The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal
27 Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. 2 On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. 3 You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5 And you shall build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God of unhewn[a] stones. Then offer up burnt-offerings on it to the Lord your God, 7 make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. 8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly.
9 Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Therefore obey the Lord your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today.
Twelve Curses
11 The same day Moses charged the people as follows: 12 When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15 ‘Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the Lord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall respond, saying, ‘Amen!’
16 ‘Cursed be anyone who dishonours father or mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
17 ‘Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbour’s boundary marker.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
18 ‘Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
19 ‘Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
20 ‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.’[b] All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
21 ‘Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
22 ‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
23 ‘Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
24 ‘Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbour in secret.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
25 ‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
26 ‘Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 27:6 Heb whole
- Deuteronomy 27:20 Heb uncovered his father’s skirt