Day 79 of 730

¹Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you.

²You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.

⁴But you who were faithful to the Lord your God are all alive this day.

⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it.

⁶Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

⁷For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as the Lord our God is whenever we call on him?

⁸What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

⁹Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children's children;

¹⁰the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, "Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children."

¹¹You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

¹²The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

¹³He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.

¹⁴The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it.

¹⁵Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no kind of form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.

¹⁶Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;

¹⁹and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

²⁰But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.

²¹Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance:

²²but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that good land.

²³Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you an engraved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you.

²⁴For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

²⁵When you shall father children, and children's children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke him to anger;

²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

²⁷The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall lead you away.

²⁸There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

²⁹But from there you shall seek the Lord your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to the Lord your God, and listen to his voice:

³¹for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

³²For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?

³³Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

³⁴Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁵It was shown to you so that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no one else besides him.

³⁶Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

³⁷Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;

³⁸to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day.

³⁹Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.

⁴⁰You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord your God gives you, forever.

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;

⁴²that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

⁴³Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

⁴⁴This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

⁴⁵these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,

⁴⁶beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck, when they came forth out of Egypt.

⁴⁷They took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;

⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (the same is Hermon),

⁴⁹and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

¹Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.

²The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

³The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

⁴The Lord spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the midst of the fire,

⁵(I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the words of the Lord: for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up onto the mountain;) saying,

⁶"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

⁷"You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸"You shall not make an engraved image for yourself, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

⁹you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me;

¹⁰and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

¹²"Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.

¹³You shall labor six days, and do all your work;

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

¹⁵You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶"Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁷"You shall not murder.

¹⁸"Neither shall you commit adultery.

¹⁹"Neither shall you steal.

²⁰"Neither shall you give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹"Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; neither shall you covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

²²These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me.

²³It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

²⁴and you said, "Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does speak with man, and he lives.

²⁵Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.

²⁶For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷Go near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and tell us all that the Lord our God shall tell you; and we will hear it, and do it."

²⁸The Lord heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and the Lord said to me, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have well said all that they have spoken.

²⁹Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!

³⁰"Go tell them, Return to your tents.

³¹But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it."

³²You shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³³You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

¹God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

²They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your holy ones to the animals of the earth.

³Their blood they have shed like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.

⁴We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.

⁵How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you; on the kingdoms that do not call on your name;

⁷For they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.

⁸Do not hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.

⁹Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.

¹⁰Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants' blood is being poured out.

¹¹Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.

¹²Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

¹³So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.

¹Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.

⁴An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.

⁶Children's children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.

⁷Arrogant speech isn't fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.

⁸A bribe is a precious stone in the eyes of him who gives it; wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.

¹⁰A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred lashes into a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

¹²Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

¹³Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, seeing he has no understanding?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a perverse heart doesn't find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.

²¹He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.

²²A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.

²⁶Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity.

²⁷He who spares his words has knowledge. He who is even tempered is a man of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. When he shuts his lips, he is thought to be discerning.