Chapter .xxxvi.
And the ancient heads of the children of Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasse of the kindred of the children of Ioseph, came forth and spake before Moses and the princes which were ancient heads among the children of Israel and said: The LORD commanded my lord to give the land to inherit by lot to the children of Israel. And then my lord commanded in the name of the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelaphead our brother unto his daughters. Now when any of the sons of the tribes of Israel take them to wives, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put unto the inheritance of the tribe in which they are and shall be taken from the lot of our inheritance. And when the free year {of jubilee} cometh unto the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe where they are in, and so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. And Moses commanded the children of Israel at the mouth of the LORD saying: the tribe of the children of Ioseph have said well. This therefore doeth the LORD: command the daughters of Zelaphead saying: let them be wives to whom they themself think best, but in the kindred of the tribe of their fathers shall they marry, that the inheritance of the children of Israel roll not from tribe to tribe. But that the children of Israel may abide, every man in the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter that possesseth any inheritance among the tribes of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the kindred of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his father, and that the inheritance go not from one tribe to another: but that the tribes of the children of Israel, may abide every man in his own inheritance. And as the LORD commanded Moses even so did the daughters of Zelaphead: Mahela, Thirza, Hagla, Milcha and Noa, and were married unto their fathers' brothers' sons, of the kindred of the children of Manasse the son of Ioseph: and so they had their inheritance in the tribe of the kindred of their father. These are the commandments and laws which the LORD commanded thorow Moses, unto the children of Israel in the fields of Moab upon Iordan nye unto Iericho.
The end of the .iiij. book of Moses.
The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Chapter .j.
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel, on the other side Iordan in the wilderness and in the fields by the red sea, between Pharan and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Disahab twelve days journey from Horeb unto Cades barne, by the way that leadeth unto mount Seir. And it fortuned the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them, after that he had smote Sehon the king of the Amorites which dwelt in Hesbon, and Og king of Basan which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei. On the other side Iordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law saying: the LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb saying: Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: depart therefore and take your journey and go unto the hills of the Amorites and unto all places nye there unto: both fields, hills and dales: and unto the south and unto the sea's side in the land of Canaan, and unto Libanon: even unto the great river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in therefore and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Iacob, to give unto them and their seed after them. And I said unto you the same season: I am not able to bear you myself alone. For the LORD your God hath multiplied you: so that ye are this day as the stars of heaven in number (the LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you) how (said I) can I myself alone, bear the cumbrance, charge and strife that is among you: bring therefore men of wisdom and of understanding and expert, known among your tribes, that I may make them rulers over you. And ye answered me and said: that which thou hast spoken is good to be done. And then I took the heads of your tribes, men of wisdom and that were expert, and made them rulers over you: captains over thousands and over hundreds, over fifty and over ten, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges the same time saying: hear your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him. See that ye know no man in judgement: but hear the small as well as the great and be afraid of no man, for the law is God's. {judgment is Gods} And the cause that is too hard for you, bring unto me and I will hear it. And I commanded you the same season, all the things which ye should do. And then we departed from Horeb and walked thorow all that great and terrible wilderness as ye have seen along by the way that leadeth unto the hills of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us, and came to Cades barne. And there I said unto you: Ye are come unto the hills of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee, go up and conquer it, as the LORD God of thy fathers sayeth unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged. And then ye came unto me every one and said: Let us send men before us, to search us out the land and to bring us word again, both what way we shall go up by, and unto what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, of every tribe one. And they departed and went up into the high country and came unto the river Escol, and searched it out, and took of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down unto us and brought us word again and said: it is a good land which the LORD our God doeth give us. Notwithstanding ye would not consent to go up, but were disobedient unto the mouth of the LORD your God, and murmured in your tents and said: because the LORD hateth us, therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and to destroy us. How shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts saying: the people is greater and taller than we, and the cities are great and walled even up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Enakims there. And I said unto you: dread not nor be afraid of them: The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did unto you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness: as thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee as a man should bear his son, thorowout all the way which ye have gone, until ye came unto this place. And yet for all this saying ye did not believe the LORD your God which goeth the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, that ye might see what way to go and in a cloud by day. And the LORD heard the voice of your words and was wroth and swore saying, there shall not one of these men of this froward generation see that good land which I sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb the son of Iephune, he shall see it, and to him I will give the land which he hath walked in and to his children, because he hath continually followed the LORD. Likewise the LORD was angry with me for your sakes saying: thou also shalt not go in thither. But Iosua the son of Nun which stondeth before thee, he shall go in thither. Bold him therefore for he shall divide it unto Israel. Moreover your children which ye said should be a prey, and your sons which know neither good nor bad this day, they shall go in thither and unto them I will give it, and they shall enjoy it. But as for you, turn back and take your journey into the wilderness: even the way to the red sea. Then ye answered and said unto me: We have sinned against the LORD: we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war and were ready to go up into the hills, the LORD said unto me: say unto them, see that ye go not up and that ye fight not, for I am not among you: lest ye be plagued before your enemies. And when I told you ye would not hear: but disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hills. Then the Amorites which dwelt in those hills, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and hewed you in Seir, even unto Horma. And ye came again and wept before the LORD: but the LORD would not hear your voice nor give you audience. And so ye abode in Cades a long season, according unto the time that ye there dwelt.
