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Remember God’s Power

11 “Therefore love the Lord your God and be very careful to keep his injunctions, statutes, ordinances, and commands all the time.[a] Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the Lord your God—that is, his great and far-reaching power, including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses, and to its chariots, when he caused the water of the Reed[b] Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the Lord destroyed them, even to this day; what he did for you in the desert until you came to this place; and what he did to Eliab’s sons Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing belonging to them in the full sight[c] of Israel. Your very own eyes saw all the great things that the Lord did.”

Possessing a Fertile Land

“Keep all the commands that I’m giving[d] you today, so you can be strong enough to enter and possess the land that you are crossing over to inherit and so you’ll live long in the land that the Lord your God promised by an oath to give your ancestors and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey, 10 since the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden. 11 Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven, 12 a land about which the Lord your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the Lord are continuously on it throughout the entire year.”[e]

Delights of a Bountiful Land

13 “If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today—that is, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul— 14 then he[f] will send rain on the land in its season (the early and latter rains)[g] and you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil. 15 He[h] will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied. 16 Be careful! Otherwise, your hearts will deceive you and you will turn away to serve other gods and worship them. 17 The wrath of God will burn against you so that he will restrain the heavens and it won’t rain. The ground won’t yield its produce and you’ll be swiftly destroyed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you. 18 Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up. 20 Also write them upon the doorposts of your house and gates,[i] 21 so that you and your children may live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give your ancestors—as long as the sky remains above the earth.”

Boundaries of the Land

22 “If you carefully observe all of these commands that I’m giving you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— 23 then the Lord will dispossess all these nations before you and you’ll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you. 24 Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries—from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean[j] Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you. 26 Look! I’m about to grant you a blessing and a curse— 27 a blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today, 28 or a curse if you don’t obey the commands of the Lord your God, by turning from the way that I’m commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known.”

Declaration of the Blessings and Curses

29 “When the Lord brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal. 30 They’re across the Jordan River to the west in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh, aren’t they? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan River to go in and possess the land that the Lord your God is about to give you to inherit and live in. 32 Be careful to obey all the statutes and ordinances that I’m placing before you today.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:1 Lit. days
  2. Deuteronomy 11:4 So MT; LXX reads Red
  3. Deuteronomy 11:6 Lit. the middle
  4. Deuteronomy 11:8 Lit. commanding
  5. Deuteronomy 11:12 Lit. on it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year
  6. Deuteronomy 11:14 So with LXX, SP, V; MT reads I
  7. Deuteronomy 11:14 I.e. winter and spring rains
  8. Deuteronomy 11:15 So with LXX, SP, V; MT reads I
  9. Deuteronomy 11:20 cf. Deut 6:7-8
  10. Deuteronomy 11:24 Lit. Western

11 “And you shall love Yahweh your God, and you shall keep his obligations and his statutes and his regulations and his commandments always.[a] And you shall realize today[b] that it is not with your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of Yahweh your God—his greatness, his strong hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs and his deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all of his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt and to their horses and to their chariots, and how he made the water of the Red Sea[c] flow over them, when they pursued after them,[d] and so Yahweh has destroyed them, as is the case today,[e] and what he did to you in the desert until you came up to this place, and what he did to Dathan and to Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth wide and swallowed them, their households and their tents, and all of the living creatures[f] that were in their possession and that were following along with them[g] in the midst of all of Israel. The fact of the matter is, your own eyes have seen[h] all of the great deeds[i] of Yahweh that he did.

“And you must keep all of the commandments[j] that I am commanding you today,[k] so that you may have strength and you may go and you may take possession of that land to which you are crossing[l] to take possession of it, so that you may live long[m] on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,[n] to give it to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the fact is that the land that you are about to go into[o] to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come out of,[p] where you sow your seed and you give water by your foot, as in a vegetable garden.[q] 11 But the land that you are about to cross into to take possession of it is a land of hills and valleys, and by the rain of the heaven it drinks water, 12 a land that Yahweh your God is caring for it; continually the eyes of Yahweh your God are on it, from the beginning of the year up to the end of the year.

13 “And it will happen that if you listen carefully to my commandments that I am commanding you today,[r] to love Yahweh your God, and to serve him with all of your heart and with all of your soul,[s] 14 then ‘I will send the rain for your land in its season, early rain and later rain, and you will gather your grain and your wine and your olive oil. 15 And I will give vegetation in your field for your livestock, and you will eat your fill.’[t] 16 Take care[u] so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to them. 17 And then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you,[v] and he will shut up the heavens,[w] and there shall not be rain, and so the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land that Yahweh is giving to you.

