Category: Deuteronomy

1 “When there will have been found in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you, the corpse of a man who has been killed, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

2 your judges and those greater by birth shall go out and measure, from the place of the corpse, the distance to each of the surrounding cities.

3 And in whichever one they perceive to be closer than the others, the elders shall take a calf from the herd, one which has not pulled with a yoke, nor tilled with a plow.

4 And they shall lead it into a rough and stony valley, one which has never been tilled or sown. And in that place, they shall cut the neck of the calf.

5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall approach, those whom the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and to decide every controversy by their word, and to judge which things are clean and which are unclean.

6 And those greater by birth of that city, nearest to the one who was slain, shall go and shall wash their hands over the calf that was killed in the valley.

7 And they shall say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

8 Be merciful to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not charge them with innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ And so the guilt of the blood will be taken away from them.

9 Then you will be free from the blood that was shed against the innocent, when you will have done as the Lord has instructed you.

10 If you have gone out to fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand, and if, as you are leading away the captives,

11 you see among the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and you love her, and you are willing to have her as a wife:

12 then you shall lead her into your house. And she shall shave off her hair, and cut her nails short,

13 and remove the garment in which she was captured. And she shall sit in your house and weep for her father and mother, for one month. And after that, you shall enter to her and sleep with her, and she shall be your wife.

14 But if afterwards she does not sit well in your mind, you shall set her free. You cannot sell her for money, nor can you oppress her by force. For you have humiliated her.

15 If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have produced children by him, and if the son of the hated wife is the firstborn,

16 and if he wishes to divide his substance among his sons: he cannot make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn, and so prefer him before the son of the hated wife.

17 Instead, he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as the firstborn, and he shall give to him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first among his children, and the rights of the firstborn are owed to him.

18 If a man produces a disobedient and reckless son, who will not listen to the orders of his father or mother, and, having been corrected, shows contempt for obedience:

19 they shall take him and lead him to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment.

20 And they shall say to them: ‘This our son is reckless and disobedient. He shows contempt when listening to our admonitions. He occupies himself with carousing, and self-indulgence, and feasting.’

21 Then the people of the city shall stone him to death. And he shall die, so that you may take away the evil from your midst. And so may all of Israel, upon hearing it, be very afraid.

22 When a man will have sinned in a matter which is punished by death, and, having been judged unto death, he has been hanged on a gallows:

23 his corpse shall not remain on the tree. Instead, he shall be buried on the same day. For he who hangs from a tree has been cursed by God, and you shall not defile your land, which the Lord your God will give to you as a possession.”

1 “If you see your brother’s ox or sheep wander astray, you shall not pass by. Instead, you shall lead them back to your brother.

2 But if your brother is not near, or you do not know him, you shall lead them to your house, and they shall be with you until your brother seeks them and receives them.

3 You shall act in a similar manner with his donkey, and his clothing, and all the belongings of your brother that have been lost. If you find it, you shall not neglect it, as if it belonged to a stranger.

4 If you see that your brother’s donkey or ox has fallen along the way, you shall not disregard it. Instead, you shall lift it up with him.

5 A woman shall not be clothed with manly apparel, nor shall a man make use of feminine apparel. For whoever does these things is abominable with God.

6 If, as you are walking along the way, you find a bird’s nest, in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is nurturing the young or the eggs, you shall not take her with her young.

7 Instead, you shall permit her to go, retaining the young that you have caught, so that it may be well with you, and you may live for a long time.

8 When you build a new house, you shall make a wall around the roof. Otherwise, someone may slip and fall down violently, and so blood would be shed at your house, and you would be guilty.

9 You shall not sow your vineyard with another seed, lest both the seed that you have sown and what springs forth from the vineyard be sanctified together.

10 You shall not till with an ox and a donkey at the same time.

11 You shall not wear a vestment which has been woven from both wool and linen.

12 You shall make strings along the hem, at the four corners of your cloak, which covers you.

13 If a man takes a wife, and afterwards he has hatred for her,

14 and so he seeks opportunities to dismiss her, imputing a very wicked name to her by saying, ‘I received this woman as a wife, and upon entering to her, I found her not to be a virgin,’

15 then her father and mother shall take her, and they shall bring with them the signs of her virginity, to the elders of the city who are at the gate.

