The Old Testament - The Middle Books - The New Testament with the Prophets

The 1527 Original Word of God In English


God's Truth To Us

 

 

The Fifth Book of Moses

also called Deuteronomy

 

Chapters 1-4 | 5-10 | 11-16 | 17-23 | 24-28 | 29-34 | Next Book


 

The 29th Chapter

      These are the words of the appointment which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the appointment which he made with them in Horeb. And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them: Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharao and unto all his servants, and unto all his land, and the great temptations which thine eyes have seen and those great miracles and wonders: And yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear unto this day.
      And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: and your clothes are not waxed old upon you, nor are thy shoes waxed old upon thy feet. Ye have eaten no bread nor drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know, how that he is the Lord your God.
      And at the last ye came unto this place, and Sihon the king of Hesbon and Og king of Basan came out against you unto battle, and we smote them and took their land and gave it an inheritance unto the Rubenites and Gadites and to the half tribe of Manasse. Keep therefore the word of this appointment and do them, that ye may understand all that ye ought to do. Ye stand here this day every one of you before the Lord your God: both the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officers and all the men of Israel: your children, your wives and the strangers that are in thine host, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldst come under the appointment of the Lord thy God, and under his oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day. For to make thee a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
      Also I make not this bond and this oath with you only: but both with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations which we passed by. And ye have seen their abominations and their idols: wood, stone, silver, gold, which they had.
      Lest there be among you man or woman kindred or tribe that turneth away in his heart this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations: and lest there be among you some root that beareth gall and wormwood, so that when he heareth the words of this curse, he bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, I will therefore work after the lust of mine own heart, that the drunken may perish with the thirsty. And so the Lord will not be merciful unto him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy, smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book light upon him, and the Lord do out his name from under heaven, and separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel according unto all the curses of the appointment that is written in the book of this law.
      So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you and the stranger that shall come from a far land, say when they see the plagues of that land, and the diseases wherewith the Lord hath smitten it how all the land is burnt up with brimstone and salt, that it is neither sown nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, after the overthrowing of Sodom, Gomor, Adama and Zeboim: which the Lord overthrew in his wrath and anger.
      And then all nations also say: wherefore hath the Lord done of this fashion unto this land? O how fierce is this great wrath? And men shall say: because they left the testament of the Lord God of their fathers which he made with them, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they went and served strange gods and worshipped them: gods which they knew not and which had given them nought. And therefore the wrath of the Lord waxed hot upon that land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book. And the Lord cast them out of their land in anger, wrath and great furiousness, and cast them into a strange land, as it is come to pass this day. The secrets of the Lord our God are opened unto us and our children for ever, that we do all the words of this law.

 

 

 

The 30th Chapter

      When all these words are come upon thee, whether it be the blessing or the curse which I have set before thee, yet if thou turn unto thine heart among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath thrust thee, and come again unto the Lord thy God and hearken unto his voice according to all that I command thee this day: both thou and thy children with all thine heart and all thy soul: Then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee and go and fetch thee again from all the nations, among which the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee. Though thou wast cast unto the extreme parts of heaven: even from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence fetch thee and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt enjoy it. And he will shew thee kindness and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed for to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy soul, that thou mayst live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies and on them that hate thee and persecute thee.
      But thou shalt turn and hearken unto the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in all the works of thine hand and in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle and fruit of thy land and in riches. For the Lord will turn again and rejoice over thee to do thee good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and ordinances which are written in the book of this law, if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy soul.
      For the commandment which I command thee this day, is not separated from thee neither far off. It is not in heaven that thou needest to say: who shall go up for us into heaven, and fetch it us, that we may hear it and do it: Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: who shall go over sea for us and fetch it us that we may hear it and do it. But the word is very nigh unto thee: even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that thou do it.
      Behold I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil: in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God and to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his ordinances and his laws: that thou mayst live and multiply, and that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
      But and if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear: but shalt go astray and worship strange gods and serve them, I pronounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passed over Jordan to go and possess it.
      I call to record this day unto you, heaven and earth, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: but choose life, that thou and thy seed may live, in that thou lovest the Lord thy God, hearken unto his voice and cleave unto him. For he is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayst dwell upon the earth which the Lord sware unto thy fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them.