Chapter .ij.
Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness, even the way to the red sea as the LORD commanded me. And we compassed the mountains of Seir a long time. Then the LORD spake unto me saying: Ye have compassed these mountains long enough, turn you northward. And warn the people saying: Ye shall go thorow the coasts of your brethren the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you: But take good heed unto your selves that ye provoke them not, for I will not give you of their land, no not so much as a foot breadth: because I have given mount Seir unto Esau to possess. Ye shall buy meat of them for money to eat, and ye shall buy water of them for money to drink. For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thine hand, and knew thee as thou wentest thorow this great wilderness. Moreover the LORD thy God hath been with thee this forty years, so that thou hast lacked nothing. And when we were departed from our brethren the children of Esau which dwelt in Seir by the field way from Elath and Ezion Gaber, we turned and went the way to the wilderness of Moab. Then the LORD said unto me: see that thou vex not the Moabites, neither provoke them to battle for I will not give thee of their land to possess: because I have given Ar unto the children of loth to possess. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, many and tall, as the Enakims: which also were taken for giants as the Enakims: And the Moabites called them Emims. In like manner the Horims dwelt in Seir before time which the children of Esau cast out, and destroyed them before them and dwelt there in their stead: as Israel did in the land of his possession which the LORD gave them. Now rise up (said I) and get you over the river Zared: and we went over the river Zared. The space in which we came from Cades barne until we were come over the river Zared was thirty eight years: until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out of the host as the LORD sware unto them. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them out of the host, till they were consumed. And as soon as all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, then the LORD spake unto me saying: Thou shalt go thorow Ar the coast of Moab this day, and shalt come nye unto the children of Ammon: see that thou vex them not, nor yet provoke them. For I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon to possess, because I have given it unto the children of Loth to possess. That also was taken for a land of giants and giants dwelt therein in old time, and the Ammonites called them Zamzumims. A people that was great, many and tall, as the Enakims. But the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they cast them out and they dwelt there in their stead: as he did for the children of Esau which dwell in Seir: even as he destroyed the Horims before them, and they cast them out and dwell in their stead unto this day. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazarim even unto Aza, the Caphthorims which came out of Caphthor destroyed them and dwelt in their rooms. Rise up, take your journey and go over the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sehon the Amorite king of Hesbon, and his land. Go to and conquer and provoke him to battle. This day I will begin to send the fear and dread of thee upon all nations that are under all ports of heaven: so that when they hear speak of thee, they shall tremble and quake for fear of thee. Then I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Hesbon, with words of peace saying: Let me go thorow thy land. I will go always along by the high way and will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. Sell me meat for money for to eat, and give me drink for money for to drink: I will go thorow by foot only (as the children of Esau did unto me which dwell in Seir and the Moabites which dwell in Ar) until I be come over Iordan, into the land which the LORD our God giveth us. But Sihon the king of Hesbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD thy God had hardened his spirit and made his heart tough because he would deliver him into thy hands as it is come to pass this day. And the LORD said unto me: behold, I have begun to set Sihon and his land before thee: go to and conquer, that thou mayst possess his land. Then both Sihon and all his people came out against us unto battle at Iahab. And the LORD set him before us, and we smote him and his sons and all his people. And we took all his cities the same season, and destroyed all the cities with men, women, and children and let nothing remain, save the cattle only we caught unto our selves and the spoil of the cities which we took, from Aroer upon the brink of the river of Arnon, and the city in the river, unto Gilead: there was not one city too strong for us. The LORD our God delivered all unto us: only unto the land of the children of Ammon ye came not, nor {ner} unto all the coast of the river Iabock nor {ner} unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbade us.
