Amplified Bible (AMP)

Cities of Refuge

1 “When the Lordyour God cuts off (destroys) the nations whose land He is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and in their houses,

2 you shall designate three cities for yourself in the central area of the land, which the Lordyour God is giving you to possess.

3 You shall prepareandmaintain for yourself the roads [to these cities], and divide the territory of your land into three parts, so that anyone who kills another unintentionally may escape there [for asylum].

4 “Now this is the case of the offender (manslayer) who may escape there and live [protected from vengeance]: when he kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him previously–

5 as [for example] whena mangoes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, but the ironheadslips off the wooden handle and hits his companion and he dies–the offender may escape to one of these cities and live;

6 otherwise theavenger of blood might pursue the offender in the heat of anger, and overtake him, because it is a long way, and take his life, even though he did not deserve to die, since he did not hate his neighbor beforehand.

7 Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities [of refuge] for yourself.’

8 “If the Lordyour God enlarges your border, as He has sworn to your fathers to do, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers–

9 if you keepandcarefully observe all these commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lordyour God, and to walk [that is, to live each and every day] always in His ways–then you shall add three more cities [of refuge] for yourself, besides these three,

10 so that innocent blood will not be shed [by blood avengers] in your land which the Lordyour God is giving you as an inheritance, and blood guilt will not be on you [for the death of an innocent man].

11 “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in waitandambush for him and attacks him and strikes him down so that he dies, and the assailant escapes to one of these cities,

12 then the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken back from there and turn him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death.

13 You shall not pity him [the guilty one], but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

14 “You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the forefathers [who first divided the territory] have set, in the land which you will inherit in the land which the Lordyour God is giving you to possess.

15 “A single witness shall not appearin a trialagainst a man for any wrong or any sin which he has committed; [only]on the testimonyorevidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be confirmed.

16 If a malicious witness rises up against a man to [falsely] accuse him of wrongdoing,

17 then both parties to the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will bein officeat that time.

18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness, and he has accused his brother falsely,

19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

20 Those who remain will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

21 You shall not show pity [to the guilty one]:it shall belife for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

1 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lordyour God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

2 When you approach the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people,

3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: you are advancing today to battle against your enemies. Do not lack courage. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble [in terror] before them,

4 for the Lordyour God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

5 The officers shall also speak to thesoldiers, saying, ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not yetdedicated it?Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

6 ~‘What man has planted a vineyard and has not put it to use [harvesting its fruit]? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit.

7 ~‘And who is the man who is engaged (legally promised) to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’

8 Then the officers shall speak further to the soldiers and say, ‘Who is the man who is afraid and lacks courage? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not cause his brothers’ courage to fail like his own.’

9 And it shall be when the officers have finished speaking to the soldiers, they shall appoint commanders of armies over them.

10 “When you advance to a city to fight against it, you shall [first] offer it terms of peace.

11 If that city accepts your terms of peace and opensits gatesto you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

12 However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall lay siege to it.

13 When the Lordyour God gives it into your hand, you shall strike down all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

14 Only the women and the children and the animals and everything that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lordyour God has given you.

15 That is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far away from you, which are not among the cities of these nations nearby [which you are to dispossess].

16 Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lordyour God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

17 But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lordyour God has commanded you,

18 so that they will not teach you to act in accordance with all the detestable practices which they have done [in worship and service] for their gods, and in this way cause you to sin against the Lordyour God.

19 “When you besiege a city fora long time, making war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its [fruit-bearing] trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged (destroyed) by you?

20 Only the trees which you know are notfruit trees shall you destroy and cut down, so that you may buildsiegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

Expiation of a Crime

1 “If someone is found slain, lying in the field, in the land which the Lordyour God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has killed him,

2 then your elders and judges shall go out and measurethe distanceto the cities which are around the dead person.

3 It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the dead man shall take a heifer of the herd, one which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke;

4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a [river] valley with running water, which has not been plowed or planted, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall approach, for the Lordyour God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name (Presence) of the Lord; and every dispute and every assault (violent crime) shall be settled by them.

6 All the elders of that city nearest to the dead man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

7 and they shall respond, and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

8 ~‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not put the guilt of innocent blood among Your people Israel.’ And the guilt of blood shall be forgiven them.

9 So shall you remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Domestic Relations

10 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lordyour God hands them over to you and you lead them away captive,

11 and you see a beautiful woman among the captives, and desire her and would take her as your wife,

12 then you shall bring her [home] to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails [in preparation for mourning].

