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The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal

Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. ²On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the L ord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. ³You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the L ord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the L ord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴So 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. ⁵And you shall build an altar there to the L ord your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. ⁶You must build the altar of the L ord your God of unhewn stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the L ord your God, ⁷make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the L ord your God. ⁸You 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 L ord your God. ¹⁰Therefore obey the L ord 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: ¹²When 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. ¹³And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴Then 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 L ord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.” All the people shall respond, saying, “Amen!”

¹⁶ “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”

¹⁷ “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’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.” 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 neighbor 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!”

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

26. Cursed is he that confirmeth not. Although it was God’s purpose to summon the consciences of all men before Him, and, in order that they might not only fear human judgments, He designedly threatened them with the punishment of secret sins, yet the conclusion, which is now added, extends the same judgment to all iniquities of whatever kind. Nay, He briefly declares, that whosoever shall not perform what the Law requires, are accursed. From whence Paul rightly infers, that “as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse.” (Galatians 3:10.) For let the most perfect man come forward, and, although he may have striven ever so diligently to keep the Law, he will have at least offended in some point or other; since the declaration of James must be borne in mind, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all;” for he that forbade murder and adultery, forbade theft also. (James 2:10, 11.) Paul indeed does not quote the very words of Moses, for he thus cites his testimony;

“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,” (Galatians 3:10;)

but there is no difference in the sense, since all are here condemned without exception, who have not confirmed the Law of God, so as to fulfill to the uttermost whatever it contains. Whence if is clear that, in whatever respect the deficiency betrays itself, it brings men under the curse; and to this the Israelites are commanded to assent, so as to acknowledge that they were all without exception lost, since they were involved in the curse. And now-a-days, also, it is necessary that we should all to a man be struck with the same despair, in order that, embracing the grace of Christ, we should be delivered from this melancholy state of guilt; since he was made accursed for us, that He might redeem us from the curse of the Law. (Galatians 3:13.)