16 And the father shall say: ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife. And because he hates her,

17 he accuses her with a very wicked name, by saying: “I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.” But behold, these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the clothing before the elders of the city.

18 And the elders of that city shall apprehend that man and beat him.

19 Moreover, they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, which he will give to the father of the girl, because he has committed slander, with a very wicked name, against a virgin of Israel. And he shall have her as a wife, and he cannot dismiss her throughout all the days of his life.

20 But if what he has claimed is true and virginity is not found in the girl,

21 then they shall throw her down, outside the doors of her father’s house, and the men of that city shall stone her to death, and she shall die. For she has acted wickedly in Israel, in that she fornicated in her father’s house. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

22 If a man sleeps with the wife of another, then they shall both die, that is, the adulterer and the adulteress. And so shall you take away the evil from Israel.

23 If a man has betrothed a girl who is a virgin, and if someone finds her in the city and he lies with her,

24 then you shall lead them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned to death: the girl, because she did not cry out though she was in the city; the man, because he has humiliated the wife of his neighbor. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

25 But if a man discovers, in the countryside, a girl who has been betrothed, and, apprehending her, he lies with her, then he alone shall die.

26 The girl shall suffer nothing, nor is she guilty unto death. For just as a robber rises up against his brother and slays his life, so also did the girl suffer greatly.

27 She was alone in the field. She cried out, and there was no one nearby, who might deliver her.

28 If a man find a girl who is a virgin, who does not have a betrothal, and, taking her, he lies with her, and the matter is brought to judgment,

29 then he who slept with her shall give to the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, and he shall have her as a wife, because he has humiliated her. He cannot dismiss her, throughout all the days of his life.

30 No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove her covering.”

1 “A eunuch, one whose testicles have been debilitated or cut off, or whose penis has been cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

2 The offspring of a harlot, that is, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.

3 The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation, shall not enter into the church of the Lord forever,

4 because they were not willing to meet you with bread and water along the way, when you had departed from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Beor, from Mesopotamia in Syria, in order to curse you.

5 But the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and he turned his cursing into your blessing, because he loves you.

6 You shall not make peace with them, nor shall you seek their prosperity, throughout all the days of your life forever.

7 You shall not abhor anyone from Idumea, for he is your brother, nor the Egyptian, for you were a new arrival in his land.

8 Those who have been born of them, in the third generation, shall enter into the church of the Lord.

9 When you have gone out to war against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from everything that is evil.

10 If there is a man among you who has been defiled by a dream in the night, he shall depart from the camp.

11 And he shall not return before the evening, after he has washed with water, and then, after the sun sets, he shall return to the camp.

12 You shall have a place beyond the camp to which you may go for the necessities of nature,

13 carrying a small shovel at your belt. And when you would sit down, you shall dig around, and then, with the soil that was dug up, you shall cover

14 that from which you were relieved. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, in order to rescue you, and to deliver your enemies to you. And so, let your camp be holy, and let nothing filthy appear within it, lest he abandon you.

15 You shall not deliver a servant who has fled to you to his master.

16 He shall live with you in a place that pleases him, and he shall rest in one of your cities. You shall not grieve him.

17 There shall be no prostitutes among the daughters of Israel, nor anyone among the sons of Israel who visits a prostitute.

18 You shall not offer money from a prostitute, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord your God, no matter what you may have vowed. For both of these are an abomination with the Lord your God.

19 You shall not lend money, or grain, or anything else at all, to your brother at interest,

20 but only to a foreigner. For you shall lend to your brother whatever he needs without interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your works in the land, which you shall enter so as to possess it.

21 When you have made a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be late in paying it. For the Lord your God demands it. And if you delay, it shall be imputed to you as a sin.

22 If you are not willing to make a promise, then it shall be without sin.

23 But as soon as it has departed from your lips, you shall observe and do just as you have promised to the Lord your God and just as you have spoken by your own free will and with your own mouth.

24 Upon entering your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you please. But you may not carry any out with you.

25 If you enter into your friend’s grain field, you may break off the ears, and rub them in your hand, but you may not reap them with a sickle.”

1 “If a man takes a wife, and he has her, and she does not find favor before his eyes because of some vileness, then he shall write a bill of divorce, and he shall give it to her hand, and he shall dismiss her from his house.

