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Previous Story - INDEX - Next Story On The Border 1. Moses Reviews The Lord's Leading 2. Moses Not Allowed To Enter The Promised Land 3. The Covenant Of The Ten Commandments 4. A Recall Of The Ten Commandments 5. Exhortations And Warnings 6. Warnings Against Apostasy 7. God's Gracious Dealings 8. Remember That Is Is Not Your Righteousness 9. Recounting The Replacement Tablets Of Stone 10. Reasons For Obedience 11. Blessings And Curses 12. Moses Final Words 13. The Blessings Of Moses 14. Moses Sees The Promised Land From The Top Of Mount Nebo 1. Moses Reviews The Lord's Leading - Back to Page Index Deuteronomy 1:1-46 This is what Moses said to Israel before they crossed the Jordon River in the wilderness, in Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. It is an eleven day journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadeshbarnea. On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had told him to tell them. This was after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei. East of the Jordon in the land of Moab, Moses began to repeat the LORD's words, saying, "The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain.' Turn and head for the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the lowlands of the Negev by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, all the way to Lebanon and as far as the Euphrates River. I have placed the land before you that you may possess the land which I swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to their descendants. I Moses told you that I could not bear the burden of you by myself. The LORD has multiplied you to be as the stars of heaven. May the LORD, the God of your fathers, multiply you a thousand fold more, just as He has promised. How can I alone bear the burden of you and your strivings? Choose wise and discerning men, men of experience from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as rulers over you. You did as I asked. So I appointed these men as captains over hundreds, fifties and tens, among your tribes. I charged your judges at that time to hear the cases and judge righteously between individuals, both countryman and alien. Do not show partiality in your judgment. Listen to the small and the great alike. Have no fear, for judgment belongs to God. If a case is too difficult for you, then bring it to me. I explained everything you were to do. Then we set out from Horeb and passed through the great and terrible wilderness by way of the Amorites. And just as the LORD our God commanded, we came to Kadeshbarnea. I told you that the LORD was about to give you the hill country of the Amorites. You were to take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers had told you. You were not to be afraid. Then you approached me and asked to send men to spy out the land so that we might know the best way to take it. I agreed and we sent twelve men, one from each tribe. These men went up to the valley of Eshcol in the hill country to spy it out. They brought back some of the fruit from the area and reported that it was a good land which the LORD our God was about to give to us. In spite of this, you were not willing to go, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You murmured in your tents and said that God hated you and brought you from Egypt to be destroyed by the Amorites. Your hearts melted with fear at the thought of meeting these people who were bigger and taller than you. Their cities were large and well fortified. And the sons of Anakim especially frightened you. I told you not to be afraid of them. The LORD your God is the One who goes before you and He will fight for you, just as He did in Egypt. You saw how He carried you in the wilderness everywhere you went, just as man carries his son. In spite of this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who has always gone before you, directing you to your next camp site, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, showing you the way to go. When you were afraid to take the land the LORD had given you, He was angry with you, and made a promise, saying, not one of the men of this generation shall see the good land I promised to your fathers. The exception will be Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it and to him and his sons I will give the land on which he will walk, because he has followed the LORD fully." "The LORD was also angry with me because of you, telling me that I would not enter the land with you. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter the land. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit the land. And your little ones whom you said would become prey, and your sons, who have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter the land God will give to them. They will possess it. You turned and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea." "Then it was that you said, 'We have sinned against the LORD. We will gladly go up and fight, just as the LORD has commanded.' And you took up your weapons of war and thought it would be an easy campaign. The LORD told me to tell you not to go up and fight because He would not be among you and you would be defeated. So I warned you but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of the LORD. You acted with presumption and went up to the hill country. The Amorites who live there came out against you like bees, chasing you from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but He did not listen to you. So you remained in Kadesh many days." Deuteronomy 2:1-37 "For forty years the LORD your God has blessed you in every way through all your wanderings in the wilderness. You have had everything you needed. So we passed by our brothers the sons of Esau who lived in Seir on our way to the wilderness of Moab. Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not provoke Moab, for I will not give you any of their land because I have given it to the sons of Lot.' The Emim lived there before the Moabites. They were tall like the Anakim, and there were many of them. Like the Anakim, they were regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites called them Emim. The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau destroyed them and settled in their place." The LORD told us to arise and cross over the brook Zered, and we did. "It took us thirty eight years to come from Kadeshbarnea to the brook Zered. During this time all of the generation of the men of war perished, as the LORD had sworn. In fact, the hand of the LORD was against them and destroyed them." "So it came about that when all the men of war had finally perished from among our people, the LORD said to me, today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab. When you come near the sons of Ammon, do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land because I have given it to the sons of Lot. It too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim who formerly lived there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzummin. They were people like the Anakim, but the LORD destroyed them, and settled the Ammonites in their place, just as He did for the sons of Esau who lived in Seir when He destroyed the Horites from before them. And they have live there to this day. He destroyed the Avvim who lived in the villages as far as Gaza, and the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor. Arise, set out and pass through the valley of Arnon. See! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon and his land to you. Go into battle with him and take possession of his land. Today I will bring the dread of you upon all the nations under heaven when they hear about you." "So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, let us pass through your land. We will stay on the highway and turn neither to the right or the left. We will pay for food and water. Just let us pass through, as we did with the sons of Esau and the Moabites who live in Ar, so that we may cross over the Jordon into the land which the LORD our God is giving to us. But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us pass through his land, for the LORD hardened his heart, in order to deliver him into your hand. The LORD told me He was doing this so that you might possess his land." "Then Sihon came out to meet us in battle with all his people at Jahaz. The LORD our God delivered him to us and we defeated him and all his people. We captured his cities and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivors. We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we captured. From Aroer on the edge of the valley of Arnon all the way to Gilead there was no city too strong for us. The LORD our God delivered all of them unto us. Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, just as the LORD had commanded us."
"Thus we took the land at that time from the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, from Arnon to Mount Hermon. The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion and the Amorites call it Senir." You were given all the cities of the plain, and all of Gilead, all of Bashan, as far as Salchah and Edrei which belonged to Og in Bashan. Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bedstead was made of iron. It is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and is nine cubits long and four cubit wide. "At that time we took possession of the land, from Aroer in the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities which I gave to the tribes of Reuben and Gad." And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. This was all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. "Jair the Son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites and changed its name from Bashan to Havothjair after himself. To Machir I gave Gilead. To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave Gilead from the middle of the valley of Arnon to the river Jabbok on the border of the sons of Ammon. I also gave them the plain and the coast from Chinnereth to the plain of the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east. At that time I told you that the LORD your God has given you this land to possess. But all of your valiant men shall cross the Jordan armed for war to help your brothers. But your wives and little ones, your livestock shall remain in the cities which I have given you. You are to help your brothers until the LORD has given them rest beyond the Jordan. Then you may return to the possession I have given you." "I commanded Joshua at that time, saying to him, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.' Do not fear them, for the LORD your God shall fight for you." "At that time I also pleaded with the LORD, saying, 'O LORD God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strength. What god is there who can do the things You do?' Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon. But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. Enough! He said. Speak no more about this to Me. Go to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes looking to the west, the north, the south and the east. There you will see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over the Jordan. Charge Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people. From Pisgah you will see the land I am giving to them. So we remained in the valley opposite Bethpeor."
