Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 “WhenAdonaiyour God cuts off the nations whose landAdonaiyour God is giving you, and you take their place and settle in their cities and houses,

2 you are to set aside three cities for yourselves in your land thatAdonaiyour God is giving you to possess.

3 Divide the territory of your land, whichAdonaiyour God is having you inherit, into three parts; and prepare the roads, so that any killer can flee to these cities.

4 The killer who will live if he flees there is someone who has killed his fellow member of the community by mistake, who did not hate him in the past.

5 An example would be if a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and takes a stroke with the axe to fell a tree, but the head of the axe flies off the handle, hits his neighbor and kills him. Then he is to flee to one of these cities and live there.

6 Otherwise the next-of-kin avenger, in the heat of his anger, may pursue the killer, overtake him because the distance [to the city of refuge] is long, and strike him dead — even though he didn’t deserve to die, inasmuch as he hadn’t hated him in the past.

7 This is why I am ordering you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

8 “IfAdonaiyour God expands your territory, as he swore to your ancestors that he would, and gives you all the land he promised to give to your ancestors —

9 provided you keep and observe all thesemitzvotI am giving you today, lovingAdonaiyour God and always following his ways — then you are to add three more cities for yourselves, besides these three;

10 so that innocent blood will not be shed in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus blood guilt be on you.

11 “However, if someone hates his fellow member of the community, lies in wait for him, attacks him, strikes him a death blow, and then flees into one of these cities;

12 then the leaders of his own town are to send and bring him back from there and hand him over to the next-of-kin avenger, to be put to death.

13 You are not to pity him. Rather, you must put an end to the shedding of innocent blood in Isra’el. Then things will go well with you.

(vi)

14 “You are not to move your neighbor’s boundary marker from the place where people put it long ago, in the inheritance soon to be yours in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you to possess.

15 “One witness alone will not be sufficient to convict a person of any offense or sin of any kind; the matter will be established only if there are two or three witnesses testifying against him.

16 “If a malicious witness comes forward and gives false testimony against someone,

17 then both the men involved in the controversy are to stand beforeAdonai, before thecohanimand the judges in office at the time.

18 The judges are to investigate carefully. If they find that the witness is lying and has given false testimony against his brother,

19 you are to do to him what he intended to do to his brother. In this way, you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

20 Those who remain will hear about it, be afraid and no longer commit such wickedness among you.

21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

1 “When you go out to fight your enemies and see horses, chariots and a force larger than yours, you are not to be afraid of them; becauseAdonaiyour God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

2 When you are about to go into battle, thecohenis to come forward and address the people.

3 He should tell them, ‘Listen, Isra’el! You are about to do battle against your enemies. Don’t be fainthearted or afraid; don’t be alarmed or frightened by them;

4 becauseAdonaiyour God is going with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies and give you victory.’

5 “Then the officials will speak to the soldiers. They are to say, ‘Is there a man here who has built a new house, but hasn’t dedicated it yet? He should go back home now; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will dedicate it.

6 “‘Is there a man here who has planted a vineyard, but hasn’t yet made use of its fruit? He should go back home; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will use it.

7 “‘Is there a man here who is engaged to a woman, but hasn’t married her yet? He should go back home; otherwise he may die fighting, and another man will marry her.’

8 “The officials will then add to what they have said to the soldiers: ‘Is there a man here who is afraid and fainthearted? He should go back home; otherwise his fear may demoralize his comrades as well.’

9 When the officials have finished speaking with the soldiers, commanders are to be appointed to lead the army.

(vii)

10 “When you advance on a town to attack it, first offer it terms for peace.

11 If it accepts the terms for peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people there are to be put to forced labor and work for you.

12 However, if they refuse to make peace with you but prefer to make war against you, you are to put it under siege.

13 WhenAdonaiyour God hands it over to you, you are to put every male to the sword.

14 However, you are to take as booty for yourself the women, the little ones, the livestock, and everything in the city — all its spoil. Yes, you will feed on your enemies’ spoil, whichAdonaiyour God has given you.

15 This is what you are to do to all the towns which are at a great distance from you, which are not the towns of these nations.

16 “As for the towns of these peoples, whichAdonaiyour God is giving you as your inheritance, you are not to allow anything that breathes to live.