2 And when, having departed, she has married another,

3 and if he likewise hates her, and has given her a bill of divorce, and has dismissed her from his house, or if indeed he has died,

4 then the former husband cannot take her back as a wife. For she has been polluted and has become abominable in the sight of the Lord. Otherwise, you may cause your land, which the Lord your God will deliver to you as a possession, to sin.

5 When a man has recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, nor shall any public office be enjoined upon him. Instead, he shall be free at home without guilt, so that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.

6 You shall not accept an upper or lower millstone as collateral. For then he will have placed his life with you.

7 If a man has been caught soliciting his brother among the sons of Israel, and selling him in order to receive a price, then he shall be put to death. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

8 Observe diligently, lest you incur the wound of leprosy. But you shall do whatever the priests of the Levitical stock shall teach you to do, according to what I have instructed them. And you shall fulfill it carefully.

9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam, along the way, as you were departing from Egypt.

10 When you require from your neighbor anything that he owes to you, you shall not enter into his house in order to take away the collateral.

11 Instead, you shall stand outside, and he will carry out to you what he has.

12 But if he is poor, then the collateral shall not remain with you through the night.

13 Instead, you shall return it to him promptly, before the setting of the sun, so that, sleeping in his own garment, he may bless you, and you may have justice in the presence of the Lord your God.

14 You shall not refuse the pay of the indigent and the poor, whether he is your brother, or he is a new arrival who dwells with you in the land and is within your gates.

15 Instead, you shall pay him the price of his labor on the same day, before the setting of the sun. For he is poor, and with it he sustains his life. Otherwise, he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it would be charged to you as a sin.

16 The fathers shall not be put to death on behalf of the sons, nor the sons on behalf of the fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.

17 You shall not pervert the judgment of the new arrival or the orphan, nor shall you take away the widow’s garment as collateral.

18 Remember that you served in Egypt, and that the Lord your God rescued you from there. Therefore, I am instructing you to act in this way.

19 When you have reaped the grain in your field, and, having forgotten, you leave behind a sheaf, you shall not return to take it away. Instead, you shall permit the new arrival, and the orphan, and the widow to take it away, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.

20 If you have gathered the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not return in order to gather whatever may remain on the trees. Instead, you shall leave it behind for the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow.

21 If you harvest the vintage of your vineyard, you shall not gather the remaining clusters. Instead, they shall fall to the use of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.

22 Remember that you also served in Egypt, and so, for this reason, I am instructing you to act in this way.”

1 “If there is a case between persons, and they apply to the judges, they shall give the palm of justice to the one whom they perceive to be just, and they shall condemn of impiety the one who is impious.

2 But if they see that the one who has sinned is worthy of stripes, they shall prostrate him and cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin, so shall the measure of the stripes be.

3 Even so, these shall not exceed the number of forty. Otherwise, your brother may depart, having been wounded shamefully before your eyes.

4 You shall not muzzle an ox as it is treading out your crops in the field.

5 When brothers are living together, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another. Instead, his brother shall take her, and he shall raise up offspring for his brother.

6 And the first son from her, he shall call by his brother’s name, so that his name will not be abolished from Israel.

7 But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’

8 And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’

9 then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’

10 And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of the Unshod.

11 If two men have a conflict between themselves, and one begins to do violence to the other, and if the other’s wife, wanting to rescue her husband from the hand of the stronger one, extends her hand and grasps him by his private parts,

12 then you shall cut off her hand. Neither shall you weep over her with any mercy.

13 You shall not have differing weights, greater and lesser, in your bag.

14 Neither shall there be in your house a greater and a lesser measure.

15 You shall have a just and a true weight, and your measure shall be equal and true, so that you may live for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

16 For the Lord your God abominates him who does these things, and he loathes all injustice.

17 Remember what Amalek did to you, along the way, when you were departing from Egypt:

18 how he met you and cut down the stragglers of the troops, who were sitting down, exhausted, when you were consumed by hunger and hardship, and how he did not fear God.

19 Therefore, when the Lord your God will give you rest, and you will have subdued all the surrounding nations, in the land which he has promised to you, you shall delete his name from under heaven. Take care not to forget this.”

1 “And when you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you to possess, and when you will have obtained it and are living within it:

2 you shall take the first of all your crops, and place them in a basket, and you shall travel to the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be invoked there.

3 And you shall approach the priest who will be in those days, and you shall say to him: ‘I profess this day, before the Lord your God, that I have entered into the land about which he swore to our fathers that he would give it to us.’

