The Living Bible (61 page)

Deuteronomy
11

“You must love the Lord your God and obey every one of his commands.
²
 Listen! I am not talking now to your children who have never experienced the Lord’s punishments or seen his greatness and his awesome power.
³
 They weren’t there to see the miracles he did in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.
⁴
 They didn’t see what God did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you, and how the Lord has kept them powerless against you until this very day!
⁵
 They didn’t see how the Lord cared for you time and again through all the years you were wandering in the wilderness, until your arrival here.
⁶
 They weren’t there when Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, descendants
*
of Reuben) sinned, and the earth opened up and swallowed them, with their households and tents and all their belongings, as all Israel watched!

    
⁷
 “But
you
have seen these mighty miracles!
⁸
 How carefully, then, you should obey these commandments I am going to give you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land you are about to enter.
⁹
 If you obey the commandments, you will have a long and good life in the land the Lord promised to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a wonderful land ‘flowing with milk and honey’!
¹⁰
 For the land you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt where you have come from, where irrigation is necessary.
¹¹
 It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain—
¹²
 a land that the Lord your God personally cares for! His eyes are always upon it, day after day throughout the year!

    
¹³
 “And if you will carefully obey all of his commandments that I am going to give you today, and if you will love the Lord your God with all your hearts and souls and will worship him,
¹⁴
 then he will continue to send both the early and late rains that will produce wonderful crops of grain, grapes for your wine, and olive oil.
¹⁵
 He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves shall have plenty to eat and be fully content.

    
¹⁶
 “But beware that your hearts do not turn from God to worship other gods.
¹⁷
 For if you do, the anger of the Lord will be hot against you, and he will shut the heavens—there will be no rain and no harvest, and you will quickly perish from the good land the Lord has given you.
¹⁸
 So keep these commandments carefully in mind. Tie them to your hand to remind you to obey them, and tie them to your forehead between your eyes!
¹⁹
 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting at home, when you are out walking, at bedtime, and before breakfast!
²⁰
 Write them upon the doors of your houses and upon your gates,
²¹
 so that as long as there is sky above the earth, you and your children will enjoy the good life awaiting you in the land the Lord has promised you.
*

    
²²
 “If you carefully obey all the commandments I give you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and clinging to him,
²³
 then the Lord will drive out all the nations in your land, no matter how much greater and stronger than you they might be.
²⁴
 Wherever you go, the land is yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the southern Negeb to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.
²⁵
 No one will be able to stand against you, for the Lord your God will send fear and dread ahead of you wherever you go, just as he has promised.

    
²⁶
 “I am giving you the choice today between God’s blessing or God’s curse!
²⁷
 There will be blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today,
²⁸
 and a curse if you refuse them and worship the gods of these other nations.
²⁹
 When the Lord your God brings you into the land to possess it, a blessing shall be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim and a curse from Mount Ebal!
³⁰
 (Gerizim and Ebal are mountains west of the Jordan River, where the Canaanites live, in the wasteland near Gilgal, where the oaks of Moreh are.)
³¹
 For you are to cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord is giving you.
³²
 But you must obey all the laws I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy
12

“These are the laws you must obey when you arrive in the land that Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has given you forever:

    
²
 “You must destroy all the heathen altars wherever you find them—high in the mountains, up in the hills, or under the trees.
³
 Break the altars, smash the obelisks, burn the shameful images, cut down the metal idols, and leave nothing even to remind you of them!

    
^4-5
 “You must not make sacrifices to your God just anywhere, as the heathen sacrifice to their gods. Rather, you must build a sanctuary for him at a place he himself will select as his home.
⁶
 There you shall bring to the Lord your burnt offerings and other sacrifices—your tithes, your offerings presented by the gesture of waving before the altar, your offerings to fulfill your vows, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds.
⁷
 There you and your families shall feast before the Lord your God and shall rejoice in all he has done for you.

