1. It shall be, when you are come in to the land which יהוה your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell therein,
2. That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that יהוה your God gives you; and you shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which יהוה your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.
3. You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, I profess this day to יהוה your God, that I am come into the land which יהוה swore to our fathers to give us.
4. The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of יהוה your God.
5. You shall answer and say before יהוה your God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
6. The Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid on us hard bondage:
7. And we cried to יהוה, the God of our fathers, and יהוה heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression;
8. And יהוה brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs, and with wonders;
9. And he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10. Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, יהוה, have given me. You shall set it down before יהוה your God, and worship before יהוה your God.
11. You shall rejoice in all the good which יהוה your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is in the midst of you.
12. When you have made an end of tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled.
13. You shall say before יהוה your God, I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
14. I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of יהוה my God; I have done according to all that you have commanded me.
15. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
16. This day יהוה your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances: you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.
17. You have declared יהוה this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice:
18. And יהוה has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments;
19. And to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to יהוה your God, as he has spoken.
Chapter 27
1. Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.
2. It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which יהוה your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and plaster them with plaster:
3. And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you are passed over; that you may go in to the land which יהוה your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as יהוה, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
4. It shall be, when you are passed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.
5. There shall you build an altar to יהוה your God, an altar of stones: you shall lift up no iron tool on them.
6. You shall build the altar of יהוה your God of uncut stones; and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon to יהוה your God:
7. And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before יהוה your God.
8. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.
9. Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, Keep silence, and listen, Israel: this day you are become the people of יהוה your God.
10. You shall therefore obey the voice of יהוה your God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day.
11. Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12. These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you are passed over the Jordan: Simeon , and Levi , and Judah , and Issachar , and Joseph , and Benjamin .
13. These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben , Gad , and Asher , and Zebulun , Dan , and Naphtali .
14. The Levites shall answer, and tell all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
15. Cursed be the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to יהוה, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. All the people shall answer and say, Amen.
16. Cursed be he who sets light by his father or his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.
17. Cursed be he who removes his neighbor’s landmark. All the people shall say, Amen.
18. Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. All the people shall say, Amen.
19. Cursed be he who wrests the justice due to the foreigner, fatherless, and widow. All the people shall say, Amen.
20. Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt. All the people shall say, Amen.
21. Cursed be he who lies with any manner of animal. All the people shall say, Amen.
22. Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.
23. Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. All the people shall say, Amen.
24. Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor in secret. All the people shall say, Amen.
25. Cursed be he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. All the people shall say, Amen.
26. Cursed be he who doesn’t confirm the words of this law to do them. All the people shall say, Amen.
Chapter 28
1. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of יהוה your God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that יהוה your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth:
2. And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of יהוה your God.
3. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
5. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.
6. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7. יהוה will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you: they shall come out against you one way, and shall flee before you seven ways.
8. יהוה will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to; and he will bless you in the land which יהוה your God gives you.
9. יהוה will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you; if you shall keep the commandments of יהוה your God, and walk in his ways.
10. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of יהוה; and they shall be afraid of you.
11. יהוה will make you plenteous for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which יהוה swore to your fathers to give you.
12. יהוה will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow.
13. יהוה will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if you shall listen to the commandments of יהוהyour God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do them,
14. And shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15. But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of יהוה your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.
16. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.
18. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
19. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20. יהוה will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me.
21. יהוה will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it.
22. יהוה will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish.
23. Your sky that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron.
24. יהוה will make the rain of your land powder and dust: from the sky shall it come down on you, until you are destroyed.
25. יהוה will cause you to be struck before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them: and you shall be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
26. Your dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there shall be none to frighten them away.
27. יהוה will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with the tumors, and with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which you can not be healed.
28. יהוה will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;
29. And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be none to save you.
30. You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use the fruit of it.
31. Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it: your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save you.
32. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people; and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there shall be nothing in the power of your hand.
33. The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, shall a nation which you don’t know eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always;
34. So that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
35. יהוה will strike you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, of which you can not be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
36. יהוה will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods, wood and stone.
37. You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where יהוה shall lead you away.
38. You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it.
39. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
40. You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive shall cast its fruit.
41. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.
42. All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess.
43. The foreigner who is in the midst of you shall mount up above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower.
44. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45. All these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you didn’t listen to the voice of יהוה your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you:
46. And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever.
47. Because you didn’t serve יהוה your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;
48. Therefore shall you serve your enemies whom יהוה shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.
49. יהוה will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand;
50. A nation of fierce facial expressions, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young,
51. And shall eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; that also shall not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
52. They shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which יהוה your God has given you.
53. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom יהוה your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
54. The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining;
55. So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates.
56. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
57. And toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates.
58. If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, יהוה YOUR GOD;
59. Then יהוה will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and very great sicknesses, and of long continuance.
60. He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you.
61. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, these will יהוה bring on you, until you are destroyed.
62. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn’t listen to the voice of יהוה your God.
63. It shall happen that as יהוה rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so יהוה will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it.
64. יהוה will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
65. Among these nations shall you find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot: but יהוה will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul;
66. And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
67. In the morning you shall say, Would that it were evening! and at even you shall say, Would it were morning! for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
68. יהוה will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man shall buy you.
Chapter 29
1. These are the words of the covenant which יהוה commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2. Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, You have seen all that יהוה did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;
3. The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders:
4. But יהוה has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
5. I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoe has not grown old on your foot.
6. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am יהוה your God.
7. When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them:
8. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.
1. Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of יהוה is risen on you.
2 For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but יהוה will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.
3. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.
5. Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6. The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of יהוה.
7. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar; and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8. Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9. Surely the islands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of יהוה your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
10. Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.
11. Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.
12. For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
13. The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14. The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of יהוה, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
16. You shall also suck the milk of the nations, and shall suck the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, יהוה, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood- brass, and for stones-iron. I will also make your officers peace, and righteousness your ruler.
18. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
19. The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but יהוה will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.
20. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for יהוה will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21. Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22. The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, יהוה, will hasten it in its time.
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.