^21:1If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death: ^21:2Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured; ^21:3And whichever town is nearest to the body, the responsible men of that town are to take from the herd a young cow which has never been used for work or put under the yoke; ^21:4And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken: ^21:5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged: ^21:6And all the responsible men of that town which is nearest to the dead man, washing their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley, ^21:7Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it. ^21:8Have mercy, O Lord, on your people Israel whom you have made free, and take away from your people the crime of a death without cause. Then they will no longer be responsible for the man's death. ^21:9So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. ^21:10When you go out to war against other nations, and the Lord your God gives them up into your hands and you take them as prisoners; ^21:11If among the prisoners you see a beautiful woman and it is your desire to make her your wife; ^21:12Then take her back to your house; and let her hair and her nails be cut; ^21:13And let her take off the dress in which she was made prisoner and go on living in your house and weeping for her father and mother for a full month: and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she will be your wife. ^21:14But if you have no delight in her, you are to let her go wherever she will; you may not take a price for her as if she was your property, for you have made use of her for your pleasure. ^21:15If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife: ^21:16Then when he gives his property to his sons for their heritage, he is not to put the son of his loved one in the place of the first son, the son of the hated wife: ^21:17But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his. ^21:18If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment: ^21:19Then let his father and mother take him to the responsible men of the town, to the public place; ^21:20And say to them, This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink. ^21:21Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear. ^21:22If a man does a crime for which the punishment is death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree; ^21:23Do not let his body be on the tree all night, but put it to rest in the earth the same day; for the man who undergoes hanging is cursed by God; so do not make unclean the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

^22:1If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother. ^22:2If their owner is not near, or if you are not certain who he is, then take the beast to your house and keep it till its owner comes in search of it, and then you are to give it back to him. ^22:3Do the same with his ass or his robe or anything which has gone from your brother's keeping and which you have come across: do not keep it to yourself. ^22:4If you see your brother's ox or his ass falling down on the road, do not go by without giving him help in lifting it up again. ^22:5It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God. ^22:6If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young: ^22:7See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long. ^22:8If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house. ^22:9Do not have your vine-garden planted with two sorts of seed: or all of it may become a loss, the seed you have put in as well as the increase. ^22:10Do not do your ploughing with an ox and an ass yoked together. ^22:11Do not have clothing made of two sorts of thread, wool and linen together. ^22:12On the four edges of your robe, with which your body is covered, put ornaments of twisted threads. ^22:13If any man takes a wife, and having had connection with her, has no delight in her, ^22:14And says evil things about her and gives her a bad name, saying, I took this woman, and when I had connection with her it was clear to me that she was not a virgin: ^22:15Then let the girl's father and mother put before the responsible men of the town, in the public place, signs that the girl was a virgin: ^22:16And let the girl's father say to the responsible men, I gave my daughter to this man for his wife, but he has no love for her; ^22:17And now he has put shame on her, saying that she is not a virgin; but here is the sign that she is a virgin. Then they are to put her clothing before the responsible men of the town. ^22:18Then the responsible men of the town are to give the man his punishment; ^22:19They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life. ^22:20But if what he has said is true, and she is seen to be not a virgin, ^22:21Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^22:22If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel. ^22:23If a young virgin has given her word to be married to a man, and another man meeting her in the town, has connection with her; ^22:24Then you are to take the two of them to the doorway of the town, and have them stoned to death; the young virgin, because she gave no cry for help, though it was in the town, and the man, because he has put shame on his neighbour's wife: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^22:25But if the man, meeting such a virgin in the open country, takes her by force, then only the man is to be put to death; ^22:26Nothing is to be done to the virgin, because there is no cause of death in her: it is the same as if a man made an attack on his neighbour and put him to death: ^22:27For he came across her in the open country, and there was no one to come to the help of the virgin in answer to her cry. ^22:28If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it; ^22:29Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life. ^22:30A man may not take his father's wife or have sex relations with a woman who is his father's.

^23:1No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people. ^23:2One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation. ^23:3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people: ^23:4Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you. ^23:5But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you. ^23:6Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever. ^23:7But have no hate for an Edomite, because he is your brother, or for an Egyptian, for you were living in his land. ^23:8Their children in the third generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people. ^23:9When you go out to war and put your tents in position, keep from every evil thing. ^23:10If any man among you becomes unclean through anything which has taken place in the night, he is to go out from the tent-circle and keep outside it: ^23:11But when evening comes near, let him take a bath: and after sundown he may come back to the tents. ^23:12Let there be a place outside the tent-circle to which you may go; ^23:13And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth: ^23:14For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you. ^23:15Do not give back to his master a servant who has gone in flight from his master and come to you: ^23:16Let him go on living among you in whatever place is most pleasing to him: do not be hard on him. ^23:17No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man. ^23:18Do not take into the house of the Lord your God, as an offering for an oath, the price of a loose woman or the money given to one used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: for these two things are disgusting to the Lord your God. ^23:19Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have: ^23:20From men of other nations you may take interest, but not from an Israelite: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on everything to which you put your hand, in the land which you are about to take as your heritage. ^23:21When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin. ^23:22But if you take no oath, there will be no sin. ^23:23Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God. ^23:24When you go into your neighbour's vine-garden, you may take of his grapes at your pleasure, but you may not take them away in your vessel. ^23:25When you go into your neighbour's field, you may take the heads of grain with your hand; but you may not put your blade to his grain.

