Daily Text and Bible Reading: Tuesday, February 25 [Press play below]

5.1 Moses then summoned all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am announcing to you today, and you must learn them and carefully observe them.
5.2 Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
5.3 It was not with our forefathers that Jehovah made this covenant, but with us, all of us alive here today.
5.4 Jehovah spoke face-to-face with you in the mountain, out of the fire.
5.5 I was standing between Jehovah and you at that time to convey to you the word of Jehovah, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:
5.6 “‘I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
5.7 You must never have any other gods besides me.
5.8 “‘You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
5.9 You must not bow down to them nor be led to serve them, for I, Jehovah your God, am a God who requires exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me,
5.10 but showing loyal love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
5.11 “‘You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave anyone unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.
5.12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day to keep it sacred, just as Jehovah your God commanded you.
5.13 You are to labor and do all your work in six days,
5.14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God. You must not do any work, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your slave man nor your slave girl nor your bull nor your donkey nor any of your domestic animals nor your foreign resident who is inside your cities, in order that your slave man and your slave girl may rest the same as you.
5.15 Remember that you became a slave in the land of Egypt and that Jehovah your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Jehovah your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
5.16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, just as Jehovah your God has commanded you, so that you may live a long time and you may prosper in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.
5.17 “‘You must not murder.
5.18 “‘Neither must you commit adultery.
5.19 “‘Neither must you steal.
5.20 “‘Neither must you testify to a falsehood against your fellow man.
5.21 “‘Neither must you desire your fellow man’s wife. Neither must you selfishly desire your fellow man’s house nor his field nor his slave man nor his slave girl nor his bull nor his donkey nor anything that belongs to your fellow man.’
5.22 “These commandments Jehovah spoke to all your congregation on the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick gloom, with a loud voice, and he added nothing further; then he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
5.23 “But as soon as you had heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and the elders approached me.
5.24 Then you said, ‘Here Jehovah our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak with man and he can keep living.
5.25 Now, why should we die? For this great fire may consume us. If we continue hearing the voice of Jehovah our God, we are sure to die.
5.26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire as we did and yet goes on living?
5.27 You yourself must go near to hear all that Jehovah our God will say, and you will be the one to tell us all that Jehovah our God says to you, and we will listen and do it.’
5.28 “So Jehovah heard the words you spoke to me, and Jehovah said to me, ‘I have heard the words that this people have spoken to you. All they have said is good.
5.29 If only they would always have a heart inclined to fear me and to keep all my commandments; then it would go well with them and their sons forever!
5.30 Go say to them: “Return to your tents.”
5.31 But you should stay here with me, and let me tell you all the commandments, the regulations, and the judicial decisions that you should teach to them and that they are to observe in the land that I am giving them to take possession of.’
5.32 Now you people should be careful to do just as Jehovah your God has commanded you. You must not turn to the right or to the left.
5.33 You should walk in all the way that Jehovah your God has commanded you, in order that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will take possession of.
6.1 “Now these are the commandments, the regulations, and the judicial decisions that Jehovah your God has given to teach you, so that you may observe them when you cross over into the land that you are to take possession of,
6.2 in order that you may fear Jehovah your God and keep all his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you—you and your son and your grandson—all the days of your life, so that you may live a long time.
6.3 And you must listen, O Israel, and carefully observe them, so that you may prosper and become very many in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as Jehovah, the God of your forefathers, has promised you.
6.4 “Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.
6.5 You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength.
6.6 These words that I am commanding you today must be on your heart,
6.7 and you must inculcate them in your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.
6.8 Tie them as a reminder on your hand, and they must be like a headband on your forehead.
6.9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
6.10 “When Jehovah your God brings you into the land that he swore to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you—great and fine cities that you did not build,
6.11 houses full of all sorts of good things that you did not work for, hewn cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and you have eaten and become satisfied,
6.12 be careful not to forget Jehovah, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
6.13 Jehovah your God you should fear, and him you should serve, and by his name you should swear.
6.14 You must not follow after other gods, any gods of the peoples who are all around you,
6.15 for Jehovah your God who is in your midst is a God who requires exclusive devotion. Otherwise, the anger of Jehovah your God will blaze against you and he will annihilate you from the face of the earth.
