Deuteronomy 26–27

26“And then^a when you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and you settle in it, ²then you shall take from the firstfruit of all the fruit of the ground that you harvest from your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose to make his name to dwell there. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and you shall say, ‘I declare today^b to Yahweh your God that I have come into the land that Yahweh swore to our ancestors^c to give to us.’ ⁴Then the priest takes the basket from your hand and places it before^d the altar of Yahweh your God. ⁵And you shall declare^e and you shall say before^f your God, ‘My ancestor^g was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, and there he dwelt as an alien few in number,^h and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. ⁶And the Egyptians treated us badly, and they oppressed us and imposed on us hard labor. ⁷And we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors,ⁱ and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. ⁸And Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and with wonders. ⁹And he brought us to this place and gave to us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And now, look, I am bringing^j the firstfruit of the fruit of the ground that you gave to me, Yahweh,’ and you shall place it before^k Yahweh your God, and you shall bow down before^l Yahweh your God. ¹¹And you shall celebrate with all of the bounty that Yahweh your God gave to you and to your family, you and the Levite and the alien who is in your midst.

¹²“When you are finished giving a tithe,^m all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied. ¹³And you shall say beforeⁿ Yahweh your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the^o house and, moreover, I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan and to the widow according to all your commandment that you commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten any of them. ¹⁴I have not eaten during my time of mourning, and I have not removed anything from it while being unclean, and I have not offered any of it^p to someone who has died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me to do. ¹⁵Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land that you have given to us, as you swore to our ancestors,^q a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶“This day Yahweh your God is commanding you to do these rules and regulations, and you must observe them diligently^r with all your heart and with all your soul.^{s 17}Yahweh you have declared today^t to be for you as your God, and to go^u in his ways and to observe his rules and his commandments and his regulations and to listen to his voice. ¹⁸And Yahweh has declared you today^v to be for him as a people, a treasured possession, as he promised^w to you, and that you are to observe all his commandments, ¹⁹and that he then will set you^x high above all the nations that he has made for his praise and for fame^y and for honor and for you to be a holy people^z to Yahweh your God, as he promised.”^a

Ceremonies

27Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying,^a “Keep all of the commandment that I am commanding you today.^{b 2}And then on the day that you cross the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, then you shall set up for yourselves^c large stones, and you shall paint^d them with lime, ³and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^e promised^f to you. ⁴And when you cross the Jordan,^g you shall set up these stones that I am commanding you about today^h on Mount Ebal, and you shall paintⁱ them with lime. ⁵And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but^j you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones.^{k 6}You must build the altar of your God with unhewn stones, and you shall sacrifice on it burnt offerings to Yahweh your God. ⁷And you shall sacrifice fellowship offerings, and you shall eat them there, and you shall rejoice before^l Yahweh your God. ⁸You shall write on the stone all of the words of this law very clearly.”

⁹Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying,^m “Be silent and hear, Israel, for this day you have become a peopleⁿ for Yahweh your God. ¹⁰And listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and observe his commandments and his rules that I am commanding you today.”^o

Blessings and Curses

¹¹And Moses charged the people on that day, saying,^{p 12}“These tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you cross^q the Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for delivering the curse: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall declare,^r and they shall say to each man of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵‘Cursed be the man that makes a divine image or a cast image, which is a detestable thing for Yahweh, the work of the hand of a skilled craftsman, and then sets it in a hiding place.’^s And all the people shall respond,^t ‘Amen.’

¹⁶‘Cursed be the one who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all of the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁷‘Cursed be the one who moves the boundary marker of his neighbor.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁸‘Cursed be the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

¹⁹‘Cursed be the one who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁰‘Cursed be the one who lies with the wife of his father, because he has dishonored his father’s bed.’^u And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²¹‘Cursed be the one who lies with any kind of animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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

²³‘Cursed be the one who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁴‘Cursed be the one who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁵‘Cursed be the one who takes a bribe to murder an innocent person.’^v And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

²⁶‘Cursed be the one who does not keep^w the words of this law, to observe them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ”