Study Desk

But now you will see for yourselves that the Lord your God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.

Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'

"So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain.

So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces.

The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time.

"So I lay face downward in the Lord 's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you.

"So I made a Box of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first ones and took them up the mountain.

Then he told me to go and lead you, so that you could take possession of the land that he had promised to give to your ancestors.

But the Lord 's love for your ancestors was so strong that he chose you instead of any other people, and you are still his chosen people.

So then, from now on be obedient to the Lord and stop being stubborn.

So then, show love for those foreigners, because you were once foreigners in Egypt.

"So then, obey the commands that I have given you today; love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart.

If you do, he will send rain on your land when it is needed, in the autumn and in the spring, so that there will be grain, wine, and olive oil for you,

Tear down their altars and smash their sacred stone pillars to pieces. Burn their symbols of the goddess Asherah and chop down their idols, so that they will never again be worshiped at those places.

After the Lord destroys those nations, make sure that you don't follow their religious practices, because that would be fatal. Don't try to find out how they worship their gods, so that you can worship in the same way.

"You are the people of the Lord your God. So when you mourn for the dead, don't gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do.

Then go to the one place where the Lord your God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor the Lord your God always.

There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread—it will be called the bread of suffering—so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.