(1) Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study them and observe them faithfully! (2) Our God יהוה made a covenant with us at Horeb. (3) It was not with our ancestors that יהוה made this covenant, but with us, the living, every one of us who is here today. (4) Face to face יהוה spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire— (5) I stood between יהוה and you at that time to convey יהוה’s words to you, for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain—saying: (6) I יהוה am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: (7) You shall have no other gods beside Me. (8) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters below the earth. (9) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I your God יהוה am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, (10) but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. (11) You shall not swear falsely by the name of your God יהוה; for יהוה will not clear one who swears falsely by God’s name. (12) Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as your God יהוה has commanded you. (13) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (14) but the seventh day is a sabbath of your God יהוה; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and your God יהוה freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore your God יהוה has commanded you to observe the sabbath day. (16) Honor your father and your mother, as your God יהוה has commanded you, that you may long endure, and that you may fare well, in the land that your God יהוה is assigning to you. (17) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (18) You [men] shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Likewise, none of you shall crave your neighbor’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

(19) יהוה spoke those words—those and no more—to your whole congregation at the mountain, with a mighty voice out of the fire and the dense clouds. [God] inscribed them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. (20) When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, you came up to me, all your tribal heads and elders, (21) and said, “Our God יהוה has just shown us a majestic Presence, and we have heard God’s voice out of the fire; we have seen this day that humankind may live though addressed by God. (22) Let us not die, then, for this fearsome fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of our God יהוה any longer, we shall die. (23) For what mortal ever heard the voice of the living God speak out of the fire, as we did, and lived? (24) You go closer and hear all that our God יהוה says, and then you tell us everything that our God יהוה tells you, and we will willingly do it.”

(25) יהוה heard the plea that you made to me, and יהוה said to me, “I have heard the plea that this people made to you; they did well to speak thus. (26) May they always be of such mind, to revere Me and follow all My commandments, that it may go well with them and with their children forever! (27) Go, say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’ (28) But you remain here with Me, and I will give you the whole Instruction—the laws and the rules—that you shall impart to them, for them to observe in the land that I am giving them to possess.” (29) Be careful, then, to do as your God יהוה has commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left: (30) follow only the path that your God יהוה has enjoined upon you, so that you may thrive and that it may go well with you, and that you may long endure in the land you are to possess.

(1) When your God יהוה brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and [God] dislodges many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations much larger than you— (2) and your God יהוה delivers them to you and you defeat them, you must doom them to destruction: grant them no terms and give them no quarter. (3) You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. (4) For they will turn your children away from Me to worship other gods, and יהוה’s anger will blaze forth against you, promptly wiping you out. (5) Instead, this is what you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts, and consign their images to the fire. (6) For you are a people consecrated to your God יהוה: of all the peoples on earth your God יהוה chose you to be God’s treasured people. (7) It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that יהוה grew attached to you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; (8) but it was because יהוה favored you and kept the oath made to your fathers that יהוה freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know, therefore, that only your God יהוה is God, the steadfast God who keeps the divine covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love [God] and keep the divine commandments, (10) but who instantly requites with destruction those who reject [God]—never slow with those who reject, but requiting them instantly. (11) Therefore, observe faithfully the Instruction—the laws and the rules—with which I charge you today. (12) And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, your God יהוה will maintain faithfully for you the covenant made on oath with your fathers: (13) [God] will favor you and bless you and multiply you—blessing your issue from the womb and your produce from the soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land sworn to your fathers to be assigned to you. (14) You shall be blessed above all other peoples: there shall be no sterile male or female among you or among your livestock. (15) יהוה will ward off from you all sickness; [God] will not bring upon you any of the dreadful diseases of Egypt, about which you know, but will inflict them upon all your enemies. (16) You shall destroy all the peoples that your God יהוה delivers to you, showing them no pity. And you shall not worship their gods, for that would be a snare to you. (17) Should you say to yourselves, “These nations are more numerous than we; how can we dispossess them?” (18) You need have no fear of them. You have but to bear in mind what your God יהוה did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians: (19) the wondrous acts that you saw with your own eyes, the signs and the portents, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm by which your God יהוה liberated you. Thus will your God יהוה do to all the peoples you now fear. (20) Your God יהוה will also send a plague against them, until those who are left in hiding perish before you. (21) Do not stand in dread of them, for your God יהוה is in your midst, a great and awesome God. (22) Your God יהוה will dislodge those peoples before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them at once, else the wild beasts would multiply to your hurt. (23) Your God יהוה will deliver them up to you, throwing them into utter panic until they are wiped out. (24) [God] will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall obliterate their name from under the heavens; no one shall stand up to you, until you have wiped them out. (25) You shall consign the images of their gods to the fire; you shall not covet the silver and gold on them and keep it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared thereby; for that is abhorrent to your God יהוה. (26) You must not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be proscribed like it; you must reject it as abominable and abhorrent, for it is proscribed.