17 Rather you must destroy them completely — the Hitti, the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the P’rizi, the Hivi and the Y’vusi — asAdonaiyour God has ordered you;

18 so that they won’t teach you to follow their abominable practices, which they do for their gods, thus causing you to sin againstAdonaiyour God.

19 “When, in making war against a town in order to capture it, you lay siege to it for a long time, you are not to destroy its trees, cutting them down with an axe. You can eat their fruit, so don’t cut them down. After all, are the trees in the field human beings, so that you have to besiege them too?

20 However, if you know that certain trees provide no food, you may destroy them and cut them down, in order to build siege-works against the town making war with you, until it falls.

1 “If, in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you to possess, a murder victim is found lying in the countryside; and the perpetrator of the murder is not known;

2 then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.

3 After it has been determined which town is the closest, the leaders of that town are to take a young female cow that has never been put to work or yoked for use as a draft animal.

4 The leaders of that town are to bring the heifer down to avadiwith a stream in it that never dries up, to a place that is neither plowed nor sown; and they are to break the cow’s neck there in thevadi.

5 Then thecohanim, who areL’vi’im, are to approach; forAdonaiyour God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in the name ofAdonai; they will decide the outcome of every dispute and matter involving violence.

6 All the leaders of the town nearest the murder victim are to wash their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in thevadi.(Maftir)

7 Then they are to speak up and say, ‘This blood was not shed by our hands, nor have we seen who did it.

8 Adonai, forgive your people Isra’el, whom you redeemed; do not allow innocent blood to be shed among your people Isra’el.’ And they will be forgiven this bloodshed.

9 Thus you will banish the shedding of innocent blood from among you, by doing whatAdonaisees as right.

Haftarah Shof’tim: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 51:12–52:12 [Messianic adaptation: conclude the reading at 53:12]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Shof’tim: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:38–42; 18:15–20; Acts 3:13–26; 7:35–53; 1 Corinthians 5:9–13; 1 Timothy 5:17–22; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 10:28–31

Parashah 49: Ki Tetze (When you go out) 21:10 –25:19

10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, andAdonaiyour God hands them over to you, and you take prisoners,

11 and you see among the prisoners a woman who looks good to you, and you feel attracted to her and want her as your wife;

12 you are to bring her home to your house, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails

13 and remove her prison clothing. She will stay there in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month; after which you may go in to have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.

14 In the event that you lose interest in her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes; but you may not sell her for money or treat her like a slave, because you humiliated her.

15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and unloved wives have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the child of the unloved wife;

16 then, when it comes time for him to pass his inheritance on to his sons, he may not give the inheritance due the firstborn to the son of the loved wife in place of the son of the unloved one, who is in fact the firstborn.

17 No, he must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the unloved wife by giving him a double portion of everything he owns, for he is the firstfruits of his manhood, and the right of the firstborn is his.

18 “If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them;

19 then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of that place,

20 and say to the leaders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn’t pay attention to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.’

21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you, and all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid.

(ii)

22 “If someone has committed a capital crime and is put to death, then hung on a tree,

23 his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God — so that you will not defile your land, whichAdonaiyour God is giving you to inherit.

1 “You are not to watch your brother’s ox or sheep straying and behave as if you hadn’t seen it; you must bring them back to your brother.

2 If your brother is not close by, or you don’t know who the owner is, you are to bring it home to your house; and it will remain with you until your brother asks for it; then you are to give it back to him.

3 You are to do the same with his donkey, his coat or anything else of your brother’s that he loses. If you find something he lost, you must not ignore it.

4 “If you see your brother’s donkey or ox collapsed on the road, you may not behave as if you hadn’t seen it; you must help him get them up on their feet again.

5 “A woman is not to wear men’s clothing, and a man is not to put on women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable toAdonaiyour God.

6 “If, as you are walking along, you happen to see a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground with chicks or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you are not to take the mother with the chicks.

7 You must let the mother go, but you may take the chicks for yourself; so that things will go well with you, and you will prolong your life.

(iii)

8 “When you build a new house, you must build a low wall around your roof; otherwise someone may fall from it, and you will be responsible for his death.

9 “You are not to sow two kinds of seed between your rows of vines; if you do, both the two harvested crops and the yield from the vines must be forfeited.

10 You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together.

11 You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool and linen together.

12 “You are to make for yourself twisted cords on the four corners of the garment you wrap around yourself.

