


Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.


You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest.


You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.


You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!


Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him empty-handed.


Every one of you must give as you are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.


You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.


You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort the words of the righteous.


You must pursue justice alone so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.


You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself.


You must not erect a sacred pillar, a thing the Lord your God detests.


You must not sacrifice to him a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive to the Lord your God.


Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God and breaks his covenant


by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship.


When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done in Israel,


you must bring to your city gates that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death.


At the testimony of two or three witnesses they must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.


The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.


If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, legal claim, or assault – matters of controversy in your villages – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses.


You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.


You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.


You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you.


The person who pays no attention to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.


Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.


When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,”


you must select without fail a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites.


Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.


Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold.


When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests.


It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.


Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel.


The Levitical priests – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance.


They will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.


This shall be the priests’ fair allotment from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep – they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.


You must give them the best of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.


For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in his name permanently.


Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, to the place the Lord chooses


and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord.


He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance.


When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations.


There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer,


one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer.


Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you.


You must be blameless before the Lord your God.


Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.


The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.


This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.”


The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good.


I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.


I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name.


“But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.


Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’ –


whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”


When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,


you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.


You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.


Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident.


Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself.


Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.


Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.


If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them,


and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three.


You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty.


However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities.


The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die.


You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.


You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you.


A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.


If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime,


then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.


The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused,


you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.


The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.


You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.


When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.


As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers,


“Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,


for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.”


Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it.


Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.


Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.”


In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s heart as fearful as his own.”


Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops.


When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.


If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.


If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.


The Lord your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword.


However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you.


This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.


As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.


Instead you must utterly annihilate them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites – just as the Lord your God has commanded you,


so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.


If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it!


However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.


If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him,


your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.


Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke –


and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.


Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict )


and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.


Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime.


Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.


In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord.


When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners,


if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife,


you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,


discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife.


If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her; you must not take advantage of her, since you have already humiliated her.


Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, and they both bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife.


In the day he divides his inheritance he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other wife’s son who is actually the firstborn.


Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved wife as firstborn and give him the double portion of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power – to him should go the right of the firstborn.


If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail,


his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city.


They must declare to the elders of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.”


Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.


If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree,


his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury him that same day, for the one who is left exposed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.


When you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; you must return it without fail to your neighbor.


If the owner does not live near you or you do not know who the owner is, then you must corral the animal at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.


You shall do the same to his donkey, his clothes, or anything else your neighbor has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved.


When you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; instead, you must be sure to help him get the animal on its feet again.


A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive to the Lord your God.


If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, you must not take the mother from the young.


You must be sure to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.


If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail around your roof to avoid being culpable in the event someone should fall from it.


You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.


You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.


You must not wear clothing made with wool and linen meshed together.


You shall make yourselves tassels for the four corners of the clothing you wear.


Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and then rejects her,


accusing her of impropriety and defaming her reputation by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations with her I discovered she was not a virgin!”


Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity for the elders of the city at the gate.


The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected her.


Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out before the city’s elders.


The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish him.


They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.


But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin,


the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge evil from among you.


If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge evil from Israel.


If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets her in the city and has sexual relations with her,


you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated his neighbor’s fiancée; in this way you will purge evil from among you.


But if the man came across the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped her, then only the rapist must die.


You must not do anything to the young woman – she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person and murders him,


for the man met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.


Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered.


The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.


A man may not marry his father’s former wife and in this way dishonor his father.


A man with crushed or severed genitals may not enter the assembly of the Lord.


A person of illegitimate birth may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so.


An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so,


for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.


But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves you.


You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come.


You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land.


Children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.


When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure.


If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately.


When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.


You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine.


You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself outside you must dig a hole with the spade and then turn and cover your excrement.


For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.


You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you.


Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.


There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel.


You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of a male prostitute into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.


You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest.


You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.


When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he will surely hold you accountable as a sinner.


If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful.


Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering.


When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, but you must not take away any in a container.


When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.


If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.


When she has left him she may go and become someone else’s wife.


If the second husband rejects her and then divorces her, gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies,


her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.


When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married.


One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security.


If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge evil from among you.


Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.


Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt.


When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.


You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.


If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering.


You must by all means return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just deed by the Lord your God.


You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.


You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.


Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.


You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan.


Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this.


Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do.


When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.


When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.


Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.


If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty.


Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves.


