Bible Reading Plan – Day 50

₂₃“When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me ₂₄and said, ‘The LORD our God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for a human being to continue to live, even though God has spoken to him. ₂₅But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear the LORD our God speak again. ₂₆Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire? ₂₇Go back, Moses, and listen to everything that the LORD our God says. Then return and tell us what he said to you. We will listen and obey.’

₂₈“When the LORD heard this, he said to me, ‘I have heard what these people said, and they are right. ₂₉If only they would always feel like this! If only they would always honour me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants for ever. ₃₀Go and tell them to return to their tents. ₃₁But you, Moses, stay here with me, and I will give you all my laws and commands. Teach them to the people, so that they will obey them in the land that I am giving them.’

₃₂“People of Israel, be sure that you do everything that the LORD your God has commanded you. Do not disobey any of his laws. ₃₃Obey them all, so that everything will go well with you and so that you will continue to live in the land that you are going to occupy.

₁“These are all the laws that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. ₂As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honour the LORD your God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time. ₃Listen to them, people of Israel, and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as the LORD, the God of our ancestors, has promised.

₄“Israel, remember this! The LORD — and the LORD alone — is our God. ₅Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ₆Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. ₇Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. ₈Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. ₉Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

₁₀“Just as the LORD your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build. ₁₁The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When the LORD brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat, ₁₂make certain that you do not forget the LORD who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. ₁₃Honour the LORD your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone. ₁₄Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you. ₁₅If you do worship other gods, the LORD's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the LORD your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

₁₆“Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you did at Massah. ₁₇Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you. ₁₈Do what the LORD says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the LORD promised your ancestors, ₁₉and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised.

₂₀“In time to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did the LORD our God command us to obey all these laws?’ ₂₁Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the LORD rescued us by his great power. ₂₂With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials. ₂₃He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would. ₂₄Then the LORD our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honour him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. ₂₅If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.’

₁“The LORD your God will bring you into the land which you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ₂When the LORD your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy. ₃Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them, ₄because then they would lead your children away from the LORD to worship other gods. If that happens, the LORD will be angry with you and destroy you at once. ₅So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down the symbols of their goddess Asherah, and burn their idols. ₆Do this because you belong to the LORD your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

₇“The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. ₈But the LORD loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt. ₉Remember that the LORD your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, ₁₀but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him. ₁₁So now, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.

₁₂“If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then the LORD your God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors. ₁₃He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children; he will bless your fields, so that you will have corn, wine, and olive oil; and he will bless you by giving you a lot of cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you. ₁₄No people in the world will be as richly blessed as you. None of you nor any of your livestock will be sterile. ₁₅The LORD will protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt, but he will bring them on all your enemies. ₁₆Destroy every nation that the LORD your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

₁₇“Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out. ₁₈Do not be afraid of them; remember what the LORD your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people. ₁₉Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which the LORD your God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear. ₂₀He will even cause panic among them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding. ₂₁So do not be afraid of these people. The LORD your God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared. ₂₂Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you. ₂₃The LORD will put your enemies in your power and make them panic until they are destroyed. ₂₄He will put their kings in your power. You will kill them, and they will be forgotten. No one will be able to stop you; you will destroy everyone. ₂₅Burn their idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on them, and do not take it for yourselves. If you do, that will be fatal, because the LORD hates idolatry. ₂₆Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under the LORD's curse.

₁“Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land which the LORD promised to your ancestors. ₂Remember how the LORD your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands. ₃He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that human beings must not depend on bread alone to sustain them, but on everything that the LORD says. ₄During these forty years your clothes have not worn out, nor have your feet swollen up. ₅Remember that the LORD your God corrects and punishes you just as a father disciplines his children. ₆So then, do as the LORD has commanded you: live according to his laws and obey him. ₇The LORD your God is bringing you into a fertile land — a land that has rivers and springs, and underground streams gushing out into the valleys and hills; ₈a land that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey. ₉There you will never go hungry or ever be in need. Its rocks have iron in them, and from its hills you can mine copper. ₁₀You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to the LORD your God for the fertile land that he has given you.

₁₁“Make certain that you do not forget the LORD your God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today. ₁₂When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in ₁₃and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased, ₁₄make sure that you do not become proud and forget the LORD your God who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. ₁₅He led you through that vast and terrifying desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. In that dry and waterless land he made water flow out of solid rock for you. ₁₆In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things. ₁₇So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength. ₁₈Remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to become rich. He does this because he is still faithful today to the covenant that he made with your ancestors. ₁₉Never forget the LORD your God or turn to other gods to worship and serve them. If you do, then I warn you today that you will certainly be destroyed. ₂₀If you do not obey the LORD, then you will be destroyed just like those nations that he is going to destroy as you advance.