Deuteronomy 29-31

1These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

2Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.

3You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.

4Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

5For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

6You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

7When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

8We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

9So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.

10All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

11your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—

12so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,

13and so that He may establish you today as His people, and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,

15but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.

16For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.

17You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.

18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

19because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

21and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

22Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.

23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.

24So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’

25And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

26They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them.

27Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.

28The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

29The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

1“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,

2and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,

3then He will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you from all the nations to which the LORD your God has scattered you.

4Even if you have been banished to the farthest horizon, He will gather you and return you from there.

5And the LORD your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply more than your fathers.

6The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

7Then the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your enemies who hate you and persecute you.

8And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and follow all His commandments I am giving you today.

9So the LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the LORD will again delight in your prosperity, as He delighted in that of your fathers,

10if you obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

11For this commandment I give you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

12It is not in heaven, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’

13And it is not beyond the sea, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’

14But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.

15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, as well as death and disaster.

16For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

17But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,

18I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,

20and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

1When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel,

2he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’

3The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said.

4And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.

5The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.

6Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

7Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

8The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

9So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.

10Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles,

11when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.

12Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.

13Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

15Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

17On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

18And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

19Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

20When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

21And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

22So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

23Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

24When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,

25he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD:

26“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

27For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

28Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

29For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

30Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end: