^9 (A)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(B)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

¹⁰ “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(C)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹² so 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 ^(D)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ “Now it is not with you alone that I am ^(E)making this covenant and this oath, ^15 (F)but 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 passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷ moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(G)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ^18 (H)so 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 to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(I)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹ And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[a]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰ The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(J)His wrath will ^[b](K)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(L)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹ Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(M)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²² “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(N)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, ²³ ‘All its land is ^(O)brimstone and salt, ^(P)burned debris, ^[c]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(Q)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘^(R)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[d]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵ Then people will say, ‘It is ^(S)because they abandoned 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 And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[e]assigned to them. ²⁷ Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(T)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸ and ^(U)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹ “^(V)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(W)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[f]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, ^(X)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you ^[g]call them to mind ^(Y)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, ² and you ^(Z)return to the Lord your God and ^[h]obey Him ^(AA)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, ³ then the Lord your God will ^(AB)restore ^[i]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(AC)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has ^(AD)scattered you. ⁴ If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ^[j]ends of the earth, ^(AE)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[k]bring you back. ^5 (AF)The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and ^(AG)make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶ “Moreover, ^(AH)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your ^[l]descendants, ^(AI)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. ^7 (AJ)And the Lord your God will ^[m]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸ And you will again ^[n]obey the Lord, and ^[o]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. ^9 (AK)Then the Lord your God will prosper you ^[p]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the ^[q]children of your womb, the ^[r]offspring of your cattle, and in the ^[s]produce of your ground, for ^(AL)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ^10 [t]if you ^[u]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which ^(AM)are written in this Book of the Law, ^[v]if you turn to the Lord your God ^(AN)with all your heart and soul.

¹¹ “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, ^[w]that you could say, ‘^(AO)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[x]follow it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[y]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[z]follow it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[aa]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵ “See, ^(AP)I have placed before you today life and ^[ab]happiness, and death and ^[ac]adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today ^(AQ)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(AR)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that ^(AS)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[ad]and take possession of it. ^19 (AT)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(AU)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[ae]descendants, ^20 (AV)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(AW)by holding close to Him; ^(AX)for ^[af]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[ag]so that you may live in ^(AY)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”