18 “And you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your inner self,[x] and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as an emblem between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your children[y] by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates, 21 so that they may multiply your days and the days of your children on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors[z] to give it to them as long as heaven endures over the earth.[aa] 22 Yes, if you diligently keep all[ab] this commandment that I am commanding you to observe it, [ac] by loving Yahweh your God by walking in[ad] all his ways and by holding fast to him, 23 then Yahweh will drive out all of these nations before you,[ae] and you will dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, it shall be yours; your boundary shall be from the desert and Lebanon from the river, the river Euphrates, on up to the western sea.[af] 25 No one can take a stand against you;[ag] your dread and your fear Yahweh your God will put on the surface[ah] of all the land where you tread,[ai] just as he promised[aj] to you.

26 “See, I am setting before you[ak] today[al] a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today,[am] 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but rather you turn from the way that I am commanding you today[an] to go after other gods that you have not known.

29 “And it will happen that when Yahweh your God has brought you to the land that you are going to,[ao] to take possession of it, then[ap] you shall pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 (Are they not beyond the Jordan, toward the west,[aq] in the land of the Canaanites living in the Jordan Valley,[ar] opposite Gilgal beside the terebinth[as] of Moreh?) 31 For you are now about to cross the Jordan to go to take possession of the land that Yahweh, your God, is giving to you, and you will take possession of it and live in it, 32 and you must diligently observe[at] all the rules and the regulations that I am setting before you[au] today.”[av]

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:1 Literally “all of the days”
  2. Deuteronomy 11:2 Literally “the day”
  3. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “sea of reed”
  4. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “in/at their pursuing after them”
  5. Deuteronomy 11:4 Literally “until the day the this”
  6. Deuteronomy 11:6 Hebrew “creature”
  7. Deuteronomy 11:6 Literally “in their feet” = “living things traveling along with them”
  8. Deuteronomy 11:7 Literally “your eyes that are seeing”
  9. Deuteronomy 11:7 Hebrew “deed”
  10. Deuteronomy 11:8 Hebrew “commandment”
  11. Deuteronomy 11:8 Literally “the day”
  12. Deuteronomy 11:8 Literally “you are crossing there”
  13. Deuteronomy 11:9 Literally “you may make long days”
  14. Deuteronomy 11:9 Or “fathers”
  15. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “you are about to go there”
  16. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “come out from there”
  17. Deuteronomy 11:10 Literally “as the garden of the vegetables”
  18. Deuteronomy 11:13 Literally “the day”
  19. Deuteronomy 11:13 Or “inner self”
  20. Deuteronomy 11:15 Literally “you will eat and you will be satisfied”
  21. Deuteronomy 11:16 Literally “Watch for yourself”
  22. Deuteronomy 11:17 Literally “the nose of Yahweh become hot against you”
  23. Deuteronomy 11:17 Or “sky”
  24. Deuteronomy 11:18 Or “soul”
  25. Deuteronomy 11:19 Or “sons”
  26. Deuteronomy 11:21 Or “fathers”
  27. Deuteronomy 11:21 Literally “like the days of heaven above the earth”
  28. Deuteronomy 11:22 Or “every one of”
  29. Deuteronomy 11:22 Literally “to do it”
  30. Deuteronomy 11:22 Literally “to walk in”
  31. Deuteronomy 11:23 Literally “to the face of you”
  32. Deuteronomy 11:24 That is, the Mediterranean Sea
  33. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “to your faces”
  34. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “faces”
  35. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “which you tread in it”
  36. Deuteronomy 11:25 Literally “spoke”
  37. Deuteronomy 11:26 Literally “to the face of you”
  38. Deuteronomy 11:26 Literally “the day”
  39. Deuteronomy 11:27 Literally “the day”
  40. Deuteronomy 11:28 Literally “the day”
  41. Deuteronomy 11:29 Literally “the land that you are going there”
  42. Deuteronomy 11:29 Hebrew “and”
  43. Deuteronomy 11:30 Literally “after the way of the descent of the sun”
  44. Deuteronomy 11:30 Hebrew “in the Arabah”
  45. Deuteronomy 11:30 Or “oaks”
  46. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “observe to do”
  47. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “before your face”
  48. Deuteronomy 11:32 Literally “the day”