Deuteronomy (The Second Copy of the Law) Chapters 1-5

Deuteronomy
(The Second Copy of the Law)
Chapters 1-5

1[1-4] This is what Moses said to the people of Israel across the Jordan in the countryside, in the Arabah desert next to the Suph, the Red sea, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It’s an eleven day walk from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses told the people of Israel all that Yahweh had told him to tell them; after they had killed Sihon the ruler of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the ruler of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.
[5-8] across the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses told the people this law, saying, “Yahweh our God told us in Horeb, saying, ‘You’ve lived long enough in this mountain, so turn, and move out, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah desert, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, and by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates. See, I’ve given you the land, so go in and take the land which Yahweh promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and their descendants after them.’”
[9-13] I told you at that time, saying, “I’m not able to handle you myself alone. Yahweh your God has made you great, and see, you’re as many as the stars of the sky today. And may Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, make you a thousand times as many as you’re, and bless you, as God has promised you! But how can I alone handle all the work of what you’re to do, and all your troubles? So take leaders who are wise and understanding and well known and respected in your family groups, and I’ll make them leaders over you.”
[14-17] You answered me, and said, “What you’ve said is good for us to do.” So I took the leaders of your family groups, those who were wise and well known, and made them leaders over you, leaders of thousands, and leaders of hundreds, and leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens as overseers over your family groups. I told your judges at that time, saying, “Hear the cases between your family members, and judge rightly between one person and another, and the foreigner who is living with them. Don’t do favors when you judge; you’ll hear the rich and poor alike; Don’t be afraid of what a human may say; for the judgment is God's. The cases that are too hard for you, bring to me, and I’ll hear them.” I told you at that time what you should do.
[19-21] We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible countryside which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God told us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. I said to you, You’ve come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God is giving to us. See, Yahweh your God has given you the land, so go up, and take it, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Don't be afraid, nor be discouraged.
[22-25] You came near to me everyone of you, and said, “Let’s send some people to go before us, that they may explore the land for us, and tell us the way we need to go, and about the cities we’ll come to. I liked this idea and took twelve of you, one person for every family group. They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and explored it. They took of the fruit of the land in their powers, and brought it down to us, and told us, “It’s a good land which Yahweh our God gives to us.”
[26-28] Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against what Yahweh your God had told you to do. You complained in your tents, and said, “Because Yahweh hated us, God has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the power of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going to go? Our people have scared us to death, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we are; and the cities are great and strongly built clear up to the sky; and we’ve seen the Anakim giants, the people of the giants, there.’”
[29-31] Then I said to you, “Don't be discouraged, nor be afraid of them. Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just like God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, and in the countryside, where you’ve seen how that Yahweh your God carried you, as a parent does a child, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”
[32-36] Yet in this, you didn't believe Yahweh your God, who went before you in the way, to show you where to put up your tents in fire by night, to show you the way which you should go in the cloud by day. Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and promised, saying, “Without a doubt, not one of these evil people will see the good land, which I promised to give to your ancestors, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He’ll see it; and to him I’ll give the land that he has walked on, and to his children, because he has wholly followed Yahweh.”
[37-40] Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You won’t go into the land either, but Joshua, the son of Nun, who stands before you, will go in. Encourage him because he’ll bring Israel in to the land to inherit it. Also, your little ones, whom you said would be a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, will go in and I’ll give it to them, and they’ll own it. But as for you, turn and go out into the countryside by the way to the Red Sea.”
[41-46] Then you answered and said to me, “We’ve sinned against Yahweh, and will go up and fight, like Yahweh our God has told us. Everyone put on their weapons of war, and got ready to go up into the hill country. But Yahweh said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don't go up, nor fight; for I’m not with you; or you’ll be destroyed by your enemies.’” So I told you, and you didn't listen; but you did exactly what Yahweh told you not to, and went up into the hill country, thinking God would be with you. Then the Amorites, who lived in that country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah. You go backed and cried to Yahweh; but Yahweh didn't listen to you, nor paid any attention to you. So you stayed in Kadesh many days, however many days that you stayed there.
