1   And now Israel heare the preceptes and iudgementes, which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayest liue, and entring in mayest possesse the Land, which the Lord the God of your fathers wil geue you.

2   You09Q0159 shal not adde to the word, that I speake to you, neither shal you take away from it: keepe the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you.

3   Your eyes haue seene al thinges that our Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed al his worshippers out of the middes of you.

4   But you that cleaue to the Lord your God, liue al vntil this present day.

5   You know that I haue taught you preceptes and iustices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shal you do them in the Land, which you shal possesse:

6   and you shal obserue, and fulfil them in worke. For ^note this is your wisedome, and vnderstanding before peoples, that hearing al these preceptes, may say: Behold a people ful of wisedome and vnderstanding, a great nation.

7   Neither is there other

Precepts Against Idoles. nation of great, that hath goddes approching vnto them, as our God is present at al our petitions.

8   For what other nation is there so renowmed that hath the ceremonies, and iust iudgementes, and the whole law, which I wil sette forth this day before your eyes.

9   Keepe thy selfe therfore, and thy soule carefully. Forget not the wordes, that thyne eyes haue seene, and let them not fal out of thy hart al the daies of thy life. Thou shalt teach them thy sonnes and thy nephewes,

10   the day wherin thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when our Lord spake to me, saying: Assemble vnto me the people, that they may heare my wordes, and may learne to feare me al the time that they liue on the earth, and may teach their children.

11   And you came to the foote of the mount, which burned euen vnto heauen: and there was in it darkenes, and a cloud and mist.

12   And our Lord spake to you from the middes of the fyre. The voice of his wordes you heard, and forme you saw not at al.

13   And he shewed you his couenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ^note tenne wordes, that he wrote in two tables of stone.

14   And he c&obar;manded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and iudgementes, which you should doe in the Land, that you shal possesse.

15   Keepe therfore your soules carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day, that our Lord spake to you in Horeb from the middes of the fire:

16   lest perhaps deceiued you might make you a grauen similitude, or image of male or female,

17   the similitude of al cattel, that are vpon the earth, or of birdes, that flie vnder heauen,

18   and of creeping beastes, that moue on the earth, or of fishes, that vnder the earth abide in the waters:

19   lest perhapes lifting vp thyne eies to heauen, thou see the Sunne and the Moone, and al the starres of heauen, and deceiued by errour thou adore and serue them, which the Lord thy God created to serue al nations, that are vnder heauen.

20   But you our Lord hath taken, and brought out of the yron furnace of Ægypt, to haue you his people by inheritance, as it is this present day.

21   And our Lord was angrie with me for your wordes, and he sware ^note that I should not passe ouer Iordan, nor enter into the excellent Land, which he wil geue you.

22   Behold I die ^note in this ground, I shal not passe ouer Iordan: you shal passe, and possesse the goodlie Land.

23   Beware lest at any time thou forget the

Threates. couenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thee a grauen similitude of those thinges, which our Lord hath prohibited to be made:

24   because the Lord thy God is a consuming fyre, iclouse God.

25   If you shal begette sonnes and nephewes, and abide in the Land, and being deceiued make to you some similitude, committing euil before the Lord your God, to prouoke him to wrarh:

26   I cal this day heauen and earth witnesses, that you shal quikly perish from out of the Land, which being passed ouer Iordan you shal possesse. You shal not dwel therin long time, but our Lord wil destroy you,

27   and disperse you into al nations, and you shal remaine a few among the nations, to the which our Lord wil lead you.

28   and there you shal serue goddes, that were framed with mens hand, wood and stone that see not, nor heare, nor eate, nor smel.

29   And when thou shalt seeke there the Lord thy God, thou shalt finde him: yet so, if thou seeke him with al thy hart, and al tribulation of thy soule.

30   After that al the thinges aforesaid shal finde thee, and in ^note the latter time thou shalt returne to the Lord thy God, and shalt heare his voice.

31   Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he wil not leaue thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the couenant, wherein he sware to thy fathers.

32   Aske of the dayes of old, that haue bene before thy time from the day that God created man vpon the earth, from one end of heauen to the other end therof, if euer there was done the like thing, or it hath beene knowen at any time,

33   that a people should heare the voice of God speaking out of the middes of fyre, as thou hast heard, and liued:

34   if God so did that he went in, and tooke vnto him a Nation out of the middes of nations, by temptations, signes, and wonders, by fight and strong hand, and stretched out arme, and horrible visions according to al thinges, that the Lord your God did for you in Ægypt, thine eies seeing it:

35   that thou mightest know that our Lord, he is God, and there is none other beside him,

36   from heauen he made thee to heare his voice, that he might teach thee. And in earth he shewed thee his fyre, verie greate, and thou didst heare his wordes out of the middes of the fyre,

37   because he loued thy fathers, and chose their seede after them. And he brought thee out of Ægypt, going before thee in his great power,

38   to destroy verie great nations and stronger then

Cities of refuge. thou at thy entring in, and to bring thee in, and geue thee their land in possession, as thou seest this present day.

39   Know therfore this day, and thinke in thy hart that our Lord he is God in heauen aboue, and in the earth beneth, and there is none other.

40   Keepe his preceptes and commandementes, which I command thee: that it may be wel with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayest remayne a long time vpon the Land, which the Lord thy God wil geue thee.

41   Then Moyses separated three cities beyond Iordan at the east side,

42   that he might flee to them which should kil his neighbour not voluntarily, neither was his enemie a day or two before, and he might scape to some of these cities:

43   Bosor in the wildernesse, which is situated in the champion countrie of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of manasses.

44   This is the law, that Moyses sette before the children of Israel,

45   and these are the testimonies and ceremonies and iudgementes, which he spake to the children of Israel, when they came out of Ægypt,

46   beyond Iordan in the valley against the temple of Phogor in the land of Sehon king of the Ammorrheite, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moyses stroke. The children of Israel also comming out of Ægypt

47   possessed his land, and the land of Og the king of Basan, the two kinges of the Amorrheites, which were beyond Iordan toward the rysing of the sunne:

48   from Aroer, which is situated vpon the banke of the torrent Arnon, vnto the mountaine Sion, which is also Hermon,

49   al the plaine beyond Iordan at the east side, vnto the sea of the wildernesse, and vnto the foote of mount Phasga.

Previous section

Next section