 

 

 

The 31st Chapter

      And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel and said unto them. I am an hundred and twenty years this day, and can no more go out and in. Also the Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord your God he will go over before thee and he will destroy these nations before thee, and thou shalt conquer them. And Josua he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said. And the Lord shall go unto them, as he did to Sehon and Og kings of the Amorites and unto their lands which kings he destroyed. And when the Lord hath delivered them to thee, see that ye do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. Pluck up your hearts and be strong, dread not nor be afeared of them: for the Lord thy God himself will go with thee, and will neither let thee go nor forsake thee.
      And Moses called unto Josua and said unto him in the sight of all Israel. Be strong and bold, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them, and thou shalt give it them to inherit. And the Lord he shall go before thee and he shall be with thee, and will not let thee go nor forsake thee, fear not therefore nor be discomforted. And Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi which bare the ark of the testament of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel, and commanded them saying. At the end of seven years, in the time of the free year, in the feast of the tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he hath chosen: see that thou read this law before all Israel in their ears. Gather the people together: both men, women and children and the strangers that are in thy cities that they may hear, learn and fear the Lord your God, and be diligent to keep all the words of this law, and that their children which know nothing may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
      And the Lord said unto Moses. Behold thy days are come, that thou must die. Call Josua and come and stand in the tabernacle of witness, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Josua went and stood in the tabernacle of witness. And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle: even in the pillar of the cloud. And the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord said unto Moses: behold, thou must sleep with thy fathers, and this people will go a whoring after strange Gods of the land whither they go and will forsake me and break the appointment which I have made with them. And then my wrath will wax hot against them, and I will forsake them and will hide my face from them, and they shall be consumed. And when much adversity and tribulation is come upon them, then they will say: because our God is not among us, these tribulations are come upon us. But I will hide my face that same time for all the evils sake which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto strange Gods.
      Now therefore write ye this song, and teach it the children of Israel and put it in their mouths that this song may be my witness unto the children of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers that runneth with milk and honey, then they will eat and fill themselves and wax fat and turn unto strange Gods and serve them and rail on me and break my testament. And then when much mischief and tribulation is come upon them, this song shall answer before them, and be a witness. It shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the land which I sware. And Moses wrote this song the same season, and taught it the children of Israel. And the Lord gave Josua the son of Nun a charge and said: be bold and strong for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them, and I will be with thee.
      When Moses had made an end of writing out the words of this law in a book unto the end of them, he commanded the Levites which bare the ark of the testament of the Lord saying: take the book of this law and put it by the side of the ark of the testament of the Lord your God, and let it be there for a witness unto thee. For I know thy stubbornness and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been disobedient unto the Lord: and how much more after my death.
      Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I am sure that after my death, they will utterly marr themselves and turn from the way which I commanded you, and tribulation will come upon you in the latter days, when ye have wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him with the works of your hands. And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, unto the end of them.

 

 

 