13 She shall take off the clothes of her captivity and remain in your house, and weep (mourn) for her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

14 But it shall be that if you have no delightandtake no pleasure in her, then you shall let her gowherever she wishes. You certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not deal with her as a slaveormistreat her, because you have humbled her [by forced marriage].

15 “If a man has two wives, one loved and the otherunloved, and both the loved and the unloved have born him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the unlovedwife,

16 then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he cannot treat the son of his loved wife as firstborn in place of the son of the unloved wife–the [actual] firstborn.

17 Instead he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved as the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he was the beginning of his strength (generative power); to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

18 “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or of his mother, and when they reprimandanddiscipline him, he will not listen to them,

19 then his father and mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

20 They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

22 “And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death and [afterward] you hang him on a tree [as a public example],

23 his body shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall most certainly bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is cursed by God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lordyour God gives you as an inheritance.

Various Laws

1 “You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying awayorbeing stolen, andignore [your duty to help] them; you shall certainly take them back to him.

2 If your countryman is not nearby or you do not know him, you shall bring the animal to your house, and it shall stay with you until he searches for it; then you shall return it to him.

3 You shall do this with his donkey or with his garment or with anything that your countryman has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to ignore [your duty to help] them.

4 You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and ignore [your duty to help] them; you shall certainly help him lift it up.

5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is utterly repulsive to the Lordyour God.

6 “If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother [bird] is sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.

7 You shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a railing (parapet) around your [flat] roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of [innocent] blood on your house if someone falls from it.

9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or everything produced by the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will become defiled [and banned for use].

10 “You shall not plow with an ox [a clean animal] and a donkey [an unclean animal]together.

11 “You shall not wear a fabric made of wool and linen blended together [a fabric pagans believed to be magical].

12 “You shall make tassels for yourself on the four corners of your outer garment with which you cover yourself.

Laws on Morality

13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then scornsandhates her,

14 and charges her [without cause] with shameful behavior andpublicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’

15 then the young woman’s father and her mother shall get and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate [where court is held].

16 The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates herandhas turned against her;

17 and behold, he has made baseless charges against her, saying, “I did not find in your daughter the evidence of her virginity.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out thegarment before the elders of the city.

18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and reprimand him,

19 and they shall fine him a hundredshekelsof silver and give it to the father of the young woman, because hepublicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives.

20 “But if this charge is true that the evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman,

21 then they shall bring her out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed a deliberate sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

22 “If a man isintimate with a woman who is another man’s wife, they shall both be put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.

23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is engaged (legally betrothed) to a man, andanotherman finds her in the city and is intimate with her,

24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and stone them to death–the young woman because she did not cry out for help [though she was] in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s [promised] wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

25 “However, if the man finds the girl who is engaged (legally betrothed) in the [open] field, and seizes her and is intimate with her [by force], then only the man who lies with her shall be put to death.

26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no sin worthy of death, for this is the same as when a man attacks his neighbor and murdershim.

27 When he found her in the [open] field, the engaged girl [may have] cried out for help, but there was no one to [hear and] save her.

28 “If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and is intimate with her and they are discovered,

29 then the man who was intimate with her shall give fiftyshekelsof silver to the girl’s father, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannever divorce her.

30 “A man shall not take his father’s [former] wife, so that he will notexpose his father’s wife.

Persons Excluded from the Assembly

1 “He who has been castrated byhaving his testiclescrushed or his male organ cut off shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.

2 A person ofillegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; none of hisdescendants,even to the tenth generation.

3 An Ammonite orMoabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; none of theirdescendants,even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord,

4 because they did not meet you with bread (food) and water on the road as you came out of Egypt, and because they hired [to act] against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

5 Nevertheless, the Lordyour God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lordyour God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lordyour God has loved you.

6 You shall never seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days.

7 “You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother [Esau’s descendant]. You shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were a stranger (resident alien, foreigner) in his land.

8 Their children of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

9 “When you go out as an army [to fight] against your enemies, you shall keep yourselves from every evil [thing].

10 “If there is any man among you who is [ceremonially] unclean because of nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he shall not come back to the camp.

11 But when evening comes, he shall bathe in water, and at sundown he may return to the camp.

12 “You shall also have a place outside the camp to which you may go,

13 and you shall have a spade among your tools, and when you [prepare to] sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall diga holewith it and shall turn and cover up your waste.