^24:1If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house. ^24:2And when she has gone away from him, she may become another man's wife. ^24:3And if the second husband has no love for her and, giving her a statement in writing, sends her away; or if death comes to the second husband to whom she was married; ^24:4Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage. ^24:5A newly married man will not have to go out with the army or undertake any business, but may be free for one year, living in his house for the comfort of his wife. ^24:6No one is to take, on account of a debt, the stones with which grain is crushed: for in doing so he takes a man's living. ^24:7If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you. ^24:8In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do. ^24:9Keep in mind what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way, when you came out of Egypt. ^24:10If you let your brother have the use of anything which is yours, do not go into his house and take anything of his as a sign of his debt; ^24:11But keep outside till he comes out and gives it to you. ^24:12If he is a poor man, do not keep his property all night; ^24:13But be certain to give it back to him when the sun goes down, so that he may have his clothing for sleeping in, and will give you his blessing: and this will be put to your account as righteousness before the Lord your God. ^24:14Do not be hard on a servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your countrymen or a man from another nation living with you in your land. ^24:15Give him his payment day by day, not keeping it back over night; for he is poor and his living is dependent on it; and if his cry against you comes to the ears of the Lord, it will be judged as sin in you. ^24:16Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers: every man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done. ^24:17Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt: ^24:18But keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: for this is why I give you orders to do this. ^24:19When you get in the grain from your field, if some of the grain has been dropped by chance in the field, do not go back and get it, but let it be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on all the work of your hands. ^24:20When you are shaking the fruit from your olive-trees, do not go over the branches a second time: let some be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow. ^24:21When you are pulling the grapes from your vines, do not take up those which have been dropped; let them be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow. ^24:22Keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: for this is why I give you orders to do this.

^25:1If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer. ^25:2And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime. ^25:3He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you. ^25:4Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. ^25:5If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do. ^25:6Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel. ^25:7But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do. ^25:8Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her; ^25:9Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name. ^25:10And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off. ^25:11If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts; ^25:12Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her. ^25:13Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small; ^25:14Or in your house different measures, a great and a small. ^25:15But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^25:16For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God. ^25:17Keep in mind what Amalek did to you on your way from Egypt; ^25:18How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him. ^25:19So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.

^26:1Now when you have come into the land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage, and you have made it yours and are living in it; ^26:2You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name. ^26:3And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us. ^26:4Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ^26:5And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation: ^26:6And the Egyptians were cruel to us, crushing us under a hard yoke: ^26:7And our cry went up to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord's ear was open to the voice of our cry, and his eyes took note of our grief and the crushing weight of our work: ^26:8And the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with works of power and signs and wonders: ^26:9And he has been our guide to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^26:10So now, I have come here with the first of the fruits of the earth which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you will put it down before the Lord your God and give him worship: ^26:11And you will have joy in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and to your family; and the Levite, and the man from a strange land who is with you, will take part in your joy. ^26:12When you have taken out a tenth from the tenth of all your produce in the third year, which is the year when this has to be done, give it to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and the child without a father, and the widow, so that they may have food in your towns and be full; ^26:13And say before the Lord your God, I have taken all the holy things out of my house and have given them to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and him who has no father, and the widow, as you have given me orders: I have kept in mind all your orders, in nothing have I gone against them: ^26:14No part of these things has been used for food in a time of weeping, or put away when I was unclean, or given for the dead: I have given ear to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all you have given me orders to do. ^26:15So, looking down from your holy place in heaven, send your blessing on your people Israel and on the land which you have given us, as you said in your oath to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^26:16Today the Lord your God gives you orders to keep all these laws and decisions: so then keep and do them with all your heart and all your soul. ^26:17Today you have given witness that the Lord is your God, and that you will go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions and give ear to his voice: ^26:18And the Lord has made it clear this day that you are a special people to him, as he gave you his word; and that you are to keep all his orders; ^26:19And that he will make you high over all the nations he has made, in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you are to be a holy people to the Lord your God as he has said.

