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.
6:1(Now Jericho was all shut up because of the children of Israel: there was no going out or coming in.) 6:2And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hands Jericho with its king and all its men of war. 6:3Now let all your fighting-men make a circle round the town, going all round it once. Do this for six days. 6:4And let seven priests go before the ark with seven loud-sounding horns in their hands: on the seventh day you are to go round the town seven times, the priests blowing their horns. 6:5And at the sound of a long note on the horns, let all the people give a loud cry; and the wall of the town will come down flat, and all the people are to go straight forward. 6:6Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent for the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the agreement, and let seven priests take seven horns in their hands and go before the ark of the Lord. 6:7And he said to the people, Go forward, circling the town, and let the armed men go before the ark of the Lord. 6:8So after Joshua had said this to the people, the seven priests with their seven horns went forward before the Lord, blowing on their horns: and the ark of the Lord's agreement went after them. 6:9And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the horns, and the mass of the people went after the ark, blowing their horns. 6:10And to the people Joshua gave an order, saying, You will give no cry, and make no sound, and let no word go out of your mouth till the day when I say, Give a loud cry; then give a loud cry. 6:11So he made the ark of the Lord go all round the town once: then they went back to the tents for the night. 6:12And early in the morning Joshua got up, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 6:13And the seven priests with their seven horns went on before the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns: the armed men went before them, and the mass of the people went after the ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. 6:14The second day they went all round the town once, and then went back to their tents: and so they did for six days. 6:15Then on the seventh day they got up early, at the dawn of the day, and went round the town in the same way, but that day they went round it seven times. 6:16And the seventh time, at the sound of the priests' horns, Joshua said to the people, Now give a loud cry; for the Lord has given you the town. 6:17And the town will be put to the curse, and everything in it will be given to the Lord: only Rahab, the loose woman, and all who are in the house with her, will be kept safe, because she kept secret the men we sent. 6:18And as for you, keep yourselves from the cursed thing, for fear that you may get a desire for it and take some of it for yourselves, and so be the cause of a curse and great trouble on the tents of Israel. 6:19But all the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron are holy to the Lord: they are to come into the store-house of the Lord. 6:20So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town. 6:21And they put everything in the town to the curse; men and women, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, they put to death without mercy. 6:22Then Joshua said to the two men who had been sent to make a search through the land, Go into the house of the loose woman, and get her out, and all who are with her, as you gave her your oath. 6:23So the searchers went in and got out Rahab and her father and mother and her brothers and all she had, and they got out all her family; and they took them outside the tents of Israel. 6:24Then, after burning up the town and everything in it, they put the silver and gold and the vessels of brass and iron into the store-house of the Lord's house. 6:25But Joshua kept Rahab, the loose woman, and her father's family and all she had, from death, and so she got a living-place among the children of Israel to this day; because she kept safe the men whom Joshua had sent to make a search through the land. 6:26Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors. 6:27So the Lord was with Joshua; and news of him went through all the land.
