Study Desk

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.

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,

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.

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."

But you, our Lord , chose the people of Israel to be your own, and with your mighty power you rescued them from Egypt.

Moses said to Israel: After I put the two stones in the sacred chest, the Lord chose the tribe of Levi, not only to carry the chest, but also to serve as his priests at the place of worship and to bless the other tribes in his name. And they still do these things.

Everything belongs to the Lord your God, not only the earth and everything on it, but also the sky and the highest heavens.

When your ancestors went to live in Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But the Lord has blessed you, and now there are more of you than there are stars in the sky.

But the hills and valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from heaven,

But watch out! You will be tempted to turn your backs on the Lord . And if you worship other gods,

But if you disobey him and worship those gods that have never done anything for you, the Lord will put a curse on you.

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.

Soon you will cross the Jordan, and the Lord will help you conquer your enemies and let you live in peace, there in the land he has given you. But after you are settled, life will be different. You must not offer sacrifices just anywhere you want to. Instead, the Lord will choose a place somewhere in Israel where you must go to worship him. All of your sacrifices and offerings must be taken there, including sacrifices to please the Lord and any gift you promise or voluntarily give him. That's where you must also take one tenth of your grain, wine, and olive oil, as well as the first-born of your cattle, sheep, and goats. You and your family and servants will eat your gifts and sacrifices and celebrate there at the place of worship, because the Lord your God has made you successful in everything you have done. And since Levites will not have any land of their own, you must ask some of them to come along and celebrate with you. Sometimes you may want to kill an animal for food and not as a sacrifice. If the Lord has blessed you and given you enough cows or sheep or goats, then you can butcher one of them where you live. You can eat it just like the meat from a deer or gazelle that you kill when you go hunting. And even those people who are unclean and unfit for worship can have some of the meat. But you must not eat the blood of any animal—let the blood drain out on the ground.

The Lord has promised that later on he will give Israel more land, and some of you may not be able to travel all the way from your homes to the place of worship each time you are hungry for meat. But the Lord will give you cattle, sheep, and goats, and you can butcher any of those animals at home and eat as much as you want.

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.

All sacrifices and offerings to the Lord must be taken to the place where he chooses to be worshiped. If you offer a sacrifice to please the Lord , all of its meat must be burned on the altar. You can eat the meat from certain kinds of sacrifices, but you must always pour out the animal's blood on the altar.

But that's when you must be especially careful not to ask, "How did those nations worship their gods? Shouldn't we worship the Lord in the same way?"

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.

But don't eat camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. These animals chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs. You must treat them as unclean.

And don't eat pork, since pigs have divided hoofs, but they do not chew their cud. Don't even touch a dead pig!