13 “If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her,

14 brings false charges against her and defames her character by saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I had intercourse with her I did not find evidence that she was a virgin’;

15 then the girl’s father and mother are to take the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the leaders of the town at the gate.

16 The girl’s father will say to the leaders, ‘I let my daughter marry this man, but he hates her,

17 so he has brought false charges that he didn’t find evidence of her virginity; yet here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity’ — and they will lay the cloth before the town leaders.

18 The leaders of that town are to take the man, punish him,

19 and fine him two-and-a-half pounds of silvershekels, which they will give to the girl’s father, because he has publicly defamed a virgin of Isra’el. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives.

20 “But if the charge is substantiated that evidence for the girl’s virginity could not be found;

21 then they are to lead the girl to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her town will stone her to death, because she has committed in Isra’el the disgraceful act of being a prostitute while still in her father’s house. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

22 “If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, both of them must die — the man who went to bed with the woman and the woman too. In this way you will expel such wickedness from Isra’el.

23 “If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a man, and another man comes upon her in the town and has sexual relations with her;

24 you are to bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them to death — the girl because she didn’t cry out for help, there in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor’s wife. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

25 “But if the man comes upon the engaged girl out in the countryside, and the man grabs her and has sexual relations with her, then only the man who had intercourse with her is to die.

26 You will do nothing to the girl, because she has done nothing deserving of death. The situation is like the case of the man who attacks his neighbor and kills him.

27 For he found her in the countryside, and the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

28 “If a man comes upon a girl who is a virgin but who is not engaged, and he grabs her and has sexual relations with her, and they are caught in the act,

29 then the man who had intercourse with her must give to the girl’s father one-and-a-quarter pounds of silvershekels, and she will become his wife, because he humiliated her; he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

1 “A man is not to take his father’s wife, thus violating his father’s rights.

2 “A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly ofAdonai.

3 “Amamzermay not enter the assembly ofAdonai, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly ofAdonai.

4 “No ‘Amoni or Mo’avi may enter the assembly ofAdonai, nor may any of his descendants down to the tenth generation ever enter the assembly ofAdonai,

5 because they did not supply you with food and water when you were on the road after leaving Egypt, and because they hired Bil‘am the son of B‘or from P’tor in Aram-Naharayim to put a curse on you.

6 ButAdonaiyour God would not listen to Bil‘am; rather,Adonaiyour God turned the curse into a blessing for you; becauseAdonaiyour God loved you.

7 So you are never to seek their peace or well being, as long as you live.

(iv)

8 “But you are not to detest an Edomi, because he is your brother; and you are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

9 The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly ofAdonai.

10 “When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to guard yourself against anything bad.

11 If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp; he is not to enter the camp.

12 When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp.

13 Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine.

14 You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement.

15 ForAdonaiyour God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [Adonai] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.

16 “If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master.

17 Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

18 “No woman of Isra’el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra’el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.

19 Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house ofAdonaiyour God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent toAdonaiyour God.

20 “You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest.

21 To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so thatAdonaiyour God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

22 “When you make a vow toAdonaiyour God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, forAdonaiyour God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin.

23 If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for you;

24 but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed toAdonaiyour God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.

(v)

25 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket.

26 When you enter your neighbor’s field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

1 “Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house.

2 She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife;

3 but the second husband dislikes her and writes her aget, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies.

4 In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable toAdonai, and you are not to bring about sin in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you as your inheritance.

(vi)

5 “If a man has recently married his wife, he is not to be subject to military service; he is to be free of external obligations and left at home for one year to make his new wife happy.

6 “No one may take a mill or even an upper millstone as collateral for a loan, because that would be taking as collateral the debtor’s very means of sustenance.

7 “If a man kidnaps any of his brothers, fellow members of the community of Isra’el, and makes him his slave or sells him, that kidnapper must die; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

8 “When there is an outbreak oftzara‘at, be careful to observe and do just what thecohanim, who areL’vi’im, teach you. Take care to do as I ordered them.

9 Remember whatAdonaiyour God did to Miryam on the road after you left Egypt.

10 “When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to enter his house to take his collateral.

11 You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you.

12 If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession;

13 rather, you must restore the pledged item at sunset; then he will go to sleep wearing his garment and bless you. This will be an upright deed of yours beforeAdonaiyour God.

(vii)

14 “You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town.

