Deuteronomy 11 Cross References - BSB

¹ You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments. ² Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm; ³ the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land; ⁴ what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day; ⁵ what He did for you in the wilderness until you reached this place; ⁶ and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them. ⁷ For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done. ⁸ You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ⁹ and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. ¹² It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year. ¹³ So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. ¹⁵ And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. ¹⁶ But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, ¹⁷ or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers. ²² For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— ²³ then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea. ²⁵ No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you. ²⁶ See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, ²⁸ but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. ²⁹ When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh? ³¹ For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it, ³² be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

³⁵ You must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the LORD’s charge so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.”

¹ Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

⁴⁰ Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

¹ These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,

⁵ And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

¹² And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

¹⁶ For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

⁴⁵ that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!

¹ I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.

⁷ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here.

⁷⁴ deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

³⁴ Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

²⁴ and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him.

¹⁹ the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.

² Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. ³ He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

²⁶ And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

¹⁰ All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

¹⁹ So that your trust may be in the LORD, I instruct you today—yes, you.

²² But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:

¹² He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. ¹³ He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

²⁷ They performed His miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness, and it became dark—yet they defied His words. ²⁹ He turned their waters to blood and caused their fish to die. ³⁰ Their land teemed with frogs, even in their royal chambers. ³¹ He spoke, and insects swarmed—gnats throughout their country. ³² He gave them hail for rain, with lightning throughout their land. ³³ He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number. ³⁵ They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil. ³⁶ Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor. ³⁷ He brought Israel out with silver and gold, and none among His tribes stumbled. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them. ³⁹ He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night. ⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹ He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert. ⁴² For He remembered His holy promise to Abraham His servant. ⁴³ He brought forth His people with rejoicing, His chosen with shouts of joy. ⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations, that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor, ⁴⁵ that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!

⁹ He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.

²⁰ You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and You do so to this very day, both in Israel and among all mankind. And You have made a name for Yourself, as is the case to this day. ²¹ You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.

²³ And the Egyptians chased after them—all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen—and followed them into the sea. ²⁴ At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion. ²⁵ He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!” ²⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. ²⁹ But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹ When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

⁹ The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’ ¹⁰ But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹⁹ For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

¹¹ The waters covered their foes; not one of them remained.

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

²⁰ You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. ¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. ¹⁶ He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers. ¹⁷ But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. ¹⁸ They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. ¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?” ²¹ Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, ²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. ²³ Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. ²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. ²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. ²⁶ He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. ²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. ²⁹ So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. ³⁰ Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, ³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel. ³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. ³³ So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. ³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. ³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant. ³⁸ And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. ³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. ⁴⁰ How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³ when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. ⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. ⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet. ⁴⁸ He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹ He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰ He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague. ⁵¹ He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. ⁵² He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. ⁵³ He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies. ⁵⁴ He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired. ⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. ⁵⁶ But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. ⁵⁷ They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. ⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. ⁵⁹ On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely. ⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men. ⁶¹ He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary. ⁶² He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage. ⁶³ Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs. ⁶⁴ His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament. ⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. ⁶⁶ He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame. ⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. ⁶⁹ He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever. ⁷⁰ He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; ⁷¹ from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. ⁷² So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

³⁹ He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night. ⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹ He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

¹² Then they believed His promises and sang His praise. ¹³ Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel. ¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. ¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them. ¹⁶ In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. ¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram. ¹⁸ Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked. ¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. ²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, ²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ²³ So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them. ²⁴ They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. ²⁵ They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. ²⁶ So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness, ²⁷ to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁸ They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. ²⁹ So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. ³⁰ But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained. ³¹ It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. ³² At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them. ³³ For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips. ³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, ³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. ³⁶ They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds. ⁴⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. ⁴¹ He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴² Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand. ⁴³ Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity. ⁴⁴ Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress. ⁴⁵ And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion. ⁴⁶ He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive. ⁴⁷ Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise. ⁴⁸ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!

¹ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted ² a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly. ³ They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” ⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers, ⁷ and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!” ⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi! ⁹ Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. ¹¹ Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?” ¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us? ¹⁴ Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!” ¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” ¹⁶ And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷ Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.” ¹⁸ So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁹ When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation. ²⁰ And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” ²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?” ²³ Then the LORD said to Moses, ²⁴ “Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” ²⁵ So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” ²⁷ So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants. ²⁸ Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” ³¹ As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open, ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. ³⁴ At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!” ³⁵ And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

⁹ and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram, chosen by the congregation, who fought against Moses and Aaron with the followers of Korah who rebelled against the LORD. ¹⁰ And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire consumed 250 men. They serve as a warning sign.