14 Since the Lordyour God walks in the midst of your camp to rescue you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy (undefiled); and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.

15 “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

16 He shall live among you, in the place he chooses in one of your cities where it pleases him; you shall not mistreatoroppress him.

17 “There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel.

18 You shall not bring the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog [that is, a male prostitute] into the house of the Lordyour Godas paymentfor any vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are utterly repulsive to the Lordyour God.

19 “You shall not charge interest to your fellow Israelite–interest on money, food or anything that may be loaned for interest.

20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your fellow Israelite you shall not charge interest, so that the Lordyour God may bless you inall that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.

21 “When you make avow to the Lordyour God, you shall not delay to pay it, for He will most certainly require it of you, and a delay would cause you to sin.

22 But if you refrain from making a vow, that would not be [counted as] sin in you.

23 You shall be careful to perform that [vow] which passes your lips, just as you have made a voluntary vow to the Lordyour God, just as you have promised with your own words (mouth).

24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes,as many as you please, but you shall not put any in your basket [to take with you].

25 “When you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, you maypluck the ears of grain with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain [to harvest it].

Law of Divorce

1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that sheloses his favor because he has found something indecentorunacceptable about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,

2 and after she leaves his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,

3 and if the latter husbandturns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife,

4 then her former husband who [first] sent her away may not take her again as his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an outrage before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lordyour God gives you as an inheritance.

5 “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out [to fight] with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home for one year and shall bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

Various Laws

6 “No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone [used to grind grain into bread] as security [for a debt], for he would be taking a [person’s] life in pledge.

7 “If a man is caught kidnapping any of his countrymen from the sons of Israel, and he treats him violently or sells him [as a slave], then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

8 “Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

9 Remember [with thoughtful concern] what the Lordyour God did to Miriam on the road as you came out of Egypt.

10 “When you lend your neighbor anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge (security deposit).

11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.

12 If the man is poor, you shall not keep hispledge overnight.

13 You shall certainly restore the pledge (security deposit) to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you; and it will be credited to you as righteousness (right standing) before the Lordyour God.

14 “You shall not take advantage of a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether [he is] one of your countrymen or one of the strangers (resident aliens, foreigners) who is in your land inside your cities.

15 You shall give him his wages on the day that he earns them before the sun sets–for he is poor and iscounting on it–so that he does not cry out to the Lordagainst you, and it becomes a sin for you.

16 “The fathers shall not be put to death for [the sins of] their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; [only] for his own sin shall anyone be put to death.

17 “You shall not pervert the justice due a stranger or an orphan, nor seize (impound) a widow’s garment as security [for a loan].

18 But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lordyour God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf [of grain] in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that the Lordyour God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

20 When you beat [the olives off of] your olive tree, do not search through the branches again; [whatever is left] shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow.

21 “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow.

22 You shall [thoughtfully] remember [the fact] that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Various Laws

1 “If there is a controversy between men, and they go to court, and the judges decide [the issue] between them, and they judge in favor of the innocent and condemn the guilty,

2 then it shall be that if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with a [certain] number of stripes in proportion to his offense.

3 He may have him beaten forty times, but no more. He is not to be beaten with more stripes than these and he is not to be degraded [that is, treated like an animal] in your sight.

4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing [to prevent him from eating any of the grain].

5 “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not bemarriedoutsidethe familyto a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall be intimate with her after taking her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6 It shall be that her firstborn [son] willbe given the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel.

7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s [widowed] wife, then she shall go up to the gate [of the city, where court is held] to the elders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother.’

8 Then the elders of his city will summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to marry her,’

9 then his brother’s widow shall approach him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, ‘So it is done to that man who does not build up his brother’s household.’

10 In Israel his [family] name shall be, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

11 “If [two] men, a man and his countryman, are fighting and the wife of one approaches to rescue her husband from the man who is striking him, and she reaches out with her hand and grabs the aggressor’s genitals,

12 then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity [for her].

13 “You shall not have in your bag inaccurate weights, a heavy and a light [so you can cheat others].

14 You shall not have in your house inaccurate measures, a large and a small.

15 You shall have a perfect (full) and just weight, and a perfect and just measure, so that your days may be long in the land which the Lordyour God gives you.

16 For everyone who does such things, everyone who acts unjustly [without personal integrity] is utterly repulsive to the Lordyour God.

