Deuteronomy 10

Tablets Like the First Ones

At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets^a like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”^b

So I made the ark out of acacia wood^c and chiseled^d out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments^e he had proclaimed^f to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^g And the Lord gave them to me. Then I came back down the mountain^h and put the tablets in the arkⁱ I had made,^j as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.^k

(The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah.^l There Aaron died^m and was buried, and Eleazarⁿ his son succeeded him as priest.^o From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.^p At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^q to carry the ark of the covenant^r of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister^s and to pronounce blessings^t in his name, as they still do today.^u That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^v as the Lord your God told them.)

Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.^w “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the Lord

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you^a but to fear^b the Lord your God, to walk^c in obedience to him, to love him,^d to serve the Lord^e your God with all your heart^f and with all your soul,^g and to observe the Lord’s commands^h and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?ⁱ

To the Lord your God belong the heavens,^jkl even the highest heavens,^mn the earth and everything in it.^o Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^p them, and he chose you,^q their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^r Circumcise^s your hearts,^t therefore, and do not be stiff-necked^u any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods^v and Lord of lords,^w the great God, mighty and awesome,^x who shows no partiality^y and accepts no bribes.^z He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,^a and loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing.^b And you are to love^c those who are foreigners,^d for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.^e Fear the Lord your God and serve him.^f Hold fast^g to him and take your oaths in his name.^h He is your praise;ⁱ he is your God, who performed for you those great^j and awesome wonders^k you saw with your own eyes. Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all,^l and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.^m