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Love and Serve Yahweh

11 “You shall therefore (A)love Yahweh your God, and (B)keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments all your days. So know this day (C)that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the [a]discipline of Yahweh your God—His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm, and (D)His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, (E)when He made the water of the [b]Red Sea to [c]engulf them while they were pursuing you, and Yahweh made them perish [d]utterly; and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; and (F)what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and (G)every living thing that [e]followed them, among all Israel— but your own eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which He did.

“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, (H)so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; (I)so that you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, (J)a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your [f]foot like a vegetable garden. 11 But (K)the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which Yahweh your God cares; (L)the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it, from the [g]beginning even to the end of the year.

13 “And it will be that, (M)if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, (N)to love Yahweh your God and to serve Him (O)with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that [h](P)I, Yahweh, will give the rain for your land in its season, the [i](Q)early and [j]late rains, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15 (R)And [k]I will give [l]grass in your fields for your cattle, and (S)you will eat and be satisfied. 16 [m](T)Beware lest your hearts be deceived, and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them, 17 and (U)the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will (V)shut up the heavens (W)so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and (X)you will perish quickly from the good land which Yahweh is giving you.

18 (Y)You shall therefore place these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as [n]phylacteries between your eyes. 19 (Z)And you shall teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 (AA)And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that (AB)your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as [o](AC)long as the heavens remain above the earth. 22 For if you are (AD)careful to keep this entire commandment which I am commanding you to do, (AE)to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways, and to (AF)cling to Him, 23 then Yahweh will (AG)dispossess all these nations from before you, and you will (AH)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 (AI)Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; (AJ)your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the [p]western sea. 25 (AK)No man will be able to stand before you; Yahweh your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

A Blessing and a Curse

26 (AL)See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the (AM)blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the (AN)curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by walking after other gods which you have not known.

29 “And it will be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, (AO)that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite (AP)Gilgal, beside (AQ)the [q]oaks of Moreh? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving you, and (AR)you shall possess it and live in it, 32 and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:2 Or instruction
  2. Deuteronomy 11:4 Lit Sea of Reeds
  3. Deuteronomy 11:4 Lit flow over their faces
  4. Deuteronomy 11:4 Lit to this day
  5. Deuteronomy 11:6 Lit was at their feet
  6. Deuteronomy 11:10 Probably a treadmill
  7. Deuteronomy 11:12 Lit beginning of the year
  8. Deuteronomy 11:14 Some ancient versions He
  9. Deuteronomy 11:14 Autumn
  10. Deuteronomy 11:14 Spring
  11. Deuteronomy 11:15 Some ancient versions He
  12. Deuteronomy 11:15 Or plants, cf. Gen 2:15
  13. Deuteronomy 11:16 Lit Watch yourselves
  14. Deuteronomy 11:18 Lit frontlet bands
  15. Deuteronomy 11:21 Lit the days of the heavens
  16. Deuteronomy 11:24 Mediterranean Sea
  17. Deuteronomy 11:30 Lit terebinths

11 So love the Lord your God and follow his instruction, his regulations, his case laws, and his commandments always. And know right now what your children haven’t known or yet witnessed:[a]

The Lord your God’s discipline, his power, his mighty hand and outstretched arm;

the signs and the acts that he performed in the heart of Egyptian territory, against Egypt’s King Pharaoh and all his land;

what God did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots—how he made the water of the Reed Sea[b] flow over their heads when they chased after you, but the Lord destroyed them, and that’s how things stand right now;

what the Lord did for you in the desert, until you arrived at this place;

and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the descendants of Eliab the Reubenite, when the ground opened up its mouth and swallowed them, their families, their tents, and every living thing they possessed in the presence of all Israel.

Your own eyes witnessed each of these powerful acts the Lord performed. So keep every part of the commandment that I am giving you today so that you stay strong to enter and take possession of the land that you are crossing over to possess, and so that you might prolong your life on the fertile land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants—a land full of milk and honey.

10 The land you are about to enter and possess is definitely not like the land of Egypt, where you came from, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it by hand[c] like a vegetable garden. 11 No, the land you are entering to possess is a land of hills and valleys, where your drinking water will be rain from heaven. 12 It’s a land that the Lord cares for: the Lord’s eyes are on it constantly from the first of the year until the very end of the year.

13 Now, if you completely obey God’s[d] commandments that I am giving you right now, by loving the Lord your God and by serving him with all your heart and all your being, 14 then he[e] will provide rain for your land at the right time—early rain and late rain—so you can stock up your grain, wine, and oil. 15 He[f] will also make your fields lush for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 But watch yourselves! Otherwise, your heart might be led astray so you stray away, serving other gods and worshipping them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger would burn against you. He will close the sky up tight. There won’t be any rain, and the ground won’t yield any of its crops. You will quickly disappear off the wonderful land the Lord is giving to you.

18 Place these words I’m speaking on your heart and in your very being. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol.[g] 19 Teach them to your children, by talking about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. 20 Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates. 21 Do all that so your days and your children’s days on the fertile land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors are many—indeed, as many as the number of days that the sky’s been over the earth!

22 It’s true: if you carefully keep all this commandment that I’m giving you, by doing it, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in all his ways, and by clinging to him, 23 then the Lord will clear out all these nations before you. You will inherit what belonged to nations that are larger and stronger than you are. 24 Every place you set foot on will be yours: your territory will run from the wilderness all the way to the Lebanon range, and from the Euphrates River all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand up to you. Just as he promised, the Lord your God will make the entire land deathly afraid of you wherever you advance in it.

Ceremony on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal

26 Pay attention! I am setting blessing and curse before you right now: 27 the blessing if you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I am giving you right now, 28 but the curse if you don’t obey the Lord your God’s commandments and stray from the path that I am giving you today by following other gods that you have not known. 29 Now when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of, put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. (30 Aren’t both of these mountains across the Jordan River, down along the western road in the region of the Canaanites who live in the desert plain, across from Gilgal, next to the Moreh Oak Grove?)

31 So then, once you cross the Jordan River to enter and possess the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you take possession of it, settling down in it, 32 you must carefully follow the regulations and the case laws that I am laying out before you right now.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 11:2 Heb uncertain
  2. Deuteronomy 11:4 Or Red Sea
  3. Deuteronomy 11:10 Or foot
  4. Deuteronomy 11:13 LXX his; MT my
  5. Deuteronomy 11:14 Sam, LXX, DSS (8QMez); Heb, Vulg, Syr, Tg, and several DSS I, in which case the text shifts to direct divine discourse.
  6. Deuteronomy 11:15 Sam, LXX, two DSS; Heb, four DSS, Syr, Tg I, in which case the text shifts to direct divine discourse.
  7. Deuteronomy 11:18 Heb uncertain; cf Exod 13:16; Syr sign or mark; Tg phylacteries