Chapter 33

8:16. And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

8:17. Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

8:18. But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

8:19. But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

8:20. As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy Chapter 9

Lest they should impute their victories to their own merits, they are put in mind of their manifold rebellions and other sins, for which they should have been destroyed, but God spared them for his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

9:1. Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled up to the sky,

9:2. A people great and tall, the sons of the Enacims, whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to stand.

9:3. Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God himself will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face quickly, as he hath spoken to thee.

9:4. Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their wickedness.

9:5. For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that the Lord might accomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

9:6. Know therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiffnecked people.

9:7. Remember, and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord.

9:8. For in Horeb, also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have destroyed thee,

9:9. When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking water.

9:10. And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled together.

9:11. And when forty days were passed, and as many nights, the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant,

9:12. And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol.

9:13. And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is stiffnecked:

9:14. Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is greater and stronger than this.

9:15. And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two tables of the covenant with both hands,

9:16. And saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you:

9:17. I cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight.

9:18. And I fell down before the Lord as before, forty days and nights neither eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath:

9:19. For I feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also.

9:20. And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him.

9:21. And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took, and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the mountain.

9:22. At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the graves of lust you provoked the Lord:

9:23. And when he sent you from Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you, and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice:

9:24. But were always rebellious from the day that I began to know you.

9:25. And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had threatened:

9:26. And praying, I said: O Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

9:27. Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of this people, nor on their wickedness and sin:

9:28. Lest perhaps the inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in the wilderness,

9:29. Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.

Deuteronomy Chapter 10

God giveth the second tables of the law: a further exhortation to fear and serve the Lord.

10:1. At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of wood,

10:2. And I will write on the tables the words that were in them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

10:3. And I made an ark of setim wood. And when I had hewn two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands.

10:4. And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled: and he gave them to me.

10:5. And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this present, as the Lord commanded me.

10:6. And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth, of the children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office.

Mosera... By mount Hor, for there Aaron died, Num. 20. This and the following verses seem to be inserted by way of parenthesis.

10:7. From thence they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents.

10:8. At that time he separated the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name until this present day.

10:9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy God promised him.

10:10. And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee.

10:11. And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.

10:12. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:

10:13. And keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee?

10:14. Behold heaven is the Lord's thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all things that are therein.

10:15. And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them and chose their seed after them, that is to say, you, out of all nations, as this day it is proved.

10:16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.

10:17. Because the Lord your God he is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, a great God and mighty and terrible, who accepteth no person nor taketh bribes.

10:18. He doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow, loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and raiment.

10:19. And do you therefore love strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

10:20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him only: to him thou shalt adhere, and shalt swear by his name.

10:21. He is thy praise, and thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thy eyes have seen.

10:22. In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy Chapter 11

The love and service of God are still inculcated, with a blessing to them that serve him, and threats of punishment if they forsake his law.

11:1. Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times.

11:2. Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great doings and strong hand, and stretched out arm,

11:3. The signs and works which he did in the midst of Egypt to king Pharao, and to all his land,

11:4. And to all the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and how the Lord destroyed them until this present day:

11:5. And what he hath done to you in the wilderness, til you came to this place:

11:6. And to Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the earth, opening her mouth swallowed up with their households and tents, and all their substance, which they had in the midst of Israel.

11:7. Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, that he hath done,

11:8. That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering,

11:9. And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and honey.

11:10. For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens.

11:11. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven.

11:12. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.

11:13. If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day, that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul:

11:14. He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil,

11:15. And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled.

11:16. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them:

11:17. And the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which the Lord will give you.

11:18. Lay up these words in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on your hands, and place them between your eyes.

11:19. Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest down and risest up.

11:20. Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the doors of thy house:

11:21. That thy days may be multiplied, and the days of thy children in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give them as long as the heaven hangeth over the earth.

11:22. For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them, to love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving unto him,

11:23. The Lord will destroy all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, which are greater and stronger than you.

11:24. Every place, that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates unto the western sea shall be your borders.

11:25. None shall stand against you: the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you.

11:26. Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse:

11:27. A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

11:28. A curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God, but revolt from the way which now I shew you, and walk after strange gods which you know not.

11:29. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal:

Put the blessing, et... See Deut. 27.12, etc. and Josue 8.33, etc.

11:30. Which are beyond the Jordan, behind the way that goeth to the setting of the sun, in the land of the Chanaanite who dwelleth in the plain country over against Galgala, which is near the valley that reacheth and entereth far.

11:31. For you shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land, which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have it and possess it.

11:32. See therefore that you fulfil the ceremonies and judgments, which I shall set this day before you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 12

All idolatry must be extirpated: sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits must be offered in one only place: all eating of blood is prohibited.

12:1. These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.

12:2. Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

12:3. Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.

12:4. You shall not do so to the Lord your God:

12:5. But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it:

12:6. And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep.

12:7. And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.

12:8. You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself.

12:9. For until this present time you are not come to rest, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you.

12:10. You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear,

12:11. In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord.

12:12. There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your men-servants and maid-servants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you.

12:13. Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:

12:14. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee.

12:15. But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it:

12:16. Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.

12:17. Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands:

12:18. But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and maid-servant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.

12:19. Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.

12:20 When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth:

12:21. And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee.

12:22. Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike.

12:23. Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:

12:24. But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water,

12:25. That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

12:26. But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose:

12:27. And shalt offer thy oblations, the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.

12:28. Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

12:29. When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land:

12:30. Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.

12:31. Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

12:32. What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.

That only do thou, etc... They are forbid here to follow the ceremonies of the heathens; or to make any alterations in the divine ordinances.

Deuteronomy Chapter 13

False prophets must be slain, and idolatrous cities destroyed.

13:1. If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,

13:2. And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them:

13:3. Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or not.

13:4. Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.

13:5. And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

13:6. If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers,

13:7. Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other,

13:8. Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him,

13:9. But thou shalt presently put him to death. Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

Presently put him to death... Not by killing him by private authority, but by informing the magistrate, and proceeding by order of justice.

13:10. With stones shall he be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

13:11. That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this.

13:12. If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:

13:13. Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not:

Belial... That is, without yoke. Hence the wicked, who refuse to be subject to the divine law, are called in scripture the children of Belial.

13:14. Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

13:15. Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle.

13:16. And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shall burn them with the city itself, so as to comsume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more.

13:17. And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers,

13:18. When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Deuteronomy Chapter 14

In mourning for the dead they are not to follow the ways of the Gentiles: the distinction of clean and unclean meats: ordinances concerning tithes, and firstfruits.

14:1. Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead;

14:2. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all nations that are upon the earth.

14:3. Eat not the things that are unclean.

Unclean... See the annotations on Lev. 11.

14:4. These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and the goat,