1 Moses stood together with the leaders and told the people
of Israel:
Obey all the laws and teachings that I am giving you
today. 2 Soon
you will enter the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. He is the
God your ancestors worshiped, and he has promised that this land is rich with
milk and honey.
After you cross the Jordan
River, go to Mount Ebal. Set up large slabs of stone, then cover
them with white plaster and write on them a copy of these laws.
5 At this same place, build an altar for
offering sacrifices to the Lord your God. But don’t use stones
that have been cut with iron tools. 6 Look for stones that can
be used without being cut. Then offer sacrifices to please the
Lord, burning them completely on the altar. 7 Next, offer sacrifices
to ask the Lord’s blessing, and serve the meat at a sacred
meal where you will celebrate in honor of the Lord.
8 Don’t forget to write out a copy
of these laws on the stone slabs that you are going to set up.
Make sure that the writing is easy to read.
9 Moses stood together with the priests and said, “Israel,
be quiet and listen to me! Today you have become the people of the Lord your
God. 10 So you must obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you.”
11 That same day, Moses gave them the following instructions:
12 After you cross the Jordan River, you will go to
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim,
Manasseh, and Benjamin will go up on Mount Gerizim, where they will bless the
people of Israel. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali
will go up on Mount Ebal where they will agree to the curses.
14 The people of the Levi tribe will speak each curse
in a loud voice, then the rest of the people will agree to that curse by saying,
“Amen!” Here are the curses:
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who makes an
idol or worships idols, even secretly. The Lord is disgusted with idols.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on all who do not show
respect for their father and mother.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who moves the
rocks that mark property lines.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who tells blind
people to go the wrong way.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who keeps the
poor from getting justice, whether these poor are foreigners, widows, or orphans.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on any man who sleeps
with his father’s wife; that man has shown no respect for his father’s
marriage.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who has sex
with an animal.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on any man who sleeps
with his sister or his half sister or his mother-in-law.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who commits
murder, even when there are no witnesses to the crime.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who accepts
money to murder an innocent victim.
We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who refuses
to obey his laws.
And so, to each of these curses, the people will answer,
“Amen!”
The Contemporary English Version, c1995 by the American Bible
Society.
Selected texts provided for use with the Amos: Hypertext Bible Commentary