(12) And now, O Israel, what does your God יהוה demand of you? Only this: to revere your God יהוה, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve your God יהוה with all your heart and soul, (13) keeping יהוה’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good. (14) Mark, the heavens to their uttermost reaches belong to your God יהוה, the earth and all that is on it! (15) Yet it was to your ancestors that יהוה was drawn out of love for them, so that you, their lineal descendants, were chosen from among all peoples—as is now the case.

(16) Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more. (17) For your God יהוה is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, (18) but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.— (19) You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (20) You must revere יהוה: only your God shall you worship, to [God] shall you hold fast, and by God’s name shall you swear. (21) [ יהוה ] is your glory and your God, who wrought for you those marvelous, awesome deeds that you saw with your own eyes. (22) Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now your God יהוה has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

(1) Love, therefore, your God יהוה, and always keep God’s charge, God’s laws, God’s rules, and God’s commandments. (2) Take thought this day that it was not your children, who neither experienced nor witnessed the lesson of your God יהוה —God’s majesty, mighty hand, and outstretched arm; (3) the signs and the deeds that [God] performed in Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land; (4) what [God] did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots; how יהוה rolled back upon them the waters of the Sea of Reeds when they were pursuing you, thus destroying them once and for all; (5) what [God] did for you in the wilderness before you arrived in this place; (6) and what [God] did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab son of Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, along with their households, their tents, and every living thing in their train, from amidst all Israel— (7) but that it was you who saw with your own eyes all the marvelous deeds that יהוה performed. (8) Keep, therefore, all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you today, so that you may have the strength to enter and take possession of the land that you are about to cross into and possess, (9) and that you may long endure upon the soil that יהוה swore to your fathers to assign to them and to their heirs, a land flowing with milk and honey.

(10) For the land that you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come. There the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors, like a vegetable garden; (11) but the land you are about to cross into and possess, a land of hills and valleys, soaks up its water from the rains of heaven. (12) It is a land which your God יהוה looks after, on which your God יהוה always keeps an eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end.

(13) If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving your God יהוה and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill.

(16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For יהוה’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that יהוה is assigning to you. (18) Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, (19) and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; (20) and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— (21) to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that יהוה swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.

(22) If, then, you faithfully keep all this Instruction that I command you, loving your God יהוה, walking in all God’s ways, and holding fast to [God], (23) יהוה will dislodge before you all these nations: you will dispossess nations greater and more numerous than you. (24) Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River—the Euphrates—to the Western Sea. (25) No one shall stand up to you: your God יהוה will put the dread and the fear of you over the whole land in which you set foot, as promised.

(22) If, then, you faithfully keep all this Instruction that I command you, loving your God יהוה, walking in all God’s ways, and holding fast to [God], (23) יהוה will dislodge before you all these nations: you will dispossess nations greater and more numerous than you. (24) Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River—the Euphrates—to the Western Sea. (25) No one shall stand up to you: your God יהוה will put the dread and the fear of you over the whole land in which you set foot, as promised.

(14)Zion says,“ GOD has forsaken me, My Sovereign has forgotten me.”(15)Can a woman forget her baby,Or disown the child of her womb?Though she might forget,I never could forget you.(16)See, I have engraved youOn the palms of My hands,Your walls are ever before Me.(17)Swiftly your children are coming;Those who ravaged and ruined you shall leave you.(18)Look up all around you and see:They are all assembled, are come to you!As I live—declares GOD— You shall don them all like jewels,Deck yourself with them like a bride.(19)As for your ruins and desolate placesAnd your land laid waste—You shall soon be crowded with settlers,While destroyers stay far from you.(20)The children you thought you had lostShall yet say in your hearing,“The place is too crowded for me;Make room for me to settle.”(21)And you will say to yourself,“Who bore these for meWhen I was bereaved and barren,Exiled and disdained— By whom, then, were these reared?I was left all alone—And where have these been?”(22)Thus said my Sovereign GOD: I will raise My hand to nationsAnd lift up My ensign to peoples;And they shall bring your sons in their bosoms,And carry your daughters on their backs.(23)Kings shall tend your children,Their queens shall serve you as nurses.They shall bow to you, face to the ground,And lick the dust of your feet.And you shall know that I am GOD— Those who trust in Me shall not be shamed.(24)Can spoil be taken from a warrior,Or captives retrieved from a victor?(25)Yet thus said GOD: Captives shall be taken from a warriorAnd spoil shall be retrieved from a tyrant;For I will contend with your adversaries, And I will deliver your children. (26)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,They shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.And all humankind shall knowThat I GOD am your Savior, The Mighty One of Jacob, your Redeemer.(1)Thus said GOD: Where is the bill of divorce Of your mother whom I dismissed?And which of My creditors was itTo whom I sold you off?You were only sold off for your sins,And your mother dismissed for your crimes.(2)Why, when I came, was no one there,Why, when I called, would none respond?Is my arm, then, too short to rescue,Have I not the power to save?With a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,And turn rivers into desert.Their fish stink from lack of water;They lie dead of thirst.(3)I clothe the skies in blacknessAnd make their raiment sackcloth.(4)My Sovereign GOD gave me a skilled tongue, To know how to speak timely words to the weary.Morning by morning, [God] rouses me,Rousing my earTo give heed like disciples.(5)My Sovereign GOD opened my ears, And I did not disobey,I did not run away.(6)I offered my back to the floggers,And my cheeks to those who tore out my hair.I did not hide my faceFrom insult and spittle.(7)But my Sovereign GOD will help me— Therefore I feel no disgrace;Therefore I have set my face like flint,And I know I shall not be shamed.(8)My Vindicator is at hand—Who dares contend with me?Let us stand up together!Who would be my opponent?Let them approach me!(9)Lo, my Sovereign GOD will help me— Who can get a verdict against me?They shall all wear out like a garment,The moth shall consume them.(10)Who among you reveres GODAnd heeds the voice of the appointed servant?— Though walking in darknessAnd having no light,Let them trust in the name of GODAnd rely upon his God. (11)But you are all kindlers of fire,Girding on firebrands. Walk by the blaze of your fire,By the brands that you have lit!This has come to you from My hand:You shall lie down in pain.(1)Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,You who seek GOD: Look to the rock you were hewn from,To the quarry you were dug from.(2)Look back to Abraham your fatherAnd to Sarah who brought you forth.For he was only one when I called him,But I blessed him and made him many.(3)Truly GOD has comforted Zion, Comforted all her ruins—Made her wilderness like Eden,Her desert like the Garden of GOD. Gladness and joy shall abide there,Thanksgiving and the sound of music.

(1) The word of GOD of Hosts came [to me]: (2) Thus said GOD of Hosts: I am very jealous for Zion, I am fiercely jealous for her. (3) Thus said GOD: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Faithfulness, and the mount of GOD of Hosts the Holy Mount. (4) Thus said GOD of Hosts: There shall yet be elderly men and women in the squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. (5) And the squares of the city shall be crowded with boys and girls playing in the squares. (6) Thus said GOD of Hosts: Though it will seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible to Me?—declares GOD of Hosts. (7) Thus said GOD of Hosts: I will rescue My people from the lands of the east and from the lands of the west, (8) and I will bring them home to dwell in Jerusalem. They shall be My people, and I will be their God—in truth and sincerity.