Deuteronomy 27

¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you.

²⁸But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

¹⁰Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

¹Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you.

¹Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.

²For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁶The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and with all your soul.

²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

¹When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

³¹just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the Lord, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

¹Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.

¹When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,

¹⁹And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,

³²And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

⁹And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁸If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

³¹Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

³²It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

¹⁶“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”

²⁷And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit!

²⁹When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

³⁰Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?

³⁰At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord, the God of Israel,

³¹just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the Lord, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

²⁵Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”

³²And with the stones, Elijah built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.

³⁰At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord, the God of Israel,

³¹just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the Lord, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

¹Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.

²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

¹“If one’s offering is a peace offering and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the Lord.

²He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splatter the blood on all sides of the altar.

¹A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

²Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

³With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation,

³⁶He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

⁷There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

²Then the Lord answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.

²⁵I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

¹⁶The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁷Today you have proclaimed that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes and commandments and ordinances, and listen to His voice.

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

⁹for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.

¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

¹You shall therefore love the Lord your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

⁷For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the Lord has done.

⁸You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

¹Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

⁷When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.

²⁶See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

²⁷a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today,

³³All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

³⁴Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

¹⁸And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

⁴And when you have crossed the Jordan, you are to set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I am commanding you today, and you are to coat them with plaster.

³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

²⁹When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

³³All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

¹¹All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

⁹He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained Your covenant.

¹⁰He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

³³All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

⁷The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.

⁸So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read.

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

⁸But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁷You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

¹“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the Lord your God.

⁸You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

⁴Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁶that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,

¹⁷of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,

³Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁷Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

¹¹There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.

¹⁴You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

²⁸Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.

¹⁴You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁴Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁰He who leads the upright along the path of evil will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.

¹⁵I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame.

¹⁰Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

¹⁷Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.

²¹You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²²You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.

²“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

³Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

²You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

²³A wicked man takes a covert bribe to subvert the course of justice.

³⁰A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.

⁸You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

¹¹If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

¹⁰In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

²³You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.

¹⁹Whoever lies with an animal must surely be put to death.

¹⁵If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal.

⁹You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

¹⁷If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.

¹¹One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

¹After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.

⁸So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them.

⁹Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out.

¹⁴If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.

¹⁷You must not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.

³¹You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.

¹⁷And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.

¹³You shall not murder.

⁹“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.

¹⁰Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

⁹Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

²⁸Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

⁵who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

⁷Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁸Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

¹⁹Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

³When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.

⁴“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”

¹⁸(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.

¹⁰All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

¹⁵If, however, you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

⁵For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”

²⁴But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.

²¹You rebuke the arrogant—the cursed who stray from Your commandments.

¹⁵‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’