Study Desk

"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who love Him and keep His commandments;

but He repays those who hate Him to their faces, to eliminate them; He will not hesitate toward him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

"Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep His covenant with you and His faithfulness which He swore to your forefathers.

"And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

"So you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

"Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

"Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today;

"But you are to remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

"And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice.

(Now the sons of Israel set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and there he was buried, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place.

At that time the LORD singled out the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him and to bless in His name, until this day.

Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God spoke to him.)

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

"Yet the LORD set His affection on your fathers, to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, you over all the other peoples, as it is this day.

"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing.

"You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.

"You shall therefore love the LORD your God, and always keep His directive, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

"Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God—His greatness, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm,

and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;