Chapter .iij.
Then we turned and went up the way to Basan. And Og the king of Basan came out against us: both he and all his people to battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto me: fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into thy hand and thou shalt deal with him as thou dealest with Sihon king of the Amorites which dwelt at Hesbon. And so the LORD our God delivered into our hands, Og also the king of Basan and all his folk. And we smote him until nought was left him. And we took all his cities the same season (for there was not a city which we took not from them) even three score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Basan. All these cities were made strong with high walls, gates and bars, beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we played with Sihon king of Hesbon: bringing to nought all the cities with men, women and children. But all the cattle and the spoil of the cities, we caught for ourselves. And thus we took the same season, the land out of the hand of two kings of the Amorites on the other side Iordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon (which Hermon the Sidons call Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senir) all the cities in the plain and all Gilead and all Basan unto Salcha and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan. For only Og king of Basan remained of the remnant of the giants: behold, his iron bed is yet at Rabath among the children of Ammon nine cubits long and, four cubits broad, of the cubits of a man. And when we had conquered this land the same time, I gave from Aroer which is upon the river of Arnon, and half mount Gilead and the cities thereof unto the Rubenites, and Gadites. And the rest of Gilead and all Basan the kingdom of Og, I gave unto the half tribe of Manasse: all the region of Argob with all Basan was called the land of giants. Iair the son of Manasse took all the region of Argob unto the coasts of Gesuri and Maachati, and called the towns of Basan after his own name: the towns of [Havoth] Iair unto this day. And I gave half Gilead unto Machir. And unto Ruben and Gad, I gave from Gilead unto the river of Arnon and half the valley and the coast, even unto the river Iabock which is the border of the children of Ammon, and the fields and Iordan with the coast, from Cenereth even unto the sea in the field which is the salt sea under the springs of Pisga eastward. And I commanded you the same time (ye Ruben and Gad) saying: the LORD your God hath given you this land to enjoy it: see that ye go harnessed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are men of war among you. Your wives only, your children and your cattle (for I wot that ye have much cattle) shall abide in your cities which I have given you, until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren as well as unto you, and until they also have conquered the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Iordan: and then return again every man unto his possession which I have given you. And I warned Iosua the same time saying: thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings, even so the LORD will do unto all kingdoms whither thou goest. Fear them not, for the LORD your God he it is that fighteth for you. And I besought the LORD the same time saying: O Lord Iehoua, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand, for there is no God in heaven nor in earth that can do after thy works and after thy power: let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Iordan, that goodly high country and Libanon. But the LORD was angry with me for your sakes and would not hear me, but said unto me, be content, and speak henceforth no more unto me of this matter; Get thee up into the top of Pisga and lift up thine eyes west, north, south and east, and behold it with thine eyes for thou shalt not go over this Iordan. Moreover, charge Iosua and courage him and bold him. For he shall go over before his people, and he shall divide the land which thou shalt see unto them. And so we abode in the valley beside Beth Peor.
Chapter .iiij.
And now hearken Israel unto the ordinances and laws which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live and go and conquer the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall put nothing unto the word which I command you neither do ought therefrom, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did unto Baal Peor: for all the men that followed Baal Peor, the LORD your God hath destroyed from among you. But ye that clave unto the LORD your God, are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you ordinances and laws, such as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do even so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep them therefore and do them, for that is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations: which when they have heard all these ordinances, shall say: O what a wise and understanding people is this great nation. For what nation is so great that hath Gods {Goddes} so nye unto him: as the LORD our God is nye unto us, in all things, when we call unto him? Yea, and what nation is so great that hath ordinances and laws so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day. Take heed to thy self therefore only and keep thy soul diligently, that thou forget not the things which thine eyes have seen, and that they depart not out of thine heart, all the days of thine life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons son's. The day that I stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when he said unto me, gather me the people together, that I may make them hear my words that they may learn to fear me as long as they live upon the earth and that they may teach their children: ye came and stood also under the hill, and the hill burnt with fire: even unto the midst of heaven, and there was darkness, clouds and mist. And the LORD spake unto you out of the fire and ye heard the voice of the words: But saw no image, save heard a voice only. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, even ten verses and wrote them in two tables of stone. And the LORD commanded me the same season to teach you ordinances and laws, for to do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. Take heed unto yourselves diligently as pertaining unto your souls, for ye saw no manner of image the day when the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the fire: lest ye mar yourselves and make you graven images after whatsoever likeness it be: whether after the likeness of man or woman or any manner beast that is on the earth or of any manner feathered fowl that flyeth in the air, or of any manner worm that creepeth on the earth or of any manner fish that is in the water beneath the earth: Yea and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the son and the moon and the stars and whatsoever is contained in heaven, shouldest be deceived and shouldest bow thyself unto them and serve the things which the LORD thy God hath distributed unto all nations that are under all quarters of heaven. For the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as it is come to pass this day. Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me for your sakes and sware, that I should not go over Iordan and that I should not go unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inheritance. For I must die in this land, and shall not go over Iordan: But ye shall go over and conquer that good land. Take heed unto yourselves therefore, that ye forget not the appointment of the LORD your God which he made with you, and that ye make you no graven image of whatsoever it be that the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, and a jealous God. If after thou hast gotten children and children's children and hast dwelt long in the land, ye shall mar yourselves and make graven images after the likeness of whatsoever it be, and shall work wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him. I call heaven and earth to record unto you this day, that ye shall shortly perish from off the land whither ye go over Iordan to possess it: Ye shall not prolong your days therein, but shall shortly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the people whither the LORD shall bring you: and there ye shall serve gods which are the works of man's hand, wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. Neverthelater ye shall seek the LORD your God even there, and shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soul. In thy tribulation and when all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, thou shalt turn unto the LORD thy God, and shalt hearken unto his voice. For the LORD thy God is a pitiful God: he will not forsake thee neither destroy thee, nor forget the appointment made with thy fathers which he sware unto them. For ask I pray thee of the days that are past which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth and from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether anything hath been like unto this great thing or whether any such thing hath been heard as it is, that a nation hath heard the voice of God speaking out of fire as thou hast heard, and yet lived? either whether God assayed to go and take him a people from among nations, thorow temptations and signs and wonders and thorow war and with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm and with mighty terrible sights, according unto all that the LORD your God did unto you in Egypt before your eyes. Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know, how that the LORD he is God and that there is none but he. Out of heaven he made thee hear his voice to nurture thee, and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his words out of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them and brought thee out with his presence and with his mighty power of Egypt: to thrust out nations greater and mightier than thou before thee, to bring thee in and to give thee their land to inheritance: as it is come to pass this day. Understand therefore this day and turn it to thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath, there is no more: keep therefore his ordinances, and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee and that thou mayst prolong thy days upon the earth which the LORD thy God giveth thee for ever. {thy life long.} Then Moses severed three cities on the other side Iordan toward the son rising, that he should flee thither which had killed his neighbour unwares and hated him not in time past, and therefore should flee unto one of the same cities and live: Bezer in the wilderness even in the plain country among the Rubenites: and Ramoth in Gilead among the Gadites and Solan in Basan among the Manassites. This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel, and these are the witness, ordinances and statutes which Moses told the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, on the other side Iordan in the valley beside Beth Peor in the land of Sehon king of the Amorites which dwelt at Hesbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote after they were come out of Egypt, and conquered his land and the land of Og king of Basan two kings of the Amorites on the other side Iordan toward the son rising: from Aroer upon the bank of the river Arnon, unto mount Sion which is called Hermon and all the fields on the other side Iordan eastward: even unto the sea in the field under the springs of Pisga.
Chapter .v.