^27:1Then Moses and the responsible men of Israel gave the people these orders: Keep all the orders which I have given you this day; ^27:2And on the day when you go over Jordan into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, put up great stones, coating them with building-paste, ^27:3And writing on them all the words of this law, after you have gone over; so that you may take the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said. ^27:4And when you have gone over Jordan, you are to put up these stones, as I have said to you today, in Mount Ebal, and have them coated with building-paste. ^27:5There you are to make an altar to the Lord your God, of stones on which no iron instrument has been used. ^27:6You are to make the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; offering on it burned offerings to the Lord your God: ^27:7And you are to make your peace-offerings, feasting there with joy before the Lord your God. ^27:8And put on the stones all the words of this law, writing them very clearly. ^27:9Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, said to all Israel, Be quiet and give ear, O Israel; today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ^27:10For this cause you are to give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and do his orders and his laws which I give you this day. ^27:11That same day Moses said to the people, ^27:12These are to take their places on Mount Gerizim for blessing the people when you have gone over Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin; ^27:13And these are to be on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ^27:14Then the Levites are to say in a loud voice to all the men of Israel, ^27:15Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:16Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:17Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's landmark from its place. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:18Cursed is he by whom the blind are turned out of the way. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:19Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:20Cursed is he who has sex relations with his father's wife, for he has put shame on his father. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:21Cursed is he who has sex relations with any sort of beast. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:22Cursed is he who has sex relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:23Cursed is he who has sex relations with his mother-in-law. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:24Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's life secretly. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:25Cursed is he who for a reward puts to death one who has done no wrong. And let all the people say, So be it. ^27:26Cursed is he who does not take this law to heart to do it. And let all the people say, So be it.

^28:1Now if you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep with care all these orders which I have given you today, then the Lord your God will put you high over all the nations of the earth: ^28:2And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if your ears are open to the voice of the Lord your God. ^28:3A blessing will be on you in the town, and a blessing in the field. ^28:4A blessing will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herd, and the young of your flock. ^28:5A blessing will be on your basket and on your bread-basin. ^28:6A blessing will be on your coming in and on your going out. ^28:7By the power of the Lord, those who take arms against you will be overcome before you: they will come out against you one way, and will go in flight from you seven ways. ^28:8The Lord will send his blessing on your store-houses and on everything to which you put your hand: his blessing will be on you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^28:9The Lord will keep you as a people holy to himself, as he has said to you in his oath, if you keep the orders of the Lord your God and go on walking in his ways. ^28:10And all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is on you, and they will go in fear of you. ^28:11And the Lord will make you fertile in every good thing, in the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your fields, in the land which the Lord, by his oath to your fathers, said he would give you. ^28:12Opening his store-house in heaven, the Lord will send rain on your land at the right time, blessing all the work of your hands: other nations will make use of your wealth, and you will have no need of theirs. ^28:13The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; and you will ever have the highest place, if you give ear to the orders of the Lord your God which I give you today, to keep and to do them; ^28:14Not turning away from any of the orders which I give you today, to the right hand or to the left, or going after any other gods to give them worship. ^28:15But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to do all his orders and his laws which I give you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you: ^28:16You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field. ^28:17A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin. ^28:18A curse will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. ^28:19You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ^28:20The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me. ^28:21The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going. ^28:22The Lord will send wasting disease, and burning pain, and flaming heat against you, keeping back the rain till your land is waste and dead; so will it be till your destruction is complete. ^28:23And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron. ^28:24The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete. ^28:25The Lord will let you be overcome by your haters: you will go out against them one way, and you will go in flight before them seven ways: you will be the cause of fear among all the kingdoms of the earth. ^28:26Your bodies will be meat for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to send them away. ^28:27The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well. ^28:28He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear: ^28:29You will go feeling your way when the sun is high, like a blind man for whom all is dark, and nothing will go well for you: you will be crushed and made poor for ever, and you will have no saviour. ^28:30You will take a wife, but another man will have the use of her: the house which your hands have made will never be your resting-place: you will make a vine-garden, and never take the fruit of it. ^28:31Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you. ^28:32Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will be wasted away with looking and weeping for them all the day: and you will have no power to do anything. ^28:33The fruit of your land and all the work of your hands will be food for a nation which is strange to you and to your fathers; you will only be crushed down and kept under for ever: ^28:34So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds. ^28:35The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well. ^28:36And you, and the king whom you have put over you, will the Lord take away to a nation strange to you and to your fathers; there you will be servants to other gods of wood and stone. ^28:37And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you. ^28:38You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it. ^28:39You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms. ^28:40Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit. ^28:41You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land. ^28:42All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's. ^28:43The man from a strange land who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower. ^28:44He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail. ^28:45And all these curses will come after you and overtake you, till your destruction is complete; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, or keep his laws and his orders which he gave you: ^28:46These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever; ^28:47Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things; ^28:48For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you. ^28:49The Lord will send a nation against you from the farthest ends of the earth, coming with the flight of an eagle; a nation whose language is strange to you; ^28:50A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young: ^28:51He will take the fruit of your cattle and of your land till death puts an end to you: he will let you have nothing of your grain or wine or oil or any of the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, till he has made your destruction complete. ^28:52Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you. ^28:53And your food will be the fruit of your body, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Lord your God has given you; because of your bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters. ^28:54That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living; ^28:55And will not give to any of them the flesh of his children which will be his food because he has no other; in the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. ^28:56The most soft and delicate of your women, who would not so much as put her foot on the earth, so delicate is she, will be hard-hearted to her husband and to her son and to her daughter; ^28:57And to her baby newly come to birth, and to the children of her body; for having no other food, she will make a meal of them secretly, because of her bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. ^28:58If you will not take care to do all the words of this law, recorded in this book, honouring that name of glory and of fear, THE LORD YOUR GOD; ^28:59Then the Lord your God will make your punishment, and the punishment of your seed, a thing to be wondered at; great punishments and cruel diseases stretching on through long years. ^28:60He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip. ^28:61And all the diseases and the pains not recorded in the book of this law will the Lord send on you till your destruction is complete. ^28:62And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God. ^28:63And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and increasing you, so the Lord will take pleasure in cutting you off and causing your destruction, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are about to take as your heritage. ^28:64And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no knowledge. ^28:65And even among these nations there will be no peace for you, and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul: ^28:66Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be certain: ^28:67In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see. ^28:68And the Lord will take you back to Egypt again in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will never see it again: there you will be offering yourselves as men-servants and women-servants to your haters for a price, and no man will take you.