The 32nd Chapter

      Hear O' heaven, what I shall speak and hear O' earth the words of my mouth. My doctrine drop as doth the rain, and my speech flow as doth the dew, as the mizzling upon the herbs, and as the drops upon the grass. For I will call on the name of the Lord: Magnify the might of our God.
      He is a rock and perfect are his deeds, for all his ways are with discretion. God is faithful and without wickedness, both righteous and just is he.
      The froward and overthwart generation hath marred themselves to himward, and are not his sons for their deformities sake. Dost thou so reward the Lord? O' foolish nation and unwise. Is not he thy father and thine owner? hath he not made thee and ordained thee? Remember the days that are past: consider the years from time to time. Ask thy father and he will shew thee, thine elders and they will tell thee. When the most highest gave the nations an inheritance, and divided the sons of Adam, he put the borders of the nations, fast by the multitude of the children of Israel.
      For the Lords part is his folk, and Israel is the portion of his inheritance.
      He found him in a desert land, in a void ground and a roaring wilderness. He led him about and gave him understanding, and kept him as the apple of his eye.
      As an eagle that stirreth up her nest and fluttereth over her young, he stretched out his wings and took him up and bare him on his shoulders. The Lord alone was his guide, and there was no strange God with him.
      He set him up upon an high land, and he ate the increase of the fields. And he gave him honey to suck out of the rock, and oil out of the hard stone. With butter of the kine and milk of the sheep, with fat of the lambs and fat rams and he goats with fat kidneys and with wheat. And of the blood of grapes thou drunkest wine.
      And Israel waxed fat and kicked. Thou wast fat, thick and smooth. And he let God go that made him and despised the rock that saved him. They angered him with strange Gods and with abominations provoked him. They offered unto field devils and not to God, and to Gods which they knew not and to new Gods that came newly up which their fathers feared not. Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast forgot God that made thee. And when the Lord saw it, he was angry because of the provoking of his sons and daughters.
      And he said: I will hide my face from them and will see what their end shall be. For they are a froward generation and children in whom is no faith. They have angered me with that which is no God, and provoked me with their vanities. And I again will anger them with them which are no people, and will provoke them with a foolish nation. For fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn unto the bottom of hell. And shall consume the earth with her increase, and set afire the bottoms of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon thee and will spend all mine arrows at them.
      Burnt with hunger and consumed with heat and with bitter pestilence. I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them and poison serpents. Without forth, the sword shall rob them of their children: and within in the chamber, fear: both young men and young women and the sucklings with the men of gray heads. I have determined to scatter them throughout the world, and to make away the remembrance of them from among men. Were it not that I feared the railing of their enemies, lest their adversaries would be proud and say: our high hand hath done all these works and not the Lord.
      For it is a nation that hath an unhappy forecast, and hath no understanding in them: I would they were wise and understood this and would consider their latter end.
      How it cometh that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand of them to flight: except their rock had sold them, and because the Lord had delivered them.
      For our rock is not as their rock, no though our enemies be judge. But their vines are of the vines of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorra. Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters be bitter.
      Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Are not such things laid in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? Vengeance is mine and I will reward: their feet shall slide, when the time cometh. For the time of their destruction is at hand, and the time that shall come upon them maketh haste.
      For the Lord will do justice unto his people, and have compassion on his servants. For it shall be seen that their power shall fail, and at the last they shall be prisoned and forsaken.
      And it shall be said: where are their Gods and their rock wherein they trusted?
      The fat of whose sacrifices they ate, and drank the wine of their drinkofferings, let them rise up and help you and be your protection.
      See now how that I, I am he, and that there is no God but I. I can kill and make alive, and what I have smitten that I can heal: neither is there that can deliver any man out of my hand.
      For I will lift up my hand to heaven, and will say: I live ever.
      If I whet the lightning of my sword, and mine hand take in hand to do justice, I will shew vengeance on mine enemies and will reward them that hate me.
      I will make mine arrows drunken with blood, and my sword shall eat flesh of the blood of the slain and of the captive and of the bare head of the enemy.
      Praise ye heathen his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will avenge him of his adversaries, and will be merciful unto the land of his people.
      And Moses went and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, both he and Josua the son of Nun. And when Moses had spoken all these words unto the end to all Israel, then he said unto them. Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify unto you this day: that ye command them unto your children, to observe and do all the words of this law. For it is not a vain word unto you: but it is your life, and through this word ye shall prolong your days in the land whither ye go over Jordan to conquer it.
      And the Lord spake unto Moses the self same day saying: get thee up into this mountain Abarim unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho. And behold the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel to possess. And die in the mount which thou goest upon, and be gathered unto thy people: As Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor and was gathered unto his people. For ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of strife, at Cades in the wilderness of Zin: because ye sanctified me not among the children of Israel. Thou shalt see the land before thee, but shall not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

 

 

 