(4) Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone. (5) You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(10) When your God יהוה brings you into the land that was sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be assigned to you—great and flourishing cities that you did not build, (11) houses full of all good things that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and you eat your fill, (12) take heed that you do not forget יהוה who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. (13) Revere only your God יהוה and worship [God] alone, and swear only by God’s name. (14) Do not follow other gods, any gods of the peoples about you— (15) for your God יהוה in your midst is an impassioned God—lest the anger of your God יהוה blaze forth against you, wiping you off the face of the earth. (16) Do not try your God יהוה, as you did at Massah. (17) Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws that your God יהוה has enjoined upon you. (18) Do what is right and good in the sight of יהוה, that it may go well with you and that you may be able to possess the good land that your God יהוה promised on oath to your fathers, (19) and that all your enemies may be driven out before you, as יהוה has spoken.

(20) When, in time to come, your children ask you, “What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that our God יהוה has enjoined upon you?” (21) you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and יהוה freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. (22) יהוה wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; (23) and us [God] freed from there, in order to take us and give us the land promised on oath to our fathers. (24) Then יהוה commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God יהוה, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. (25) It will be therefore to our merit before our God יהוה to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as [God] has commanded us.”

(23) and us [God] freed from there, in order to take us and give us the land promised on oath to our fathers. (24) Then יהוה commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God יהוה, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. (25) It will be therefore to our merit before our God יהוה to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as [God] has commanded us.”

(1) Comfort, oh comfort My people,Says your God. (2) Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,And declare to herThat her term of service is over,That her iniquity is expiated;For she has received at GOD’s hand Double for all her sins. (3) A voice rings out:“Clear in the desertA road for GOD!Level in the wildernessA highway for our God! (4) Let every valley be raised,Every hill and mount made low.Let the rugged ground become levelAnd the ridges become a plain. (5) The Presence of GOD shall appear,And all flesh, as one, shall behold—For GOD has spoken.” (6) A voice rings out: “Proclaim!”Another asks, “What shall I proclaim?”“All flesh is grass,All its goodness like flowers of the field: (7) Grass withers, flowers fadeWhen GOD’s breath blows on them.Indeed, people are but grass: (8) Grass withers, flowers fade—But the word of our God is always fulfilled!” (9) Ascend a lofty mountain,O herald of joy to Zion;Raise your voice with power,O herald of joy to Jerusalem—Raise it, have no fear;Announce to the cities of Judah:Behold your God! (10) Behold, my Sovereign GOD comes in might—Whose arm wins triumph;See, [God] has brought along the reward,The recompense is in view. (11) Like a shepherd who pastures the flock,[God] gathers up the lambsAnd carries them in the divine bosom,While gently driving the mother sheep. (12) Who measured the waters with a hand’s hollow,And gauged the skies with a span,And meted earth’s dust with a measure, And weighed the mountains with a scaleAnd the hills with a balance? (13) Who has plumbed the mind of GOD?Can anyone disclose God’s plan? (14) Whom did [God] consult, and who bestowed understanding,Providing guidance in the way of right?Who guided [God] in knowledgeAnd made known the path of wisdom? (15) The nations are but a drop in a bucket,Reckoned as dust on a balance;The very coastlands are lifted like motes. (16) Lebanon is not fuel enough,Nor its beasts enough for sacrifice. (17) All nations are as naught in God’s sight,Who accounts them as less than nothing. (18) To whom, then, can you liken God,With what form can you make comparison? (19) The idol? A woodworker shaped it,And a smith overlaid it with gold,Forging links of silver. (20) As a gift, someone chooses the mulberry—A wood that does not rot—Then seeks a skillful woodworkerTo make a firm idol,That will not topple. (21) Do you not know?Have you not heard?Have you not been toldFrom the very first?Have you not discernedHow the earth was founded? (22) It is [God] who is enthroned above the vault of the earth,So that its inhabitants seem as grasshoppers;Who spread out the skies like gauze,Stretched them out like a tent to dwell in— (23) Bringing potentates to naught,Making rulers of the earth as nothing. (24) Hardly are they planted,Hardly are they sown,Hardly has their stemTaken root in earth,When [God] blows upon them and they dry up,And the storm bears them off like straw. (25) To whom, then, can you liken Me,To whom can I be compared?—says the Holy One. (26) Lift high your eyes and see:Who created these?The One who sends out their host by count,Who calls them each by name:Given such great might and vast power,Not a single one fails to appear.