Deuteronomy 29
29
The agreement in Moab
1So Moses finished telling the Israelites what they had to do in order to keep the agreement the LORD was making with them in Moab, which was in addition to the one the LORD had made with them at Mount Sinai.#29.1 Mount Sinai: See the note at 1.1-5.
The third speech: Israel must keep its agreement with the Lord
The LORD is your God
2-3Moses called the nation of Israel together and told them:
When you were in Egypt, you saw the LORD perform great miracles that caused trouble for the king, his officials, and everyone else in the country. 4-6He has even told you, “For forty years I, the LORD, led you through the desert, but your clothes and your sandals didn't wear out, and I gave you special food.#29.4-6 I gave…food: Hebrew “you didn't eat bread or drink any wine or beer.” I did these things so you would realize that I am your God.”
But the LORD must give you a change of heart before you truly understand what you have seen and heard.
7When we first camped here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan attacked, but we defeated them.#Nu 21.21-30; Nu 21.31-35. 8Then we captured their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.#Nu 32.33.
Keep the agreement
Moses said:
9Israel, the LORD has made an agreement with you, and if you keep your part, you will be successful in everything you do. 10-12Today everyone in our nation is standing here in the LORD's presence, including leaders and officials, parents and children, and even those foreigners who cut wood and carry water for us. We are at this place of worship to promise that we will keep our part of the agreement with the LORD our God.
13-15In this agreement, the LORD promised that you would be his people and that he would be your God. He first made this promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and today the LORD is making this same promise to you. But it isn't just for you; it is also for your descendants.
16-17When we lived in Egypt, you saw the Egyptians worship disgusting idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold. Then as we travelled through other nations, you saw those people worship other disgusting idols. 18So make sure that everyone in your tribe remains faithful to the LORD and never starts worshipping gods of other nations.#He 12.15.
If even one of you worships idols, you will be like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous fruit. 19You may be an Israelite and know-all about the LORD's agreement with us, but he won't bless you if you rebel against him. You may think you can get away with it, but you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.#29.19 you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you: Hebrew “The mud will be swept away as well as the dust.” 20-21The LORD will be furious, and instead of forgiving you, he will separate you from the other tribes. Then he will destroy you, by piling on you all the curses in The Book of God's Law, and you will be forgotten for ever.
22The LORD will strike your country with diseases and disasters. Your descendants and foreigners from distant countries will see that your land 23has become a scorching desert of salt and sulphur, where nothing is planted, nothing sprouts, and nothing grows. It will be as lifeless as the land around the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, after the LORD became angry and destroyed them.#29.23 Sodom…destroyed them: See Genesis 18.16-28.#Gn 19.24,25.
24People from other nations will ask, “Why did the LORD destroy this country? Why was he so furious?”
25And they will be given this answer:
Our ancestors worshipped the LORD, but after he brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them, they rejected the agreement 26and decided to worship gods that had never helped them. The LORD had forbidden Israel to worship these gods, 27-28and so he became furious and punished the land with all the curses in The Book of God's Law. Then he pulled up Israel by the roots and tossed them into a foreign country, where they still are today.
29The LORD our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but he has commanded us to obey the laws he gave to us and our descendants.
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Deuteronomy 29: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Deuteronomy 29
29
Renewal of the Covenant
# In Hebrew texts 29:1 is numbered 28:69, and 29:2-29 is numbered 29:1-28. 1These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
2Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:
Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. 3With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders. 4But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. 5Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”
7When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. 8We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
9Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. 10All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. 12You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 13to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you 15who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.
16You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
19When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. 21The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
22Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it. 23The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. 24All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”
25And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”
29The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
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