New Stone Tablets

10 “At that time, the Lord said to me, ‘You must cut out two flat stones like the first two stones. Then you must come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden box. ²I will write on the flat stones the same words that were on the first stones—the stones you broke. Then you must put these new stones in the Box.’ ³“So I made a box from acacia wood. I cut two flat stones like the first two stones. Then I went up on the mountain. I had the two flat stones in my hand. ⁴And the Lord wrote on the stones the same words he had written before—the Ten Commandments he spoke to you from the fire, when you were gathered together at the mountain. Then the Lord gave the two flat stones to me. ⁵I came back down from the mountain. I put the stones in the Box I had made. The Lord commanded me to put them there. And the stones are still there in that Box.” (⁶The people of Israel traveled from the wells of the people of Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried. Aaron’s son Eleazar served in Aaron’s place as priest. ⁷Then the people of Israel went from Moserah to Gudgodah. And they went from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers. ⁸At that time the Lord separated the family group of Levi from the other family groups for his special work. They had the work of carrying the Lord’s Box of the Agreement.* They also served as priests before the Lord. And they had the work of blessing people in the Lord’s name. They still do this special work today. ⁹That is why the Levites* did not get any share of land like the other family groups did. The Levites have the Lord for their share. That is what the Lord your God promised them.) ¹⁰“I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, like the first time. The Lord also listened to me at that time. The Lord decided not to destroy you. ¹¹The Lord said to me, ‘Go and lead the people on their trip. They will go in and live in the land that I promised their ancestors* to give them.’

What the Lord Really Wants

¹²“Now, people of Israel, listen! What does the Lord your God really want from you? The Lord wants you to respect him and do what he says. God wants you to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹³So obey the laws and commands of the Lord that I am giving you today. These laws and commands are for your own good. ¹⁴“Everything belongs to the Lord your God. The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord. The earth and everything on it belong to the Lord your God. ¹⁵The Lord loved your ancestors* very much. He loved them so much that he chose you, their descendants,* to be his people. He chose you instead of any other nation. And you are still his chosen people today. ¹⁶“Stop being stubborn. Give your hearts to the Lord. ¹⁷Why? Because the Lord is your God. He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great God. He is the amazing and powerful fighter. To the Lord every person is the same. The Lord does not accept money to change his mind. ¹⁸He helps children that have no parents. He helps widows.* He loves even the strangers in our country. He gives them food and clothes. ¹⁹So you must also love those strangers. Why? Because you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰“You must respect the Lord your God and worship only him. Never leave him. When you make promises, you must use only his name. ²¹The Lord is the one you should praise. He is your God. He has done great and amazing things for you. You have seen those things with your own eyes. ²²When your ancestors* went down into Egypt, there were only 70 people. Now the Lord your God has made you many, many people—as many as the stars in the sky.

Box of the Agreement Or, “ark of the Covenant,” the box containing the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them and other things that proved God was with the people of Israel during their time in the Sinai desert. Levites People from the tribe of Levi. They helped the priests in the temple and worked for the civil government. ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. descendants A person’s children and their future families. widows Women whose husbands have died.

Remember the Lord

11 “So you must love the Lord your God. You must do the things he tells you to do. You must always obey his laws, rules, and commands. ²Remember today all the great things the Lord your God has done to teach you. It was you, not your children, that saw those things happen and lived through them. You saw how great the Lord is. You saw how strong he is, and you saw the powerful things he does. ³You, not your children, saw the miracles he did. You saw the things he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his whole country. ⁴You, not your children, saw the things the Lord did to the Egyptian army—to their horses and chariots.* They were chasing you, but you saw the Lord cover them with the water from the Red Sea. You saw the Lord completely destroy them. ⁵It was you, not your children, that saw all the things the Lord your God did for you in the desert until you came to this place. ⁶You saw what the Lord did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab from Reuben’s family. All the people of Israel watched as the ground opened up like a mouth and swallowed those men. It swallowed their families, their tents, and all of their servants and animals. ⁷It was you, not your children, that saw all those great things the Lord did. ⁸“So you must obey every command I tell you today. Then you will be strong. And you will be able to go across the Jordan River and take the land that you are ready to enter. ⁹Then you will live a long life in that country. The Lord promised to give that land to your ancestors* and all their descendants.* It is a land filled with many good things.* ¹⁰The land that you will get is not like the land of Egypt that you came from. In Egypt, you planted your seeds, and then you used your feet {to pump water from the canals} to water your plants. {You watered your fields} the same way you water a vegetable garden. ¹¹But the land that you will soon get is not like that. In Israel there are mountains and valleys. And the land gets its water from the rain that falls from the sky. ¹²The Lord your God cares for that land! The Lord your God watches over that land, from the beginning to the end of the year. ¹³{“The Lord says,} ‘You must listen carefully to the commands I give you today: You must love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul. If you do that, then ¹⁴I will send rain for your land at the right time. I will send the autumn rain and the spring rain. Then you can gather your grain, your new wine, and your oil. ¹⁵And I will make grass grow in your fields for your cows. You will have plenty to eat.’ ¹⁶“But be careful! Don’t be fooled. Don’t turn away to serve and worship other gods. ¹⁷If you do that, then the Lord will become very angry at you. He will shut the skies, and there will be no rain. The land will not make a harvest. And you will soon die in the good land that the Lord is giving you. ¹⁸“Remember these commands I give you. Keep them in your hearts. {Write these commands and} tie them on your hands and wear them on your foreheads for a way to help you remember {my laws}. ¹⁹Teach these laws to your children. Talk about these things when you sit in your houses, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. ²⁰Write these commands on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. ²¹Then both you and your children will live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give to your ancestors.* You will live there as long as the skies are above the earth. ²²“Be careful to obey every command I have told you to follow: Love the Lord your God, follow all his ways, and be faithful to him. ²³Then, when you go into the land, the Lord will force all those other nations out. You will take the land from nations that are larger and more powerful than you. ²⁴All the land you walk on will be yours. Your land will go from the desert {in the south} all the way to Lebanon {in the north}. It will go from the Euphrates River {in the east} all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵No person will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will make the people fear you wherever you go in that land. That is what the Lord promised you before.

Israel’s Choice: Blessings or Curses

²⁶“Today I am giving you a choice. You may choose the blessing or the curse. ²⁷You will get the blessing if you listen and obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have told you today. ²⁸But you will get the curse if you refuse to listen and obey the commands of the Lord your God. So don’t stop living the way I command you today. And don’t follow other gods. {You know the Lord, but} you don’t know those gods. ²⁹“The Lord your God will lead you to your land. You will soon go in and take that land. At that time, you must go to the top of Mount Gerizim and read the blessings to the people from there. And then, you must go to the top of Mount Ebal and read the curses to the people from there. ³⁰These mountains are on the other side of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanite people living in the Jordan Valley. These mountains are toward the west, not far from the oak trees of Moreh near the town of Gilgal. 31You will go across the Jordan River. You will take the land that the Lord your God is giving you. This land will belong to you. When you are living in this land, 32you must carefully obey all the laws and rules I give you today.

chariot(s) A small wagon used in war. ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. descendants A person’s children and their future families. filled with many good things Literally, “flowing with milk and honey.”