you must set apart for yourselves three cities ¹  in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in ¹  the land you are about to enter and possess.

Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ¹ 

Now these are the commandments, ¹  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ² 

Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn ¹  people!

Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ¹  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ² 

However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord ¹  will surely bless ²  you in the land that he ³  is giving you as an inheritance, ⁴ 

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, ¹  which will have been defined ²  in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ³ 

If a homicide victim ¹  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ²  and no one knows who killed ³  him,

The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases ¹  until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

At that time I instructed you as follows: “The Lord your God has given you this land for your possession. You warriors are to cross over before your fellow Israelites ¹  equipped for battle.

I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you ¹  today that you will surely and swiftly be removed ²  from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be ³  annihilated.

But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, ¹  statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.” ² 

When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ¹  Girgashites, ²  Amorites, ³  Canaanites, ⁴  Perizzites, ⁵  Hivites, ⁶  and Jebusites, ⁷  seven ⁸  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Now pay attention to all the commandments ¹  I am giving ²  you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ³ 

For the land where you are headed ¹  is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand ²  like a vegetable garden.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ¹ 

These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ¹  has given you to possess. ² 

You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess.

So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he ¹  is giving you as an inheritance, ²  you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven ³  – do not forget! ⁴