Deuteronomy 29
Expanded Bible
The Agreement in Moab
29 The Lord commanded Moses to ·make [L cut] an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] in Moab in addition to the ·agreement [covenant; treaty] he had ·made [L cut] with them at ·Mount Sinai [L Horeb; 1:6]. These are the words of that ·agreement [covenant; treaty].
2 Moses called all the Israelites together and said to them:
You have seen everything the Lord did before your own eyes to ·the king of Egypt [L Pharaoh] and to ·the king’s [L his] leaders and to the whole country. 3 With your own eyes you saw the great ·troubles [trials; tests], signs, and ·miracles [wonders]. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a ·mind [heart] that understands; you don’t really understand what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears. 5 I led you through the ·desert [wilderness] for forty years, and during that time neither your clothes nor sandals wore out [8:4]. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or ·beer [T strong drink; C alcoholic beverage made from grain]. This was so you would understand that I am the Lord your God.
7 When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight us, but we ·defeated [L struck] them [Num. 21:21–35]. 8 We captured their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and ·East [L the half-tribe of] Manasseh ·to be their own [L as an inheritance; Num. 32].
9 You must carefully obey everything in this ·agreement [covenant; treaty] so that you will ·succeed [prosper] in everything you do. 10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God—your leaders and important men, your elders, ·officers [scribes], and all the other men of Israel, 11 your wives and children and the ·foreigners [resident aliens] who ·live among you [L are in the midst of your camp], who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are all here to enter into an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] ·and a promise with the Lord your God [sworn by an oath], an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] the Lord your God is ·making [L cutting] with you today. 13 This will make you today his own people. He will be your God, as he told you and as he ·promised [swore to] your ·ancestors [fathers] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20]. 14 But I am not just making this ·agreement [covenant; treaty] ·and its promises [sworn by an oath] with you 15 who are standing here before the Lord your God today, but also with those who are not here today.
16 You know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries when we came here. 17 You saw their ·hateful idols [L detestable things, the filthy idols] made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 Make sure no man, woman, ·family group [clan], or tribe among you ·leaves [L whose heart turns away from] the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. They would be to you like a ·plant [L root] that grows bitter, poisonous fruit.
19 These are the kind of people who hear ·these curses [or the words of this oath] but bless themselves ·internally [L in their hearts/minds], thinking, “We will ·be safe [have peace] ·even though we continue doing what we want to do.” Those people may destroy all of your land, both wet and dry [or if we act with determination so water may bring an end to the drought]. 20 The Lord will ·not [be unwilling to] forgive them. His anger will be like a burning fire against those people, and all the curses written in this ·book [scroll] will come on them [chs. 27–28]. The Lord will ·destroy [blot out; wipe away] ·any memory of them on the earth [L their name from under the heavens]. 21 He will separate them from all the tribes of Israel for punishment. All the curses of the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] that are written in this ·Book [Scroll] of the ·Teachings [Laws; Instructions] will happen to them.
22 Your children, the generation that will come after you, as well as foreigners from faraway lands, will see the disasters that come to this land and the diseases the Lord will send on it. They will say, 23 “The land is ·nothing but burning cinders [burned by sulphur] and salt. Nothing is planted, nothing grows, and nothing blooms. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah [Gen. 19], and Admah and Zeboiim [Gen. 14:2; Hos. 11:8], which the Lord ·destroyed [overturned] ·because he was very angry [L in his anger and his wrath].” 24 All the other nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to the land? Why is he so angry?”
25 And the answer will be, “It is because the people broke the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] of the Lord, the God of their ·ancestors [fathers], which he ·made [L cut] with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods and bowed down to gods they did not even know. The Lord did not ·allow [permit] that, 27 so he became very angry at the land and brought all the curses on it that are written in this ·book [scroll; chs. 27–28]. 28 Since the Lord became angry, upset, and furious with them, he took them out of their land and put them in another land where they are today.”
29 There are some things the Lord our God has kept secret, but there are some things he has ·let us know [revealed]. These things belong to us and our children forever so that we will do everything in these ·teachings [laws; instructions].
Deuteronomy 29
Amplified Bible
The Covenant in Moab
29 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which He made with them at Horeb (Sinai).
2 [a]Moses summoned 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 [of Pharaoh] which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders. 4 Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart and mind to understand, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 I have led you in the wilderness forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the Lord your God [on whom you must depend]. 7 When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us in battle, but we defeated them; 8 and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 9 So keep the words of this covenant and obey them, so that you may prosper and be successful in everything that you do.
10 “All of you stand today before the Lord your God—your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is in your camps, from [b]the one who chops and gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water— 12 so that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath and agreement which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 so that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 “It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, 15 but with those [future Israelites] who are not here with us today, as well as with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the nations along the way; 17 and you have seen their detestable acts and their [repulsive] idols of wood and stone, [lifeless images] of silver and gold, which they had with them), 18 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 and serve the [false] gods of these nations; so that there will not be among you a root [of idolatry] bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood (bitterness). 19 It will happen that when he (a renegade) hears the words of this oath, and he [c]imagines himself as blessed, saying, ‘I will have peace and safety even though I walk within the stubbornness of my heart [rejecting God and His law], in order that the watered land dwindles away along with the dry [destroying everything],’ 20 the Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger of the Lord and His [d]jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him; the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.
22 Now the next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of this land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘The whole land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it; it is like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath.’ 24 All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned (broke) 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 For they went and served other gods and worshiped them, [false] gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted (given) to them. 27 So the anger of the Lord burned against this land, bringing on it every curse that is written in this book; 28 and the Lord uprooted them from 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 to the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed and disclosed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may do all of the words of this law.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Ch 29:1 in Hebrew.
- Deuteronomy 29:11 This probably refers to a permanent slave population (Josh 9:27).
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Lit blesses himself in his heart. That is, the renegade imagines that the agreement is one-sided, requiring God to bless him no matter what he does.
- Deuteronomy 29:20 I.e. intolerance of unfaithfulness.
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