1 »Israel, listen to these laws and teachings! If you obey them you will live! Go in and take the land that Jehovah the God of your fathers is giving you.

2 »He is your God. I am telling you everything he has commanded. So do not add anything or take anything away.

3 »You saw how he killed everyone who worshiped the god Baal at Peor.

4 »But all of you who were faithful to Jehovah your God are still alive today.

5 »I have taught you laws and rules as Jehovah my God commanded me. You must obey them when you enter the land and take possession of it.

6 »Carefully obey the laws. For this will show your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations. They will hear all these statutes and say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

7 »What great nation is there, who has God so near to them? For we call on Jehovah our God for all things!

8 »And what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments so righteous as the law I present to you this day?

9 »Be on your guard! Make sure you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

10 »Do you remember the day you stood in the presence of Jehovah your God at Mount Sinai Horeb? He said to me: ‘assemble the people. I want them to hear what I have to say, so that they will learn to obey me as long as they live. Then they will teach their children to do the same.’

11 »Tell your children how you went close and stood at the foot of the mountain covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky.

12 »Tell them how Jehovah spoke to you from the fire. Tell them that you heard him speak but did not see him in any form at all.

13 »He told you what you must do to keep the covenant he made with you. You must obey the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets.

14 »Jehovah told me to teach you all the laws that you are to obey in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

15 »Be careful! When God spoke to you from the fire, he was invisible.

16 »Do not commit the sin of worshiping idols. Do not make idols to be worshiped, whether they are shaped like men, women,

17 animals on the earth, birds that fly in the air,

18 or they are like reptiles that creep on the ground, or fish from the water.

19 »Do not be tempted to bow down and worship the sun or moon or stars the host or army of the heavens. Jehovah put them there a heritage for all the people under the heavens.

20 »But you are Jehovah’s people! He led you through fiery trials and rescued you from Egypt.

21 »Furthermore, Jehovah was angry with me because of you. So Jehovah your God took an oath that I would not cross the Jordan River and enter the good land he is giving you as your property inheritancepossession.

22 »I am going to die in this land. I will not cross the Jordan River. But you are going to go across and take possession of that good land.

23 »Take care of yourselves. Do not forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you. Do not make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which Jehovah your God has forbidden.

24 »For Jehovah your God is a consuming fire, even a totally demanding zealous God. He requires exclusive devotion!

25 »When you have children, and grandchildren, and you have remained in the land a long time do not corrupt yourselves. If you make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and do evil in the sight of Jehovah your God, you will provoke him to anger:

26 »I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you will soon utterly perish from off the land you possess the other side of the Jordan. You will not prolong your days upon it, but will be destroyed.

27 »Jehovah will scatter you among the nations. You will become few in number among the heathen, where Jehovah will lead you.

28 »You will serve gods that are the work of men's hands. Made of wood and stone. They cannot see, hear, eat or smell.

29 »From there you will seek Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your being. And you will find him!

30 »When you are in trouble distress and all these things happen to you in the latter days, turn to Jehovah your God and obey his voice.

31 »Jehovah your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you. He will not destroy you, nor forget the covenant he made with your fathers.

32 »Ask about the days from the past. A time that came before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth. And ask from one side of heaven to the other whether there has ever been anything like this great thing, or anything like it has been heard?

33 »Did people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

34 »Has God attempted to take a nation from the middle of another nation? Has he done this by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by great terrors? Yes, and by the use of his great power! Jehovah your God did all this for you in Egypt before your very eyes!

35 »This was shown to you that you might know that JEHOVAH IS GOD! THERE IS NO ONE BESIDES HIM!

36 »He made you hear his voice out of heaven. That way he could instruct teachcorrectdiscipline you. He showed you his great fire on the earth. You heard his words from the middle of the fire.

37 »He loved your fathers. Therefore he chose their descendants. In fact he watched over you and he brought you out of Egypt with his mighty power.

38 »He drove out nations far greater than you so that he could bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance as it is today.

39 »Know this and consider it in your heart today: JEHOVAH IS GOD in heaven above, and on the earth beneath: THERE IS NO ONE ELSE!

40 »You must keep the regulations and commandments I commanded you today. Then all will go well with you and with your children after you. You may prolong your days on the earth that Jehovah your God gives you for all time.«

41 Moses set aside three cities on the east side of the Jordan.

42 Those who unintentionally killed someone whom they had never hated could flee to one of these cities and save their lives.

43 The cities were Bezer on the desert plateau for the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.

44 Moses gave God's Laws and teachings to the people of Israel.

45 After they came out of Egypt they were in the valley east of the Jordan River he gave them the laws.

46 They were near the town of Bethpeor. This was in the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt.

47 They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the other Amorite king who lived east of the Jordan.

48 This land extended from the town of Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon River, north to Mount Sirion, that is, Mount Hermon.

49 It included the region east of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea and east to the foot of Mount Pisgah.