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Deuteronomy 29
Lexham English Bible

Covenant Renewal, Oaths, Restoration, Charges to the Nation

29 [a] These are the words of the covenant that Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the Israelites[b] in the land of Moab besides[c] the covenant that he made with them at Horeb.

2 And Moses summoned all of Israel and said to them, “You saw all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt and to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land; 3 that is, the great trials that your eyes saw, and those great signs and wonders. 4 But Yahweh has not given to you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, even to this day.[d] 5 And I have led you forty years[e] in the desert; your clothes have not worn out on you,[f] and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.[g] 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine and strong drink, so that you may know that I am Yahweh your God. 7 And when you came to this place then Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out to meet you for battle, and we defeated them. 8 And we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites[h] and to the Gadites[i] and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 9 And you must diligently observe the words of this covenant,[j] so that you may succeed in all that you do.

10 “You are standing today,[k] all of you, before[l] Yahweh your God, your leaders, your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, 11 your little children, your women and your aliens[m] who are in the midst of your camp, from the choppers[n] of your wood to the drawers[o] of your water, 12 in order for you to enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God,[p] and into[q] his oath that Yahweh your God is making with you[r] today,[s] 13 in order to establish you today[t] to himself[u] as a people and so that he may be for you as God, just as he promised[v] to you and just as[w] he swore to your ancestors,[x] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14 “Now I am not making this covenant[y] and this oath with you alone.[z] 15 But with whoever is standing here[aa] with us today[ab] before[ac] Yahweh our God, and with whoever is not standing here[ad] with us today.[ae] 16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the midst of the nations that you traveled[af] through. 17 And you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood and stone, silver, and gold that were among them, 18 so that there is not[ag] among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart[ah] turns today[ai] from being with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. 19 And then when he hears the words of this oath, then[aj] he will assure himself[ak] in his heart, saying,[al] ‘Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart,’[am] thereby destroying the well-watered land along with the parched.[an] 20 Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.

22 “And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when[ao] they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, none of its land will be sown,[ap] and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.’ 24 And all the nations will say, ‘Why[aq] has Yahweh done such a thing[ar] to this land? What caused the fierceness of this great anger?’ 25 And they will say,[as] ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,[at] which he made[au] with them when he brought them out[av] from the land of Egypt. 26 And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he[aw] had not allotted to them. 27 So the anger of Yahweh was kindled[ax] against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, 28 and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, just as it is today.’[ay]

29 “The hidden things belong to Yahweh[az] our God, but the revealed things belong to us[ba] to know and to our children forever,[bb] in order to do all the words of this law.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 29:1 Deuteronomy 29:1–29 in the English Bible is 28.69–29:28 in the Hebrew Bible
  2. Deuteronomy 29:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Deuteronomy 29:1 Literally “from to alone”
  4. Deuteronomy 29:4 Literally “until the day the this”
  5. Deuteronomy 29:5 Hebrew “year”
  6. Deuteronomy 29:5 Literally “from on you”
  7. Deuteronomy 29:5 Literally “from on your foot”
  8. Deuteronomy 29:8 Hebrew “Reubenite”
  9. Deuteronomy 29:8 Hebrew “Gadite”
  10. Deuteronomy 29:9 Literally “you must keep the words of the covenant the this and you must do them”
  11. Deuteronomy 29:10 Literally “the day”
  12. Deuteronomy 29:10 Literally “to the face of”
  13. Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “alien”
  14. Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “chopper”
  15. Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “drawer”
  16. Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “for you to go over into the covenant of Yahweh your God”
  17. Deuteronomy 29:12 Or “with”
  18. Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “cutting with you”
  19. Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “the day”
  20. Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “the day”
  21. Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “for him”
  22. Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “spoke”
  23. Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “according to that which”
  24. Deuteronomy 29:13 Or “your fathers”
  25. Deuteronomy 29:14 Literally “cutting this covenant”
  26. Deuteronomy 29:14 Literally “with you to alone you”
  27. Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “with who he is here with us standing”
  28. Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “the day”
  29. Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “to the face of”
  30. Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “with who he is not standing here with us”
  31. Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “the day”
  32. Deuteronomy 29:16 Or “journeyed”
  33. Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “lest there be/develop”
  34. Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “his heart”
  35. Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “the day”
  36. Deuteronomy 29:19 Or “and”
  37. Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “he will bless himself”; HALOT 160 suggests “to consider oneself fortunate”
  38. Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “to say”
  39. Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “Peace shall happen/be for me, although/even if in the stubbornness of my heart I go”
  40. Deuteronomy 29:19 Some translators prefer to include the last clause as a part of the words of the wicked man (NASV vs. NEB)
  41. Deuteronomy 29:22 Hebrew “and”
  42. Deuteronomy 29:23 Literally “all of its land will not be sown”
  43. Deuteronomy 29:24 Literally “On what basis”
  44. Deuteronomy 29:24 Literally “so”
  45. Deuteronomy 29:25 Or “answer/respond”
  46. Deuteronomy 29:25 Or “fathers”
  47. Deuteronomy 29:25 Literally “cut”
  48. Deuteronomy 29:25 Literally “at/in his to bring them out from the land of Egypt”
  49. Deuteronomy 29:26 That is, Yahweh
  50. Deuteronomy 29:27 Literally “became hot the nose of Yahweh”
  51. Deuteronomy 29:28 Literally “as the day the this”
  52. Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “are for Yahweh”
  53. Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “are for us”
  54. Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “until eternity”
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Deuteronomy 29
International Standard Version