^29:1These are the words of the agreement which Moses was ordered by the Lord to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the agreement which he made with them in Horeb. ^29:2And Moses said in the hearing of all Israel, You have seen all the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land; ^29:3The great tests which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders: ^29:4But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears. ^29:5For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet. ^29:6You have had no bread, or wine, or strong drink: so that you might see that I am the Lord your God. ^29:7When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to make war against us and we overcame them: ^29:8And we took their land and gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for their heritage. ^29:9So keep the words of this agreement and do them, so that it may be well for you in everything you do. ^29:10You have come here today, all of you, before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, the overseers, and those who are in authority over you, with all the men of Israel, ^29:11And your little ones, your wives, and the men of other lands who are with you in your tents, down to the wood-cutter and the servant who gets water for you: ^29:12With the purpose of taking part in the agreement of the Lord your God, and his oath which he makes with you today: ^29:13And so that he may make you his people today, and be your God, as he has said to you, and as he made an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^29:14And not with you only do I make this agreement and this oath; ^29:15But with everyone who is here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are not here: ^29:16(For you have in mind how we were living in the land of Egypt; and how we came through all the nations which were on your way; ^29:17And you have seen their disgusting doings, and the images of wood and stone and silver and gold which were among them:) ^29:18So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow; ^29:19If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him: ^29:20The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth. ^29:21He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law. ^29:22And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it; ^29:23And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath: ^29:24Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath? ^29:25Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt: ^29:26And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them: ^29:27And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book: ^29:28Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day. ^29:29The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

^30:1Now when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have put before you, if the thought of them comes back to your minds, when you are living among the nations where the Lord your God has sent you, ^30:2And your hearts are turned again to the Lord your God, and you give ear to his word which I give you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul: ^30:3Then the Lord will have pity on you, changing your fate, and taking you back again from among all the nations where you have been forced to go. ^30:4Even if those who have been forced out are living in the farthest part of heaven, the Lord your God will go in search of you, and take you back; ^30:5Placing you again in the land of your fathers as your heritage; and he will do you good, increasing you till you are more in number than your fathers were. ^30:6And the Lord your God will give to you and to your seed a circumcision of the heart, so that, loving him with all your heart and all your soul, you may have life. ^30:7And the Lord your God will put all these curses on those who are against you, and on your haters who put a cruel yoke on you. ^30:8And you will again give ear to the voice of the Lord, and do all his orders which I have given you today. ^30:9And the Lord your God will make you fertile in all good things, blessing the work of your hands, and the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land: for the Lord will have joy in you, as he had in your fathers: ^30:10If you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his orders and his laws which are recorded in this book of the law, and turning to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ^30:11For these orders which I have given you today are not strange and secret, and are not far away. ^30:12They are not in heaven, for you to say, Who will go up to heaven for us and give us knowledge of them so that we may do them? ^30:13And they are not across the sea, for you to say, Who will go over the sea for us and give us news of them so that we may do them? ^30:14But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it. ^30:15See, I have put before you today, life and good, and death and evil; ^30:16In giving you orders today to have love for the Lord your God, to go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions, so that you may have life and be increased, and that the blessing of the Lord your God may be with you in the land where you are going, the land of your heritage. ^30:17But if your heart is turned away and your ear is shut, and you go after those who would make you servants and worshippers of other gods: ^30:18I give witness against you this day that destruction will certainly be your fate, and your days will be cut short in the land where you are going, the land of your heritage on the other side of Jordan. ^30:19Let heaven and earth be my witnesses against you this day that I have put before you life and death, a blessing and a curse: so take life for yourselves and for your seed: ^30:20In loving the Lord your God, hearing his voice and being true to him: for he is your life and by him will your days be long: so that you may go on living in the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