2[1-7] Then we turned, and moved out into the countryside by the way of the Red Sea, as Yahweh told me; and we went around Mount Seir for many days. Then Yahweh told me, “You’ve gone around this mountain long enough. Turn north. Tell the people, ‘Pass through the border of your kin, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they’ll be afraid of you, but be careful what you do; Don't fight with them; for I won’t give you their land, no, not so much as for the sole of your foot to step on; because I’ve given Mount Seir to Esau to own. Buy food to eat and water to drink from them for money. Yahweh your God has blessed you in all your work, and has watched over you while you were walking through this great countryside these forty years. Yahweh your God has been with you and you’ve lacked nothing.’”
[8-12] So we passed by our kin, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, from the Arabah desert of Elath, and from Ezion Geber. Then we turned and passed by the countryside of Moab. Yahweh said to me, “Don't bother Moab, nor fight with them in battle; for I won’t give you their land to own; because I’ve given Ar to the people of Lot to own.” (The Emim lived therein before, a great people, and many, and as tall as the Anakim giants, the Rephaim, who are also from the old family group of giants, as the Anakim giants; but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the people of Esau took their land and destroyed them, and lived where they had lived; as Israel did to the land it owns, which Yahweh gave to them.)
[13-15] “Now rise up, and go over the brook Zered.” So we went over the brook Zered. It was thirty-eight years from the time we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered; until all the generation of the brave warriors had died out of the camp, as Yahweh promised them. Also, the power of Yahweh was against them, to destroy them from out of the camp, until they were all dead.
[16-23] So when all the brave warriors were destroyed and died from among the people, Yahweh told me, saying, “Pass over Ar, the border of Moab today and when you come to the people of Ammon, don't bother them, nor fight with them; for I won’t give you the land of the people of Ammon to own; because I’ve given it to the people of Lot to own.” (That was also a land of Rephaim, who lived there before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people great, and many, and as tall as the Anakim giants; but Yahweh gave them power to destroy them, so they lived where that people had lived; as God did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, who destroyed the Horites from before them; and they destroyed them, and live in their place even today; and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)
[24-29] “Rise up, move out, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. See, I’ve given into your power Sihon the Amorite, ruler of Heshbon, and his land. Fight with them in battle and begin to take the land. Today, I’ll begin to make the people dread and fear you, all over the earth, who will hear about you, and will shake, and be in fear because of you. So I sent messengers out of the countryside of Kedemoth to Sihon ruler of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, “Let me pass through your land. I’ll go along by the highway, I won’t turn to the right nor to the left. Sell me food and water for money, that I may eat and drink, but let me pass through on my feet, as the people of Esau who live in Seir, and the Moabites who live in Ar, did to me; until I pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.”
[30-37] But Sihon ruler of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart stubborn to give them into your power, as it is today. Yahweh said to me, “See, I’ve begun to give Sihon and his land to you, so begin to take it, so that you may inherit his land.” Then Sihon came out against us with all the people to battle at Jahaz. And Yahweh our God gave us power over him; and we attacked him, and his sons, and all his people. We took all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed every city with its people, along with the women and the little ones; we left no one alive, but only took the animals for ourselves, along with the stuff which we had taken from the cities. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God gave them all to us. The only place you didn't come near was the land of the people of Ammon beside of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever Yahweh our God told us not to go.
3[1- 4] Then we turned and went the way up to Bashan, and Og the ruler of Bashan came out against us with all his people to battle at Edrei. Then Yahweh said to me, “Don't fear him; for I’ve put him and all his people, and his land, into your power; and you’ll do to him as you did to Sihon ruler of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” So Yahweh our God put into our power Og also, the ruler of Bashan, and all his people: and we attacked them until no one was left. We took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we didn't take from them; sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
[5-12] All these were cities strongly built with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the great many towns that had no walls. We completely destroyed them, as we did to Sihon ruler of Heshbon, completely destroying every city with its people, with the women and the little ones. But all the livestock, and the stuff from the cities, we took for ourselves. At that time, we took the land out of the power of the two Amorite rulers who were across the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, which the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call Senir; and all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the realm of Og in Bashan. Only Og, ruler of Bashan, was left of the Rephaim giants, who had an iron bedstead that was thirteen and half feet long, and six feet wide, after the measurement of man. Isn't it in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?
[12-14] We took the land at that time from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and its cities, which I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites: and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the realm of Og, which I gave to the half-family group of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, all of Bashan, which is also called the land of Rephaim. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them after his own name, Havvoth Jair, which was Bashan, even to today.
