Commentaria in Deuteronomium
The mercies and sanctifications of the Lord I will sing for ever.
Hear, Israel, the great things, hear the mercies; hear, and ruminate the commandments of thy God.
That doing them thou mayest live, and possess the land which God will give thee.
For this is thy wisdom, that they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.
Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them: as our God is present to all our supplications.
For what other nation is there so renowned, that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and the law of God?
Ask of the days of old, if ever it was done that a people heard the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard.
If God hath done to take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations, by so many signs and wonders, by battles, and a mighty hand.
From heaven he made thee hear his voice; because he loved thy fathers, and their seed.
Know therefore that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.
I call heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish, if you provoke God to anger: for thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.
Thou shalt love him with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.
These things thou shalt meditate, sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising: that thou mayest be a holy people to the Lord.
The Lord hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all nations, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation.
Thou shalt not enter into league with the Gentiles: nor make marriages with them.
If thou keep the covenant and the law of God, thou shalt be blessed among all people.
There shall not be barren among you: the Lord will take away from thee all sickness: thou shalt devour all thy enemies.
The Lord hath led thee forty years through the terrible desert: in which there was the scorpion, and the dipsas, and the serpent of burning breath.
He gave thee manna, to show that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
Neither is thy foot nor thy shoe worn: behold it is the fortieth year.
He will bring thee into a land of milk and honey: a land of wheat, and barley, and wine.
Not for thy justices will he bring thee in: but that he may fulfil the oaths which he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Tempt not God, as thou didst in the burning, in the temptation, and in the graves of lust: for thou art a stiff-necked people.
Circumcise the foreskin of your heart: and stiffen your neck no more.
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear him, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve him with all thy heart.
Behold heaven is the Lord thy God’s, and the heaven of heaven: the earth, and all things that are in it.
He is thy praise and thy God: who hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thy eyes have seen.
He hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven: and as the sand that is on the sea shore.
He led thee dry-shod through the Red Sea: Pharao and the Egyptians he drowned in it.
Behold I die: I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: a blessing, if you obey; a curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord.
What I command thee, this only do: neither add anything, nor diminish.
If a false prophet arise, saying: Let us follow strange gods, forthwith thou shalt stone him.
Thou shalt destroy the city, even to the cattle: whatsoever is in it thou shalt burn with fire.
Thou shalt not appear before the Lord empty: but shalt offer according to the blessing which he hath given thee.
In judgment thou shalt not accept person, nor gifts: for they blind the eyes of the wise, and change the words of the just.
If the matter be hard and doubtful in judgment with thee, thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race; and thou shalt do whatsoever they shall tell thee.
He that is proud, and refuseth to obey the commandment of the priest, and the decree of the judge, shall die the death.
A prophet of thy own nation will the Lord raise up to thee: him thou shalt hear as me.
If thou go out to battle, fear not; because the Lord is in the midst of thee, and will fight for thee: only keep thyself from every evil thing.
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: why then, O Christ, didst thou vouchsafe to be made a curse for us on the cross?
Thou shalt give the firstfruits of the fruits to the Lord; saying: I profess this day before the Lord, that he hath given us a land flowing with milk and honey.
Thou hast chosen the Lord this day to be thy God: keep therefore his commandments and judgments.
Blessed is he that doth the precepts and justices of the Lord: blessed are his house and his barns.
If thou be driven to the poles of heaven, thence the Lord will fetch thee back.
Cursed is he that abideth not in the words of the law of God, nor fulfilleth them in work.
Cursed in the city, cursed in the field: cursed coming in, and going out.
Let the heaven that is over thee be brass: and the earth that thou treadest iron.
May the Lord give rain to thy land dust: may he deliver thee to enemies, and thy carcass to the fowls of heaven.
The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, with madness, and blindness, and fury of mind.
May He give thee a fearful and failing heart: let thy life be as it were hanging before thee.
In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning?
And all nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what is the meaning of this exceeding great wrath?
And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers in Horeb.
Secret things to the Lord our God: things manifest to us and to our children for ever.
The commandment that I command thee this day is not above thee, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven, to bring it unto us?
Nor is it beyond the sea, that thou mayest excuse thyself: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it to us?
The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil.
Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live: love God; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days.
Do manfully, and take courage; fear not enemies: God is thy leader, he will not forsake thee.
Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak: let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth.
Give ye magnificence to our God: the works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments.
They have sinned against him, and are none of his children: a wicked and perverse generation.
Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee?
When the Most High divided the nations, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel.
But the Lord’s portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land: in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness.
He led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye.
As the eagle enticing her young to fly, he spread his wings, and carried him on his shoulders.
He set him upon high land, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone.
The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.
Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee: and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee.
A fire is kindled in my wrath: it shall burn even to the lowest hell, and shall burn the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap evils upon them: and will spend my arrows among them.
They are a nation void of counsel, and without wisdom.
O that they would be wise and understand, and provide for their last end!
Their vine is of the vineyard of Sodom: their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is incurable.
Revenge is mine, and I will repay them: the day of destruction is at hand, and the times make haste to come.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh.
Praise his people, ye nations; for he will revenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to their enemies.
The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints.
In his right hand a fiery law: all the saints are in his hand.
Moses dying blessed Levi, saying: Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I know you not; and to his brethren: I know you not.
These have kept thy covenant, O Lord: they have observed thy word.
They shall put incense in thy wrath: and holocaust upon thy altar.
Bless, O Lord, his strength: and receive the works of his hands.
They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice victims of justice.