The judge may sentence him to forty blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt.


You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain.


If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.


Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel.


But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!”


Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,”


then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”


His family name will be referred to in Israel as “the family of the one whose sandal was removed.”


If two men get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,


then you must cut off her hand – do not pity her.


You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one.


You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one.


You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you.


For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God.


Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,


how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God.


So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven – do not forget!


When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it,


you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he chooses to locate his name.


You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our ancestors to give us.”


The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.


Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people.


But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor.


So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression.


Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders.


Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.


So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.


You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.


When you finish tithing all your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages.


Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.


I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.


Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.”


Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.


Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.


And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.


Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.


Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today.


When you cross the Jordan River to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster.


Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you.


So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal these stones about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster.


Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones – do not use an iron tool on them.


You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.


Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God.


You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear.”


Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.


You must obey him and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.”


Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day:


“The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.


And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.


“The Levites will call out to every Israelite with a loud voice:


‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who disrespects his father and mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father’s former wife, for he dishonors his father.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’


“If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.


All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God:


You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field.


Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.


Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed.


You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.


The Lord will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions.


The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you.


The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him.


Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you.


The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you.


The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.


The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.


But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.


“But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:


You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.


Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed.


Your children will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.


You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.


“The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me.


The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.


He will afflict you with weakness, fever, inflammation, infection, sword, blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish.


The sky above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron.


The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.


“The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.


Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off.


The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed.


The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind.


You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.


You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.


Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you.


Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.


As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.


You will go insane from seeing all this.


The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.


The Lord will force you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.


You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.


“You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it.


You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them.


You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe.


You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity.


Whirring locusts will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil.


The foreigners who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower.


They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!


All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given you.


These curses will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.


“Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have,


instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.


The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,


a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young.


They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, or lambs of your flocks until they have destroyed you.


They will besiege all of your villages until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.


You will then eat your own offspring, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege by which your enemies will constrict you.


The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children.


He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.


Likewise, the most tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters,


and will secretly eat her afterbirth and her newborn children (since she has nothing else), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.


“If you refuse to obey all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,


then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses.


He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you.


Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, until you have perished.


There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, because you will have disobeyed the Lord your God.


This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess.


The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.


Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.


Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.


In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see.


Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”


These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.


Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land.


Your eyes have seen the great judgments, those signs and mighty wonders.


But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears!


I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out nor have your sandals deteriorated.


You have eaten no bread and drunk no wine or beer – all so that you might know that I am the Lord your God!


When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them.


Then we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.


“Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do.


You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,


your infants, your wives, and the foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water –


so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today.


Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath,


but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today.


“(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled.


You have seen their detestable things and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.)


Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.


When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” This will destroy the watered ground with the parched.


The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger will rage against that man; all the curses written in this scroll will fall upon him and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.


The Lord will single him out for judgment from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.


The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it.


The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.


Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?”


Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.


They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.


That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses written in this scroll.


So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”


Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.


“When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you.


Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,


the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.


Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.


Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.


The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live.


Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you.


You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today.


The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,


if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.


“This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.


It is not in heaven, as though one must say, “Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”


And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, “Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”


For the thing is very near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it.


“Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.


What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess.


However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,


I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.


Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!


I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”


Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.


He said to them, “Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’


As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you and dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said.


The Lord will do to them just what he did to Sihon and Og, the Amorite kings, and to their land, which he destroyed.


The Lord will deliver them over to you and you will do to them according to the whole commandment I have given you.


Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!”


Then Moses called out to Joshua in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will accompany these people to the land that the Lord promised to give their ancestors, and you will enable them to inherit it.


The Lord is indeed going before you – he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”


Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders.


He commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, at the Feast of Temporary Shelters,


when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them within their hearing.


Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law.


Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”


Then the Lord said to Moses, “The day of your death is near. Summon Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting so that I can commission him.” So Moses and Joshua presented themselves in the tent of meeting.


The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud that stood above the door of the tent.


Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.


At that time my anger will erupt against them and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome them so that they will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters overcome us because our God is not among us?’


But I will certainly hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they will have done by turning to other gods.


Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!


For after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors – one flowing with milk and honey – and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant.


Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it. I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised.”


So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites,


and the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.”


When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety,


he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant,


“Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,


for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death!


Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.


For I know that after I die you will totally corrupt yourselves and turn away from the path I have commanded you to walk. Disaster will confront you in the days to come because you will act wickedly before the Lord, inciting him to anger because of your actions.”


Then Moses recited the words of this song from start to finish in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel.


Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.


My teaching will drop like the rain, my sayings will drip like the dew, as rain drops upon the grass, and showers upon new growth.


For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; you must acknowledge the greatness of our God.


As for the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. He is a reliable God who is never unjust, he is fair and upright.


His people have been unfaithful to him; they have not acted like his children – this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.


Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your creator? He has made you and established you.


Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.


When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.


For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession.


The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.


Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions.


The Lord alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.


He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields. He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,


butter from the herd and milk from the flock, along with the fat of lambs, rams and goats of Bashan, along with the best of the kernels of wheat; and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.


But Jeshurun became fat and kicked, you got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.


They made him jealous with other gods, they enraged him with abhorrent idols.


They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.


You have forgotten the Rock who fathered you, and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.


But the Lord took note and despised them because his sons and daughters enraged him.


He said, “I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.


They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them.


For a fire has been kindled by my anger, and it burns to lowest Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and ignites the foundations of the mountains.


I will increase their disasters, I will use up my arrows on them.


They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.


The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.


“I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. I want to make people forget they ever existed.


But I fear the reaction of their enemies, for their adversaries would misunderstand and say, “Our power is great, and the Lord has not done all this!”’


They are a nation devoid of wisdom, and there is no understanding among them.


I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”


How can one man chase a thousand of them, and two pursue ten thousand; unless their Rock had delivered them up, and the Lord had handed them over?


For our enemies’ rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.


For their vine is from the stock of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes contain venom, their clusters of grapes are bitter.


Their wine is snakes’ poison, the deadly venom of cobras.


“Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, “Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?


I will get revenge and pay them back at the time their foot slips; for the day of their disaster is near, and the impending judgment is rushing upon them!”


The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.


He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in whom they sought security,


who ate the best of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise and help you; let them be your refuge!


“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist my power.


For I raise up my hand to heaven, and say, ‘As surely as I live forever,


I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; I will execute vengeance on my foes, and repay those who hate me!


I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief of the enemy’s leaders!’”


Cry out, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge his servants’ blood; he will take vengeance against his enemies, and make atonement for his land and people.


Then Moses went with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.


When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel


he said to them, “Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law.


For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”


Then the Lord said to Moses that same day,


“Go up to this Abarim hill country, to Mount Nebo (which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho ) and look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.


You will die on the mountain that you ascend and join your deceased ancestors, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and joined his deceased ancestors,


for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.


You will see the land before you, but you will not enter the land that I am giving to the Israelites.”


This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.


He said: The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them.


Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your power. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words.


Moses delivered to us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.


The Lord was king over Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people assembled, the tribes of Israel together.


May Reuben live and not die, and may his people multiply.


And this is the blessing to Judah. He said, Listen, O Lord, to Judah’s voice, and bring him to his people. May his power be great, and may you help him against his foes.


Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.


He said to his father and mother, “I have not seen him,” and he did not acknowledge his own brothers or know his own children, for they kept your word, and guarded your covenant.


They will teach Jacob your ordinances and Israel your law; they will offer incense as a pleasant odor, and a whole offering on your altar.


Bless, O Lord, his goods, and be pleased with his efforts; undercut the legs of any who attack him, and of those who hate him, so that they cannot stand.


Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him; he protects him all the time, and the Lord places him on his chest.


Of Joseph he said: May the Lord bless his land with the harvest produced by the sky, by the dew, and by the depths crouching beneath;


with the harvest produced by the daylight and by the moonlight;


with the best of the ancient mountains and the harvest produced by the age-old hills;


with the harvest of the earth and its fullness and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. May blessing rest on Joseph’s head, and on the top of the head of the one set apart from his brothers.


May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor, and may his horns be those of a wild ox; with them may he gore all peoples, all the far reaches of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.


Of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go outside, and Issachar, when you are in your tents.


They will summon peoples to the mountain, there they will sacrifice proper sacrifices; for they will enjoy the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the shores.


Of Gad he said: Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad. Like a lioness he will dwell; he will tear at an arm – indeed, a scalp.


He has selected the best part for himself, for the portion of the ruler is set aside there; he came with the leaders of the people, he obeyed the righteous laws of the Lord and his ordinances with Israel.


Of Dan he said: Dan is a lion’s cub; he will leap forth from Bashan.