    
⁸
 “You will no longer go your own way as you do now, everyone doing whatever he thinks is right;
⁹
 (for these laws don’t go into effect until you arrive in the place of rest the Lord will give to you).
¹⁰
 But when you cross the Jordan River and live in the Promised Land, and the Lord gives you rest and keeps you safe from all your enemies,
¹¹
 then you must bring all your burnt sacrifices and other offerings to his sanctuary, the place he will choose as his home.
¹²
 You shall rejoice there before the Lord with your sons and daughters and servants; and remember to invite the Levites to feast with you, for they have no land of their own.

    
¹³
 “You are not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere;
¹⁴
 you may only do so in the place the Lord will choose. He will pick a place in the territory allotted to one of the tribes. Only there may you offer your sacrifices and bring your offerings.
¹⁵
 However, the meat you eat may be butchered anywhere, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. Eat as much of this meat as you wish and as often as you are able to obtain it, because the Lord has prospered you. Those who are ceremonially defiled may eat it too.
¹⁶
 The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood—pour it out on the ground, like water.

    
¹⁷
 “But none of the offerings may be eaten at home. Neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor anything you have vowed to give the Lord, nor your freewill offerings, nor the offerings to be presented to the Lord by waving them before his altar.
¹⁸
 All these must be brought to the central altar where you, your children, and the Levites shall eat them before the Lord your God. He will tell you where this altar must be located. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you do.
¹⁹
 (By the way, be very careful not to forget about the Levites. Share with them.)

    
^20-23
 “If, when the Lord enlarges your borders, the central altar is too far away from you, then your flocks and herds may be butchered on your own farms, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. And even persons who are ceremonially defiled may eat them. The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.
^24-25
 Instead, pour the blood out upon the earth. If you do, all will be well with you and your children.
^26-27
 Only your gifts to the Lord, and the offerings you have promised in your vows, and your burnt offerings need be taken to the central altar. These may only be sacrificed upon the altar of the Lord your God. The blood will be poured out upon the altar, and you will eat the meat.

    
²⁸
 “Be careful to obey all of these commandments. If you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God, all will go well with you and your children forever.
²⁹
 When he destroys the nations in the land where you will live,
³⁰
 don’t follow their example in worshiping their gods. Do not ask, ‘How do these nations worship their gods?’ and then go and worship as they do!
³¹
 You must not insult the Lord your God like that! These nations have done horrible things that he hates, all in the name of their religion. They have even roasted their sons and daughters in front of their gods.
³²
 Obey all the commandments I give you. Do not add to or subtract from them.

Deuteronomy
13

“If there is a prophet among you, or one who claims to foretell the future by dreams,
²
 and if his predictions come true but he says, ‘Come, let us worship the gods of the other nations,’
³
 don’t listen to him. For the Lord is testing you to find out whether or not you really love him with all your heart and soul.
⁴
 You must
never
worship any God but Jehovah; obey only his commands and cling to him.

    
⁵
 “The prophet who tries to lead you astray must be executed, for he has attempted to foment rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. By executing him you will clear out the evil from among you.

    
^6-7
 “If your nearest relative or closest friend, even a brother, son, daughter, or beloved wife whispers to you to come and worship these foreign gods,
⁸
 do not consent or listen, and have no pity: Do not spare that person from the penalty; don’t conceal his horrible suggestion.
⁹
 Execute him! Your own hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, then the hands of all the people.
¹⁰
 Stone him to death because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.
¹¹
 Then all Israel will hear about his evil deed and will fear such wickedness as this among you.

    
^12-14
 “If you ever hear it said about one of the cities of Israel that some worthless rabble have led their fellow citizens astray with the suggestion that they worship foreign gods, first check the facts to see if the rumor is true. If you find that it is, that it is certain that such a horrible thing is happening among you in one of the cities the Lord has given you,
¹⁵
 you must without fail declare war against that city and utterly destroy all of its inhabitants, and even all of the cattle.
¹⁶
 Afterwards you must pile all the booty into the middle of the street and burn it, then put the entire city to the torch, as a burnt offering to Jehovah your God. That city shall forever remain a lifeless mound and may never be rebuilt.
¹⁷
 Keep none of the booty! Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you, and have compassion upon you, and make you a great nation just as he promised your ancestors.

    
¹⁸
 “Of course, the Lord your God will be merciful only if you have been obedient to him and to his commandments that I am giving you today, and if you have been doing that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.