Deuteronomy 29
English Standard Version
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
29 [a] These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel (A)in the land of Moab, besides (B)the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.
2 [b] And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: (C)“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great (D)trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day (E)the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 (F)I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 (G)You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, (H)Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and (I)gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 (J)Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper[c] in all that you do.
10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,[d] your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the (K)sojourner who is in your camp, from (L)the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the (M)sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may (N)establish you today as his people, and that (O)he may be your God, as he promised you, and (P)as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone (Q)that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, (R)and with whoever is not here with us today.
16 “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 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you (S)a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather (T)the anger of the Lord and (U)his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord (V)will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, (W)will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and (X)salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, (Y)an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Z)Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— 24 all the nations (AA)will say, (AB)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is 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 went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, (AC)bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord (AD)uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and (AE)cast them into another land, as they are this day.’
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 29:1 Ch 28:69 in Hebrew
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Ch 29:1 in Hebrew
- Deuteronomy 29:9 Or deal wisely
- Deuteronomy 29:10 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew your heads, your tribes
Deuteronomy 29
Contemporary English Version
The Agreement in Moab
29 So 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.[a]
The Third Speech: Israel Must Keep Its Agreement with the Lord
The Lord Is Your God
2-3 Moses 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. 4-6 He has even told you, “For 40 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.[b] 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.
7 (A) When we first camped here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan attacked, but we defeated them. 8 (B) Then we captured their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.
Keep the Agreement
Moses said:
9 Israel, the Lord has made an agreement with you, and if you keep your part, you will be successful in everything you do. 10-12 Today 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.
13-15 In 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.
16-17 When we lived in Egypt, you saw the Egyptians worship disgusting idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold. Then as we traveled through other nations, you saw those people worship other disgusting idols. 18 (C) So make sure that everyone in your tribe remains faithful to the Lord and never starts worshiping gods of other nations.
If even one of you worships idols, you will be like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous fruit. 19 You 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.[c] 20-21 The 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 forever.
22 The Lord will strike your country with diseases and disasters. Your descendants and foreigners from distant countries will see that your land 23 (D) has become a scorching desert of salt and sulfur, 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.[d]
24 People from other nations will ask, “Why did the Lord destroy this country? Why was he so furious?”
25 And they will be given this answer:
Our ancestors worshiped the Lord, but after he brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them, they rejected the agreement 26 and decided to worship gods that had never helped them. The Lord had forbidden Israel to worship these gods, 27-28 and 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.
29 The 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.
Footnotes
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.