7:1But the children of Israel did wrong about the cursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the family of Judah, took of the cursed thing, moving the Lord to wrath against the children of Israel. 7:2Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is by the side of Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and said to them, Go up and make a search through the land. And the men went up and saw how Ai was placed. 7:3Then they came back to Joshua and said to him, Do not send all the people up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and make an attack on Ai; there is no need for all the people to be tired with the journey there, for it is only a small town. 7:4So about three thousand of the people went up, and were sent in flight by the men of Ai. 7:5The men of Ai put to death about thirty-six of them, driving them from before the town as far as the stoneworks, and overcoming them on the way down: and the hearts of the people became like water. 7:6Then Joshua, in great grief, went down on the earth before the ark of the Lord till the evening, and all the chiefs of Israel with him, and they put dust on their heads. 7:7And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan! 7:8O Lord, what am I to say now that Israel have given way before their attackers? 7:9For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the land, they will come up, shutting us in and cutting off our name from the earth: and what will you do for the honour of your great name? 7:10Then the Lord said to Joshua, Get up; what are you doing with your face to the earth? 7:11Israel has done wrong, sinning against the agreement which I made with them: they have even taken of the cursed thing; acting falsely like thieves they have put it among their goods. 7:12For this reason the children of Israel have given way, turning their backs in flight before their attackers, because they are cursed: I will no longer be with you, if you do not put the cursed thing away from among you. 7:13Up! make the people holy; say to them, Make yourselves holy before tomorrow, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, There is a cursed thing among you, O Israel, and you will give way before your attackers in the fight till the cursed thing has been taken away from among you. 7:14So in the morning you are to come near, tribe by tribe; and the tribe marked out by the Lord is to come near, family by family; and the family marked out by the Lord is to come near, house by house; and the house marked out by the Lord is to come near, man by man. 7:15Then the man who is taken with the cursed thing is to be burned, with everything which is his; because he has gone against the agreement of the Lord and has done an act of shame in Israel. 7:16So Joshua got up early in the morning, and made Israel come before him by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken; 7:17Then he made Judah come forward, and the family of the Zerahites was taken; and he made the family of the Zerahites come forward man by man; and Zabdi was taken; 7:18Then the house of Zabdi came forward man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 7:19And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel; give me word now of what you have done, and keep nothing back from me. 7:20And Achan, answering, said to Joshua, Truly I have done wrong against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 7:21When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it. 7:22So Joshua sent men quickly, and looking in his tent, they saw where the robe had been put away secretly with the silver under it. 7:23And they took them from the tent and came back with them to Joshua and the children of Israel, and put them before the Lord. 7:24Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver and the robe and the mass of gold, and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and everything he had; and they took them up into the valley of Achor. 7:25And Joshua said, Why have you been a cause of trouble to us? Today the Lord will send trouble on you. And all Israel took part in stoning him; they had him stoned to death and then burned with fire. 7:26And over him they put a great mass of stones, which is there to this day; then the heat of the Lord's wrath was turned away. So that place was named, The Valley of Achor, to this day.
8:1Then the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear and do not be troubled: take with you all the fighting-men and go up against Ai: for I have given into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his town and his land: 8:2And you are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back. 8:3So Joshua and the fighting-men got ready to go up against Ai; and Joshua took thirty thousand men of war, and sent them out by night. 8:4And he gave them their orders, saying, Go and take up your position secretly at the back of the town: do not go very far away, and let all of you be ready: 8:5And I and all the people with me will come near the town, and when they come out against us as they did before, we will go in flight from them; 8:6And they will come out after us, till we have got them away from the town; for they will say, They have gone in flight from us as before; so we will go in flight before them; 8:7Then you will get up from your secret position and take the town, for the Lord your God will give it up into your hands. 8:8And when you have taken the town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your orders. 8:9So Joshua sent them out: and they took up a secret position between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua kept with the people that night. 8:10And early in the morning Joshua got up, and put the people in order, and he and the chiefs of Israel went up before the people to Ai. 8:11And all the fighting-men who were with him went up and came near the town, and took up a position on the north side of Ai facing the town, with a valley between him and the town. 8:12And taking about five thousand men, he put them in position for a surprise attack on the west side of Ai, between Beth-el and Ai. 8:13So all the people were in their places, the army on the north side of the town and the secret force on the west; and that night Joshua went down into the valley. 8:14Now when the king of Ai saw it, he got up quickly and went out to war against Israel, he and all his people, to the slope going down to the valley; but he had no idea that a secret force was waiting at the back of the town. 8:15Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land. 8:16And all the people in Ai came together to go after them; and they went after Joshua, moving away from the town. 8:17There was not a man in Ai and Beth-el who did not go out after Israel; and the town was open and unwatched while they went after Israel. 