Study Desk

So I threw down the two stones and smashed them before your very eyes.

I bowed down at the place of worship and prayed to the Lord , without eating or drinking for forty days and nights. You had committed a terrible sin by making that idol, and the Lord hated what you had done. He was angry enough to destroy all of you and Aaron as well. So I prayed for you and Aaron as I had done before, and this time the Lord answered my prayers.

It was a sin for you to make that idol, so I threw it into the fire to melt it down. Then I took the lump of gold, ground it into powder, and threw the powder into the stream flowing down the mountain.

Then at Kadesh-Barnea the Lord said, "I am giving you the land, so go ahead and take it!" But since you didn't trust the Lord , you rebelled and disobeyed his command.

After you had made the idol in the shape of a calf, the Lord said he was going to destroy you. So I bowed down in front of the sacred tent for forty days and nights,

If you destroy your people, the Egyptians will say, "The Lord promised to give Israel land, but he wasn't powerful enough to keep his promise. In fact, he hated them so much that he took them into the desert and killed them."

So I made a chest out of acacia wood, and I chiseled two flat stones like the ones I broke. Then I carried the stones up the mountain,

Yet the Lord loved your ancestors and wanted them to belong to him. So he chose them and their descendants rather than any other nation, and today you are still his people.

Remember your agreement with the Lord and stop being so stubborn.

Moses said to Israel: The Lord is your God, so you must always love him and obey his laws and teachings.

he will send rain at the right seasons, so you will have more than enough food, wine, and olive oil, and there will be plenty of grass for your cattle.

But the nations that live there worship other gods. So after you capture the land, you must completely destroy their places of worship—on mountains and hills or in the shade of large trees.

Wherever these nations worship their gods, you must tear down their altars, break their sacred stones, burn the sacred poles used in worshiping the goddess Asherah, and smash their idols to pieces. Destroy these places of worship so completely that no one will remember they were ever there.

But don't eat the blood. It is the life of the animal, so let it drain out on the ground before you eat the meat.

Someone else may say to you, "Let's worship other gods." That person may be your best friend, your brother or sister, your son or daughter, or your own dear wife or husband. But you must not listen to people who say such things. Instead, you must stone them to death. You must be the first to throw the stones, then others from the community will finish the job. Don't show any pity. The gods worshiped by other nations have never done anything for you or your ancestors. People who ask you to worship other gods are trying to get you to stop worshiping the Lord , who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. So put to death anyone who asks you to worship another god.

Moses said: People of Israel, you are the Lord 's children, so when you mourn for the dead, you must not cut yourselves or shave your forehead.

Out of all the nations on this earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his own. You belong to the Lord , so don't behave like those who worship other gods.

Swarming insects are unclean, so don't eat them.

You belong to the Lord your God, so if you happen to find a dead animal, don't eat its meat. You may give it to foreigners who live in your town or sell it to foreigners who are visiting your town. Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

The Levites have no land of their own, so you must give them food from the storehouse. You must also give food to the poor who live in your town, including orphans, widows, and foreigners. If they have enough to eat, then the Lord your God will be pleased and make you successful in everything you do.