6.16 “You must not put Jehovah your God to the test the way you put him to the test at Massah.
6.17 You should diligently observe the commandments of Jehovah your God and his reminders and his regulations that he has commanded you to observe.
6.18 You must do what is right and good in Jehovah’s eyes, in order that you may prosper and that you may enter and take possession of the good land about which Jehovah has sworn to your forefathers,
6.19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, just as Jehovah has promised.
6.20 “In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the reminders, the regulations, and the judicial decisions that Jehovah our God has commanded you?’
6.21 then you will say to your son, ‘We became slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
6.22 So before our eyes Jehovah kept sending signs and miracles, great and devastating, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household.
6.23 And he brought us out from there in order to bring us here to give us the land about which he had sworn to our forefathers.
6.24 Then Jehovah commanded us to carry out all these regulations and to fear Jehovah our God for our lasting good, so that we could keep alive, as we are today.
6.25 And it will mean righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments in obedience to Jehovah our God, just as he has commanded us.’
7.1 “When Jehovah your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and take possession of, he will also clear away populous nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more populous and mightier than you are.
7.2 Jehovah your God will give them over to you, and you will defeat them. You should without fail devote them to destruction. You must not make any covenant with them nor show them any favor.
7.3 You must not form any marriage alliances with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.
7.4 For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods; then Jehovah’s anger will blaze against you, and he will swiftly annihilate you.
7.5 “Instead, this is what you should do to them: Tear down their altars, break up their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn up their graven images.
7.6 For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God, and Jehovah your God has chosen you to become his people, his special property, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
7.7 “It was not because you were the most numerous of all the peoples that Jehovah showed affection for you and chose you, for you were the smallest of all the peoples.
7.8 Rather, it was because of Jehovah’s love for you and because he kept the oath that he had sworn to your forefathers that Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, to redeem you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
7.9 You well know that Jehovah your God is the true God, the faithful God, keeping his covenant and loyal love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
7.10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face with destruction. He will not be slow to deal with those who hate him; he will repay them to their face.
7.11 Therefore, take care to keep the commandments and the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am commanding you today, by observing them.
7.12 “If you continue listening to these judicial decisions and you observe them and carry them out, Jehovah your God will keep the covenant and the loyal love about which he swore to your forefathers.
7.13 He will love you and bless you and multiply you. Yes, he will bless you with many children and with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give to you.
7.14 You will become the most blessed of all the peoples; no man or woman among you will be childless, nor will your livestock be without young.
7.15 Jehovah will take away from you all sickness, and he will not bring upon you any of the terrible diseases that you have known in Egypt. Instead, he will bring them upon all those who hate you.
7.16 You are to destroy all the peoples whom Jehovah your God gives over to you. You must not feel sorry for them, and you must not serve their gods, because that would be a snare to you.
7.17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations outnumber us. How can I drive them away?’
7.18 you must not be afraid of them. You should remind yourself of what Jehovah your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt,
7.19 the great judgments that your eyes saw and the signs and the miracles and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm with which Jehovah your God brought you out. That is what Jehovah your God will do to all the peoples you fear.
7.20 Jehovah your God will send the feeling of dejection upon them until those who were left remaining and who were concealing themselves from before you perish.
7.21 Do not be struck with terror because of them, for Jehovah your God is with you, a great and awe-inspiring God.
7.22 “Jehovah your God will certainly drive these nations away from before you little by little. You will not be allowed to put an end to them quickly, so that the wild animals of the field will not multiply against you.
7.23 Jehovah your God will give them over to you and utterly defeat them until they are annihilated.
7.24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under the heavens. Nobody will stand up to you, until you have exterminated them.
7.25 You should burn the graven images of their gods in the fire. Do not desire the silver and the gold on them or take it for yourself, so that you are not ensnared by it, for it is something detestable to Jehovah your God.
7.26 You must not bring a detestable thing into your house and thereby become something devoted to destruction like it. You should utterly loathe it and absolutely detest it, because it is something devoted to destruction.