8:18And the Lord said to Joshua, Let your spear be stretched out against Ai; for I will give it into your hands. So Joshua took up his spear, stretching it out in the direction of the town. 8:19Then the secret force came quickly from their place, and running forward when they saw his hand stretched out, went into the town and took it, and put fire to it straight away. 8:20Then the men of Ai, looking back, saw the smoke of the town going up to heaven, and were unable to go this way or that: and the people who had gone in flight to the waste land were turned back on those who were coming after them. 8:21And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been taken by the surprise attack, and that the smoke of the town had gone up, turning round they overcame the men of Ai. 8:22Then the other force came out of the town against them, so that they were being attacked on this side and on that: and Israel overcame them and let not one of them get away with his life. 8:23But the king of Ai they made prisoner, and took him to Joshua. 8:24Then, after the destruction of all the people of Ai in the field and in the waste land where they went after them, and when all the people had been put to death without mercy, all Israel went back to Ai, and put to death all who were in it without mercy. 8:25On that day twelve thousand were put to death, men and women, all the people of Ai. 8:26For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete. 8:27But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua. 8:28So Joshua gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day. 8:29And he put the king of Ai to death, hanging him on a tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave them orders to take his body down from the tree, and put it in the public place of the town, covering it with a great mass of stones, which is there to this day. 8:30Then Joshua put up an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, 8:31In the way ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, as it is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, untouched by any iron instrument: and on it they made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord. 8:32And he made there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, writing it before the eyes of the children of Israel. 8:33And all Israel, those who were Israelites by birth, as well as the men from other lands living with them, and their responsible men and their overseers and judges, took their places round the ark, in front of the priests, the Levites, whose work it was to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement; half of them were stationed in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, in agreement with the orders for the blessing of the children of Israel which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given. 8:34And after, he gave them all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, as it is all recorded in the book of the law; 8:35Reading to all the meeting of Israel, with the women and the children and the men from other lands who were living among them, every word of the orders which Moses had given.
9:1Now on hearing the news of these things, all the kings on the west side of Jordan, in the hill-country and the lowlands and by the Great Sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, 9:2Came together with one purpose, to make war against Joshua and Israel. 9:3And the men of Gibeon, hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 9:4Acting with deceit, got food together as if for a long journey; and took old food-bags for their asses, and old and cracked wine-skins kept together with cord; 9:5And put old stitched-up shoes on their feet, and old clothing on their backs; and all the food they had with them was dry and broken up. 9:6And they came to Joshua to the tent-circle at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country: so now make an agreement with us. 9:7And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, It may be that you are living among us; how then may we make an agreement with you? 9:8And they said to Joshua, We are your servants. Then Joshua said to them, Who are you and where do you come from? 9:9And they said to him, Your servants have come from a very far country, because of the name of the Lord your God: for the story of his great name, and of all he did in Egypt has come to our ears, 9:10And what he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of Jordan, to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, at Ashtaroth. 9:11So the responsible men and all the people of our country said to us, Take food with you for the journey and go to them, and say to them, We are your servants: so now make an agreement with us. 9:12This bread which we have with us for our food, we took warm and new from our houses when starting on our journey to you; but now see, it has become dry and broken up. 9:13And these wine-skins were new when we put the wine in them, and now they are cracked as you see; and our clothing and our shoes have become old because of our very long journey here. 9:14And the men took some of their food, without requesting directions from the Lord. 9:15So Joshua made peace with them, and made an agreement with them that they were not to be put to death: and the chiefs of the people took an oath to them. 9:16Now three days after, when they had made this agreement with them, they had word that these men were their neighbours, living near them. 9:17And the children of Israel went forward on their journey, and on the third day came to their towns. Now their towns were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. 9:18And the children of Israel did not put them to death, because the chiefs of the people had taken an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. And all the people made an outcry against the chiefs. 9:19But all the chiefs said to the people, We have taken an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and so we may not put our hands on them. 9:20This is what we will do to them: we will not put them to death, for fear that wrath may come on us because of our oath to them. 9:21Keep them living, and let them be servants, cutting wood and getting water for all the people. And all the people did as the chiefs had said to them. 9:22Then Joshua sent for them, and said to them, Why have you been false to us, saying, We are very far from you, when you are living among us? 9:23Now because of this you are cursed, and you will for ever be our servants, cutting wood and getting water for the house of my God. 9:24And, answering Joshua, they said, Because it came to the ears of your servants that the Lord your God had given orders to his servant Moses to give you all this land, and to send destruction on all the people living in it, because of you; so, fearing greatly for our lives because of you, we have done this. 9:25And now we are in your hands: do to us whatever seems good and right to you. 9:26So he kept them safe from the children of Israel, and did not let them be put to death. 9:27And that day Joshua made them servants, cutting wood and getting water for the people and for the altar of the Lord, in the place marked out by him, to this day.