An Exhortation to Obedience (Deuteronomy 11:1–7)
1 UDB "Now, you Israelite people, obey all the rules and regulations that I will teach you. If you do that, you will remain alive and you will enter and occupy the land that Yahweh, the God whom your ancestors worshiped, is giving to you. BSB BSB: 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.
2 UDB Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away from what I tell you. Obey all the commands of Yahweh our God that I am giving to you. BSB BSB: You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.
3 UDB You have seen what Yahweh did at Baal Peor. He destroyed all the people who worshiped the god Baal there, BSB BSB: Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
4 UDB but all of you who faithfully continued to worship Yahweh our God are still alive today. BSB BSB: But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.
5 UDB Note that I have taught you all the rules and regulations, just like Yahweh our God told me to do. He wants you to obey them when you are living in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. BSB BSB: 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.
6 UDB Obey them faithfully because, if you do that, you will show the people of other nations that you are very wise. When they hear about all these laws, they will say, 'The people of this great nation of Israel are certainly very wise!' BSB BSB: Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
7 UDB Even if other nations are great, there is none of them that has a god who is as near to them as Yahweh our God is to us! BSB BSB: For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?
8 UDB And there is no other nation, even if it is a great nation, that has laws that are as just as the laws that I am speaking to you today. BSB BSB: And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
9 UDB But be very careful! Do not forget what you have seen God do. Remember those things as long as you are alive. Tell them to your children and your grandchildren. BSB BSB: 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 UDB Tell them about the day that your ancestors stood in the presence of Yahweh our God at Mount Sinai, when he said to me, 'Gather the people together, in order that they can hear what I say. I want them to learn to respect me and honor me for me as long as they are alive, and I want them to teach their children to do that also.' BSB BSB: 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.”
11 UDB Tell your children that your ancestors came near to the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with a fire that went up to the sky, and the mountain was covered with dark clouds and black smoke. BSB BSB: You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
12 UDB Then Yahweh spoke to your ancestors out of the middle of the fire. Your ancestors heard him speak, but they did not see him. They only heard his voice. BSB BSB: And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; there was only a voice.
13 UDB And he declared to them his covenant that he wants you also to obey. He gave them the Ten Commandments. He wrote those on two stone tablets. BSB BSB: He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.
14 UDB Yahweh commanded me to teach all the rules and regulations to you, in order that you would obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. BSB BSB: At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
A Warning against Idolatry (Deuteronomy 12:29–32; Ezekiel 6:1–7)
15 UDB On the day that Yahweh spoke to your ancestors at Mount Sinai, they did not see him. So be careful! BSB BSB: So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful
16 UDB Do not sin by making for yourselves any carved figure! Do not make anything that resembles the likeness of any person, either a man or a woman, BSB BSB: that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,
17 UDB or that resembles any animal or any bird BSB BSB: of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,
18 UDB or any reptile or any fish in the deep ocean. BSB BSB: or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.
19 UDB And be careful to not look up toward the sky and be tempted to worship anything that you see there—the sun or the moon or the stars. Yahweh our God has given those to help all people everywhere, but you must not worship them. BSB BSB: When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
20 UDB Yahweh has brought your ancestors out of Egypt, where they were suffering as though they were in a blazing furnace, in order that they would be people who belong to him, which is what you are today. BSB BSB: Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
21 UDB But Yahweh was angry with me because of what your ancestors did. And he promised that I would never enter the land that he is giving to you. BSB BSB: The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22 UDB He swore that I would die here in this land and never cross the Jordan River. But you will go across it, and you will occupy that land. BSB BSB: For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.
23 UDB Be sure that you do not forget the covenant that Yahweh our God made with you, and do not make a carved figure in the likeness of anything he has forbidden you. BSB BSB: 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.
24 UDB You must not do that, because Yahweh your God wants everyone to worship him alone. He will destroy anyone who worships idols. BSB BSB: For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25 UDB When you have been in the land of Canaan for a long time and you have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making a carved figure that represents anything, because Yahweh says that is evil, and if you do that, you will cause him to become angry with you and punish you. BSB BSB: After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—
26 UDB Today I am requesting everyone who is in heaven and everyone who is on the earth to watch what you are doing. If you disobey what I am telling you, you will soon all die in the land that you will be crossing the Jordan River to occupy. You will not live very long there; Yahweh will completely get rid of many of you. BSB BSB: 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.
