Deuteronomy 10

• 1. "At that time the LORD said to me, `Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and make a sacred chest of wood to keep them in. Return to me on the mountain,
• 2. and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the sacred chest--the Ark of the Covenant.'
• 3. "So I made a chest of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first two, and I took the tablets up the mountain.
• 4. The LORD again wrote the terms of the covenant--the Ten Commandments--on them and gave them to me. They were the same words the LORD had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the mountain as you were assembled below.
• 5. Then I came down and placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, which I had made, just as the LORD commanded me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark.
• 6. "The people of Israel set out from the wells of the people of Jaakan and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar became the high priest in his place.
• 7. Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water.
• 8. At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the LORD's covenant, to minister before the LORD, and to pronounce blessings in his name. These are still their duties.
• 9. That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance reserved for them among the other Israelite tribes. The LORD himself is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.
• 10. "As I said before, I stayed on the mountain in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the LORD yielded to my pleas and didn't destroy you.
• 11. But the LORD said to me, `Get up and lead the people into the land I swore to give their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.'
• 12. "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul,
• 13. and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good.
• 14. The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God.
• 15. Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, as is evident today.
• 16. Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn.
• 17. "The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes.
• 18. He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.
• 19. You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
• 20. You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone.
• 21. He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen.
• 22. When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!

Deuteronomy 11

• 1. "You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, laws, regulations, and commands.
• 2. Listen! I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and awesome power.
• 3. They weren't there to see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.
• 4. They didn't see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots--how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you, and how he has kept them devastated to this very day!
• 5. They didn't see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here.
• 6. They weren't there to see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened up and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.
• 7. But you have seen all the LORD's mighty deeds with your own eyes!
• 8. "Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and occupy the land you are about to enter.
• 9. If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants--a land flowing with milk and honey!
• 10. For the land you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and dug out irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.
• 11. It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain--
• 12. a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it day after day throughout the year!
• 13. "If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, and if you worship him,
• 14. then he will send the rains in their proper seasons so you can harvest crops of grain, grapes for wine, and olives for oil.
• 15. He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves will have plenty to eat.
• 16. "But do not let your heart turn away from the LORD to worship other gods.
• 17. If you do, the LORD's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and your harvests will fail. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is now giving you.
• 18. So commit yourselves completely to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead.
• 19. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.
• 20. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
• 21. so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.
• 22. "Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him.
• 23. Then the LORD will drive out all the nations in your land, though they are much greater and stronger than you.
• 24. Wherever you set your feet, the land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
• 25. No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will send fear and dread ahead of you, as he promised you, wherever you go in the whole land.
• 26. "Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!
• 27. You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today.
• 28. You will receive a curse if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn from his way by worshiping foreign gods.
• 29. "When the LORD your God brings you into the land to possess it, you must pronounce a blessing from Mount Gerizim and a curse from Mount Ebal.
• 30. (These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley, near the town of Gilgal. They are located toward the west, not far from the oaks of Moreh.)
• 31. For you are about to cross the Jordan to occupy the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you are living in that land,
• 32. you must be careful to obey all the laws and regulations I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy 12

• 1. "These are the laws and regulations you must obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
• 2. "When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods--high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree.
• 3. Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places!
• 4. "Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods.
• 5. Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place he himself will choose from among all the tribes for his name to be honored.
• 6. There you will bring to the LORD your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds.
• 7. There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you.
• 8. "Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be
• 9. when you arrive in the place of rest the LORD your God is giving you.
• 10. You will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies,
• 11. you must bring everything I command you--your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, and your offerings to fulfill a vow--to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to be honored.
• 12. You must celebrate there with your sons and daughters and all your servants in the presence of the LORD your God. And remember the Levites who live in your towns, for they will have no inheritance of land as their own.
• 13. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere.
• 14. You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
• 15. "But you may butcher animals for meat in any town, wherever you want, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. You may eat as many animals as the LORD your God gives you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat.
• 16. The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
• 17. "But your offerings must not be eaten at home--neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor an offering to fulfill a vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor your special gifts.
• 18. You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do.
• 19. Be very careful never to forget the Levites as long as you live in your land.
• 20. "When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want.
• 21. It might happen that the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle or sheep the LORD has given you, and you may eat the meat at your home as I have commanded you.
• 22. Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.
• 23. The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
• 24. Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water.
• 25. Do not eat the blood; then all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD.
• 26. Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses to dwell.
• 27. You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.
• 28. Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD your God.
• 29. "When the LORD your God destroys the nations and you drive them out and occupy their land,
• 30. do not be trapped into following their example in worshiping their gods. Do not say, `How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.'
• 31. You must not do this to the LORD your God. These nations have committed many detestable acts that the LORD hates, all in the name of their gods. They have even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.
• 32. Carefully obey all the commands I give you. Do not add to them or subtract from them.

New Living Translation: 56 of 324 days.