"Remember the day you stood before your God at Mount Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people, that I may let them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days of their lives and teach My words to their children.' You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire and there were dark clouds and a thick gloom. Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard His words, though you did not see His form. He declared His covenant and commanded you to perform it, that is the Ten Commandments. He wrote them on two tablets of stone. At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and judgments so that you might perform them in the land you are going over to possess. So watch yourselves carefully, though you did not see the LORD's form in the midst of the fire at Horeb, see that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, male or female, or any likeness of any animal, or bird, or anything resembling anything that creeps on the ground, or like any fish in the water. Beware that you do not lift up your eyes to worship the sun, the moon or the stars. The LORD has brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt to be His own possession." "Now the LORD was angry with me because of you and swore that I would not cross the Jordon and enter the good land with you which He is giving you for an inheritance. I am going to die in this land. I will not cross over the Jordon, but you will. So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you. The LORD has commanded you to not make for yourselves a graven image of anything. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire and a jealous God." "When you have children, and grandchildren, and have remained in the land for a long time, and act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything, provoking God to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you, that you will surely perish quickly from the land you are about to possess. You will be utterly destroyed. The LORD will scatter you among the nations and you will be left few in number where you are driven. There you will serve gods which are the work of a man's hands, made of wood and stone. They will neither see, hear, eat or smell." "But at that time and from that place you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is compassionate. He will not fail you or forget the covenant He made with your fathers." "You may look to the former days and see that since creation nothing like this has ever happened. Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, and survived? Has any god ever taken for himself a nation from within another nation, using trials and wonders and a mighty hand as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt? You were shown these things that you might know that the LORD is God and there is none other like Him. He let you hear His voice from the heavens to teach you, showing you His great fire as He spoke His words from its midst. He loved your fathers and personally brought you out of Egypt by His great power. He drove nations out before you that were mightier than you, in order to bring you into this land as your inheritance. Know today and take it to heart, that the LORD is the God of heaven above and the earth below, and there is no other god. So you are to keep His statutes which I am giving you today, that it may be well with you and your children after you, and that you may live long in the land which the LORD your God is giving to you forever." Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordon to the east, places where a manslayer might flee if he had unintentionally killed his neighbor. In one of these cities he would be able to find refuge. Bezer in the wilderness of the plain of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan of the Manassites. Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, statutes and ordinances which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, while the children of Israel were across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. They also took the land of Og king of Bashan. These were the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east. Their land was from Aroer on the edge of the valley of Arnon to Mount Seir, that is, Mount Hermon, with all of Arabah east of the Jordan and as far as the sea of Arabah at the foot of Pisgah.
"You shall have no other gods before Me." "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments." "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six day you are to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work. This includes you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, even your ox and your donkey, your cattle and any stranger who may stay with you. Your servants need rest, too. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God brought you out with a mighty hand outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." "Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God has commanded, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you." "You shall not murder." "You shall not commit adultery." "You shall not steal." "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or desire his house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." "These words the LORD spoke with a great voice to your assembly at the mountain from within the fire of the cloud and thick gloom. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And when you had heard His voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain burned with fire, the heads of your tribes and your elders came near to me. You said to me, 'Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and greatness. We have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. He has spoken with us and yet we are still alive.' We fear that the fire will consume us and if we continue to hear His voice we will die, for who can continue to hear His voice and live? You go near and hear what the LORD has to say and then tell us all that the LORD has said, and we will listen and do it." "The LORD heard your request, and said, 'I have heard the words of this people and they have spoken well.' Oh that they had a heart to always fear Me and keep all My commandments. Then it would be well for them and their children, forever! Tell them to return to their tents. But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may tell you of all the commandments, statutes and judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving to them." "So you must be careful to do just as the LORD your God has commanded. Do not turn aside to the right or the left. You shall walk in all the ways the LORD your God has commanded, that you may live and that it may be well with you. This will prolong your days in the land which you will possess."
"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might. These words, which I am commanding you, shall be in your heart. You shall diligently teach them to your children when you sit in your house, when you walk along the path, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand in your mind. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Then when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He promised to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you splendid cities that you did not build, and houses already full of good things, like hewn cisterns you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then beware lest you forget that it was the LORD who brought you out from the house of slavery in Egypt." "You shall fear only the LORD your God. You shall worship Him and take your oaths in His name. Do not follow the other gods of the people who surround you. For the LORD your God is a jealous God. You do not want to kindle His anger against you lest He wipe you from the face of the earth." "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and His testimonies and statutes which He has commanded you. You shall do what is right and good in His sight so that you may go in and possess the good land that He swore to give to your fathers, by driving out all your enemies as He has promised." "In times to come, when your son asks you, 'What do the testimonies, statutes and judgments mean which the LORD commanded you?' Then you shall say to your son, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.' Moreover, we watched the LORD show great signs and wonders against Egypt and Pharaoh. He brought us up out of Egypt in order to give us the land He swore to our fathers. So the LORD commanded us to observe all His statutes for our own good. If we are careful to observe the LORD's commandments it will result in righteousness for us."
