“You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites.”

I also commanded Joshua at the same time, “You have seen everything the Lord your God did to these two kings; he ¹  will do the same to all the kingdoms where you are going. ² 

“O, Lord God, ¹  you have begun to show me ²  your greatness and strength. ³  (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?)

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 the seventh day is the Sabbath ¹  of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, ²  so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.

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 

and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ¹  that I am giving ²  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

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 –

For you are a people holy ¹  to the Lord your God. He ²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ³  above all others on the face of the earth.

the great judgments ¹  you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power ²  by which he ³  brought you out – thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear.

It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ¹  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ²  made on oath to your ancestors, ³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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 must by all means destroy ¹  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ² 

Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ¹  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ²  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ³ 

Suppose your own full brother, ¹  your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods ²  that neither you nor your ancestors ³  have previously known, ⁴ 

For you are a people holy ¹  to the Lord your God. He ²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ³  above all others on the face of the earth.