Deuteronomy 29:16–30:20

¹⁶You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt. You also know how we passed through other countries on the way here. ¹⁷You saw the statues of their gods that were made out of wood, stone, silver and gold. The Lord hates those statues.

¹⁸Make sure there isn’t a man or woman among your families or tribes who turns away from the Lord our God. No one must worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that kind of worship doesn’t spread like bitter poison through your whole community.

¹⁹Some people who worship those gods will hear the oath that seals the covenant I’m making. They think they can escape trouble by saying to themselves, “We’ll be safe, even though we’re stubborn and go our own way.” But trouble will come on them everywhere in the land.

²⁰The Lord will never be willing to forgive those people. His burning anger will blaze out against them. All of the curses I’ve written down in this scroll will fall on them. And the Lord will wipe out their names from the earth. ²¹He will find those people in all of the tribes of Israel and give them nothing but trouble. That will be in keeping with all of the curses of the covenant. They are written down in this Scroll of the Law.

²²Even your children’s children will see the troubles that have fallen on the land. They’ll see the sicknesses the Lord has brought on it. People who come from countries far away will also see those things.

²³The whole land will be burned up. Nothing but salt and sulfur will be left. Nothing will be planted there. Nothing will grow there. In fact, nothing will even start to grow there. The land will be like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim after they were destroyed. The Lord wiped out those cities because he was very angry.

²⁴All of the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to the land? What could have made him so very angry?”

²⁵And they will hear the answer, “It’s because the people who are living there have broken the covenant of the Lord. He’s the God of their parents. He made that covenant with them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶They went off and worshiped other gods. They bowed down to them. They hadn’t known anything about those gods before. The Lord hadn’t given those gods to them.

²⁷“So the Lord’s anger burned against the land. He brought on it all of the curses that are written down in this scroll. ²⁸The Lord’s anger blazed out against his people. So he pulled them up out of their land. He threw them into another land. And that’s where they are now.”

²⁹The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and our children forever. He does it so we can obey all of the words of this law.

The Lord Will Bless His People

30I have told you about all of those blessings and curses. The Lord will bring them on you. Then you will think carefully about them everywhere the Lord your God scatters you among the nations. ²You and your children will return to the Lord your God. You will obey him with all your heart and with all your soul. That will be in keeping with everything I’m commanding you today.

³When all of that happens, the Lord your God will bless you with great success again. He will be very kind to you. He’ll bring you back from all of the nations where he scattered you. ⁴Suppose you have been forced to go away to the farthest land on earth. The Lord your God will bring you back even from there.

⁵He will bring you to the land that belonged to your people long ago. You will take it over. He’ll make you better off than your people were. He’ll increase your numbers more than he increased theirs. ⁶The Lord your God will keep your hearts from being stubborn. He’ll do the same thing for your children and their children. Then you will love him with all your heart and with all your soul. And you will live.

⁷The Lord your God will put all of those curses on your enemies. They hated you and hunted you down.

⁸You will obey the Lord again. You will follow all of his commands that I’m giving you today. ⁹Then the Lord your God will give you great success in everything you do. You will have many children. Your livestock will have many little ones. Your crops will do very well. The Lord will take delight in you again. He’ll give you success. That’s what he did for your people long ago.

¹⁰But you must obey the Lord your God. You must keep his commands and rules. They are written in this Scroll of the Law. You must turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Choose Life

¹¹What I’m commanding you today is not too hard for you. It isn’t beyond your reach. ¹²It isn’t up in heaven. So you don’t have to ask, “Who will go up into heaven to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?” ¹³And it isn’t beyond the ocean. So you don’t have to ask, “Who will go across the ocean to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?”

¹⁴No, the message isn’t far away at all. In fact, it’s really near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart so that you can obey it.

¹⁵Today I’m giving you a choice. You can have life and success. Or you can have death and harm. ¹⁶I’m commanding you today to love the Lord your God. I’m commanding you to live exactly as he wants you to live. You must obey his commands, rules and laws. Then you will live. Your numbers will increase. The Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.

¹⁷Don’t let your hearts turn away from the Lord. Instead, obey him. Don’t let yourselves be drawn away to other gods. And don’t bow down to them and worship them. ¹⁸If you do, I announce to you this very day that you will certainly be destroyed. You are about to go across the Jordan River and take over the land. But you won’t live there very long.

¹⁹I’m calling for heaven and earth to give witness against you this very day. I’m offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses. But I want you to choose life. Then you and your children will live. ²⁰And you will love the Lord your God. You will obey him. You will remain true to him. The Lord is your very life. He will give you many years in the land. He took an oath. He promised to give that land to your fathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.