^31:1So Moses said all these things to Israel. ^31:2Then he said to them, I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to go out and come in: and the Lord has said to me, You are not to go over Jordan. ^31:3The Lord your God, he will go over before you; he will send destruction on all those nations, and you will take their land as your heritage: and Joshua will go over at your head as the Lord has said. ^31:4The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, whom he put to destruction. ^31:5The Lord will give them up into your hands, and you are to do to them as I have given you orders. ^31:6Be strong and take heart, and have no fear of them: for it is the Lord your God who is going with you; he will not take away his help from you. ^31:7Then Moses sent for Joshua, and before the eyes of all Israel said to him, Be strong and take heart: for you are to go with this people into the land which the Lord, by his oath to their fathers, has given them; by your help they will take it for their heritage. ^31:8It is the Lord who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not take away his help from you or give you up: so have no fear. ^31:9Then Moses put all this law in writing, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, and to all the responsible men of Israel. ^31:10And Moses said to them, At the end of every seven years, at the time fixed for the ending of debts, at the feast of tents, ^31:11When all Israel has come before the Lord your God in the place named by him, let a reading be given of this law in the hearing of all Israel. ^31:12Make all the people come together, men and women and children, and anyone from another country who is with you, so that hearing they may become wise in the fear of the Lord your God, and take care to do all the words of this law; ^31:13And so that your children, to whom it is new, may give ear and be trained in the fear of the Lord your God, while you are living in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage. ^31:14At that time the Lord said to Moses, The day of your death is near: send for Joshua, and come to the Tent of meeting so that I may give him his orders. So Moses and Joshua went to the Tent of meeting. ^31:15And the Lord was seen in the Tent in a pillar of cloud resting by the door of the Tent. ^31:16And the Lord said to Moses, Now you are going to rest with your fathers; and this people will be false to me, uniting themselves to the strange gods of the land where they are going; they will be turned away from me and will not keep the agreement I have made with them. ^31:17In that day my wrath will be moved against them, and I will be turned away from them, veiling my face from them, and destruction will overtake them, and unnumbered evils and troubles will come on them; so that in that day they will say, Have not these evils come on us because our God is not with us? ^31:18Truly, my face will be turned away from them in that day, because of all the evil they have done in going after other gods. ^31:19Make then this song for yourselves, teaching it to the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. ^31:20For when I have taken them into the land named in my oath to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they have made themselves full of food and are fat, then they will be turned to other gods and will give them worship, no longer honouring me or keeping my agreement. ^31:21Then when evils and troubles without number have overtaken them, this song will be a witness to them, for the words of it will be clear in the memories of their children: for I see the thoughts which are moving in their hearts even now, before I have taken them into the land of my oath. ^31:22So that same day Moses made this song, teaching it to the children of Israel. ^31:23Then he gave orders to Joshua, the son of Nun, saying to him, Be strong and take heart: for you are to go at the head of the children of Israel into the land which I made an oath to give them; and I will be with you. ^31:24Now after writing all the words of this law in a book till the record of them was complete, ^31:25Moses said to the Levites who were responsible for taking up the ark of the Lord's agreement, ^31:26Take this book of the law and put it by the ark of the Lord's agreement, so that it may be a witness against you. ^31:27For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death? ^31:28Get together before me all those who are in authority in your tribes, and your overseers, so that I may say these things in their hearing, and make heaven and earth my witnesses against them. ^31:29For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of your hands. ^31:30Then in the hearing of all the meeting of Israel, Moses said the words of this song, to the end.

^32:1Give ear, O heavens, to my voice; let the earth take note of the words of my mouth: ^32:2My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants: ^32:3For I will give honour to the name of the Lord: let our God be named great. ^32:4He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he. ^32:5They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation. ^32:6Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place. ^32:7Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story. ^32:8When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel. ^32:9For the Lord's wealth is his people; Jacob is the land of his heritage. ^32:10He came to him in the waste land, in the unpeopled waste of sand: putting his arms round him and caring for him, he kept him as the light of his eye. ^32:11As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers: ^32:12So the Lord only was his guide, no other god was with him. ^32:13He put him on the high places of the earth, his food was the increase of the field; honey he gave him out of the rock and oil out of the hard rock; ^32:14Butter from his cows and milk from his sheep, with fat of lambs and sheep of Bashan, and goats, and the heart of the grain; and for your drink, wine from the blood of the grape. ^32:15But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation. ^32:16The honour which was his they gave to strange gods; by their disgusting ways he was moved to wrath. ^32:17They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers. ^32:18You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth. ^32:19And the Lord saw with disgust the evil-doing of his sons and daughters. ^32:20And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith. ^32:21They have given my honour to that which is not God, moving me to wrath with their false worship: I will give their honour to those who are not a people, moving them to wrath by a foolish nation, ^32:22For my wrath is a flaming fire, burning to the deep parts of the underworld, burning up the earth with her increase, and firing the deep roots of the mountains. ^32:23I will send a rain of troubles on them, my arrows will be showered on them. ^32:24They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust. ^32:25Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man. ^32:26I said I would send them wandering far away, I would make all memory of them go from the minds of men: ^32:27But for the fear that their haters, uplifted in their pride, might say, Our hand is strong, the Lord has not done all this. ^32:28For they are a nation without wisdom; there is no sense in them. ^32:29If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future! ^32:30How would it be possible for one to overcome a thousand, and two to send ten thousand in flight, if their rock had not let them go, if the Lord had not given them up? ^32:31For their rock is not like our Rock, even our haters themselves being judges. ^32:32For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter: ^32:33Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel poison of snakes. ^32:34Is not this among my secrets, kept safe in my store-house? ^32:35Punishment is mine and reward, at the time of the slipping of their feet: for the day of their downfall is near, sudden will be their fate. ^32:36For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free. ^32:37And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith? ^32:38Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation. ^32:39See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand. ^32:40For lifting up my hand to heaven I say, By my unending life, ^32:41If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters. ^32:42I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters. ^32:43Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people. ^32:44So Moses said all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea, the son of Nun. ^32:45And after saying all this to the people, ^32:46Moses said to them, Let the words which I have said to you today go deep into your hearts, and give orders to your children to do every word of this law. ^32:47And this is no small thing for you, but it is your life, and through this you may make your days long in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage. ^32:48That same day the Lord said to Moses, ^32:49Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage: ^32:50And let death come to you on the mountain where you are going, and be put to rest with your people; as death came to Aaron, your brother, on Mount Hor, where he was put to rest with his people: ^32:51Because of your sin against me before the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh in the waste land of Zin; because you did not keep my name holy among the children of Israel. ^32:52So you will see the land before you, but you will not go into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.