4 And the priest, taking up the basket from your hand, shall place it before the altar of the Lord your God.

5 And you shall say, in the sight of the Lord your God: ‘The Syrian pursued my father, who descended into Egypt, and he sojourned there in a very small number, and he increased into a great and strong nation and into an innumerable multitude.

6 And the Egyptians afflicted us, and they persecuted us, imposing upon us the most grievous burdens.

7 And we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers. He heard us, and he looked with favor upon our humiliation, and hardship, and distress.

8 And he led us away from Egypt, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with a mighty terror, with signs and wonders.

9 And he led us into this place, and he delivered to us the land flowing with milk and honey.

10 And because of this, I now offer the first fruits of the land which the Lord has given to me.’ And you shall leave them in the sight of the Lord your God, and you shall adore the Lord your God.

11 And you shall feast on all the good things which the Lord your God will give to you and to your house: you, and the Levite, and the new arrival who is with you.

12 When you will have completed the tithing of all your crops, in the third year of tithes, you shall give it to the Levite, and to the new arrival, and to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied.

13 And you shall say, in the sight of the Lord your God: ‘I have taken what was sanctified from my house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the new arrival, and to the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten your precepts.

14 I have not eaten from these things in my grief, nor have I separated them due to any kind of uncleanness, nor have I expended any of these things in funerals. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and I have done all things just as you have instructed me.

15 Look with favor from your sanctuary and from your lofty habitation amid the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the land which you have given to us, just as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

16 Today the Lord your God has instructed you to carry out these commandments and judgments, and to keep and fulfill them, with all your heart and with all your soul.

17 Today, you have chosen the Lord to be your God, so that you may walk in his ways, and keep his ceremonies and commandments and judgments, and obey his command.

18 Today, the Lord has chosen you, so that you may be his particular people, just as he has spoken to you, and so that you may keep all his precepts,

19 and so that he may cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which he has created, for the sake of his own praise and name and glory, in order that you may be a holy people for the Lord your God, just as he has spoken.”

1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel instructed the people, saying: “Keep each commandment that I instruct to you this day.

2 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, you shall erect immense stones, and you shall coat them with plaster,

3 so that you may be able to write upon them all the words of this law, when you have crossed the Jordan so as to enter into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as he swore to your fathers.

4 Therefore, when you have crossed over the Jordan, erect the stones, just as I instruct you to do this day, on Mount Ebal. And you shall coat them with plaster,

5 and you shall build, in that place, an altar to the Lord your God out of stones which have not been touched by iron,

6 out of stones which have not been hewn or polished. And you shall offer holocausts on it to the Lord your God.

7 And you shall immolate peace victims. And you shall eat and feast in that place, in the sight of the Lord your God.

8 And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law, plainly and clearly.”

9 And Moses and the priests of Levitical stock said to all of Israel: “Attend and listen, O Israel! Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.

10 You shall listen to his voice, and you shall do the commandments and justices, which I am entrusting to you.”

11 And Moses instructed the people in that day, saying:

12 “These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim, as a blessing to the people, when you will have crossed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 And in the opposite region, there shall stand upon Mount Ebal, as a curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 And the Levites shall pronounce and declare to all the men of Israel, with an exalted voice:

15 Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten idol, an abomination to the Lord, a work of the hands of its maker, and who puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall respond by saying: Amen.

16 Cursed be he who does not honor his father and mother. And all the people shall say: Amen.

17 Cursed be he who removes his neighbor’s landmarks. And all the people shall say: Amen.

18 Cursed be he who causes the blind to go astray on a journey. And all the people shall say: Amen.

19 Cursed be he who subverts the judgment of the new arrival, the orphan, or the widow. And all the people shall say: Amen.

20 Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, and so exposes the covering of his bed. And all the people shall say: Amen.

21 Cursed be he who lies with any beast. And all the people shall say: Amen.

22 Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or of his mother. And all the people shall say: Amen.

23 Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say: Amen.

24 Cursed be he who secretly strikes down his neighbor. And all the people shall say: Amen.

25 Cursed be he who accepts gifts in order to strike down the life of innocent blood. And all the people shall say: Amen.

26 Cursed be he who does not remain in the words of this law, and does not carry them out in deed. And all the people shall say: Amen.”