Remembering the Exodus and Conquest

29 [a]These are the terms of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelis in the land of Moab in addition to the covenant that he made with them in Horeb. 2 [b]Moses called all Israel together and addressed them: “You saw everything that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants,[c] and to his whole country. 3 Those great feats that you saw with your own eyes are signs and great wonders. 4 Yet to this day, the Lord hasn’t given you a heart that understands, eyes that perceive, and ears that discern. 5 Though I’ve led you for 40 years in the desert, neither your clothes nor your shoes have worn out. 6 You didn’t have bread to eat or wine or anything intoxicating to drink, so that you would learn[d] that I am the Lord your God. 7 Then you reached this place, where King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan had come out to meet and fight with us, but we defeated them. 8 We captured their land and handed it as an inheritance to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant, carrying them out so that you’ll be wise in everything you do.”

Entering into a Covenant Relationship

10 “All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—the heads of your tribes, your elders, your magistrates, all the men of Israel, 11 along with your children, your wives, even the foreigner in your camp, including the woodchopper and the water drawer— 12 to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God and into the oath that he[e] is about to make with you today, 13 so that he will elevate you to be a people for him. And he will be God to you, just as he promised you and swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 Now, I’m not making this covenant and oath with you alone, 15 but with whoever is here with us standing in the presence of the Lord our God today, as well as with those who aren’t here with us today.”

Incurring the Judgment of God

16 “Now, you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the territory of[f] other nations. 17 You have seen their detestable practices, their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold that they had with them. 18 Be alert so there is no man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart is turning away from the Lord your God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Be alert so there will be no root among you that produces poisonous and bitter fruit,[g] 19 because when such a person[h] hears the words of this oath, he will bless himself and say:

‘I will have a peaceful life, even though I’m determined to be stubborn.’[i] By doing this he will be sweeping away both watered and parched ground alike.’

20 “The Lord won’t forgive such a person.[j] Instead, the zealous anger of the Lord will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the Lord will wipe out his memory[k] from under heaven. 21 The Lord will set him apart from all the tribes of Israel for destruction,[l] according to the curses of the covenant that were written in this Book of the Law.”

A Reminder of Sodom and Gomorrah

22 “Then the generation to come—your descendants after you and the foreigners who come from afar—will see plagues and illnesses infecting the land that the Lord will inflict on it. 23 The whole land will be covered[m] with salt pits and burning sulfur, with nothing planted, nothing sprouting, and producing no vegetation—overthrown like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, when the Lord overthrew them in his raging fury. 24 All the nations will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land? What is the meaning of this fierce and great anger?’ 25 Then they will answer themselves,[n]

‘Because they’ve abandoned the covenant of their Lord, the God of their ancestors that he had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They followed and worshipped other gods whom they had not known and whom he did not assign to them. 27 For this reason, the anger of the Lord raged against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that were written in this book. 28 The Lord uprooted them from the land in his anger, wrath, and great fury, deporting them to another land, and that’s the way things are today.’

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but what has been revealed belongs to us and to our children forever, so that we might observe the words of this Law.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 29:1 This v. is 28:69 in MT
  2. Deuteronomy 29:2 This v. is 29:1 in MT, and so throughout the chapter
  3. Deuteronomy 29:2 Lit. his slaves
  4. Deuteronomy 29:6 Or know
  5. Deuteronomy 29:12 Lit. the Lord your God
  6. Deuteronomy 29:16 The Heb. lacks the territory of
  7. Deuteronomy 29:18 Lit. wormwood; i.e. bitter things
  8. Deuteronomy 29:19 Lit. he
  9. Deuteronomy 29:19 The quotation possibly ends here.
  10. Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit. him
  11. Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit. name
  12. Deuteronomy 29:21 Lit. evil
  13. Deuteronomy 29:23 The Heb. lacks will be covered
  14. Deuteronomy 29:25 The Heb. lacks themselves
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Deuteronomy 28
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