^33:1Now this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave to the children of Israel before his death. ^33:2He said, The Lord came from Sinai, dawning on them from Seir; shining out from Mount Paran, coming from Meribath Kadesh: from his right hand went flames of fire: his wrath made waste the peoples. ^33:3All his holy ones are at his hand; they go at his feet; they are lifted up on his wings. ^33:4Moses gave us a law, a heritage for the people of Jacob. ^33:5And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel came together. ^33:6Let life not death be Reuben's, let not the number of his men be small. ^33:7And this is the blessing of Judah: he said, Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of Judah and make him one with his people: let your hands take up his cause, and be his help against his attackers. ^33:8And of Levi he said, Give your Thummim to Levi and let the Urim be with your loved one, whom you put to the test at Massah, with whom you were angry at the waters of Meribah; ^33:9Who said of his father, Who is he? and of his mother, I have not seen her; he kept himself separate from his brothers and had no knowledge of his children: for they have given ear to your word and kept your agreement. ^33:10They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar. ^33:11Let your blessing, O Lord, be on his substance, may the work of his hands be pleasing to you: may those who take up arms against him and all who have hate for him, be wounded through the heart, never to be lifted up again. ^33:12And of Benjamin he said, Benjamin is the loved one of the Lord, he will be kept safe at all times; he will be covered by the Most High, resting between his arms. ^33:13And of Joseph he said, Let the blessing of the Lord be on his land; for the good things of heaven on high, and the deep waters flowing under the earth, ^33:14And the good things of the fruits of the sun, and the good things of the growth of the moons, ^33:15And the chief things of the oldest mountains, and the good things of the eternal hills, ^33:16The good things of the earth and all its wealth, the good pleasure of him who was seen in the burning tree: may they come on the head of Joseph, on the head of him who was prince among his brothers. ^33:17He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh. ^33:18And of Zebulun he said, Be glad, Zebulun, in your going out; and, Issachar, in your tents. ^33:19They will send out the word for the people to come to the mountain, taking there the offerings of righteousness: for the store of the seas will be theirs, and the secret wealth of the sand. ^33:20Of Gad he said, A blessing be on him who makes wide the limits of Gad: he takes his rest like a she-lion, taking for himself the arm and the crown of the head. ^33:21He kept for himself the first part, for his was the ruler's right: he put in force the righteousness of the Lord, and his decisions for Israel. ^33:22And of Dan he said, Dan is a young lion, springing out from Bashan. ^33:23And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, made glad with grace and full of the blessing of the Lord: the sea and its fishes will be his. ^33:24And of Asher he said, Let Asher have the blessing of children; may he be pleasing to his brothers, and let his foot be wet with oil. ^33:25Your shoes will be iron and brass; and as your days, so may your work be. ^33:26No other is like the God of Jeshurun, coming on the heavens to your help, and letting his glory be seen in the skies. ^33:27The God of your fathers is your safe resting-place, and under you are his eternal arms: driving out the forces of your haters from before you, he said, Let destruction overtake them. ^33:28And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens. ^33:29Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, a people whose saviour is the Lord, whose help is your cover, whose sword is your strength! All those who are against you will put themselves under your rule, and your feet will be planted on their high places.

^34:1And Moses went up from the table-lands of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah which is facing Jericho. And the Lord let him see all the land, the land of Gilead as far as Dan; ^34:2And all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the Great Sea of the west; ^34:3And the South, and the circle of the valley of Jericho, the town of palm-trees, as far as Zoar. ^34:4And the Lord said to him, This is the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: now I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go in there. ^34:5So death came to Moses, the servant of the Lord, there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said. ^34:6And the Lord put him to rest in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor: but no man has knowledge of his resting-place to this day. ^34:7And Moses at his death was a hundred and twenty years old: his eye had not become clouded, or his natural force become feeble. ^34:8For thirty days the children of Israel were weeping for Moses in the table-lands of Moab, till the days of weeping and sorrow for Moses were ended. ^34:9And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had put his hands on him: and the children of Israel gave ear to him, and did as the Lord had given orders to Moses. ^34:10There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord had knowledge of face to face; ^34:11In all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land; ^34:12And in all the acts of power and fear which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.

Joshua

^1:1Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the word of the Lord came to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' helper, saying, ^1:2Moses my servant is dead; so now get up! Go over Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel. ^1:3Every place on which you put your foot I have given to you, as I said to Moses. ^1:4From the waste land and this mountain Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea, in the west, will be your country. ^1:5While you are living, all will give way before you: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not take away my help from you or give you up. ^1:6Take heart and be strong; for you will give to this people for their heritage the land which I gave by an oath to their fathers. ^1:7Only take heart and be very strong; take care to do all the law which Moses my servant gave you, not turning from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may do well in all your undertakings. ^1:8Let this book of the law be ever on your lips and in your thoughts day and night, so that you may keep with care everything in it; then a blessing will be on all your way, and you will do well. ^1:9Have I not given you your orders? Take heart and be strong; have no fear and do not be troubled; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go, ^1:10Then Joshua gave their orders to those who were in authority over the people, saying, ^1:11Go through the tents and give orders to the people, saying, Get ready a store of food; for in three days you are to go over this river Jordan and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ^1:12And to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, ^1:13Keep in mind what Moses, the servant of the Lord, said to you, The Lord your God is sending you rest and will give you this land. ^1:14Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle will be kept here in the land which Moses gave you on this side of Jordan; but you, the fighting-men, are to go over before your brothers, armed, to give them help; ^1:15Till the Lord has given your brothers rest, as he has given it to you, and they have taken their heritage in the land which the Lord your God is giving them: then you will go back to the land of your heritage which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the east side of Jordan. ^1:16Then they said to Joshua in answer, Whatever you say to us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ^1:17As we gave attention to Moses in all things, so we will give attention to you: and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. ^1:18Whoever goes against your orders, and does not give attention to all your words, will be put to death: only take heart and be strong.

^2:1Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men from Shittim secretly, with the purpose of searching out the land, and Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a loose woman of the town, named Rahab, where they took their rest for the night. ^2:2And it was said to the king of Jericho, See, some men have come here tonight from the children of Israel with the purpose of searching out the land. ^2:3Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Send out the men who have come to you and are in your house; for they have come with the purpose of searching out all the land. ^2:4And the woman took the two men and put them in a secret place; then she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I had no idea where they came from; ^2:5And when it was the time for shutting the doors at dark, they went out; I have no idea where the men went: but if you go after them quickly, you will overtake them. ^2:6But she had taken them up to the roof, covering them with the stems of flax which she had put out in order there. ^2:7So the men went after them on the road to Jordan as far as the river-crossing: and when they had gone out after them, the door into the town was shut. ^2:8And before the men went to rest, she came up to them on the roof, ^2:9And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us; ^2:10For we have had news of how the Lord made the Red Sea dry before you when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, on the other side of Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you gave up to the curse. ^2:11And because of this news, our hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven on high and here on earth. ^2:12So now, will you give me your oath by the Lord, that, because I have been kind to you, you will be kind to my father's house, ^2:13And that you will keep safe my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all they have, so that death may not come on us? ^2:14And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you. ^2:15Then she let them down from the window by a cord, for the house where she was living was on the town wall. ^2:16And she said to them, Get away into the hill-country, or the men who have gone after you will overtake you; keep yourselves safe there for three days, till the searchers have come back, and then go on your way. ^2:17And the men said to her, We will only be responsible for this oath which you have made us take, ^2:18If, when we come into the land, you put this cord of bright red thread in the window from which you let us down; and get your father and mother and your brothers and all your family into the house; ^2:19Then if anyone goes out of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, we will not be responsible; but if any damage comes to anyone in the house, his blood will be on our heads. ^2:20But if you say anything about our business here, then we will be free from the oath you have made us take. ^2:21And she said, Let it be as you say. Then she sent them away, and they went; and she put the bright red cord in the window. ^2:22And they went into the hill-country and were there three days, till the men who had gone after them had come back; and those who went after them were searching for them everywhere without coming across them. ^2:23Then the two men came down from the hill-country and went over and came back to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they gave him a complete account of what had taken place. ^2:24And they said to Joshua, Truly, the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and all the people of the land have become like water because of us.

^3:1Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and, moving on from Shittim, he and all the children of Israel came to Jordan and were there for the night before going over. ^3:2And at the end of three days, the men in authority over the people went through the tents, ^3:3Giving the people their orders, and saying, When you see the ark of the agreement of the Lord your God lifted up by the priests, the Levites, then get up from your places and go after it; ^3:4But let there be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits: come no nearer to it, so that you may see the way you have to go, for you have not been over this way before. ^3:5And Joshua said to the people, Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow the Lord will do works of wonder among you. ^3:6Then Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the agreement and go over in front of the people. So they took up the ark of the agreement and went in front of the people. ^3:7And the Lord said to Joshua, From now on I will give you glory in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may see that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ^3:8And you are to give orders to the priests who take up the ark of the agreement, and say, When you come to the edge of the waters of Jordan, go no further. ^3:9And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come to me here: and give ear to the words of the Lord your God. ^3:10And Joshua said, By this you will see that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly send out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite. ^3:11See, the ark of the agreement of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into Jordan. ^3:12So take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, a man from every tribe. ^3:13And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass. ^3:14So when the people went out from their tents to go over Jordan, the priests who took up the ark of the agreement were in front of the people; ^3:15And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting), ^3:16Then the waters flowing down from higher up were stopped and came together in a mass a long way back at Adam, a town near Zarethan; and the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were cut off: and the people went across opposite Jericho. ^3:17And the priests who took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord kept their places, with their feet on dry land in the middle of Jordan, while all Israel went over on dry land, till all the nation had gone over Jordan.

^4:1Now when all the nation had come to the other side of Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ^4:2Take twelve men from the people, a man for every tribe, ^4:3And say to them, Take up from the middle of Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests were resting, twelve stones, and take them over with you and put them down in the place where you take your rest tonight. ^4:4So Joshua sent for the twelve men, whom he had ready, one man out of every tribe of the children of Israel, ^4:5And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel: ^4:6So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones? ^4:7Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever. ^4:8So the children of Israel did as Joshua gave them orders, and took twelve stones from the middle of Jordan, as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for every tribe of the children of Israel; these they took across with them to their night's resting-place and put them down there. ^4:9And Joshua put up twelve stones in the middle of Jordan, where the feet of the priests who took up the ark of the agreement had been placed: and there they are to this day. ^4:10For the priests who took up the ark kept there in the middle of Jordan till all the orders given to Joshua by Moses from the Lord had been done: then the people went over quickly. ^4:11And when all the people had come to the other side, the ark of the Lord went over, and the priests, before the eyes of the people. ^4:12And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went over armed before the children of Israel as Moses had said to them: ^4:13About forty thousand armed for war went over before the Lord to the fight, to the lowlands of Jericho. ^4:14That day the Lord made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel; and all the days of his life they went in fear of him, as they had gone in fear of Moses. ^4:15Then the Lord said to Joshua, ^4:16Give orders to the priests who take up the ark of witness, to come up out of Jordan. ^4:17So Joshua gave orders to the priests, saying, Come up now out of Jordan. ^4:18And when the priests who took up the ark of the Lord's agreement came up out of Jordan and their feet came out on to dry land, the waters of Jordan went back to their place, overflowing its edges as before. ^4:19So on the tenth day of the first month the people came up out of Jordan, and put up their tents in Gilgal, on the east side of Jericho. ^4:20And the twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, Joshua put up in Gilgal. ^4:21And he said to the children of Israel, When your children say to their fathers in time to come, What is the reason for these stones? ^4:22Then give your children the story, and say, Israel came over this river Jordan on dry land. ^4:23For the Lord your God made the waters of Jordan dry before you till you had gone across, as he did to the Red Sea, drying it up before us till we had gone across: ^4:24So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the hand of the Lord is strong; and that they may go in fear of the Lord your God for ever.

^5:1Now when the news came to all the kings of the Amorites on the west side of Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites living by the sea, how the Lord had made the waters of Jordan dry before the children of Israel, till they had gone across, their hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel. ^5:2At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make yourself stone knives and give the children of Israel circumcision a second time. ^5:3So Joshua made stone knives and gave the children of Israel circumcision at Gibeath-ha-araloth. ^5:4And this is the reason why Joshua did so: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the fighting-men, had been overtaken by death in the waste land on the way, after they came out of Egypt. ^5:5All the people who came out had undergone circumcision; but all the people whose birth had taken place in the waste land on their journey from Egypt had not. ^5:6For the children of Israel were wandering in the waste land for forty years, till all the nation, that is, all the fighting-men, who had come out of Egypt, were dead, because they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord: to whom the Lord said, with an oath, that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had given his word to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^5:7And their children, who came up in their place, now underwent circumcision by the hands of Joshua, not having had it before: for there had been no circumcision on the journey. ^5:8So when all the nation had undergone circumcision, they kept in their tents till they were well again. ^5:9And the Lord said to Joshua, Today the shame of Egypt has been rolled away from you. So that place was named Gilgal, to this day. ^5:10So the children of Israel put up their tents in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, in the lowlands of Jericho. ^5:11And on the day after the Passover, they had for their food the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and dry grain on the same day. ^5:12And there was no more manna from the day after they had for their food the produce of the land; the children of Israel had manna no longer, but that year the produce of the land of Canaan was their food. ^5:13Now when Joshua was near Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man in front of him, with his sword uncovered in his hand: and Joshua went up to him and said, Are you for us or against us? ^5:14And he said, No; but I have come as captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my lord to say to his servant? ^5:15And the captain of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And Joshua did so.