Deuteronomy 11–12

Chapter 11

Rewards of Obedience

¹“You shall therefore ^alove the Lord your God, and always ^bkeep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

²“Know this day ^athat I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the ¹discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm,

³and ^aHis signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

⁴and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, ^awhen He made the water of the ¹Red Sea to ²engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord ³completely destroyed them;

⁵and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

⁶and ^awhat He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and ^bevery living thing that ¹followed them, among all Israel—

⁷but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.

⁸“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, ^aso that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;

^9aso that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their ¹descendants, ^ba land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰“For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your ¹foot like a vegetable garden.

¹¹“But ^athe land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

¹²a land for which the Lord your God cares; ^athe eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the ¹beginning even to the end of the year.

¹³“It shall come about, ^aif you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, ^bto love the Lord your God and to serve Him ^cwith all your heart and all your soul,

¹⁴that ^1aHe will give the rain for your land in its season, the ^2bearly and ³late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.

¹⁵“^1aHe will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and ^byou will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶“^1aBeware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.

¹⁷“Or ^athe anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will ^bshut up the heavens ^cso that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and ^dyou will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸“^aYou shall therefore ¹impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as ²frontals ³on your forehead.

¹⁹“^aYou shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.

²⁰“^aYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹so that ^ayour days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as ^1blong as the heavens remain above the earth.

²²“For if you are ^acareful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, ^bto love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and ^chold fast to Him,

²³then the Lord will ^adrive out all these nations from before you, and you will ^bdispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

²⁴“^aEvery place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; ^byour border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as ¹the western sea.

²⁵“^aNo man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

²⁶“^aSee, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:

²⁷the ^ablessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today;

²⁸and the ^acurse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, ¹by following other gods which you have not known.

²⁹“It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, ^athat you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

³⁰“Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite ^aGilgal, beside ^bthe ¹oaks of Moreh?

³¹“For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and ^ayou shall possess it and live in it,

³²and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

Chapter 12

Laws of the Sanctuary

¹“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess ^1aas long as you live on the ²earth.

²“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the ^ahigh mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

³“^aYou shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their ¹Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and ^bobliterate their name from that place.

⁴“You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God.

⁵“^aBut you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

⁶“There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, ^ayour tithes, the ¹contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

⁷“There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^arejoice in all ¹your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

⁹for you have not as yet come to ^athe resting place and the ^binheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁰“When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and ^aHe gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

^11athen it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the ¹contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

¹²“And you shall ^arejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^bLevite who is within your gates, since ^che has no portion or inheritance with you.

¹³“^aBe careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

¹⁴but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵“^aHowever, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, ¹whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of ^bthe gazelle and the deer.

¹⁶“^aOnly you shall not eat the blood; ^byou are to pour it out on the ground like water.

¹⁷“^aYou are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the ¹contribution of your hand.

¹⁸“But ^ayou shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^bthe place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the ^cLevite who is within your gates; and you shall ^drejoice before the Lord your God in all ¹your undertakings.

¹⁹“^aBe careful that you do not forsake the Levite ¹as long as you live in your land.

²⁰“When the Lord your God extends your border ^aas He has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because ¹you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, ²whatever you desire.

²¹“If the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates ¹whatever you desire.

²²“Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

²³“Only be sure ^anot to eat the blood, for the blood is the ¹life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴“You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

²⁵“You shall not eat it, so that ^ait may be well with you and your sons after you, for ^byou will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

²⁶“^aOnly your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses.

²⁷“And ^ayou shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and ^byou shall eat the flesh.

²⁸“Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that ^ait may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

²⁹“When ^athe Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

³⁰beware that you are not ensnared ¹to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

³¹“^aYou shall not behave thus toward the …