15 You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you toAdonai, and it will be your sin.

16 “Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.

17 “You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow’s clothing as collateral for a loan.

18 Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; andAdonaiyour God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

19 “When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so thatAdonaiyour God will bless you in all the work you do.

20 When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

21 When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

1 “If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one;

2 then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense;

3 but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.

4 “You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

5 “If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.

6 The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra’el.

7 If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra’el; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’

8 The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’

9 then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’

10 From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra’el as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’

11 “If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker’s private parts with her hand,

12 you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

13 “You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light.

14 You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small.

15 You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you.

16 For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable toAdonaiyour God.

(Maftir)

17 “Remember what ‘Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt,

18 how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God.

19 Therefore, whenAdonaiyour God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!

Haftarah Ki Tetze: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:1–10 [Messianic adaptation: commence the reading at 52:13]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ki Tetze: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:31–32; 19:3–12; 22:23–32; Mark 10:2–12; 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–38; 1 Corinthians 9:4–18; Galatians 3:9–14; 1 Timothy 5:17–18

Parashah 50: Ki Tavo (When you come) 26:1–29:8(9)

1 “When you have come to the landAdonaiyour God is giving you as your inheritance, taken possession of it and settled there;

2 you are to take the firstfruits of all the crops the ground yields, which you will harvest from your land thatAdonaiyour God is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place whereAdonaiyour God will choose to have his name live.

3 You will approach thecohenholding office at the time and say to him, ‘Today I declare toAdonaiyour God that I have come to the landAdonaiswore to our ancestors that he would give us.’

4 Thecohenwill take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar ofAdonaiyour God.

5 “Then, in the presence ofAdonaiyour God, you are to say, ‘My ancestor was a nomad from Aram. He went down into Egypt few in number and stayed. There he became a great, strong, populous nation.

6 But the Egyptians treated us badly; they oppressed us and imposed harsh slavery on us.

7 So we cried out toAdonai, the God of our ancestors.Adonaiheard us and saw our misery, toil and oppression;

8 andAdonaibrought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders.

9 Now he has brought us to this place and given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 Therefore, as you see, I have now brought the firstfruits of the land which you,Adonai, have given me.’ You are then to put the basket down beforeAdonaiyour God, prostrate yourself beforeAdonaiyour God,

11 and take joy in all the good thatAdonaiyour God has given you, your household, theLeviand the foreigner living with you.

(ii)

12 “After you have separated a tenth of the crops yielded in the third year, the year of separating a tenth, and have given it to theLevi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that they can have enough food to satisfy them while staying with you;

13 you are to say, in the presence ofAdonaiyour God, ‘I have rid my house of the things set aside for God and given them to theLevi, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, in keeping with every one of themitzvotyou gave me. I haven’t disobeyed any of yourmitzvotor forgotten them.

14 I haven’t eaten any of this food when mourning, I haven’t put any of it aside when unclean, nor have I given any of it for the dead. I have listened to whatAdonaimy God has said, and I have done everything you ordered me to do.

15 Look out from your holy dwelling-place, from heaven; and bless your people Isra’el and the land you gave us, as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

(iii)

16 “TodayAdonaiyour God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being.

17 You are agreeing today thatAdonaiis your God and that you will follow his ways; observe his laws,mitzvotand rulings; and do what he says.

18 In turnAdonaiis agreeing today that you are his own unique treasure, as he promised you; that you are to observe all hismitzvot;

19 and that he will raise you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, reputation and glory; and that, as he said, you will be a holy people forAdonaiyour God.”

1 (iv)Then Moshe and all the leaders of Isra’el gave orders to the people. They said, “Observe all themitzvotI am giving you today.

2 When you cross the Yarden to the landAdonaiyour God is giving you, you are to set up large stones, put plaster on them,

3 and, after crossing over, write thisTorahon them, every word — so that you can enter the landAdonaiyour God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, asAdonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 When you have crossed the Yarden, you are to set up these stones, as I am ordering you today, on Mount ‘Eival; and put plaster on them.

5 There you are to erect an altar toAdonaiyour God, an altar made of stones. You are not to use any iron tool on them,

6 but are to build the altar ofAdonaiyour God of uncut stones; and you are to offer burnt offerings on it toAdonaiyour God.

