Chapter 29

The Covenant in Moab

1 1aThese are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the bcovenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

2 1And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land;

3 athe great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.

4 “Yet to this day athe Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

5 “I have led you forty years in the wilderness; ayour clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.

6 “aYou have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

7 “aWhen you 1reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we 2defeated them;

8 and we took their land and agave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.

9 “aSo keep the words of this covenant to do them, bthat you may prosper in all that you do.

10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

11 your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from athe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,

12 that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today,

13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that aHe may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “Now not with you alone am I amaking this covenant and this oath,

15 abut both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today

16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed;

17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of awood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);

18 aso that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ba root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

19 “It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will 1boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order 2to destroy the watered land with the dry.’

20 “The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and aHis jealousy will 1bburn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will 2rest on him, and the Lord will cblot out his name from under heaven.

21 “Then the Lord will single him out for 1adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant awhich are written in this book of the law.

22 “Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and athe foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the Lord has 1afflicted it, will say,

23 ‘All its land is abrimstone and salt, ba burning waste, 1unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of cSodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’

24 “All the nations will say, ‘aWhy has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great 1outburst of anger?’

25 “Then men will say, ‘aBecause they forsook 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.

26 ‘They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not 1allotted to them.

27 ‘Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ato bring upon it every curse which is written in this book;

28 and athe Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

29 “aThe secret things belong to the Lord our God, but bthe things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Chapter 30

Restoration Promised

1 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, athe blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you 1call them to mind bin all nations where the Lord your God has banished you,

2 and you areturn to the Lord your God and 1obey Him bwith all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,

3 then the Lord your God will arestore 1you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and bwill gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has cscattered you.

4 “If your outcasts are at the ends of the 1earth, afrom there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will 2bring you back.

5 “aThe Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and bmultiply you more than your fathers.

6 “Moreover athe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your 1descendants, bto love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

7 “aThe Lord your God will 1inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

8 “And you shall again 1obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today.

9 “aThen the Lord your God will 1prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the 2offspring of your 3body and in the 2offspring of your cattle and in the 2produce of your ground, for bthe Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;

10 1if you 2obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which aare written in this book of the law, 1if you turn to the Lord your God bwith all your heart and soul.

11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it 1out of reach.

12 “It is not in heaven, 1that you should say, ‘aWho will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

13 “Nor is it beyond the sea, 1that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’

14 “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

Choose Life

15 “See, aI have set before you today life and 1prosperity, and death and 2adversity;

16 in that I command you today ato love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you bmay live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

17 “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

18 I declare to you today that ayou shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter 1and possess it.

19 “aI call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, bthe blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your 1descendants,

20 aby loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and bby holding fast to Him; cfor 1this is your life and the length of your days, 2that you may live in dthe land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”