Of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, overflowing with favor, and full of the Lord’s blessing, possess the west and south.


Of Asher he said: Asher is blessed with children, may he be favored by his brothers and may he dip his foot in olive oil.


The bars of your gates will be made of iron and bronze, and may you have lifelong strength.


There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the sky to help you, on the clouds in majesty.


The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath you are his eternal arms; he has driven out enemies before you, and has said, “Destroy!”


Israel lives in safety, the fountain of Jacob is quite secure, in a land of grain and new wine; indeed, its heavens rain down dew.


You have joy, Israel! Who is like you? You are a people delivered by the Lord, your protective shield and your exalted sword. May your enemies cringe before you; may you trample on their backs.


Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,


and all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the distant sea,


the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar.


Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it, but you will not cross over there.”


So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.


He buried him in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day.


Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed.


The Israelites mourned for Moses in the deserts of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.


Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands on him; and the Israelites listened to him and did just what the Lord had commanded Moses.


No prophet ever again arose in Israel like Moses, who knew the Lord face to face.


He did all the signs and wonders the Lord had sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, all his servants, and the whole land,


and he displayed great power and awesome might in view of all Israel.


After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:


“Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them.


I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses.


Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.


No one will be able to resist you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.


Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them.


Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do.


This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.


I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.”


Joshua instructed the leaders of the people:


“Go through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you.’”


Joshua told the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh:


“Remember what Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you. The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you.


Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. You must help them


until the Lord gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the Lord’s servant assigned you east of the Jordan.”


They told Joshua, “We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us.


Just as we obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. But may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses!


Any man who rebels against what you say and does not obey all your commands will be executed. But be strong and brave!”


Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there.


The king of Jericho received this report: “Note well! Israelite men have come here tonight to spy on the land.”


So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: “Turn over the men who came to you – the ones who came to your house – for they have come to spy on the whole land!”


But the woman hid the two men and replied, “Yes, these men were clients of mine, but I didn’t know where they came from.


When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!”


(Now she had taken them up to the roof and had hidden them in the stalks of flax she had spread out on the roof.)


Meanwhile the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them.


Now before the spies went to sleep, Rahab went up to the roof.


She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you.


For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan.


When we heard the news we lost our courage and no one could even breathe for fear of you. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!


So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord’s name. Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. Give me a solemn pledge


that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.”


The men said to her, “If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we’ve been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you.”


Then Rahab let them down by a rope through the window. (Her house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.)


She told them, “Head to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don’t find you. Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you to return. Then you can be on your way.”


The men said to her, “We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:


When we invade the land, tie this red rope in the window through which you let us down, and gather together in your house your father, mother, brothers, and all who live in your father’s house.


Anyone who leaves your house will be responsible for his own death – we are innocent in that case! But if anyone with you in the house is harmed, we will be responsible.


If you should report what we’ve been up to, we are not bound by this oath you made us swear.”


She said, “I agree to these conditions.” She sent them on their way and then tied the red rope in the window.


They went to the hill country and stayed there for three days, long enough for those chasing them to return. Their pursuers looked all along the way but did not find them.


Then the two men returned – they came down from the hills, crossed the river, came to Joshua son of Nun, and reported to him all they had discovered.


They told Joshua, “Surely the Lord is handing over all the land to us! All who live in the land are cringing before us!”


Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing the river.


After three days the leaders went through the camp


and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here and walk behind it.


But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”


Joshua told the people, “Ritually consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will perform miraculous deeds among you.”


Joshua told the priests, “Pick up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they picked up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.


The Lord told Joshua, “This very day I will begin to honor you before all Israel so they will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses.


Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, ‘When you reach the bank of the Jordan River, wade into the water.’”


Joshua told the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God!”


Joshua continued, “This is how you will know the living God is among you and that he will truly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.


Look! The ark of the covenant of the Ruler of the whole earth is ready to enter the Jordan ahead of you.


Now select for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one per tribe.


When the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Ruler of the whole earth, touch the water of the Jordan, the water coming downstream toward you will stop flowing and pile up.”


So when the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.


When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface of the water – (the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time) –


the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. It piled up far upstream at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). The people crossed the river opposite Jericho.


The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side.


When the entire nation was on the other side, the Lord told Joshua,


“Select for yourselves twelve men from the people, one per tribe.


Instruct them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests stand firmly, and carry them over with you and put them in the place where you camp tonight.’”


Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one per tribe.


Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes.