7 Also you are to sacrifice peace offerings, eat there and be joyful in the presence ofAdonaiyour God.

8 You are to write on the stones all the words of thisTorahvery clearly.”

9 Next Moshe and thecohanim, who areL’vi’im, spoke to all Isra’el. They said, “Be quiet; and listen, Isra’el! Today you have become the people ofAdonaiyour God.

10 Therefore you are to listen to whatAdonaiyour God says and obey hismitzvotand laws, which I am giving you today.”

(v)

11 That same day Moshe commissioned the people as follows:

12 “These are the ones who are to stand on Mount G’rizim and bless the people after you have crossed the Yarden: Shim‘on, Levi, Y’hudah, Yissakhar, Yosef and Binyamin;

13 while these are to stand on Mount ‘Eival for the curse: Re’uven, Gad, Asher, Z’vulun, Dan and Naftali.

14 TheL’vi’im, speaking loudly, will proclaim to every man of Isra’el:

15 “‘A curse on anyone who makes a carved or metal image, somethingAdonaidetests, the handiwork of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret!’ All the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

16 “‘A curse on anyone who dishonors his father or mother.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

17 “‘A curse on anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

18 “‘A curse on anyone who causes a blind person to lose his way on the road.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

19 “‘A curse on anyone who interferes with justice for the foreigner, orphan or widow.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

20 “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

21 “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with any kind of animal.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

22 “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his sister, no matter whether she is the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

23 “‘A curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

24 “‘A curse on anyone who secretly attacks a fellow member of the community.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

25 “‘A curse on anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

26 “‘A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of thisTorahby putting them into practice.’ All the people are to say, ‘Amen!’

1 “If you listen closely to whatAdonaiyour God says, observing and obeying all hismitzvotwhich I am giving you today,Adonaiyour God will raise you high above all the nations on earth;

2 and all the following blessings will be yours in abundance — if you will do whatAdonaiyour God says:

3 “A blessing on you in the city, and a blessing on you in the countryside.

4 “A blessing on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the fruit of your livestock — the young of your cattle and flocks.

5 “A blessing on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.

6 “A blessing on you when you go out, and a blessing on you when you come in.

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7 “Adonaiwill cause your enemies attacking you to be defeated before you; they will advance on you one way and flee before you seven ways.

8 “Adonaiwill order a blessing to be with you in your barns and in everything you undertake; he will bless you in the landAdonaiyour God is giving you.

9 “Adonaiwill establish you as a people separated out for himself, as he has sworn to you — if you will observe themitzvotofAdonaiyour God and follow his ways.

10 Then all the peoples on earth will see thatAdonai’s name, his presence, is with you; so that they will be afraid of you.

11 “Adonaiwill give you great abundance of good things — of the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land in the landAdonaiswore to your ancestors to give you.

12 Adonaiwill open for you his good treasure, the sky, to give your land its rain at the right seasons and to bless everything you undertake. You will lend to many nations and not borrow;

13 Adonaiwill make you the head and not the tail; and you will be only above, never below — if you will listen to, observe and obey themitzvotofAdonaiyour God

14 and not turn away from any of the words I am ordering you today, neither to the right nor to the left, to follow after other gods and serve them.

15 “But if you refuse to pay attention to whatAdonaiyour God says, and do not observe and obey all hismitzvotand regulations which I am giving you today, then all the following curses will be yours in abundance:

16 “A curse on you in the city, and a curse on you in the countryside.

17 “A curse on your grain-basket and kneading-bowl.

18 “A curse on the fruit of your body, the fruit of your land and the young of your cattle and flocks.

19 “A curse on you when you come in, and a curse on you when you go out.

20 “Adonaiwill send on you curses, disasters and frustration in everything you set out to do, until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of your evil actions in abandoning me.

21 “Adonaiwill bring on you a plague that will stay with you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

22 Adonaiwill strike you down with wasting diseases, fever, inflammation, fiery heat, drought, blasting winds and mildew; and they will pursue you until you perish.

23 “The sky over your head will be brass and the earth under you iron.

24 Adonaiwill turn the rain your land needs into powder and dust that will fall on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

25 “Adonaiyour God will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will advance on them one way and flee before them seven. You will become an object of horror to every kingdom on earth.

26 Your carcasses will become food for all the birds in the air and the wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them away.

27 Adonaiwill strike you down with the boils that broke out on the Egyptians, tumors, skin lesions and itching, all incurable.

