T46 - Ekev

¹² “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, YHWH your Elohim will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ And YHWH will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ And you shall consume all the peoples that YHWH your Elohim will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what YHWH your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which YHWH your Elohim brought you out. So will YHWH your Elohim do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, YHWH your Elohim will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for YHWH your Elohim is in your midst, a great and awesome Elohim. ²² YHWH your Elohim will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[a] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ²³ But YHWH your Elohim will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to YHWH your Elohim. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction^[b] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Remember YHWH Your Elohim

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that YHWH swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that YHWH your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^[c] that comes from the mouth of YHWH. ⁴ Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, YHWH your Elohim disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of YHWH your Elohim by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For YHWH your Elohim is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless YHWH your Elohim for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget YHWH your Elohim by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ¹² lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart be lifted up, and you forget YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember YHWH your Elohim, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget YHWH your Elohim and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that YHWH makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of YHWH your Elohim.

Not Because of Righteousness

9 “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is YHWH your Elohim. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as YHWH has promised you.

⁴ “Do not say in your heart, after YHWH your Elohim has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that YHWH has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that YHWH is driving them out before you. ⁵ Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations YHWH your Elohim is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that YHWH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ “Know, therefore, that YHWH your Elohim is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. ⁷ Remember and do not forget how you provoked YHWH your Elohim to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against YHWH. ⁸ Even at Horeb you provoked YHWH to wrath, and YHWH was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that YHWH made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ And YHWH gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of Elohim, and on them were all the words that YHWH had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ And at the end of forty days and forty nights YHWH gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then YHWH said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

The Golden Calf

¹³ “Furthermore, YHWH said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. ¹⁴ Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against YHWH your Elohim. You had made yourselves a golden^[d] calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that YHWH had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I lay prostrate before YHWH as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of YHWH to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that YHWH bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But YHWH listened to me that time also. ²⁰ And YHWH was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹ Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

²² “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked YHWH to wrath. ²³ And when YHWH sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of YHWH your Elohim and did not believe him or obey his voice. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against YHWH from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ “So I lay prostrate before YHWH for these forty days and forty nights, because YHWH had said he would destroy you. ²⁶ And I prayed to YHWH, ‘O Lord Elohim, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, ²⁸ lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because YHWH was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” ²⁹ For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

New Tablets of Stone

10 “At that time YHWH said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. ² And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments^[e] that YHWH had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And YHWH gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as YHWH commanded me.”

⁶ (The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan^[f] to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. ⁷ From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. ⁸ At that time YHWH set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of YHWH to stand before YHWH to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. ⁹ Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. YHWH is his inheritance, as YHWH your Elohim said to him.)

¹⁰ “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and YHWH listened to me that time also. YHWH was unwilling to destroy you. ¹¹ And YHWH said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

Circumcise Your Heart

¹² “And now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim require of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of YHWH, which I am commanding you today for your good? ¹⁴ Behold, to YHWH your Elohim belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. ¹⁵ Yet YHWH set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. ¹⁶ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. ¹⁷ For YHWH your Elohim is Elohim of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome Elohim, who is not partial and takes no bribe. ¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear YHWH your Elohim. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹ He is your praise. He is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. ²² Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now YHWH your Elohim has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Love and Serve YHWH

11 “You shall therefore love YHWH your Elohim and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. ² And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline^[g] of YHWH your Elohim, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, ³ his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, ⁴ and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how YHWH has destroyed them to this day, ⁵ and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. ⁷ For your eyes have seen all the great work of YHWH that he did.

⁸ “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, ⁹ and that you may live long in the land that YHWH swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it,^[h] like a garden of vegetables. ¹¹ But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, ¹² a land that YHWH your Elohim cares for. The eyes of YHWH your Elohim are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ he^[i] will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. ¹⁵ And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then the anger of YHWH will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that YHWH is giving you.

¹⁸ “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ²⁰ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that YHWH swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving YHWH your Elohim, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, ²³ then YHWH will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. ²⁴ Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to^[j] the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. ²⁵ No one shall be able to stand against you. YHWH your Elohim will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.