Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy means "second law", and that is what the book does: it re-reads and re-explains the Law for a generation that never saw Egypt. In practice these are Moses' farewell speeches on the banks of the Jordan, shortly before his death. The tone is that of a father speaking for the last time: he recalls the history, warns about the dangers of prosperity, insists on memory. Here is the Shema ("Hear, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one"), the command to teach your children when you lie down and when you rise, and the laws of care for the foreigner, the widow and the orphan. Jesus quotes this book in all three answers to the temptation in the wilderness. It ends with Moses dying outside the promised land.