28 Adonaiwill strike you with insanity, blindness and utter confusion.

29 You will grope about at noon like a blind person groping in the dark, unable to find your way.

“You will be continually oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you.

30 You will get engaged to a woman, but another man will marry her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not use its fruit.

31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you won’t eat any of its meat. Your donkey will be taken away from you by force as you watch, and you won’t get it back. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you.

32 Your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people; you will watch for them longingly all day but not see them; and there will be nothing you can do about it.

33 A nation unknown to you will eat the fruit of your land and labor. Yes, you will be continually oppressed and crushed,

34 till you go crazy from what your eyes have to see.

35 Adonaiwill strike you down in the knees and legs with painful and incurable boils; they will spread from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 Adonaiwill bring you and your king whom you have put over yourselves to a nation you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; and there you will serve other gods made of wood and stone.

37 You will be so devastated as to become a proverb and a laughingstock among all the peoples to whichAdonaiwill drive you.

38 “You will carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, because locusts will devour it.

39 You will plant vineyards and dress them but neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will fall off unripe.

41 You will father sons and daughters, but they won’t belong to you, because they will go into captivity.

42 The bugs will inherit all your trees and the produce of your land.

43 “The foreigner living with you will rise higher and higher while you sink lower and lower.

44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you the tail.

45 “All these curses will come on you, pursuing you and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you didn’t pay attention to whatAdonaiyour God said, observing hismitzvotand regulations that he gave you.

46 These curses will be on you and your descendants as a sign and a wonder forever.

47 Because you didn’t serveAdonaiyour God with joy and gladness in your heart when you had such an abundance of everything;

48 Adonaiwill send your enemy against you; and you will serve him when you are hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed and lacking everything; he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys you.

49 Yes,Adonaiwill bring against you a nation from far away that will swoop down on you from the end of the earth like a vulture, a nation whose language you don’t understand,

50 a nation grim in appearance, whose people neither respect the old nor pity the young.

51 They will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you have been destroyed. They will leave you without grain, wine, olive oil, or your young cattle and sheep — until they have caused you to perish.

52 They will besiege all your towns until your high, fortified walls, in which you trusted, collapse everywhere in your land, whichAdonaiyour God gave you.

53 Then, because of the severity of the siege and distress that your enemies are inflicting on you, you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whomAdonaiyour God has given you.

54 Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will be without pity for his brother, his beloved wife or his surviving children,

55 to the degree that he will refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating; because if he did, he would have nothing left for himself — in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in all your towns.

56 The most delicate and sensitive woman among you, so sensitive and delicate that she wouldn’t think of touching the sole of her foot to the ground, will so begrudge her own beloved husband, son and daughter

57 that she will secretly eat the afterbirth that comes out of her and even her own children as she bears them — so desperately hungry will she be in the severity of the siege and distress your enemies are inflicting on you in your towns.

58 “If you will not observe and obey all the words of thisTorahthat are written in this book, so that you will fear this glorious and awesome name,Adonaiyour God;

59 thenAdonaiwill strike down you and your descendants with extraordinary plagues and severe sicknesses that go on and on.

60 He will bring back upon you all the diseases the Egyptians had, which you were in dread of; and they will cling to you.

61 Not only that, butAdonaiwill bring upon you all the sicknesses and plagues that are not written in this book of theTorah— until you are destroyed.

62 You will be left few in number, whereas you were once as numerous as the stars in the sky — because you did not pay attention to the voice ofAdonaiyour God.

63 “Thus it will come about that just as onceAdonaitook joy in seeking to do you good and increase your numbers, so nowAdonaiwill take joy in causing you to perish and be destroyed, and you will be plucked off the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

64 Adonaiwill scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.

65 Among these nations you will not find repose, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; ratherAdonaiwill give you there anguish of heart, dimness of eyes and apathy of spirit.

66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be afraid night and day and have no assurance that you will stay alive.

67 In the morning you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘Oh, how I wish it were morning!’ — because of the fear overwhelming your heart and the sights your eyes will see.

68 Finally,Adonaiwill bring you back in ships to Egypt, the place of which I said to you, ‘You will never ever see it again’; and there you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.”

69 These are the words of the covenant whichAdonaiordered Moshe to make with the people of Isra’el in the land of Mo’av, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horev.