³ “Our father died in the wilderness, but he was not among the followers of Korah who gathered together against the LORD. Instead, he died because of his own sin, and he had no sons.

¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram.

³ He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

² Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise?

⁴ One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts— ⁵ the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works. ⁶ They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.

¹² to make known to men Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.

² Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him for His excellent greatness.

¹⁰ When you eat and are satisfied, you are to bless the LORD your God for the good land that He has given you. ¹¹ Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

¹² And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good? ¹⁴ Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.

¹⁶ The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ Today you have proclaimed that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes and commandments and ordinances, and listen to His voice. ¹⁸ And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments, ¹⁹ that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has promised.

⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,

⁶ Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁷ Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

²³ Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them. ⁷ Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.

¹² How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me? ¹³ I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. ¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people. ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. ¹⁶ Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.

³ On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.

³¹ But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

¹⁹ “Do not be afraid, you who are highly precious,” he said. “Peace be with you! Be strong now; be very strong!” As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹⁶ I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

¹³ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully

⁸ I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

¹⁶ Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

² so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.

¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers,

⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹² Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days? ¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. ¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. ¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry. ¹⁶ But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth. ¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. ¹⁸ The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all. ²⁰ He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken. ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned. ²² The LORD redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

² for they will add length to your days, years and peace to your life.

¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹¹ For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

²⁷ The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

⁶ On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

¹⁸ And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

²⁸ May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.

⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.

¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy. ¹³ The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

¹⁰ He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains. ¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹² The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches. ¹³ He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

¹ Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

⁷ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.

⁷ For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.

³ And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

⁵ But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

¹⁸ Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His loving devotion

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.

⁶ I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

²⁹ But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁵ And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

¹⁷ You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you.

⁸ You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

²² For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

⁴ You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.

⁴ I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

¹² The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.

¹⁰ He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields. ¹¹ He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.

¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them. ¹² They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth. ¹³ Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.

⁹ You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth. ¹⁰ You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.

²² Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.

²² Do not be afraid, O beasts of the field, for the open pastures have turned green, the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and vine yield their best. ²³ Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

⁷ Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

¹¹ with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

¹⁰ When you eat and are satisfied, you are to bless the LORD your God for the good land that He has given you.

⁵ Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and every valley. Perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to destroy any livestock.”

¹⁴ He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:

⁵ Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

¹⁸ How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

¹⁹ And the LORD answered His people: “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and by them you will be satisfied. I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

²² Do not be afraid, O beasts of the field, for the open pastures have turned green, the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and vine yield their best.

⁶ You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”

¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure. ¹¹ I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.

⁹ Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

²³ Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,

²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

²⁰ He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

⁸ Jesus answered, “See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.

³⁴ But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

³⁶ So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

¹ We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

¹² See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

¹ Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it.

¹⁵ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

²⁶ If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

⁹ And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁴ Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

⁴ Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

²⁶ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

¹⁵ For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the LORD has destroyed before you, so you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.

²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

¹³ know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you. ¹⁴ Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. ¹⁵ But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. ¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

³⁵ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

²⁶ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

¹³ If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: ² “Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. ³ The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads. ⁴ The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads. ⁵ Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. ⁶ Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”

⁷ “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.

⁹ You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops. ¹¹ I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

⁹ It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.

¹⁶ So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

⁶ These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

¹¹ I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹ Bind them always upon your heart; tie them around your neck. ²² When you walk, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. ²³ For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

² Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. ³ Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁵ All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

¹² Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.

¹ Beloved, this is now my second letter to you. Both of them are reminders to stir you to wholesome thinking ² by recalling what was foretold by the holy prophets and commanded by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

⁹ Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰ The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

⁷ And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

¹¹ Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

⁵ For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, ⁶ that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

¹ My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,

¹ Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. ² For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive. ³ When I was a son to my father, tender and the only child of my mother, ⁴ he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words; keep my commands and you will live. ⁵ Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn from them. ⁶ Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you. ⁷ Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding. ⁸ Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you. ⁹ She will set a garland of grace on your head; she will present you with a crown of beauty.” ¹⁰ Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many. ¹¹ I will guide you in the way of wisdom; I will lead you on straight paths. ¹² When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble. ¹³ Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life. ¹⁴ Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. ¹⁵ Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by. ¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall. ¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. ¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. ¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble. ²⁰ My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. ²¹ Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. ²² For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body. ²³ Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life. ²⁴ Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech. ²⁵ Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. ²⁶ Make a level path for your feet, and all your ways will be sure. ²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.

