Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Moses continues to give people God's laws for lending, punishments for crimes such as kidnapping, tithes and offerings, and blessings and curses.
Moses continues giving the people God's law for the promised land. When a man marries a woman and he finds "uncleanness in her" and gives her a divorce certificate and sends her away, and she marries another, he must not take her back as his wife, because she has been defiled, and it would bring sin on the land. When a man takes a new wife, he must not go to war or take on new business for one year to make his wife happy. No man should "take a millstone" in pledge (because a millstone is used for a man's livelihood, and he needs it to live). If a man is found to have kidnapped one of his brethren, he must die. In an outbreak of leprosy, they are to follow the laws of the Levites and priests; Moses reminds them of what happened to Miriam. If someone lends to his brother, the man should bring a pledge to them, unless he is poor in which case the pledge should not be kept overnight so that the poor man can "sleep in his own garment." They are not to oppress hired servants by not paying them every day; otherwise they will cry out to the Lord against them. People will be put to death for their own sins only and not for a family member. They are not to pervert justice or do harm to widow, stranger, or fatherless but remember their own slavery in Egypt. When they reap their harvests, they must leave some for these so that the Lord will bless them and their work, and the same for the olive trees and grapes. They are to remember their own background as slaves in Egypt.
If there is a dispute brought to court and a man sentenced, he is to be beaten in the judge's presence, but no more than 40 blows. They are not to "muzzle an ox while it treads the grain." If a man's brother dies, he must marry her widow, and the firstborn son will have the dead brother's name to carry on his lineage. If he will not take her, the widow is to tell the elders at the gate, and they must call the man. If he still refuses, she will remove his sandles in the presence of the elders, spit in his face, and say, "So shall it be done to the man who doe snot built up his brother's house." And his house will be called, "The house of him who had his sandle removed." If two men fight, and one of their wives comes to rescue him, and "seizes him by the genitals," her hand must be cut off (!) They should not have differing weights or measures so that they may live long in the land. They are to remember how Amalak attacked them when they were tired and weary and therefore to blot out their remembrance from heaven once they enter the land.
Once they are in the land, they must take some of the first of the produce of the ground and bring it in the place where God's name abides to the priest with specific words, and the priest will set the basket before the altar. Then, they are to say certain words the Lord gives them to say to the priest and worship the Lord and rejoice in all God has given them. After they have laid aside all their increase in the third year (the year of tithing) and have given it to the Levites, the fatherless, and the widows, they are to speak to the Lord specific words (telling him they have obeyed) and ask Him to bless Israel and the land.
They are to be careful to observe all these things with all their hearts and souls, as they have declared the Lord is their God and that they will obey His voice. The Lord has also proclaimed them to be His special people, that they may obey and that He may set them up high above all people on Earth and they may be holy.
Moses tells the people to set up large stones in the promised land with the law written on them. On Mt. Ebel they are to set them up and whitewash them with lime and build an altar of stones to the Lord (building with stones, not with iron) and offer offerings to the Lord on it and eat there and rejoice before the Lord. Moses and the priests and Levites tell Israel that they have become the Lord's people and so should obey His voice and all that He commands them that day. He divides the tribes into those who will pronounce a blessing on the obedient on Mt. Gerizim (once they have crossed over) and those who will pronounce a curse on Mt. Ebel. The Levites will say that those who set up idols; or treat their parents with contempt; move their neighbors landmark; make the blind wander off the road; pervert justice to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow; lie with their father's wife, an animal, their sister (or half-sister), or their mother-in-law; attack their neighbor secret; take a bribe to slay an innocent person; or do not confirm all the words of the law by observing them are cursed. And all the people are to say amen to each of these respectively.
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
The bit about a wife intervening for her husband in a fight comes as quite a shock. Apparently, this is because a woman crushing a man's testicles has (obviously) severe consequences.
When people are under a curse, the land is also cursed. I recently read a book called The Twilight Labyrinth: Why Does Spiritual Darkness Linger Where it Does? by George Otis, Jr. that offers some further background and insight into this.