Study Desk

"You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land^(a) the Lord swore to your fathers.

Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord .^(b)

Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years.^(c)

Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,^(d) a land with streams of water, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

When you eat and are full,^(e) you will praise the Lord your God for the good land^(f) He has given you.

"Be careful that you don't forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His command—the ordinances and statutes—I am giving you today.

When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

be careful that your heart doesn't become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.^(g)

He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous^[a] snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint-like rock for you.

He fed you in the wilderness with manna^(h) that your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,'

but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant He swore to your fathers,⁽ⁱ⁾ as it is today.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will perish.^(j)

Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

"Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go and drive out nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.^(a)

The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim.^(b) You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?'^(c)

But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you^(d) as a consuming fire; He will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly, as the Lord has told you.

When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land^(e) to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

"Remember^(f) and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and He was angry enough with you to destroy you.

When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God's finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights.

"The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.'

The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.'

"So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

I saw how you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord had commanded for you.

So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

Then I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights; I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord 's sight and provoking Him to anger.

I was afraid of the fierce anger the Lord had directed against you,^(g) because He was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.^(h)

The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also.

I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust. Then I threw it into the stream that came down from the mountain.⁽ⁱ⁾

"You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.^(j)

When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, He said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you'; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not believe or obey Him.^(k)

You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have^[a] known you.^(l)

"I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.

I prayed to the Lord : Lord God , do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed^(m) through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people's stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.

Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn't able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.'⁽ⁿ⁾

But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.^(o)

"The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.'

So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,

and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me."

The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan^[a] to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.^(a)

They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.^(b)

"At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^(c) to carry the ark of the Lord 's covenant, to stand before Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.

For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.^(d)

"I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion;^(e) He agreed not to annihilate you.

Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.'^(f)

"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear^(g) the Lord your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?

Keep the Lord 's commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

Yet the Lord was devoted to your fathers and loved them.^(h) He chose their descendants after them—He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

Therefore, circumcise your hearts⁽ⁱ⁾ and don't be stiff-necked any longer.

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.^(j)

You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithful^[b] to Him and take oaths in His name.^(k)

He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome works your eyes have seen.

Your fathers went down to Egypt, 70 people in all,^(l) and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.^(m)