¹⁹ The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

⁵ May they fear him as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains, through all generations.

²⁸ I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him, and My covenant with him will stand fast. ²⁹ I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

¹⁰ Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.

²⁰ No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

²⁰ You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

¹³ So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

³⁷ Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

⁸ From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.

² By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

²⁷ I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run. ²⁸ I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. ²⁹ I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.

¹¹ Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

³⁸ to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day.

¹ When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— ² and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

²² The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you. ²³ But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

¹ Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

³¹ And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

³ Your southern border will extend from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern border will run from the end of the Salt Sea, ⁴ cross south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and go south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go on to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon, ⁵ where it will turn from Azmon, join the Brook of Egypt, and end at the Sea. ⁶ Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west. ⁷ Your northern border will run from the Great Sea directly to Mount Hor, ⁸ and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad, ⁹ continue to Ziphron, and end at Hazar-enan. This will be your boundary on the north. ¹⁰ And your eastern border will run straight from Hazar-enan to Shepham, ¹¹ then go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Chinnereth. ¹² Then the border will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This will be your land, defined by its borders on all sides.” ¹³ So Moses commanded the Israelites, “Apportion this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has commanded that it be given to the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴ For the tribes of the Reubenites and Gadites, along with the half-tribe of Manasseh, have already received their inheritance. ¹⁵ These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

³ I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised to Moses. ⁴ Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.

⁹ On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’

²¹ And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²⁴ For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates—over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

²⁶ He reigned over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt.

²⁷ I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

²⁵ This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”

²⁴ He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

⁵ No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁹ and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.

¹ Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

¹ “When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,

¹⁵ See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.

¹⁰ All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” ¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

³ If you follow My statutes and carefully keep My commandments, ⁴ I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. ⁵ Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely in your land. ⁶ And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. ⁹ I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new. ¹¹ And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. ¹³ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk in uprightness.

¹ “Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God: ³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. ⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. ⁵ Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed. ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁷ The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven. ⁸ The LORD will decree a blessing on your barns and on everything to which you put your hand; the LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you. ⁹ The LORD will establish you as His holy people, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you. ¹¹ The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none. ¹³ The LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am giving you today. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside to the right or to the left from any of the words I command you today, and do not go after other gods to serve them.

¹¹ By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. ¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ ⁴¹ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ ⁴⁶ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

²⁸ But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

¹⁷ If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

²¹ Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

⁷ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.

¹⁴ If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments, ¹⁵ and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, ¹⁶ then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you. ¹⁸ And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze, ²⁰ and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit. ²¹ If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins. ²² I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate. ²³ And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, ²⁴ then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied. ²⁷ But if in spite of all this you do not obey Me, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, ²⁸ then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you. ³¹ I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. ³² And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.

¹⁵ If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. ¹⁷ Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. ¹⁸ The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ²⁰ The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him. ²¹ The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish. ²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed. ²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away. ²⁷ The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you. ³⁰ You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand. ³³ A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed. ³⁴ You will be driven mad by the sights you see. ³⁵ The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. ³⁶ The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you. ³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. ³⁹ You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land. ⁴³ The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you. ⁴⁶ These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you. ⁵⁴ The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived, ⁵⁵ refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates. ⁵⁶ The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates. ⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— ⁵⁹ He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. ⁶² You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. ⁶⁶ So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see. ⁶⁸ The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

¹⁹ because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven ²¹ and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. ²² Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it. ²³ All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger. ²⁴ So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them. ²⁷ Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book. ²⁸ The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

²⁰ But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

¹¹ Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

⁴¹ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger. ⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;

¹² “When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to deliver the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴ Then the Levites shall proclaim in a loud voice to every Israelite: ¹⁵ ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁷ ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁸ ‘Cursed is he who lets a blind man wander in the road.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁹ ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁰ ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²¹ ‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²² ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²³ ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁴ ‘Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁵ ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁶ ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

³⁰ At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel, ³¹ just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings. ³² And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. ³³ All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴ Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

¹⁹ On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

⁹ Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹ Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.

¹¹ “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

¹³ When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off and will stand up in a heap.” ¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation had crossed the Jordan.

³² So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left. ³³ You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

³² See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

⁶ Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ ²⁴ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

²⁰ and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.

¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you.

¹ Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. ² For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.