Deutéronome 10

The two new stone tablets

¹At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain, and make a wooden ark for yourself, ²and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, the ones you broke. Then put them in the ark.’ ³So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two tablets of stone like the first, and climbed the mountain carrying the two tablets. ⁴Then he wrote on the tablets what had been written before: the Ten Words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day the assembly gathered. And the LORD gave them to me. ⁵Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made. They are still there, just as the LORD commanded me. ⁶The Israelites set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan for Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place.^{ab 7}From there they set out for Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah for Jotbathah, a land of flowing streams. ⁸It was then that the LORD set the tribe of Levi apart: to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD and serve him, and to bless in his name. They do so to this day. ⁹For this reason Levi has been given no portion of land, no inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God promised him. ¹⁰As before, I remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, and this time too the LORD heard me; he was not willing to destroy you. ¹¹Then the LORD said to me, ‘Get up and set out at the head of the people, so that they may go in and take possession of the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.’

What the LORD asks of you

¹²And now, Israel, what is it that the LORD your God asks of you? Just this: that you fear the LORD your God, follow all his ways and love him, and that you serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³and that you keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you today, for your own good. ¹⁴See, the LORD your God owns the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with the earth and all that it holds. ¹⁵Even so, it was your ancestors that the LORD was drawn to in love, and after them he chose their offspring, you, from among all the peoples, as is plain today. ¹⁶Circumcise your hearts, then, and stop stiffening your necks. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God over all gods and Lord over all lords. He is the great God, mighty and awe-inspiring, who plays no favorites and cannot be moved by a bribe. ¹⁸He sees that orphans and widows get justice, and he loves the outsider living among you and gives them food and clothing. ¹⁹You too must love the outsider, since you were outsiders yourselves in the land of Egypt. ²⁰It is the LORD your God you must fear and serve; hold fast to him, and swear your oaths by his name. ²¹He is the one you praise and he is your God. You have seen with your own eyes the great and awe-inspiring deeds he has done for you.^{c 22}Your ancestors were seventy persons when they went down to Egypt, and now the LORD your God has made you like the stars of the heavens, past counting.