Chapter 10

^1 (A)At that time the Lord said to me, Cut two stone tablets like the first ones^(B) and come up the mountain to me. Also make an ark out of wood. ² I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the tablets that you broke, and you shall place them in the ark. ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.^{(C) 4 (D)}The Lord then wrote on the tablets, as he had written before, the ten words^[a] that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and placed the tablets in the ark I had made.^(E) There they have remained, as the Lord commanded me.

^6 (F)The Israelites set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan for Moserah; Aaron died there and was buried. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.^{(G) 7} From there they set out for Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah for Jotbathah, a region where there is water in the wadies. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord,^(H) to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name, as they have done to this day. ⁹ For this reason, Levi has no hereditary portion with his relatives;^(I) the Lord himself is his portion, as the Lord, your God, promised him.

¹⁰ Meanwhile I stayed on the mountain as I did before, forty days and forty nights, and once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. ¹¹ The Lord said to me, Go now and set out at the head of the people,^(J) that they may enter in and possess the land that I swore to their ancestors I would give them.

The Lord’s Majesty and Compassion. ^12 (K)Now, therefore, Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you but to fear the Lord, your God, to follow in all his ways, to love and serve the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and with your whole being,^{(L) 13} to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord that I am commanding you today for your own well-being?^{(M) 14} Look, the heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it.^{(N) 15} Yet only on your ancestors did the Lord set his heart to love them. He chose you, their descendants, from all the peoples, as it is today.^{(O) 16} Circumcise therefore the foreskins of your hearts,^[b] and be stiff-necked no longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes,^{(P) 18} who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving them food and clothing.^{(Q) 19} So you too should love the resident alien, for that is what you were in the land of Egypt.^{(R) 20} The Lord, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve; to him hold fast and by his name shall you swear.^{(S) 21} He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you those great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.^{(T) 22} Seventy strong your ancestors went down to Egypt,^(U) and now the Lord, your God, has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.