Drive Out the Nations

¹When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

²and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction.Make no treatywith them and show them no mercy.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

⁴because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

⁵Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.

⁶For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

⁸But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

¹⁰But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.

¹¹So keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I am giving you to follow this day.

The Promises of God

¹²If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers.

¹³He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.

¹⁵And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”

¹⁸But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:

¹⁹the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.

²⁰Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.

²¹Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

²²The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

²³But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

²⁵You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.

²⁶And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

Waters from under the Temple

¹Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.

²Next he brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and there I saw the water trickling out from the south side.

³As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubitsand led me through ankle-deep water.

⁴Then he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through knee-deep water.Again he measured a thousand cubits and led me through waist-deep water.

⁵Once again he measured off a thousand cubits, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough for swimming—a river that could not be crossed on foot.

⁶“Son of man, do you see this?” he asked. Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

⁷When I arrived, I saw a great number of trees along both banks of the river.

⁸And he said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah. When it empties into the Dead Sea,the water there becomes fresh.

⁹Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish.

¹⁰Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.

¹¹But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

¹²Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

The Borders of the Land

¹³This is what the Lord GOD says: “These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall receive two portions.

¹⁴You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with an uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will fall to you as an inheritance.

¹⁵This shall be the boundary of the land:On the north side it will extend from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon through Lebo-hamath to Zedad,

¹⁶Berothah, and Sibraim(which is on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran.

¹⁷So the border will run from the Sea to Hazar-enan, along the northern border of Damascus, with the territory of Hamath to the north. This will be the northern boundary.

¹⁸On the east side the border will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the Eastern Sea and as far as Tamar.This will be the eastern boundary.

¹⁹On the south side it will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and along the Brook of Egyptto the Great Sea. This will be the southern boundary.

²⁰And on the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary up to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This will be the western boundary.

²¹You are to divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

²²You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners who dwell among you and who have children. You are to treat them as native-born Israelites; along with you, they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

²³In whatever tribe a foreigner dwells, you are to assign his inheritance there,” declares the Lord GOD.

The East Gate Assigned to the Prince

¹The man then brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faced east, but it was shut.

²And the LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it will remain shut.

³Only the prince himself may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He must enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way.”

⁴Then the man brought me to the front of the temple by way of the north gate. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling His temple, and I fell facedown.

⁵The LORD said to me: “Son of man, pay attention; look carefully with your eyes and listen closely with your ears to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes and laws of the house of the LORD. Take careful note of the entrance to the temple, along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

Reproof of the Levites

⁶Tell the rebellious house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I have had enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel.

⁷In addition to all your other abominations, you brought in foreigners uncircumcised in both heart and flesh to occupy My sanctuary; you defiled My temple when you offered My food—the fat and the blood; you broke My covenant.

⁸And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.’

⁹This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.

¹⁰Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.

¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and ministering there. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to minister to them.

¹²Because they ministered before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I swore with an uplifted hand concerning them that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity, declares the Lord GOD.

¹³They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things. They will bear the shame of the abominations they have committed.

¹⁴Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of all the work for the temple and everything to be done in it.

The Duties of the Priests

¹⁵But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁶They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge.

¹⁷When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen garments; they must not wear anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.

¹⁸They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.

¹⁹When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

²⁰They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.

²¹No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.

²²And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.

²³They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

²⁴In any dispute, they shall officiate as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They must keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed feasts, and they must keep My Sabbaths holy.

²⁵A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,

²⁶and after he is cleansed, he must count off seven days for himself.

²⁷And on the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he must present his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

²⁸In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.

²⁹They shall eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them.

³⁰The best of all the firstfruits and of every contribution from all your offerings will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest upon your homes.

³¹The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.

Give Praise, O Servants of the LORD

¹Hallelujah!Praise the name of the LORD.Give praise, O servants of the LORD,

²who stand in the house of the LORD,in the courts of the house of our God.

³Hallelujah, for the LORD is good;sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own,Israel as His treasured possession.

⁵For I know that the LORD is great;our Lord is above all gods.

⁶The LORD does all that pleases Himin the heavens and on the earth,in the seas and in all their depths.

⁷He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

⁸He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,of both man and beast.

⁹He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He struck down many nationsand slaughtered mighty kings:

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites,Og king of Bashan,and all the kings of Canaan.

¹²He gave their land as an inheritance,as a heritage to His people Israel.

¹³Your name, O LORD, endures forever,Your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴For the LORD will vindicate His peopleand will have compassion on His servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold,made by the hands of men.

¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak;they have eyes, but cannot see;

¹⁷they have ears, but cannot hear;nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them become like them,as do all who trust in them.

¹⁹O house of Israel, bless the LORD;O house of Aaron, bless the LORD;

²⁰O house of Levi, bless the LORD;you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!

²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion—He who dwells in Jerusalem.Hallelujah!