"You shall tear down their altars, sacred pillars and Asherim and burn their graven images. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. He has chosen you as His own possession from among all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not choose you because there were so many of you. In fact, you were the fewest of all peoples. The LORD chose you because of His oath to your forefathers. He brought you out with a mighty hand, redeeming you from the house of slavery at the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. Know that the LORD your God is faithful to keep His covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. He will repay those who hate Him. He will not delay in destroying them. Therefore, you shall keep the commandment, statutes and judgments of the LORD. Then it will come to pass, if you listen to these judgments and keep them, that the LORD your God will keep His covenant which He swore to your forefathers. He will love, bless and multiply you, blessing the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine and oil. He will increase your herds and flocks in the land which He swore to your forefathers. You shall be blessed above all peoples. None of your animals shall be barren. The LORD will remove sickness from among you. You shall consume all those the LORD shall deliver to you. You must show no pity on them, nor serve their gods." "If you should think that these nations are too great for you to dispossess, you shall not be afraid of them. Remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt. You witnessed great signs in the LORD's mighty outstretched arm as He brought you out of Egypt, and He will do the same to all those you are afraid of. Moreover, the LORD will send the hornet against them until they all perish. You shall not dread them, for the LORD your God is with you. He is a great and awesome God. He will clear out the nations before you little by little. It will not happen quickly lest the wild beasts overrun the land. The LORD your God will deliver them before you and destroy all of them. He will deliver their kings into your hand so that their names perish from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you. Burn their graven images with fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, or it will be a snare to you. You shall not bring any of these abominations into your house. You shall utterly abhor them, for these things are to be banned."
"So I came down from the mountain while it burned with fire, as I carried the two tables of stone. And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God, making for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned from the LORD so quickly. I threw the two tables of stone down and smashed them before your eyes. Then I fell down before the LORD for another forty days and nights. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the evil you did in the sight of the LORD by provoking Him to anger. I was afraid of His anger against you when He said He would destroy you. But I interceded and the LORD listened to me. He was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him and I prayed for him at the same time. I took the calf which you had made and burned it with fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to dust and threw the dust into the brook coming down from the mountain." "Again at Taberah and Massah, as well as at Kibroth-Hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. When the LORD sent you from KadeshBarnea to possess the land He was giving to you, you rebelled against His command. You did not believe Him or listen to His voice. You have been rebellious against the LORD from the first day I knew you." "So I fell down before the LORD the forty days and nights because the LORD said He would destroy you. I prayed to the LORD, and said, 'O LORD God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.' Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or sin. Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, 'The LORD was not able to bring them into the land He promised to give them. So He slew them in the wilderness.' Yet they are Your people, Your inheritance brought out of Egypt by Your great power and Your outstretched arm."
"You will recall that Israel set out from Beeroth Jaakan to Mosera. It was there that Aaron died and was buried. Then Eliezer his son ministered as priest in his place. From there Israel set out for Gudgodah and then to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to stand before the LORD to serve Him and bless His name. For this reason Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance." "I stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, like the first time, and the LORD listen to me and did not destroy you. Then the LORD told me to arise and go ahead of the people that they might go in and possess the land that He swore to their fathers." "Now Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and soul, and to keep the LORD's commandments and statutes which I am commanding you today for your good. Behold, the heavens and the earth, and everything in them belong to the LORD your God. Yet the LORD delighted in your fathers and loved them. He chose their seed after them, even you, above all people on the earth. So circumcise your heart, and be stiff necked no longer. For the LORD your God is the God above all gods and Lord of lords, who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you too were aliens in Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God, serving Him and clinging to Him, swearing by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, Who has done great and awesome things before your own eyes. Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy persons in all, and now the LORD has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven."
"Your own eyes have seen the great work the LORD has done. You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and possess the land which you are about to enter. If you keep every commandment you will prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land you are about to possess is not like Egypt from where you came. You used to plant and then carry water for your vegetable garden. But the land you are about to possess has hills and valleys and is watered from heaven. The eyes of the LORD are on this land all year long. If you listen and obey my commandments, and love and serve the LORD with all your heart and soul, then He will give you the early and later rain for your land so that you may gather in your grain, wine and oil. He will provide grass for your cattle and you will eat and be satisfied. Beware that you are not deceived and turn away to serve and worship other gods. Or else the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will stop the rain from watering the ground, and you will perish quickly from the land the LORD is giving you. Impress these words on your heart and soul. Bind them as a memorial on your hand. Keep them in the front of your thoughts. Teach them to your sons. Talk about them when you sit together in your house, when you go for a walk and when you lie down or rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers for as long as the heavens remain. For if you are careful to keep these commandments which I am giving to you, and love the LORD, walking in His ways and holding fast to Him, then the LORD will drive out all of the nations before you, and you will dispossess nations mightier than you. Every place you walk will be yours. Your borders will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river Euphrates all the way to the western sea. No man will be able to stand up to you because the LORD your God will lay the dread of you on all the places where you place your foot." "Today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God. And a curse if you do not listen to them, but turn aside to follow other gods which you have not known. When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are about to possess, you shall place a blessing on Mount Gerizim and a curse on Mount Ebal. They are across the Jordan toward the sunset in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh. You are about to possess the land the LORD your God is giving you. And you shall be careful to do all the statutes and judgments I am setting before you today."