1 “So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth.

2 And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts.

3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep.

5 Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses.

6 Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

7 The Lord will grant that your enemies, who rise up against you, will fall down in your sight. They will come against you by one way, and they will flee from your face by seven ways.

8 The Lord will send forth a blessing upon your cellars, and upon all the works of your hands. And he will bless you in the land that you shall receive.

9 The Lord will raise you up as a holy people for himself, just as he swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways.

10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord has been invoked over you, and they shall fear you.

11 The Lord will cause you be abundant in every good thing: in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, which the Lord swore to your fathers that he would give to you.

12 The Lord will open his excellent treasury, the heavens, so that it may distribute rain in due time. And he will bless all the works of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you yourself will borrow nothing from anyone.

13 And the Lord will appoint you as the head, and not as the tail. And you shall be always above, and not beneath. But only if you will listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I entrust to you this day, and will keep and do them,

14 and will not turn aside from them, neither to the right, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.

15 But if you are not willing to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I instruct to you this day, all these curses shall come to you, and take hold of you.

16 Cursed shall you be in the city, cursed in the field.

17 Cursed shall be your barn, and cursed your storehouses.

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.

19 Cursed shall you be entering, and cursed departing.

20 The Lord will send famine and hunger upon you, and a rebuke upon all the works that you do, until he quickly crushes and perishes you, because of your very wicked innovations, by which you have forsaken me.

21 May the Lord join a pestilence to you, until he consumes you from the land, which you shall enter so as to possess.

22 May the Lord strike you with destitution, with fever and cold, with burning and heat, and with polluted air and rot, and may he pursue you until you perish.

23 May the heavens which are above you be of brass, and may the ground upon which you tread be of iron.

24 May the Lord give you dust instead of rain upon your land, and may ashes descend from heaven over you, until you have been wiped away.

25 May the Lord hand you over to fall before your enemies. May you go forth against them by one way, and flee by seven ways, and may you be scattered across all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 And may your carcass be food for all the flying things of the air and the wild beasts of the land, and may there be no one to drive them away.

27 May the Lord strike you with the ulcer of Egypt, and may he strike the part of your body, through which the dung goes out, with disease as well as itch, so much so that you are unable to be cured.

28 May the Lord strike you with frenzy and blindness and a madness of the mind.

29 And may you grope at midday, just as a blind man is accustomed to grope in darkness, and may your paths not be straight. And at all times may you suffer slander and be oppressed with violence, and may you have no one who may free you.

30 May you take a wife, though another sleeps with her. May you build a house, but not live within it. May you plant a vineyard, and not gather its vintage.

31 May your ox be immolated before you, though you do not eat from it. May your donkey be seized in your sight, and not restored to you. May your sheep be given to your enemies, and may there be no one who may help you.

32 May your sons and your daughters be handed over to another people, as your eyes watch and languish at the sight of them throughout the day, and may there be no strength in your hand.

33 May a people you do not know eat the fruits of your land and of all your labors. And may you continually suffer from slander and oppression every day.

34 And may you be stupefied at the terror of the things your eyes will see.

35 May the Lord strike you with a very grievous ulcer in the knees and in the legs, and may you be unable to attain health, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head.

36 May the Lord lead you and your king, whom you will have appointed over yourself, into a nation which you and your fathers have not known. And there you will serve foreign gods, of wood and of stone.

37 And you will become nothing but a proverb and a fable to all the peoples to whom the Lord will lead you.

38 You will sow much seed upon the ground, but you will harvest little. For the locusts will devour everything.

39 You will dig and plant a vineyard, but you will not drink the wine, nor gather anything at all from it. For it will be devastated by worms.

40 You will have olive trees in all your borders, but you will not be anointed with the oil. For the olives will fall off and perish.

41 You will conceive sons and daughters, and you will not enjoy them. For they will be led into captivity.

42 Rot will consume all the trees, as well as the fruits of your land.

43 The new arrival who lives with you in the land will ascend over you, and be higher. But you will descend, and be lower.

44 He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him. He will be as the head, and you will be as the tail.

45 And all these curses shall come to you, and shall pursue you, and shall take hold of you, until you pass away, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and you would not serve his commandments and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.

46 And there will be the signs and portents with you, and with your offspring, forever.

47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God, with gladness and a joyful heart, over the abundance of all things.