[15-20] I gave Gilead to Machir. To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border of it, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the people of Ammon; the Arabah desert also, and the Jordan and the border of it, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah desert, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah toward the east. I told you at that time, saying, “Yahweh your God has given you this land for your own: you’ll pass over armed before your kin, the people of Israel, all the brave warriors. But your wives, and your little ones, and your livestock, (I know that you have much livestock), will stay in your cities which I’ve given you, until Yahweh give rest to your kin, as to you, and they also take the land which Yahweh your God gives them across the Jordan, and then every one of you will go back to your land, which I’ve given you.”
[21-25] I told Joshua at that time, saying, “Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two rulers, and so Yahweh will do to all the realms where you go. Don’t fear them; for Yahweh, your God, is who fights for you. I begged Yahweh at that time, saying, “Yahweh God, You’ve begun to show Your servant Your greatness, and Your strong power: for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do what You do, and do like Your great acts? Please let me go over and see the good land that is across the Jordan, that beautiful mountain, and Lebanon.
[26-29] But Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and didn't listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, “Let it be enough for you; don’t speak to me any more about it. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and open your eyes and look toward the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see: but don’t go over the Jordan. But tell Joshua to go over before this people, and encourage him, and strengthen him, and he’ll cause them to inherit the land which you’ll see. So we stayed in the valley next to Beth Peor.
4[1-5] Now, Israel, listen to the laws and the rules, which I teach you, and do them that you may live, and go in and take the land which Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, gives you. Don’t add to the word which I tell you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the Laws of Yahweh your God which I Tell you. Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of the false god Baal Peor; for Yahweh your God has destroyed all those who followed Baal Peor from the middle of you. But every one of you who held on to Yahweh your God are alive today. See, I’ve taught you laws and rules, even as Yahweh my God told me that you should do, in the land where you go for your own.
[6-10] So keep and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these laws, and say, “Without a doubt this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there, that has laws and rules so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?” Only take care to keep your soul carefully, in case you forget what your eyes saw, and in case these things leave from your heart forever; but tell them to your children and your grandchildren, especially on the day that you stood before Yahweh your God in Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, “Gather the people, and I’ll make them hear My words, that they may learn to respect Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
[11-14] You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire up to the sky, with dark clouds, and thick smoke. And Yahweh told you out of the middle of the fire, and you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form; only you heard a voice. God gave you the promised agreement, and told you to do it, the ten Laws, which were written on two stone slabs. And Yahweh told me at that time to teach you the laws and rules that you might do them in the land where you go to take for your own.
[15-19] So be very careful; for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the fire. In case you ruin yourselves, and make yourself a false god in the form of anything, in the form of a male or a female, in the form of any animal that is on the earth, in the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, in the form of anything that runs on the ground, or in the form of any fish that is in the water on the earth; and in case you look up to the sky, and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, even all the hosts of the sky, and you’re drawn away from God and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has given to everyone on earth.
[20-24] But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you out of the terrible heat and hardship of Egypt, to share in ownership of the gifts of God, as at today. And Yahweh was angry with me also for your sakes, and told me that I wouldn’t go over the Jordan, and go in to that good land, which Yahweh your God is giving you for your own. I must not go over the Jordan but will die in this land. You’ll go over, and take ownership of that good land. So be careful of yourselves, in case you forget the promised agreement of Yahweh your God, which God made with you, and make a false god in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you. For Yahweh your God is like a destroying fire, a very jealous God.
[25-27] If, when you have children and grandchildren, and you’ve been in the land a long time, you ruin yourselves, and make a false god in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to make God angry; I call heaven and earth to be a witness against you today, that you’ll soon completely die from off the land where you’re going over the Jordan for your own; You won’t stay long on it, but will be completely destroyed. Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and few of you will be left among the nations, where Yahweh will send you away.
[28-31] There you’ll serve false gods, the works of human hands, of wood and stone, which can’t see, hear, eat, or smell. But from there you’ll look for Yahweh your God, and when you search with all your heart and with all your soul, you’ll find God. When you’re abused, and all these things have come on you, in the end times, you’ll go back to Yahweh your God, and listen to God’s voice. Yahweh your God is a forgiving God, who won’t fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the promised agreement of your ancestors which God promised to them.