"But if you do not obey the LORD your God, observing His commandments and statutes, all these curses shall come upon you. You will be cursed in the city and the country. Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. Your offspring will be cursed as will the produce of your ground and the increase of your herd and your flock. You will be cursed as you come in and cursed as you go out. The LORD will send curses, confusion and rebuke on all that you do until you are destroyed. This will be the result of your evil deeds and it will happen quickly because you have forsaken Me. The LORD will consume you with pestilence. He will smite you with consumption, fever, inflammation, fiery heat, the sword, blight and mildew. These will pursue you until you perish. The heaven over your head shall turn to bronze and the earth to iron. The LORD will make the rain to be dust and powder until you are destroyed. The LORD shall cause your enemies to defeat you. You will flee seven ways before them and all the kingdoms of the earth will witness this. Your carcasses will be food for birds and beasts and no one will frighten them away. The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt and scabs and an itch which will not heal. The LORD will smite you with madness, blindness and bewilderment of the heart. You will grope at noon like blind men. You will not prosper. You will be oppressed and robbed continually with no one to come to your aid. You shall betroth a wife and another man shall violate her. You will build a house but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but you will not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, though you will not eat of it. Your donkey shall be taken from you and you will not get it back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies and no one will rescue you. While you watch your sons and daughters shall be given to another people. And there will be nothing you can do about it. A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land. You will be oppressed and crushed continually. What you see will drive you mad. The LORD will strike you on the knees with boils that do not heal. They will spread from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. The LORD will bring you and your king to a nation neither you or your fathers knew of, and there you shall serve other gods made of wood and stone. You will become a horror and a proverb among the people where the LORD will drive you. You will plant much seed and harvest little after the locust eat it. You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will not gather the grapes or drink the wine, because it will be devoured by worms. You shall have olive trees throughout your land but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for the olives will drop off. You shall have sons and daughters but they will be taken from you into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. The alien among you shall rise above you and you will keep going lower. He shall lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He shall be the head and you will be the tail. So all of these curses will come upon you and overcome you, if you disobey the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and statutes. This outcome will be a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. This will happen if you do not serve the LORD your God with joy and a heart that is grateful for everything His hand has provided." Instead you will serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked and lack all things. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until you are destroyed. "The LORD will bring a nation against you from far off, even the ends of the earth. It will be a nation whose language you do not understand. This nation will be fierce, having no respect for the old, nor showing favor to the young. This nation shall eat the offspring of your herds and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed. You will be left without grain, new wine, oil or the increase of your herds and flocks. Everything you have will perish at their hand. This nation will besiege your towns and well fortified cities throughout your land which the LORD has given you. Your distress will be so great that you will eat the flesh of your sons and daughters. The refined man will become hostile toward his brother, and even toward his wife whom he has cherished and any of his children who survive. He will not share with then any of the flesh of his children since it is all that he has during this siege of the enemy who is oppressing all of your towns. The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not even let the sole of her foot touch the ground, shall be hostile toward her husband whom she has cherished and toward her son and daughter, toward her afterbirth and her children whom she has born. She will eat them secretly for lack of anything else. Such will be the great distress brought on by the enemy. If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear and honor the awesome name of the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants. They will be severe and lasting plagues of miserable and chronic sickness. He will bring on you all the diseases you feared in Egypt and you shall not be able to get rid of them. The LORD will bring diseases and plagues, not even mentioned in this book of the law. You will be destroyed. Then you shall be left few in number, rather than being as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God." "It shall come to pass that if you obey, and the LORD delights over you to make you prosper, so He shall also make you perish and tear you from the land if you do not obey Him." He will scatter you among the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone that you and your fathers did not know. "You will find no rest among those nations. Your heart will tremble, your eyes will fail and your soul will despair. Doubt and dread will hang over you day and night. You will have no assurance of life. In the morning your dread will make you wish it were evening and in the evening you will wish it were morning. The LORD will bring you by ship to Egypt never to see your homeland again. You will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you."