27 UDB And Yahweh will force the rest of you to go and live among the people of many other nations. Only a few of you will survive there. BSB BSB: Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
28 UDB When you are in those nations, you will worship gods that are made of wood and stone, gods made by humans, gods that cannot see anything or hear anything or eat anything or smell anything. BSB BSB: And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
29 UDB But while you are there, you will try to know Yahweh your God, and if you try with your entire heart to know him, he will answer you. BSB BSB: 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.
30 UDB In the future, when you are being mistreated there and all those bad things happen to you, you will again worship only Yahweh and obey him. BSB BSB: When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
31 UDB Yahweh is a God who acts mercifully. If you continue to obey him, he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the agreement that he solemnly made with your ancestors." BSB BSB: For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.
The LORD Alone Is God 32 UDB "Now think about the past, about the time before you were born, about all the time since God first created people here on the earth. You could search everywhere, in heaven and on the earth. Has anything like this ever happened that is as great as what Yahweh did for us Israelite people? BSB BSB: Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?
33 UDB Has any group ever remained alive after they heard a god speak to them from the middle of a fire, like we did? BSB BSB: Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
34 UDB Certainly God has never before tried to take a huge group of people from one nation to another location, like he did for us when he brought us out of Egypt. We saw Yahweh our God use his great power to do miracles to show us who he is, and send plagues, and do many other things that terrified people, and how he rescued us when the army of Egypt tried to attack us. BSB BSB: 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?
35 UDB Yahweh showed all these things to you, in order that you would know that only he is truly God, and that there is no other God. BSB BSB: You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.
36 UDB He allowed your ancestors to hear him speak from heaven in order that he could discipline them. Here on the earth he allowed them to see his great fire on Mount Sinai, and he spoke to them from the middle of the fire. BSB BSB: He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
37 UDB Because he loved our ancestors, he chose you Israelites who are their descendants, and by his great power he brought your ancestors out of Egypt. BSB BSB: Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,
38 UDB As they traveled, he expelled the people of nations that were greater and more powerful than they were, in order that they could capture their land and cause it to become yours, which is what is happening now. BSB BSB: 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.
39 UDB So today you should think about the fact that Yahweh is God, that he rules in heaven and also on the earth, and that there is no other god. BSB BSB: Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
40 UDB Obey all the rules and regulations that I am giving to you today, in order that things will go well for you and for your descendants, and that you will live a long time in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, for it to belong to you forever." BSB BSB: 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.
Cities of Refuge (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)
41 UDB Then Moses chose three cities that are on the east side of the Jordan River. BSB BSB: Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east
42 UDB If someone accidentally killed another person, a person who had not been his enemy previously, he could escape to one of those cities. He would be safe in one of those cities because the people there would protect him. BSB BSB: to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:
43 UDB For the tribe of Reuben, Moses chose the city of Bezer in the wilderness; for the tribe of Gad, he chose the city of Ramoth in the region of Gilead. For the tribe of Manasseh, Moses chose the city of Golan in the region of Bashan. BSB BSB: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
Introduction to the Law 44 UDB Moses gave God's laws to the Israelite people. BSB BSB: This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.
45 UDB They included all the solemn commands, instructions and laws that Moses spoke to the people of Israel after they had come out of Egypt, BSB BSB: These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,
46 UDB when they were in the valley east of the Jordan River. They were across from the town of Beth Peor, in the land that previously was ruled by Sihon, the king of the Amor people, who lived in Heshbon. Moses and the other Israelites had defeated his army when they came out of Egypt. BSB BSB: while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.
47 UDB They captured Sihon's land and the land that Og, the king of the region of Bashan, had ruled. Those were the two kings who ruled the Amor people in the area east of the Jordan River. BSB BSB: They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—
48 UDB Their land extended from the city of Aroer in the south along the Arnon River as far north as Mount Sirion, which most people call Mount Hermon. BSB BSB: extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),
49 UDB It also included all the area in the plain east of the Jordan River valley, extending to the Sea of Arabah (known as the Dead Sea) and east to the slopes of Mount Pisgah. BSB BSB: including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.