12. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that יהוה your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers:
13. And he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.
14. You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15. יהוה will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, he will put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
16. You shall consume all the peoples who יהוה your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.
17. If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
18. You shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what יהוה your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;
19. The great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which יהוה your God brought you out: so shall יהוה your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20. Moreover, יהוה your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.
21. You shall not be scared of them; for יהוה your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God.
22. יהוה your God will cast out those nations before you, little by little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.
23. But יהוה your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed.
24. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.
25. The engraved images of their gods you shall burn with fire: you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to yourself, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to יהוה your God.
26. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Chapter 8
1. All the commandment which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which יהוה swore to your fathers.
2. You shall remember all the way which יהוה your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
3. He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of יהוה does man live.
4. Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.
5. You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so יהוה your God chastens you.
6. You shall keep the commandments of יהוה your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7. For יהוה your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and springs flowing forth into valleys and hills;
8. A land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;
9. A land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.
10. You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless יהוה your God for the good land which he has given you.
11. Beware lest you forget יהוה your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day:
12. Lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein;
13. And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
14. Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget יהוה your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
15. Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;
16. Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end:
17. And lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
18. But you shall remember יהוה your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.
19. It shall be, if you shall forget יהוה your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
20. As the nations that יהוה makes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you wouldn’t listen to the voice of יהוה your God.
Chapter 9
1. Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky,
2. A people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak?
3. Know therefore this day, that יהוה your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as יהוה has spoken to you.
4. Don’t speak in your heart, after that יהוה your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness יהוה has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations יהוה does drive them out from before you.
5. Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations יהוה your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which יהוה swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6. Know therefore, that יהוה your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
7. Remember, don’t forget, how you provoked יהוה your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against יהוה .
8. Also in Horeb you provoked יהוה to wrath, and יהוה was angry with you to destroy you.
9. When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which יהוה made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water.
10. יהוה delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which יהוה spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11. It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant.
12. יהוה said to me, Arise, go you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
13. Furthermore יהוה spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people:
14. Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.
15. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire: and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
16. I looked, and behold, you had sinned against יהוה your God; you had made you a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which יהוה had commanded you.
17. I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.
18. I fell down before יהוה , as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of יהוה , to provoke him to anger.
19. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which יהוה was angry against you to destroy you. But יהוה listened to me that time also.
20. יהוה was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
21. I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
22. At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked יהוה to wrath.
23. When יהוה sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the commandment of יהוה your God, and you didn’t believe him, nor listen to his voice.
24. You have been rebellious against יהוה from the day that I knew you.
25. So I fell down before יהוה the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because יהוה had said he would destroy you.
26. I prayed to יהוה , and said, Lord יהוה , don’t destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
27. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don’t look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin,
28. Lest the land whence you brought us out say, Because יהוה was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.
29. Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.
Chapter 10
1. At that time יהוה said to me, Hew you two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood.
2. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.
3. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.
4. He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which יהוה spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and יהוה gave them to me.
5. I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are as יהוה commanded me.
6. (The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar, his son, ministered in the priest’s office in his place.
7. From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.
8. At that time יהוה set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of יהוה , to stand before יהוה to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.
9. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; יהוה is his inheritance, according as יהוה your God spoke to him.)
10. I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights: and יהוה listened to me that time also; יהוה would not destroy you.
11. יהוה said to me, Arise, take your journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.
12. Now, Israel, what does יהוה your God require of you, but to fear יהוה your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve יהוה your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13. To keep the commandments of יהוה, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?
14. Behold, to יהוה your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.
15. Only יהוה had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day.
16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
17. For יהוה your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t regard persons, nor takes reward.
18. He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing.
19. Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
20. You shall fear יהוה your God; him shall you serve; and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear.
21. He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen.
22. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now יהוה your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
Chapter 11
1. Therefore you shall love יהוה your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always.
2. Know you this day: for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of יהוה your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm,
3. And his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land;
4. And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how יהוה has destroyed them to this day;
5. And what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place;
6. And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel:
7. But your eyes have seen all the great work of יהוה which he did.
8. Therefore shall you keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you go over to possess it;
9. And that you may prolong your days in the land, which יהוה swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10. For the land, where you go in to possess it, isn’t as the land of Egypt, from whence you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
11. But the land, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of the sky,
12. A land which יהוה your God cares for: the eyes of יהוה your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
13. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love יהוה your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14. That I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil.
15. I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full.
16. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods and worship them.
17. And the anger of יהוה be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which יהוה gives you.
18. Therefore shall you lay up these, my words, in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.
19. You shall teach them your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
20. You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates;
21. That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which יהוה swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.
22. For if you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love יהוה your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave to him;
23. Then will יהוה drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
24. Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the hinder sea shall be your border.
25. There shall no man be able to stand before you: יהוה your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread on, as he has spoken to you.
14. But Zion said, “ יהוה has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
15. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!
16. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.
17. Your children make haste. Your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.
18. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says יהוה, “you shall surely clothe you with them all as with an ornament, and gird yourself with them, like a bride.
19. “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
20. The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me. Give place to me that I may dwell in.’
21. Then shall you say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? And who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. These, where were they?’”
22. Thus says the Lord יהוה, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my sign to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23. Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; Then you shall know that I am יהוה; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
25. But thus says יהוה , “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered ; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.
26. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, יהוה, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Chapter 50
1. Thus says יהוה , “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? or of which of my creditors is it to whom have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions your mother was put away .
2. Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.
3. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”
4. The Lord יהוה has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5. The Lord יהוה has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. Neither turned away backward.
6. I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
7. For the Lord יהוה will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
8. He is near who justifies me. Who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9. Behold, the Lord יהוה will help me! Who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment. The moths shall eat them up.
10. Who is among you who fears יהוה, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of יהוה', and rely on his God.
11. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who gird yourselves about with firebrands; walk you in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. This you shall have of my hand: You shall lie down in sorrow.
Chapter 51
1. “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek יהוה: look to the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hold of the pit which you were dug.
2. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.
3. For יהוה has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of יהוה. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Etz Chaim
It is a tree of life for those who cling to it,
and those who uphold it are happy!
Its ways are pleasant and all of its paths peaceful.
Return us to you, Lord, so that we shall return,
Renew our days as of old.