Then, in the presence of all Israel, Moses called Joshua and said to him, "Be strong and of good courage, for you shall go with this people into the land the LORD has sworn to their fathers. You shall give it to them as an inheritance. The LORD is the One who goes ahead of you. He will be with you and He will not fail you. Do not fear or be dismayed." So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all of the elders. Then Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel. Assemble all the men, women and children as well as the alien in your midst, so that everyone may hear and learn to fear the LORD, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Children who have not heard will learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross over the Jordan to possess." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, the time for you to die is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may commission him." So Moses and Joshua presented themselves at the tabernacle of the congregation. The LORD appeared in a pillar of cloud that stood over the doorway of the tabernacle. The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. And this people will arise and play the harlot with strange gods in the land to which they are going. They will forsake Me and break My covenant which I made with them. In that day My anger will be kindled against them, and I will forsake them, hiding My face from them. They will be consumed by many evils. When troubles engulf them, they will say, 'It seems that our God is no longer with us because of the evil we have done.' And I will surely hide My face from them because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. Now write this song and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it on their lips that it may be My witness against them. For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and prosperous, they will then turn to other gods and serve them while they spurn Me and break My covenant. Then when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song will testify to them, for I know their intention, which they are developing even today before they enter the land." So Moses wrote the song that same day and taught it to the children of Israel. Then he commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and speaking for the LORD, said to him, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you." When Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book, they were complete. Then Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and stubbornness. While I lived with you, you were rebellious against the LORD. How much more, then, after my death? Assemble all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call on heaven and earth as a witness against them. For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way I have commanded. Evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will provoke the LORD by doing what is evil in His sight." Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly the words of this entire song.
"Moses charged us with a law, a possession from the assembly of Jacob, and He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, and the tribes of Israel came together." "May Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few." Regarding Judah he said, "Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them, and may You help him against his adversaries." Of Levi he said, "Let your Thummin and your Urim belong to your godly man, whom You proved at Massah, with whom You considered at the waters of Meribah, who said of his father and mother, I did not consider them, and did not acknowledge his brothers, nor his sons, for they observed Your word, and kept Your covenant. They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob, and Your law to Israel. They shall put incense before You, and whole burnt offerings on Your altar. O LORD, bless his substance, and accept the work of his hands. Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him and hate him, so that they will not rise again." Of Benjamin he said, "May the beloved of the LORD dwell in security by Him, Who shields him all his days, and dwells between His shoulders." Of Joseph he said, "Blessed of the LORD be his hand, with choice things of heaven, with the dew, and from the deep lying beneath, and with the choice yield of the sun, and the choice produce of the months, with the best things of the ancient mountains, and the choice things of the everlasting hills, with the choice things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come to the head of Joseph, and to the crown of the one whose head was distinguished among his brothers. His majesty is as the firstborn of his ox, and his horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push the people all at once to the ends of the earth. And those are the tens of thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh." Of Zebulun he said, "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth and Issachar in your tents. They will call people to the mountain. There they will offer righteous sacrifices, for they will draw out the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand." Of Gad he said, "Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad. He lies down as a lion, and tears the arm, and also the crown of the head. Then he provides the first part for himself, the reserved ruler's portion, and he came with the leaders of the people. He executed the justice of the LORD, and His ordinances with Israel." Of Dan he said, "Dan is a lion's whelp that leaps forth from Bashan." Of Naphtali he said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full of blessing of the LORD, take possession of the sea and the south." Of Asher he said, "More blessed than sons is Asher. May he be favored by his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil. Your locks will be iron and bronze. And according to your days, so will your leisurely walk be." "There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drove out the enemy before you and said, 'Destroy!' So Israel dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded in a land of grain and new wine. His heaven drops down the dew. Blessed are you, O Israel. Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread on their high places."
Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when I said, 'I will give the land to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, opposite Bethpeor, but no man knows his place of burial to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, and his eyes were not dim or his vigor abated. So the children of Israel wept for Moses thirty days after he died. Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. And the children of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded through Moses. Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in Egypt against Pharaoh, his servants and all the land, and for the mighty power, and great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Jude 1:9
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