[32-34] Ask now of the past days, 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 any such thing as this great thing, or has been heard like it? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you’ve heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and take a nation from the middle of another nation, by trials, by signs, by amazing things, by war, by a great and strong power, and by breathtaking things, as all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
[35-38] It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God, and there is no other God besides Yahweh. God spoke to you out of heaven to teach you, and made you to see the great fire of God on earth; and you heard God’s words out of the middle of the fire. Because God loved your ancestors, God chose their descendants after them, and brought you out with the very presence and power of God, out of Egypt to drive out nations from before you, which were greater and stronger than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for your own, as it is today.
[39-40] So know today, and keep it in your heart, that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. Keep God’s judgments and laws, which I tell you today, that God may bless you, and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever.
[41-43] Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan toward the east; so that the killer might run there, who kills a neighbor by accident, and didn't hate them in the past; and that running to one of these cities the person might live: namely, Bezer in the countryside, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
[44-49] This is the Law which Moses gave to the people of Israel, the judgments, laws, and rules, which Moses told the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, across the Jordan, in the valley next to Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon ruler of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel attacked, when they came out of Egypt. They took his land for themselves, and the land of Og ruler of Bashan, the two rulers of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan toward the east; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion, which is Hermon, and all the Arabah desert across the Jordan toward the east, even to the sea of the Arabah desert, at the base of Mount Pisgah.
5[1-5] Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the laws and the rules which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn and do them. Yahweh our God made a promised agreement with us in Horeb. Yahweh didn't make this promised agreement with our ancestors, but with all of us here alive today. Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, where I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you the word of Yahweh, because you were afraid of the fire, and didn't go up onto the mountain.
[6-7] Yahweh said, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of hard work and slaving. Don’t worship anything else but Me.”
[8-10] “Don’t make yourself an idol of any kind or a false god of anything in the heavens, on the earth, or in the sea. Don’t bow down to them or worship them because I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, who passes the parents’ faults down to the children up to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but forgiving many generations of those who love and keep My Laws.”
[11] “Don’t use the name of Yahweh your God with disrespect. Yahweh won’t let anyone go unpunished who misuses God’s name.” [12-15] “Remember the Seventh Day and keep it set aside to worship,” as Yahweh your God told you. You may do all your work in six days, but the seventh day is the Day of Rest of Yahweh your God. On that day no one may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female workers, your animals, and any foreigners living among you, so all may rest on that day. Remember the hard work and slaving you did in the land of Egypt, and how Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a great and strong power, so Yahweh your God told you to keep the Seventh Day as a day of rest.
[16] “Respect your father and mother,” as Yahweh your God told you, so you’ll live a long life and God may bless you in the land Yahweh your God is giving you. [17] “Don’t kill anyone.”
[18] “Don’t be sexually unfaithful to your spouse.”
[19] “Don’t steal anything.”
[20] “Don’t tell lies about anyone.”
[21] “Don’t want what someone else has. Don’t want their spouse, their house, their land, their workers, their animals, or anything else that belongs to someone else.” [22-27] These words Yahweh told all your people on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, and out of the dark cloud, and the thick smoke, with a great voice: and added no more. God wrote them on two stone slabs, and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came to me, all the leaders of your family groups, and your elders; and said, “See, Yahweh our God has shown us the glory and greatness of God, and we’ve heard the voice of God out of the middle of the fire. We’ve seen today that God does speak with humans, and they still live. Now so why should we die? This great fire will burn us up! If we hear the voice of Yahweh our God any more, then we’ll die. Who is there out of all human beings, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near, and hear all that Yahweh our God says and tell us all that Yahweh our God says to you; and we’ll hear it, and do it.”
[28-31] So Yahweh heard the sound of your words, when you told me; and Yahweh said to me, I’ve heard the sound of the words of this people, which they’ve told you. What they have said is well spoken. I wish that there were such a heart in them to respect Me, and keep all My Laws always, that I might bless them and their children forever! Go tell them, ‘Go back to your tents.’ But as for you, stand here by Me, and I’ll speak to you all the judgments, and the laws, and the rules, which you’ll teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them for their own.
[32-33] Do as Yahweh your God has told you, and don’t turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way which Yahweh your God has told you that you may live, and that I may bless you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you’ll take for your own.