Study Desk

The Most Important Commandment Moses said to Israel: The Lord told me to give you these laws and teachings, so you can obey them in the land he is giving you. Soon you will cross the Jordan River and take that land. And if you and your descendants want to live a long time, you must always worship the Lord and obey his laws. Pay attention, Israel! Our ancestors worshiped the Lord , and he promised to give us this land that is rich with milk and honey. Be careful to obey him, and you will become a successful and powerful nation. Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God!

So love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

and houses full of good things that you didn't put there. The Lord will give you wells that you didn't have to dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you didn't have to plant. But when you have eaten so much that you can't eat any more,

so don't try to make him prove that he can help you, as you did at Massah.

The Lord rescued us from Egypt, so he could bring us into this land, as he had promised our ancestors.

So when you conquer these nations, tear down the altars where they worship their gods. Break up their sacred stones, cut down the poles that they use in worshiping the goddess Asherah, and throw their idols in the fire.

You know that the Lord your God is the only true God. So love him and obey his commands, and he will faithfully keep his agreement with you and your descendants for a thousand generations.

So be sure to obey his laws and teachings I am giving you today.

You saw how the Lord used his tremendous power to work great miracles and bring you out of Egypt. And he will again work miracles for you when you face these enemies you fear so much.

So don't be frightened when you meet them in battle. The Lord your God is great and fearsome, and he will fight at your side.

so destroy it. If you bring it home with you, both you and your house will be destroyed. Stay away from those disgusting idols!

so he made you go hungry. Then he gave you manna, a kind of food that you and your ancestors had never even heard about. The Lord was teaching you that people need more than food to live—they need every word that the Lord has spoken.

So keep in mind that the Lord has been correcting you, just as parents correct their children.

You can dig for copper in those hills, and the stones are made of iron ore. And you won't go hungry. Wheat and barley fields are everywhere, and so are vineyards and orchards full of fig, pomegranate, and olive trees, and there is plenty of honey.

Remember how he led you in that huge and frightening desert where poisonous snakes and scorpions live. There was no water, but the Lord split open a rock, and water poured out so you could drink.

He also gave you manna, a kind of food your ancestors had never even heard about. The Lord was testing you to make you trust him, so that later on he could be good to you.

But the Lord your God has promised to go ahead of you, like a raging fire burning everything in its path. So when you attack your enemies, it will be easy for you to destroy them and take their land.

At Mount Sinai you made the Lord so angry that he was going to destroy you.

It happened during those forty days and nights that I was on the mountain, without anything to eat or drink. He had told me to come up there so he could give me the agreement he made with us. And this agreement was actually the same Ten Commandments he had announced to you when he spoke from the fire on the mountain. The Lord had written them on two flat stones with his own hand. But after giving me the two stones,

So don't try to stop me! I am going to wipe them out, and no one on earth will remember they ever lived. Then I will let your descendants become an even bigger and more powerful nation than Israel.