The stones will be a reminder to you. When your children ask someday, ‘Why are these stones important to you?’


tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”


The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there.


Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.


Now the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people was accomplished, in accordance with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people went across quickly,


and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed as the people looked on.


The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle ahead of the Israelites, just as Moses had instructed them.


About forty thousand battle-ready troops marched past the Lord to fight on the plains of Jericho.


That day the Lord brought honor to Joshua before all Israel. They respected him all his life, just as they had respected Moses.


The Lord told Joshua,


“Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenantal laws to come up from the Jordan.”


So Joshua instructed the priests, “Come up from the Jordan!”


The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land, the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage.


The people went up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.


Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.


He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’


explain to your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.’


For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it.


He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power and so you might always obey the Lord your God.”


When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites.


At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.”


So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins.


This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt.


Now all the men who left were circumcised, but all the sons born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised.


Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, a land rich in milk and honey.


He replaced them with their sons, whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way.


When all the men had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed.


The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal even to this day.


So the Israelites camped in Gilgal and celebrated the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho.


They ate some of the produce of the land the day after the Passover, including unleavened bread and roasted grain.


The manna stopped appearing the day they ate some of the produce of the land; the Israelites never ate manna again.


When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?”


He answered, “Truly I am the commander of the Lord’s army. Now I have arrived!” Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground and asked, “What does my master want to say to his servant?”


The commander of the Lord’s army answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.


Now Jericho was shut tightly because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter.


The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, along with its king and its warriors.


Have all the warriors march around the city one time; do this for six days.


Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.


When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn, have the whole army give a loud battle cry. Then the city wall will collapse and the warriors should charge straight ahead.”


So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and instructed them, “Pick up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests must carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.”


And he told the army, “Move ahead and march around the city, with armed troops going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”


When Joshua gave the army its orders, the seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind.


Armed troops marched ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark blowing rams’ horns.


Now Joshua had instructed the army, “Do not give a battle cry or raise your voices; say nothing until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ Then give the battle cry!”


So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time. Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.


Bright and early the next morning Joshua had the priests pick up the ark of the Lord.


The seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord marched along blowing their horns. Armed troops marched ahead of them, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark of the Lord blowing rams’ horns.


They marched around the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this six days in all.


On the seventh day they were up at the crack of dawn and marched around the city as before – only this time they marched around it seven times.


The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, “Give the battle cry, for the Lord is handing the city over to you!


The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies we sent.


But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster.


All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. They must go into the Lord’s treasury.”


The rams’ horns sounded and when the army heard the signal, they gave a loud battle cry. The wall collapsed and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.


They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.


Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, “Enter the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her.”


So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp.


But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord’s house.


Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.


At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration: “The man who attempts to rebuild this city of Jericho will stand condemned before the Lord. He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!”


The Lord was with Joshua and he became famous throughout the land.


But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. The Lord was furious with the Israelites.


Joshua sent men from Jericho ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.


They returned and reported to Joshua, “Don’t send the whole army. About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.”


So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.


The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures and defeated them on the steep slope. The people’s courage melted away like water.


Joshua tore his clothes; he and the leaders of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening and threw dirt on their heads.


Joshua prayed, “O, Master, Lord! Why did you bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us?


If only we had been satisfied to live on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated before its enemies?


When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will turn against us and destroy the very memory of us from the earth. What will you do to protect your great reputation?”


The Lord responded to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying there face down?


Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions.


The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. I will no longer be with you, unless you destroy what has contaminated you.


Get up! Ritually consecrate the people and tell them this: ‘Ritually consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord God of Israel says, “You are contaminated, O Israel! You will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is contaminating you.”


In the morning you must approach in tribal order. The tribe the Lord selects must approach by clans. The clan the Lord selects must approach by families. The family the Lord selects must approach man by man.


The one caught with the riches must be burned up along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”


Bright and early the next morning Joshua made Israel approach in tribal order and the tribe of Judah was selected.


He then made the clans of Judah approach and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He made the clan of the Zerahites approach and Zabdi was selected.


He then made Zabdi’s family approach man by man and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected.


So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, honor the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me!”


Achan told Joshua, “It is true. I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel in this way:


I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”


Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent. The things were hidden right in his tent, with the silver underneath.


They took it all from the middle of the tent, brought it to Joshua and all the Israelites, and placed it before the Lord.