48 You will serve your enemy, whom the Lord will send to you, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, and in destitution of all things. And he will place an iron yoke upon your neck, until he has crushed you.

49 The Lord will lead over you a nation from far away, even from the furthest parts of the earth, like an eagle flying with great force, whose language you are not able to understand:

50 a very insolent nation, which will show no deference to elders, nor take pity on little ones.

51 And he will devour the fruit of your cattle, and the fruits of your land, until you have passed away, without leaving behind you wheat, or wine, or oil, or herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep: until he utterly destroys you.

52 And he will crush you in all your cities. And your strong and lofty walls, in which you trusted, will be destroyed throughout all your land. You will be besieged within your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

53 And you will eat the fruit of your womb, and the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the Lord your God will give to you, due to the anguish and devastation with which your enemy will oppress you.

54 The man who is pampered and very self-indulgent among you will vie with his own brother, and with the wife who lies at his bosom,

55 lest he give to them from the flesh of his sons, which he will eat. For he has nothing else due to the siege and the destitution, with which your enemies will devastate you within all your gates.

56 The tender and pampered woman, who would not walk upon the soil, nor step firmly with her foot due to her very great softness and tenderness, will vie with her husband, who lies at her bosom, over the flesh of son and of daughter,

57 and over the filth of the afterbirth, which goes forth from between her thighs, and over the children who are born in the same hour. For they will eat them secretly, due to the scarcity of all things during the siege and the devastation, with which your enemy will oppress you within your gates.

58 If you will not keep and do all the words of this law, which have been written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name, that is, the Lord your God,

59 then the Lord will increase your plagues, and the plagues of your offspring, plagues great and long-lasting, infirmities very grievous and continuous.

60 And he will turn back upon you all the afflictions of Egypt, which you fear, and these will cling to you.

61 In addition, the Lord will lead over you all the diseases and plagues that are not written in the volume of this law, until he crushes you.

62 And you will remain few in number, though you were before like the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

63 And just as before, when the Lord rejoiced over you, doing good for you and multiplying you, so shall he rejoice, scattering and overturning you, so as to take you away from the land, which you shall enter in order to possess.

64 The Lord will disperse you among all the peoples, from the heights of the earth to its furthest limits. And there you will serve foreign gods of wood and of stone, which you and your fathers did not know.

65 Similarly, you will not have tranquility, even within those nations, nor will there be any rest for the steps of your feet. For the Lord will give to you in that place a fearful heart, and failing eyes, and a life consumed with grieving.

66 And your life will be as if it were hanging before you. You will be afraid night and day, and you will not have confidence in your own life.

67 In the morning you will say, ‘Who will grant evening to me?’ and at evening, ‘Who will grant morning to me?’ because of the dread of your heart, with which you will be terrified, and because of those things that you will see with your eyes.

68 The Lord will lead you back into Egypt with a fleet of ships, along the way, about which he said to you that you would not see it again. In that place, you will be put up for sale as men and women servants to your enemies, but there will be no one willing to buy you.”

1 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord instructed Moses to form with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, beside that covenant which he struck with them at Horeb.

2 And Moses called all of Israel, and he said to them: “You have seen all the things that the Lord has done in your sight in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to his entire land:

3 the great trials, which your eyes have seen, those immense signs and wonders.

4 But the Lord has not given you an understanding heart, and seeing eyes, and ears that are able to hear, even to this present day.

5 He led you for forty years through the desert. Your garments have not been worn out, nor have the shoes on your feet been consumed by age.

6 You did not eat bread, nor did you drink wine or liquor, so that you would know that I am the Lord your God.

7 And you arrived at this place. And Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, went out to meet us in battle. And we struck them down.

8 And we took their land and delivered it as a possession to Ruben and to Gad, and to half of the tribe of Manasseh.

9 Therefore, keep the words of this covenant, and fulfill them, so that you may understand all that you are doing.

10 Today, you all stand in the sight of the Lord your God: your leaders, and tribes, and those greater by birth, and teachers, all the people of Israel,

11 your children and wives, and the new arrival who dwells with you in the camp, aside from those who cut wood, and those who bring water,

12 so that you may cross into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into the oath which the Lord your God strikes with you today.

13 So shall he raise you up as a people to himself, and so shall he be your God, just as he has spoken to you, and just as he swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 And I am not forming this covenant and confirm these oaths with you alone,

15 but with all those who are present as well as those who are absent.

