Chapter 8

God’s Gracious Dealings

1 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you amay live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.

2 “aYou shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has bled you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, ctesting you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you 1understand that aman does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

4 “aYour clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

5 “aThus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

6 “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to 1fear Him.

7 “For athe Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

10 “When ayou have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

11 “1Beware that you do not aforget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;

12 otherwise, awhen you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,

13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,

14 then your heart will become 1proud and you will aforget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of 2slavery.

15 “He led you through athe great and terrible wilderness, with its bfiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He cbrought water for you out of the rock of flint.

16 “In the wilderness He fed you manna awhich your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might btest you, to do good for you 1in the end.

17 “Otherwise, ayou may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’

18 “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for ait is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

19 “It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, aI testify against you today that you will surely perish.

20 “Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so ayou shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.