5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: 1 “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! 5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 5:3 He 2 did not make this covenant with our ancestors 3 but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now. 5:4 The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire. 5:5 (I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to reveal to you the message 4 of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said:
5:6 “I am the Lord your God, he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery. 5:7 You must not have any other gods 5 besides me. 6 5:8 You must not make for yourself an image 7 of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. 8 5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish 9 the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject 10 me, 11 5:10 but I show covenant faithfulness 12 to the thousands 13 who choose 14 me and keep my commandments. 5:11 You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, 15 for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way. 16 5:12 Be careful to observe 17 the Sabbath day just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 5:13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 5:14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath 18 of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, 19 so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest. 5:15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. 20 That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe 21 the Sabbath day. 5:16 Honor 22 your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he 23 is about to give you. 5:17 You must not murder. 24 5:18 You must not commit adultery. 5:19 You must not steal. 5:20 You must not offer false testimony against another. 25 5:21 You must not desire 26 another man’s 27 wife, nor should you crave his 28 house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.” 29
5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. 30 Then he inscribed the words 31 on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory 32 and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us 33 that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living. 5:25 But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die! 5:26 Who is there from the entire human race 34 who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived? 5:27 You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he 35 says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.” 5:28 When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he 36 said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you – they have spoken well. 5:29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey 37 all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever. 5:30 Go and tell them, ‘Return to your tents!’ 5:31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, 38 statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.” 39 5:32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! 5:33 Walk just as he 40 has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long 41 in the land you are going to possess.
6:1 Now these are the commandments, 42 statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed 43 6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments 44 that I am giving 45 you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number 46 – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, 47 said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.
6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 48 6:5 You must love 49 the Lord your God with your whole mind, 50 your whole being, 51 and all your strength. 52
6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach 53 them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, 54 as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm 55 and fasten them as symbols 56 on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. 57
6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill, 6:12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. 58 6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name. 6:14 You must not go after other gods, those 59 of the surrounding peoples, 6:15 for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land. 60
6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 61 6:17 Keep his 62 commandments very carefully, 63 as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper 64 and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he 65 promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.
6:20 When your children 66 ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, 67 “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. 68 6:22 And he 69 brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family 70 before our very eyes. 6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors. 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him 71 so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day. 6:25 We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments 72 before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” 73
7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, 74 Girgashites, 75 Amorites, 76 Canaanites, 77 Perizzites, 78 Hivites, 79 and Jebusites, 80 seven 81 nations more numerous and powerful than you – 7:2 and he 82 delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate 83 them. Make no treaty 84 with them and show them no mercy! 7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. 7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 85 cut down their sacred Asherah poles, 86 and burn up their idols. 7:6 For you are a people holy 87 to the Lord your God. He 88 has chosen you to be his people, prized 89 above all others on the face of the earth.
7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. 7:8 Rather it is because of his 90 love 91 for you and his faithfulness to the promise 92 he solemnly vowed 93 to your ancestors 94 that the Lord brought you out with great power, 95 redeeming 96 you from the place of slavery, from the power 97 of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, 98 the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully 99 with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 7:10 but who pays back those who hate 100 him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore 101 those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! 7:11 So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do.
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 102 as he promised 103 your ancestors. 7:13 He will love and bless you, and make you numerous. He will bless you with many children, 104 with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the offspring of your oxen, and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you. 7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness 105 among you or your livestock. 7:15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases that you knew in Egypt; instead he will inflict them on all those who hate you.
7:16 You must destroy 106 all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship 107 their gods, for that will be a snare to you. 7:17 If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I – how can I dispossess them?” 7:18 you must not fear them. You must carefully recall 108 what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, 7:19 the great judgments 109 you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power 110 by which he 111 brought you out – thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear. 7:20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets 112 among them until the very last ones who hide from you 113 perish. 7:21 You must not tremble in their presence, for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a great and awesome God. 7:22 He, 114 the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you. 7:23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic 115 until they are destroyed. 7:24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. 116 Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them. 7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent 117 to the Lord your God. 7:26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath 118 along with it. 119 You must absolutely detest 120 and abhor it, 121 for it is an object of divine wrath.