Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30

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.”

Chapter 31

Moses’ Last Counsel

1 So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.

2 And he said to them, “I am aa hundred and twenty years old today; bI am no longer able to come and go, and the Lord has said to me, ‘cYou shall not cross this Jordan.’

3 “aIt is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. bJoshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken.

4 “The Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

5 “aThe Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

6 “aBe strong and courageous, bdo not be afraid or tremble at them, for cthe Lord your God is the one who goes with you. dHe will not fail you or forsake you.”

7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “aBe strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.

8 “aThe Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. bHe will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

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

10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of athe year of remission of debts, at the bFeast of Booths,

11 when all Israel comes ato appear before the Lord your God at bthe place which He will choose, cyou shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and 1the alien who is in your 2town, so that they may hear and alearn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

13 “Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land 1which you are about to cross the Jordan to 2possess.”

Israel Will Fall Away

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, 1athe time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” bSo Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

15 aThe Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.

16 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ayou are about to lie down with your fathers; and bthis people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and cwill forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

17 “aThen My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and bI will forsake them and chide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘dIs it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’

18 “But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.

19 “Now therefore, awrite this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it 1on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel.

20 “aFor when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and …