17 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the road when you came from Egypt,

18 how he met you along the road and attacked all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did notfear God.

19 Therefore when the Lordyour God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lordyour God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Offering First Fruits

1 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lordyour God gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,

2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you harvest from the land that the Lordyour God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to theplace where the Lordyour God chooses to establish His Name (Presence).

3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lordmy God that I have entered the land which the Lordswore to our fathers to give us.’

4 Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lordyour God.

5 And you shall say before the Lordyour God, ‘My father [Jacob] was a wandering Aramean, and he [along with his family] went down to Egypt andlived there [as strangers], few in number; but while there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

6 ~‘And the Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us.

7 ~‘Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers for help, and He heard our voice and saw our suffering and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;

8 and the Lordbrought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror [suffered by the Egyptians] and with signs and with wonders;

9 and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a landflowing with milk and honey.

10 ~‘And now, look, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall place it before the Lordyour God, and shall worship before the Lordyour God;

11 and you and the Levite and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lordyour God has given you and your household.

12 “When you have finishedpaying all the tithe of your produce the third year, [which is] the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within the gates of your cities and be satisfied.

13 You shall say before the Lordyour God, ‘I have removed the sacredportion(the tithe) from my house and also have given it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, in accordance with all that You have commanded me. I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.

14 ~‘I have not eaten from the tithe while mourning, nor have I removed any of it when I was [ceremonially] unclean [making the tithe ceremonially unclean], nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lordmy God; I have doneeverythingin accordance with all that You have commanded me.

15 ~‘Look down from Your holy dwelling above, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the land which You have given us, as You have sworn to our fathers, a land [of plenty]flowing with milk and honey.’

16 “This day the Lordyour God commands you to do these statutes and judgments (precepts). Therefore, you shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

17 Today you have [openly] declared the Lordto be your God, and that you will walk [that is, live each and every day] in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments (precepts), and listen to His voice.

18 Today the Lordhas declared that you are His people, His treasured possession, just as He promised you, and that you are to keep all His commandments;

19 and that He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor: and that you shall be a holy people [set apart and consecrated] to the Lordyour God, just as He has spoken.”

The Altar at Mount Ebal

1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep (remember, obey) all the commandments which I am commanding you today.

2 So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to [enter] the land which the Lordyour God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with plaster (lime, whitewash).

3 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may go into the land which the Lordyour God gives you, a land [of plenty]flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers has promised you.

4 Now when you cross the Jordan you shall set up these stones on Mount Ebal, just as I am commanding you today and coat them with plaster.

5 There you shall build an altar to the Lordyour God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them.

6 You shall build the altar of the Lordyour God with whole [uncut] stones, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lordyour God;

7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and shall rejoice before the Lordyour God.

8 And you shall write very clearly on the stones all the words of this law.”

9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lordyour God.

10 So you shall obey the voice of the Lordyour God, and do His commandments and statutes which I am commanding you today.”

The Curses of Mount Ebal

11 Moses also commanded the people that day, saying,

12 “These [tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you have crossed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 These [tribes] shall stand on Mount Ebal topronouncethe curse [for disobedience]: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 The Levites shall answer with a loud voice to all the men of Israel:

15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved or cast image (idol), a repulsive thing to the Lord, the work of the hands of the artisan, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors (treats with contempt) his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18 ‘Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19 ‘Cursed is he who distorts (perverts) the justice due to a stranger, an orphan, and a widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 ‘Cursed is he who is intimate with his father’s [former] wife, because he hasviolated what belongs to his father.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 ‘Cursed is he who is intimate with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22 ‘Cursed is he who is intimate with his [half] sister, whether his father’s or his mother’s daughter.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23 ‘Cursed is he who is intimate with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24 ‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26 ‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them [keeping them, taking them to heart as the rule of his life].’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Blessings at Gerizim

1 “Now it shall be, if you diligently listen toandobey the voice of the Lordyour God, being careful to do all of His commandments which I am commanding you today, the Lordyour God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you pay attention to the voice of the Lordyour God.

3 “Youwill beblessed in the city, and youwill beblessed in the field.

4 “Theoffspring of yourbody and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your animals, the offspring of your herd and the young of your flockwill beblessed.

5 “Your basket and your kneading bowlwill beblessed.

6 “Youwill beblessed when you come in and youwill beblessed when you go out.

7 “The Lordwill cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way, but flee before you seven ways.

8 The Lordwill command the blessing upon you in your storehouses and inall that you undertake, and He will bless you in the land which the Lordyour God gives you.

9 The Lordwill establish you as a people holy [and set apart] to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lordyour God and walk [that is, live your life each and every day] in His ways.

10 So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you.

11 The Lordwill give you great prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lordswore to your fathers to give you.

12 The Lordwill open for you His good treasure house, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

13 The Lordwill make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listenandpay attention to the commandments of the Lordyour God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.

14 Do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, to follow and serve other gods.

Consequences of Disobedience

15 “But it shall come about, if you do not listen toandobey the voice of the Lordyour God, being careful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 “Youwill becursed in the city and cursed in the field.

17 “Your basket and your kneading bowlwill becursed.

18 “The offspring of your body and the produce of your land, the offspring of your herd and the young of your flockwill becursed.

19 “Youwill becursed when you come in and youwill becursed when you go out.

20 “The Lordwill send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you haveturned away from Me.

21 The Lordwill make the pestilenceandplague cling to you until He has consumedandeliminated you from the land which you are entering to possess.

22 The Lordwill strike you with consumption [causing you to waste away] and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew [on your crops]; and they will pursue you until you perish.

23 The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze [giving no rain and blocking all prayers], and the earth which is under you, iron [hard to plow and yielding no produce].

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

25 “The Lordwill cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out against them one way, but flee before them seven ways, and you will bean example ofterror to all the kingdoms of the earth [when they see your destruction].

26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27 “The Lordwill strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and the itch that you cannot heal.

28 The Lordwill strike you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heartandmind;

29 and you will be groping at noon [in broad daylight], just as the blind grope in the darkness, and nothing you do will prosper; but you will only be oppressedandexploited and robbed continually, with no one to save you.

30 You will be pledged to marry a wife, but another man will be intimate with her [before you]; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit.

31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it; your donkey will be torn away from you, and it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do.

33 A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all the products of your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressedandexploited and crushed continually.

34 You shall be driven mad by the sight ofthe things you see.

35 The Lordwill strike you on the knees and on the legs with sore boils that you cannot heal, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 The Lordwill bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have never known; there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone.

37 And you will become a horror, a proverb [a mere object lesson], and a taunt [a derisive joke] among all the people to which the Lorddrives you.

38 “You will bring out a great quantity of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locusts will consume it.

39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine or gatherthe grapes,because the worm will eat them.

40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will notanoint yourselves with the oil, because your olives will drop off.

41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours [for long], because they will go into captivity.

42 The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground.

43 The stranger who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower.

44 He will lend to you [out of his affluence], but you will not lend to him [because of your poverty]; he will be the head, and you the tail.

45 “So all these curses will come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the Lordyour God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He has commanded you.

46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.

47 “Because you did not serve the Lordyour God with a heart full of joy and gladness for the abundance of all things [with which He blessed you],

48 you will therefore serve your enemies whom the Lordsends against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke [of slavery] on your neck until He has destroyed you.

49 “The Lordwill bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle swoops down [to attack], a nation whose language you will not understand,

50 adefiant nation who willhave no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young,

51 and it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the offspring of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

52 They will besiege you in all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land; and they will besiege you in all your cities throughout your land which the Lordyour God has given you.

53 Then you will eat the offspring of your own body [to avoid starvation], the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lordyour God has given you, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you.

54 The man who is most refined and well-bred among youwill be cruelandhostile toward his brother and towardthe wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

55 so that he will not giveevenone of them any of the flesh of his childrenwhich he will eat,because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

56 The most refined and well-bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and pampered,will be cruelandhostile towardthe husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

57 and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fearandhonor with reverence this glorious and awesome name, the Lordyour God,

59 then the Lordwill bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

60 Moreover, He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

61 Also the Lordwill bring on you every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book of this law, until you are destroyed.

62 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lordyour God, you who were as numerous as the stars of heaven shall be left few in number.

63 It shall come about that just as the Lorddelighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the Lordwill delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will beuprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

64 And the Lordwill scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

65 Among those nations you will find no peace (rest), and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lordwill give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; night and day you will be filled with anxiety and have no assurance of living.

67 In the morning you will say, ‘I wish it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’–because of the dread in your heart with which you tremble, and because of the sight of your eyes which you will see.

68 The Lordwill bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no one to buy you.