The 33rd Chapter

      This is the blessing wherewith Moses Gods man blessed the children of Israel before his death saying: The Lord came from Sinai and showed his beams from Seir unto them, and appeared gloriously from mount Pharan, and he came with thousands of saints, and in his right hand a law of fire for them. How loved he the people? All his saints are in his hand. They joined themselves unto thy foot and received thy words. Moses gave us a law which is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was in Israel king when he gathered the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel together.
      Ruben shall live and shall not die: but his people shall be few in number. This is the blessing of Juda. And he said: hear Lord the voice of Juda and bring him unto his people: let his hands fight for him: but be thou his help against his enemies.
      And unto Levi he said: thy perfectness and thy light be after thy merciful man whom thou tempted at Masa and with whom thou strived at the waters of strife. He that saith unto his father and mother: I saw him not, and unto his brethren I knew not, and to his son I knew not: for they have observed thy words and kept thy testament. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements and Israel thy laws. They shall put cense before thy nose and whole sacrifices upon thine altar. Bless Lord their power and accept the works of their hands: smite the backs of them that rise against them and of them that hate them: that they rise not again.
      Unto BenJamin he said: The Lords darling shall dwell in safety by him and keep himself in the haven by him continually, and shall dwell between his shoulders.
      And unto Joseph he said: blessed of the Lord is his land with the goodly fruits of heaven, with dew and with springs that lie beneath: and with fruits of the increase of the *son and with ripe fruit of the months, and with the tops of mountains that were from the beginning and with the dainties of hills that last ever, and with goodly fruit of the earth and of the fullness thereof.
       And the goodwill of him that dwelleth in the bush shall come upon the head of Joseph and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from among his brethren, his beauty is as a first born ox and his horns as the horns of an unicorn. And with them he shall push the nations together, even unto the ends of the world. These are the many thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasse.
      And unto Zabulon he said: Rejoice Zabulon in thy going out, and thou Isachar in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the hill, and there they shall offer offerings of righteousness. For they shall suck of the abundance of the sea and of treasure hid in the sand.
       And unto Gad he said: blessed is the *roommaker Gad. He dwelleth as a lion and caught the arm and also the top of the head. He saw his beginning, that a part of the teacher was hid there and come with the heads of the people, and executed the righteousness of the Lord and his judgements with Israel.
      And unto Dan he said: Dan is a lions whelp, he shall flow from Basan.
      And unto Naphthali, he said: Naphthali he shall have abundance of pleasure and shall be filled with the blessing of the Lord and shall have his possessions in the southwest.
      And of Asser he said: Asser shall be blessed with children: he shall be acceptable unto his brethren and shall dip his foot in oil: Iron and brass shall hang on thy shoes and thine age shall be as thy youth.
      There is none like unto the God of Israel: he that sitteth upon heaven shall be thine help, whose glory is in the clouds, that is the dwelling place of God from the beginning and from under the arms of the world: he hath cast out thine enemies before thee and said: destroy. And Israel shall dwell in safety alone. And the eyes of Jacob shall look upon a land of corn and wine, moreover his heaven shall drop with dew. Happy art thou Israel, who is like unto thee? A people that art saved by the Lord thy shield and helper and sword of thy glory. And thine enemies shall hide themselves from thee, and thou shalt walk upon their high hills.

 

*son: this is exactly as it appears; in the original text.

 

 

 

The 34th Chapter

      And Moses went from the fields of Moab up into mount Nebo which is the top of Phasgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Galaad even unto Dan, and all Naphthali and the land of Ephraim and Manasse, and all the land of Juda: even unto the utmost sea, and the south and the region of the plain of Jericho the city of palm trees even unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him. This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saying: I will give it unto thy seed. I have showed it thee before thine eyes: but thou shalt not go over thither.
      So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab at the commandment of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab beside Beth Pheor: but no man knew of his sepulcher unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died, and yet his eyes were not dim nor his cheeks abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the fields of Moab thirty days. And the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
       And Josua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom: for Moses had put his hand upon him. And all the children of Israel hearkened unto him and did as the Lord commanded Moses. But there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, unto Pharao and all his servants and unto all his land: and in all the mighty deeds and great terrible things which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

 

The end of the fifth book of Moses

 

Chapters 1-4 | 5-10 | 11-16 | 17-23 | 24-28 | 29-34 | Next Book


 

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