16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of nations. And when passing through them,

17 you saw their abominations and filth, that is, their idols of wood and of stone, of silver and of gold, which they worshipped,

18 so that there would not be among you man or woman, family or tribe, whose heart has been turned away this day from the Lord our God, so as to go and serve the gods of those nations. For then there would be among you a root springing forth gall and bitterness.

19 And if he were to hear the words of this oath, he would bless himself in his own heart saying: ‘There will be peace for me, and I will walk in the depravity of my heart.’ And so, the one who is inebriated would consume the one who is thirsty.

20 But the Lord would not ignore him. Instead, at that time, his fury and zealousness would be very greatly enflamed against that man, and all the curses which have been written in this volume would settle upon him. And the Lord would abolish his name from under heaven,

21 and consume him unto perdition out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses which are contained in the book of this law and in the covenant.

22 And the subsequent generation would speak out, along with the sons who will be born afterward. And the sojourners, who will arrive from far away, will see the plagues of that land and the infirmities with which the Lord will have afflicted it,

23 having burned it with sulphur and molten salt, so that it can no longer be sown. And certainly no greenery would spring up, as in the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overturned with his wrath and fury.

24 And so, all the nations would say: ‘Why has the Lord acted this way toward this land? What is this immense wrath of his fury?’

25 And they will respond: ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, which he formed with their fathers, when he led them away from the land of Egypt.

26 And they have served foreign gods, and adored them, though they did not know them, and though they had not been allotted to them.

27 For this reason, the fury of the Lord was enraged against this land, so as to lead over it all the curses which have been written in this volume.

28 And he has cast them out of their own land, with anger and fury, and with a very great indignation, and he has thrown them into a strange land, just as has been proven this day.’

29 These hidden things of the Lord our God have been revealed to us and to our sons in perpetuity, so that we may accomplish all the words of this law.”

1 “Now when all these things will have fallen over you, the blessing or the curse that I have set forth in your sight, and you will have been led to repentance in your heart among all the nations to which the Lord your God will have dispersed you,

2 and when you will have returned to him, so as to obey his commandments, just as I have instructed you this day, with your sons, with your whole heart and with your whole soul,

3 then the Lord your God will lead you away from your captivity, and he will take pity on you, and he will gather you again from all the nations to which he had dispersed you before.

4 Even if you will have been scattered as far as the poles of the heavens, the Lord your God will retrieve you from there.

5 And he will take you up and lead you into the land which your fathers had possessed, and you shall obtain it. And in blessing you, he will make you greater in number than your fathers ever were.

6 The Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, so that you may love the Lord your God with your entire heart and with your entire soul, so that you may be able to live.

7 And he will turn all these curses upon your enemies, and upon those who hate and persecute you.

8 But you shall return, and you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God. And you shall carry out all the commandments which I am entrusting to you this day.

9 And the Lord your God will cause you to abound in all the works of your hands, in the progeny of your womb, and in the fruit of your cattle, in the fertility of your land, and with an abundance of all things. For the Lord will return, so that he may rejoice over you in all good things, just as he rejoiced in your fathers:

10 but only if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep his precepts and ceremonies, which have been written in this law, and only if you return to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 This commandment, which I entrust to you today, is not high above you, nor has it been placed far away.

12 Nor is it in heaven, so that you would be able to say, ‘Which of us can ascend to heaven, so as to carry it back to us, and so that we may hear it and fulfill it in deed?’

13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you would excuse yourself by saying, ‘Which of us is able to cross the sea, and to carry it back to us, so that we may be able to hear and to do what has been instructed?’

14 Instead, the word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.

15 Consider what I have set forth in your sight this day, life and good, or, on the opposite side, death and evil,

16 so that you may love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and so that you may live, and he may multiply you and bless you in the land, which you shall enter in order to possess.

17 But if your heart will have been turned aside, so that you are not willing to listen, and, having been deceived by error, you adore strange gods and serve them,

18 then I predict to you this day that you will perish, and you will remain for only a short time in the land, for which you shall cross the Jordan, and which you shall enter in order to possess.

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your offspring may live,

20 and so that you may love the Lord your God, and obey his voice, and cling to him, (for he is your life and the length of your days) and so that you may live in the land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them.”