And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them: Hear Israel the ordinances and laws which I speak in thine ears this day, and learn them and take heed that ye do them. The LORD {Loode} our God made an appointment with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this bond with our fathers, but with us: we are they, which are all here alive this day. The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the fire. And I stood between the LORD and you the same time, to shew you the saying of the LORD. For ye were afraid of the fire and therefore went not up into the mount and he said. I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage. Thou shalt have therefore none other gods in my presence. Thou shalt make thee no graven Image of any manner likeness that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water beneath the earth. Thou shalt neither bow thyself unto them nor serve them, for I the LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the wickedness of the fathers upon the children, even in the third and the fourth generation, among them that hate me: and shew mercy upon thousands among them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. Keep the Sabbath day that thou sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour and do all that thou hast to do, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no manner work, neither thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy servant nor thy maid nor thine ox nor thine ass nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy city, that thy servant and thy maid may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and how that the LORD God, brought thee out thence with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm. For which cause the LORD thy God commandeth thee to keep the Sabbath day. Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: that thou mayst prolong thy days, and that it may go well with thee on the land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not slee. Thou shalt not break wedlock. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not lust after thy neighbour's wife: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, field, servant, maid, ox, ass nor ought that is thy neighbour's. These words the LORD spake unto all your multitude in the mount out of the fire, cloud and darkness, with a loud voice, and added no more thereto, and wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto me. But as soon as ye heard the voice out of the darkness and saw the hill burn with fire, ye came unto me all the heads of your tribes and your elders: and ye said: behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire, and we have seen this day that God may talk with a man and he yet live. And now wherefore should we die that this great fire should consume us: If we should hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we should die. For what is any flesh that he should hear the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire as we have done and should yet live: Go thou and hear all that the LORD our God sayeth, and tell thou unto us all that the LORD our God sayeth unto thee, and we will hear it and do it. And the LORD heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me, and he said unto me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoke unto thee, they have well said all that they have said. Oh that they had such an heart with them to fear me and keep all my commandments alway, that it might go well with them and with their children for ever. Go and say unto them: get you into your tents again, but stond thou here before me and I will tell thee all the commandments, ordinances and laws which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess. Take heed therefore that ye do as the LORD your God hath commanded you, and turn not aside: either to the right hand or to the left: but walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live and that it may go well with you and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Chapter .vi.
These are the commandments, ordinances and laws which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his ordinances and his commandments which I command thee, both thou and thy son and thy son's son all days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore Israel and take heed that thou do thereafter, that it may go well with thee and that ye may increase mightily: even as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear Israel, the LORD thy God is LORD onely, and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart and thou shalt whet them on thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou art at home in thine house and as thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up: and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand. And they shall be papers of remembrance between thine eyes, and shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and upon thy gates. And when the LORD thy God hath brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Iacob, to give thee with great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all manner goods which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, and vines and olive trees which thou planted not, and when thou hast eaten, and art full: Then beware lest thou forget the LORD which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage. But fear the LORD thy God and serve him, and swear by his name, and see that ye walk not after strange gods {goddes} off the gods of the nations which are about you. For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the wrath of the LORD thy God wax hot upon thee and destroy thee from the earth. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God as ye did at Masa. But see that ye keep the commandments of the LORD your God, his witnesses and his ordinances which he hath commanded thee, and see thou do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that thou mayst prosper and that thou mayst go and conquer that good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, and that the LORD may cast out all thine enemies before thee as he hath said. When thy son asketh thee in time to come saying: What meaneth the witnesses, ordinances and laws which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son: We were bondmen unto Pharao in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD shewed signs and wonders both great and evil upon Egypt, Pharao and upon all his household, before our eyes, and brought us from thence: to bring us in and to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And therefore commanded us to do all these ordinances and for to fear the LORD our God, for our wealth always and that he might save us, as it is come to pass this day. Moreover it shall be righteousness unto us before the LORD our God, if we take heed to keep all these commandments as he hath commanded us.
Chapter .vij.
