Study Desk

until the Lord also gives your Israelite relatives a place to rest. They will receive the land the Lord your God has given them on the other side of the Jordan River. After that, you may each return to the land I have given you."

Then I gave this command to Joshua: "You have seen for yourself all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same thing to all the kingdoms where you are going.

Don't be afraid of them, because the Lord your God will fight for you."

"Lord God , you have begun to show me, your servant, how great you are. You have great strength, and no other god in heaven or on earth can do the powerful things you do. There is no other god like you.

Now, Israel, listen to the laws and commands I will teach you. Obey them so that you will live and so that you will go over and take the land the Lord , the God of your ancestors, is giving to you.

Don't add to these commands, and don't leave anything out, but obey the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did at Baal Peor, how the Lord your God destroyed everyone among you who followed Baal in Peor.

But all of you who continued following the Lord your God are still alive today.

Look, I have taught you the laws and rules the Lord my God commanded me. Now you can obey the laws in the land you are entering, in the land you will take.

No other nation is as great as we are. Their gods do not come near them, but the Lord our God comes near when we pray to him.

Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai. He said to me, "Bring the people together so I can tell them what I have to say. Then they will respect me as long as they live in the land, and they will teach these things to their children."

When you look up at the sky, you see the sun, moon, and stars, and everything in the sky. But don't bow down and worship them, because the Lord your God has made these things for all people everywhere.

The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan River to go into the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.

Be careful. Don't forget the Agreement of the Lord your God that he made with you, and don't make any idols for yourselves, as the Lord your God has commanded you not to do.

The Lord your God is a jealous God, like a fire that burns things up.

Even after you have lived in the land a long time and have had children and grandchildren, don't do evil things. Don't make any kind of idol, and don't do what the Lord your God says is evil, because that will make him angry.

But even there you can look for the Lord your God, and you will find him if you look for him with your whole being.

It will be hard when all these things happen to you. But after that you will come back to the Lord your God and obey him,

because the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you. He will not forget the Agreement with your ancestors, which he swore to them.

Nothing like this has ever happened before! Look at the past, long before you were even born. Go all the way back to when God made humans on the earth, and look from one end of heaven to the other. Nothing like this has ever been heard of!