Deuteronomy 8–10

8TH CHAPTER

Israel Told Never to Forget God

¹Be careful to obey every command I give you today. Then you will live, and your population will increase. You will enter and take possession of the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath. 

²Remember that for 40 years the Lord your God led you on your journey in the desert. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey his commands. ³So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the Lord speaks. ⁴Your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t swell these past 40 years. ⁵Learn this lesson by heart: The Lord your God was disciplining you as parents discipline their children. ⁶Obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow his directions, and fear him. 

⁷The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that don’t dry up. There are springs and underground streams flowing through the valleys and hills. ⁸The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. ⁹The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore, and you will be able to mine copper ore in the hills. ¹⁰When you have eaten all you want, thank the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 

¹¹Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t fail to obey his commands, rules, and laws that I’m giving you today. ¹²You will eat all you want. You will build nice houses and live in them. ¹³Your herds and flocks, silver and gold, and everything else you have will increase. ¹⁴When this happens, be careful that you don’t become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹⁵He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous desert—a thirsty and arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He was the one who made water come out of solid rock for you. ¹⁶He was the one who fed you in the desert with manna, which your ancestors had never seen. He did this in order to humble you and test you. But he also did this so that things would go well for you in the end. ¹⁷You may say to yourselves, “I became wealthy because of my own ability and strength.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God is the one who makes you wealthy. He’s confirming the promise^awhich he swore to your ancestors. It’s still in effect today. 

¹⁹I warn you today that if you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, and if you serve them and bow down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰The Lord is going to destroy other nations as you enter the land. You will be destroyed like them if you don’t obey the Lord your God. 

9TH CHAPTER

Israel Has Been Given Canaan because of God’s Mercy

¹Listen, Israel, you’re about to cross the Jordan River. You’ll be forcing out nations that are larger and stronger than you, with big cities that have sky-high walls. ²Their people are tall and strong. They’re descendants of Anak. You know all about them. You’ve also heard it said, “Who can oppose the descendants of Anak?” ³Realize today that the Lord your God is the one who is going ahead of you like a raging fire. He will wipe them out and will use you to crush their power. You will take possession of their land and will quickly destroy them as the Lord promised you. 

⁴When the Lord your God expels these people in front of you, don’t say to yourselves, “Because we’ve been living right, the Lord brought us here to take possession of this land.” No, it’s because these nations are so wicked that the Lord is forcing them out of your way. ⁵It’s not because you’ve been living right or because you’re so honest that you’re entering to take possession of their land. It’s because these people are so wicked that the Lord your God is forcing them out of your way. It’s also because the Lord wants to confirm the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶So understand this: It’s not because you’ve been living right that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess. You are impossible to deal with! 

⁷Never forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You’ve rebelled against the Lord from the day you left Egypt until you came here. ⁸Even at Mount Horeb you made the Lord so angry that he wanted to destroy you. ⁹When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the tablets of the promise that the Lord made to you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. ¹⁰Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by God himself. On them were written all the words that the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. 

¹¹At the end of the 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets with his promise on them. ¹²He told me, “Leave right away. Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have ruined ⸤everything⸥. They’ve quickly turned from the way I commanded them to live. They’ve made an idol for themselves.” 

¹³The Lord also said to me, “I’ve seen these people, and they are impossible to deal with. ¹⁴Leave me alone! I’ll destroy them and wipe their name off the earth. Then I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.” 

¹⁵So I turned and went down the mountain while it was still burning with fire. I was carrying the two tablets with the promise on them. ¹⁶Then I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made a statue of a calf for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord commanded you to live. ¹⁷I took the two tablets, threw them down, and smashed them in front of you. 

¹⁸Once again I threw myself down in front of the Lord. I went without food and water for 40 days and 40 nights because of the sin you committed. You did what the Lord considered evil and made him furious. ¹⁹I was terrified of the Lord’s anger and fury. He was so angry he wanted to destroy you. But once more the Lord listened to me. 

²⁰The Lord also became very angry with Aaron and wanted to destroy him. But at that time I prayed for Aaron, too. 

²¹I took that sinful calf you made and burned it. I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that flowed down the mountain. 

²²You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah. 

²³When the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go and take possession of the land I’m giving you.” But you rebelled against the Lord your God’s word. You didn’t believe him or obey him. ²⁴You’ve rebelled against the Lord as long as I’ve known you. 

²⁵I threw myself down in front of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord said he would destroy you. ²⁶I prayed to the Lord and said, “Almighty Lord, don’t destroy your people. They belong to you. You saved them by your great power and used your mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt. ²⁷Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. ²⁸Otherwise, the country we left will say, “The Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he promised them. He hated them. That’s why he brought them out—to let them die in the desert.” ²⁹They are your people. They belong to you. You used your great strength and powerful arm to bring them out ⸤of Egypt⸥. 

10TH CHAPTER

¹At that time the Lord said to me, “Cut two ⸤more⸥ stone tablets like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain. Also make an ark out of wood. ²I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed. Then you will put them in the ark.” 

³I made an ark out of acacia wood. I cut two ⸤more⸥ stone tablets like the first ones. I carried the two tablets up the mountain. ⁴The Lord wrote on these tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments. He had spoken these words to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. Then the Lord gave them to me. ⁵I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made. They are still there, where the Lord commanded me to put them. 

⁶The Israelites moved from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried, and his son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. ⁷They moved from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with rivers that don’t dry up. ⁸At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s promise, to stand in the Lord’s presence when they serve him as priests, and to praise his name, as they still do today. ⁹This is why the tribe of Levi has no land of their own as the other tribes have. The Lord your God is their only possession, as he promised them. 

¹⁰I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights as I did the first time. Once again the Lord listened to me and agreed not to destroy you. ¹¹The Lord said to me, “Lead the people on their journey. They will enter and take possession of the land I will give them, as I swore to their ancestors.” 

Israel Encouraged to Follow God’s Guidance

¹²Israel, what does the Lord your God want you to do? He wants you to fear him, follow all his directions, love him, and worship him with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹³The Lord wants you to obey his commands and laws that I’m giving you today for your own good. ¹⁴Remember that the sky, the highest heaven, the earth and everything it contains belong to the Lord your God. ¹⁵The Lord set his heart on your ancestors and loved them. Because of this, today he chooses you, their descendants, out of all the people of the world. 

¹⁶So circumcise your uncircumcised hearts, and don’t be impossible to deal with any longer. ¹⁷The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, powerful, and awe-inspiring God. He…