When the LORD thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee: the Hethites, the Girgosites, the Amorites, the Cananites, the Pheresites, the Hevites and the Iebusites. Seven nations more in number and mightier than thou: and when the LORD thy God hath set them before thee that thou shouldest smite them, see that thou utterly destroy them and make no covenant with them nor have compassion on them. Also thou shalt make no marriages with them, neither give thy daughter unto his son nor take his daughter unto thy son. For they will make your sons depart from me and serve strange gods, and then will the wrath of the LORD wax hot upon you and destroy you shortly. But thus ye shall deal with them: overthrow their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their groves and burn their images with fire. For thou art an holy nation unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a several people unto himself of all nations that are upon the earth. It was not because of the multitude of you above all nations, that the LORD had lust unto you and chose you. For ye were fewest of all nations: But because the LORD loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, therefore he brought you out of Egypt with a mighty hand and delivered you out of the house of bondage: even from the hand of Pharao king of Egypt. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God he is God and that a true God, which keepeth appointment and mercy unto them that love him and keep his commandments, even thorowout a thousand generations and rewardeth them that hate him before his face so that he bringeth them to nought, and will not defer the time unto him that hateth him but will reward him before his face. Keep therefore the commandments, ordinances and laws which I command you this day, that ye do them. If ye shall hearken unto these laws and shall observe and do them, then shall the LORD thy God keep appointment with thee and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers and will love thee, bless thee and multiply thee: he will bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy field, thy corn, thy wine and thy oil, the fruit of thine oxen and the flocks of thy sheep in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all nations, there shall be neither man nor woman unfruitful among you, nor anything unfruitful among your cattle. Moreover the LORD will turn from thee all manner infirmities, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt (which thou knowest) upon thee, but will send them upon them that hate thee. Thou shalt bring to nought all nations which the LORD thy God delivereth thee, thine eye shall have no pity upon them neither shalt thou serve their gods, for that shall be thy decay. If thou shalt say in thine heart: these nations are more than I, how can I cast them out? Fear them not, but remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharao and unto all Egypt, and the great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs and wonders and mighty hand and stretched out arm wherewith the LORD thy God brought thee out: even so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the nations of which thou art afraid. Thereto, the LORD thy God will send hornets among them until they that are left, and hide them selves from thee, be destroyed. See thou fear them not for the LORD {lord} thy God is among you a mighty God and a terrible. The LORD thy God will put out these nations before thee a little and a little: thou mayst not consume them at once lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. And the LORD {lorde} thy God shall deliver them unto thee and stir up a mighty tempest among them, until they be brought to nought. And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their names from under heaven. There shall no man stond before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The images of their gods thou shalt burn with fire, and see that thou covet not the silver or gold that is on them nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therewith. For it is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. Bring not therefore the Abomination to thine house, lest thou be a damned thing as it is: but utterly defy it and abhor it, for it is a thing that must be destroyed.
Chapter .viij.
All the commandments which I command thee this day ye shall keep for to do them, that ye may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And think on all the way which the LORD thy God led thee this forty years in the wilderness, for to humble thee and to prove thee, to wete what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. He humbled thee and made thee hunger and fed thee with manna which neither thou nor thy father knew of, to make thee know that a man must not live by bread only: but by all that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD must a man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy feet swell this forty years. Understand therefore in thine heart, that as a man nurtureth his son, even so the LORD thy God nurtureth thee. Keep therefore the commandments of the LORD thy God that thou walk in his ways and that thou fear him. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers of water, of fountains and of springs that spring out both in valleys and hills: a land of wheat and of barley, of vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees with oil and of honey: a land wherein thou shalt not eat bread in scarceness, and where thou shalt lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou shalt dig brass. When thou hast eaten therefore and filled thyself, then bless the LORD for the good land which he hath given thee. But beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not keep his commandments, laws and ordinances which I command thee this day: yea and when thou hast eaten and filled thyself and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy beasts and thy sheep are waxed many and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast increased, then beware lest thine heart rise and thou forget the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt the house of bondage, and which led thee in the wilderness both great and terrible with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst {drouth} where was no water, which brought the water out of the rock of flint: which fed thee in the wilderness with Man whereof thy fathers knew not, for to humble thee and to prove thee, that he might do thee good at thy latter end. And beware that thou say not in thine heart, my power and the might of mine own hand hath done me all these acts: But remember the LORD thy God, how that it is he which gave thee power to do manfully, for to make good the promise which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is come to pass this day. For if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God and shalt walk after strange gods and serve them and worship them, I testify unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before thee, even so ye shall perish, because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God.