This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth ¹  with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.” ² 

This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer ¹  by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites. ² 

But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he ¹  said to me, “Enough of that! ²  Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

“Go up to this Abarim ¹  hill country, to Mount Nebo (which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho ² ) and look at the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites as a possession.

Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ¹  I have let you see it, ²  but you will not cross over there.”

you must bring to your city gates ¹  that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death. ² 

Let me please cross over to see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River – this good hill country and the Lebanon!” ¹ 

His people have been unfaithful ¹  to him; they have not acted like his children ²  – this is their sin. ³  They are a perverse ⁴  and deceitful generation.

But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our ¹  God had made him obstinate ²  and stubborn ³  so that he might deliver him over to you ⁴  this very day.

The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him ¹  so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day.

This took place after the defeat ¹  of King Sihon ²  of the Amorites, whose capital was ³  in Heshbon, ⁴  and King Og of Bashan, whose capital was ⁵  in Ashtaroth, ⁶  specifically in Edrei. ⁷ 

Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and burn up their idols.

For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger ¹  that threatened to destroy you. But he ²  listened to me this time as well.

In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ¹  the Lord.

It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ¹  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ²  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Then their children, who have not known this law, ¹  will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out ¹  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ²  will hear about it and be afraid.

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, ¹  nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive ²  to the Lord your God.

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ¹  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²  in his name, as they do to this very day.