29 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

² Moses called to all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land;

³ The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.

⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a [mind and] heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.

⁵ I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.

⁶ You have not eaten [grain] bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you might recognize and know [your dependence on Him Who is saying], I am the Lord your God.

⁷ And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them.

⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.

⁹ Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may deal wisely and prosper in all that you do.

¹⁰ All of you stand today before the Lord your God—your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

¹¹ Your little ones, your wives, and the stranger and sojourner in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water—

¹² That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath which He makes with you today,

¹³ That He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ It is not with you only that I make this sworn covenant

¹⁵ But with future Israelites who do not stand here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are here with us this day.

¹⁶ You know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations you crossed.

¹⁷ And you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.

¹⁸ Beware lest there should be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose [mind and] heart turns away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a [poisonous] root that bears gall and wormwood,

¹⁹ And lest, when he hears the words of this curse and oath, he flatters and congratulates himself in his [mind and] heart, saying, I shall have peace and safety, ^[a]though I walk in the stubbornness of my [mind and] heart [bringing down a hurricane of destruction] and sweep away the watered land with the dry.

²⁰ The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall settle on him; the Lord will blot out his very name from under the heavens.

²¹ And the Lord will single him out for ruin and destruction from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,

²² So that the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a distant land, shall say, when they see the plagues of this land and the diseases with which the Lord has made it sick—

²³ The whole land is brimstone and salt and a burned waste, not sown or bearing anything, where no grass can take root, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath—

²⁴ Even all the nations shall say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?

²⁵ Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.

²⁶ For they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they knew not and that He had not given to them.

²⁷ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

²⁸ And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land, as it is this day.

²⁹ The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all of the words of this law.

30 And when all these things have come upon you, the blessings and the curses which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,

² And shall return to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being,

³ Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion upon you and will gather you again from all the nations where He has scattered you.

⁴ Even if any of your dispersed are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there will He bring you.

⁵ And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you above your fathers.

⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being, that you may live.

⁷ And the Lord your God will put all these curses upon your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecute you.

⁸ And you shall return and obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today.

⁹ And the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, of your cattle, of your land, for good; for the Lord will again delight in prospering you, as He took delight in your fathers,

¹⁰ If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being.

¹¹ For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.

¹² It is not [a secret laid up] in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?

¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?

¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your mind and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil.

¹⁶ [If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which] I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land into which you go to possess.

¹⁷ But if your [mind and] heart turn away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,

¹⁸ I declare to you today that you shall surely perish, and you shall not live long in the land which you pass over the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live

²⁰ And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

31 And Moses went on speaking these words to all Israel:

² And he said to them, I am 120 years old this day; I can no more go out and come in. And the Lord has said to me, You shall not go over this Jordan.

³ The Lord your God will Himself go over before you, and He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. And Joshua shall go over before you, as the Lord has said.

⁴ And the Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.

⁵ And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.

⁶ Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.

⁷ And Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong, courageous, and firm, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to possess it.

⁸ It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm].

⁹ And Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release [of debtors from their debts], at the Feast of Booths,

¹¹ When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses [for His sanctuary], you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

¹² Assemble the people—men, women, and children, and the stranger and the sojourner within your towns—that they may hear and learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God and be watchful to do all the words of this law,

¹³ And that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you go over the Jordan to possess.

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, your days are nearing when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, that I may give him his charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁵ And the Lord appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them; and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

¹⁷ Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them. And they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?

¹⁸ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done in turning to other gods.

¹⁹ And now write this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the Israelites.

²⁰ For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise and scorn Me and break My covenant.

²¹ And when many evils and troubles have befallen them, this [sacred] song will confront them as a witness, for it will never be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants. For I know their strong desire and the purposes which they are forming even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore to give them.

²² Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the Israelites.^(A)

²³ And [the Lord] charged Joshua son of Nun, Be strong and courageous and firm, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land which I swore to give them, and I will be with you.

²⁴ And when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end,

²⁵ He commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord,

²⁶ Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

²⁷ For I know your rebellion and stubbornness; behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death!

²⁸ Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

²⁹ For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.

³⁰ And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were ended: