Feb 10 - Deuteronomy 11-13
Deuteronomy
1"And so, love the Lord your God, and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments, at all times2Acknowledge, on this day, the things that your sons did not know. For they did not see the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great acts, and powerful hand, and outstretched arm3the signs and works that he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king, and to his entire land4and to the entire army of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord wiped them away, even to the present day5and the things that he accomplished for you in the wilderness, until you arrived at this place6and to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, who was the son of Reuben, those whom the earth, opening its mouth, engulfed with their households and tents, and with their entire substance which they had in the midst of Israel7Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, which he has accomplished8so that you would keep all his commandments, which I entrust to you this day, and so that you would be able to enter and possess the land, toward which you are advancing9and so that you may live, for a long time, in the land which the Lord promised under oath to your fathers, and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey10For the land, which you shall enter and possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from which you departed, where, when seed has been sown, waters are brought in by irrigation, in the manner of gardens11Rather, it has mountainous regions and plains, which lay waiting for rain from heaven12And the Lord your God always visits it, and his eyes are upon it, from the beginning of the year, all the way to its end13So then, if you obey my commandments, which I am instructing to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with your whole heart and your whole soul14he will give to your land the early rain and the late rain, so that you may gather your grain, and your wine, and your oil15and your hay from the fields in order to feed your cattle, and so that you yourselves may eat and be satisfied16Be careful, lest perhaps your heart may be deceived, and you might withdraw from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them17And the Lord, becoming angry, might close up heaven, so that the rain would not descend, nor would the earth produce her seedlings, and then you would quickly perish from the excellent land, which the Lord will give to you18Place these words of mine in your hearts and minds, and hang them as a sign on your hands, and arrange them between your eyes19Teach your sons to meditate on them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down or rise up20You shall write them upon the doorposts and the gates of your house21so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your sons, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, that he would give it to them for as long as heaven is suspended above the earth22For if you keep the commandments which I am entrusting to you, and if you do them, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, clinging to him23the Lord will scatter all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, though they are greater and stronger than you24Every place upon which your foot shall tread will be yours. From the desert, and from Lebanon, from the great river Euphrates, as far as the western sea, shall be your borders25No one will stand against you. The Lord your God will spread the terror and dread of you over all the land upon which you shall tread, just as he has spoken to you26Behold, I am setting forth in your sight today a blessing and a curse27It will be a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am instructing to you this day28It will be a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but instead you withdraw from the way, which I am revealing to you now, and you walk after foreign gods that you have not known29Yet truly, when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, to which you are traveling for a habitation, you shall place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, the curse upon Mount Ebal30which are across the Jordan, behind the way which slopes toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who lives in the plains opposite Gilgal, which is near the valley extending toward and entering a distant place31For you shall cross over the Jordan, so that you may possess the land which the Lord your God will give you, so that you may have it and possess it32Therefore, see to it that you fulfill the ceremonies and judgments, which I am placing in your sight this day.
1"These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the soil2Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy tree3Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places4But you shall not do the same to the Lord your God5Instead, you shall approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place6And you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep7And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for you8You shall not do there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good to himself9For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to you10You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear11in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow to the Lord12In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you13Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that you see14Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct you15So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag16Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water17You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands18But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand19Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at anytime while you are living in the land20When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires21but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you22Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike23Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh24Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water25so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord26But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose27And you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh28Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God29When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land30be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.31You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire32What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.
1"If there will have arisen in your midst a prophet, or someone who claims that he had seen a dream, and if he will have predicted sign and portent2and if what he has spoken happens, and he says to you, ‘Let us go and follow strange gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you, so that it may become clear whether or not you love him with all your heart and with all your soul4Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and listen to his voice. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling5But that prophet or forger of dreams shall be put to death. For he has spoken so as to turn you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt and who redeemed you from the house of servitude, and so as to cause you to wander from the way that the Lord your God has entrusted to you. And so shall you remove the evil from your midst6If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or your wife who is in your bosom, or your friend, whom you love like your own soul, were willing to persuade you secretly, saying: ‘Let us go, and serve foreign gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known7gods from any of the surrounding nations, whether these are near or far away, from the beginning even to the end of the earth8you should neither agree with him, nor listen to him. And your eye should not spare him so that you take pity on him and conceal him9Instead, you shall put him to death promptly. Let your hand be upon him first, and after that, let the hands of all the people be sent forth10He shall be killed by being overwhelmed with stones. For he was willing to draw you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude11So may all of Israel, upon hearing this, be afraid, so that nothing like this will ever be done again12If, in one of your cities which the Lord your God will give to you as a habitation, you hear someone say13‘The sons of Belial have departed from your midst, and they have persuaded the inhabitants of their city, and they have said: "Let us go, and serve strange gods," ’ which you have not known14inquire carefully and diligently, seeking the truth of the matter. And if you find that what was said is certain, and that this abomination is a work which has been perpetrated15you shall promptly strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. And you shall destroy it, along with all the things that are in it, even the flocks16Then all the household goods which are there, you shall gather together in the midst of its streets, and you shall set fire to these, along with the city itself, so that you may consume everything for the Lord your God, and so that it may be an everlasting tomb. It shall no longer be built up17And there shall remain nothing of that anathema in your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may take pity on you, and may multiply you, just as he swore to your fathers18when you will heed the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his precepts, which I am entrusting to you this day, so that you may do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.