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
- Deuteronomy 29:1 Deuteronomy 29:1–29 in the English Bible is 28.69–29:28 in the Hebrew Bible
- Deuteronomy 29:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 29:1 Literally “from to alone”
- Deuteronomy 29:4 Literally “until the day the this”
- Deuteronomy 29:5 Hebrew “year”
- Deuteronomy 29:5 Literally “from on you”
- Deuteronomy 29:5 Literally “from on your foot”
- Deuteronomy 29:8 Hebrew “Reubenite”
- Deuteronomy 29:8 Hebrew “Gadite”
- Deuteronomy 29:9 Literally “you must keep the words of the covenant the this and you must do them”
- Deuteronomy 29:10 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:10 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “alien”
- Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “chopper”
- Deuteronomy 29:11 Hebrew “drawer”
- Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “for you to go over into the covenant of Yahweh your God”
- Deuteronomy 29:12 Or “with”
- Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “cutting with you”
- Deuteronomy 29:12 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “for him”
- Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “spoke”
- Deuteronomy 29:13 Literally “according to that which”
- Deuteronomy 29:13 Or “your fathers”
- Deuteronomy 29:14 Literally “cutting this covenant”
- Deuteronomy 29:14 Literally “with you to alone you”
- Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “with who he is here with us standing”
- Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “with who he is not standing here with us”
- Deuteronomy 29:15 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:16 Or “journeyed”
- Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “lest there be/develop”
- Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “his heart”
- Deuteronomy 29:18 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Or “and”
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “he will bless himself”; HALOT 160 suggests “to consider oneself fortunate”
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Literally “Peace shall happen/be for me, although/even if in the stubbornness of my heart I go”
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Some translators prefer to include the last clause as a part of the words of the wicked man (NASV vs. NEB)
- Deuteronomy 29:22 Hebrew “and”
- Deuteronomy 29:23 Literally “all of its land will not be sown”
- Deuteronomy 29:24 Literally “On what basis”
- Deuteronomy 29:24 Literally “so”
- Deuteronomy 29:25 Or “answer/respond”
- Deuteronomy 29:25 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 29:25 Literally “cut”
- Deuteronomy 29:25 Literally “at/in his to bring them out from the land of Egypt”
- Deuteronomy 29:26 That is, Yahweh
- Deuteronomy 29:27 Literally “became hot the nose of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 29:28 Literally “as the day the this”
- Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “are for Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “are for us”
- Deuteronomy 29:29 Literally “until eternity”
Deuteronomy 29
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
29 [a]These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.(A)
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
2 [b]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 and to all his servants and to all his land,(B) 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.(C) 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out;(D) 6 you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink—so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.(E) 7 When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us for battle, but we defeated them.(F) 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.(G) 9 Therefore observe the words of this covenant and perform them, in order that you may succeed[c] in everything that you do.(H)
10 “You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,[d] your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, 11 your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water(I)— 12 to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that he may establish you today as his people and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.(J) 14 I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you 15 who stand here with us today before the Lord our God but also with those who are not here with us today. 16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 You have seen their detestable things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, that were among them.(K) 18 It may be that there is among you a man or woman or a family or tribe whose heart is already turning away from the Lord our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.(L) 19 All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, ‘We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways’ (thus sweeping away the moist with the dry)[e]— 20 the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for then the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.(M) 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.(N) 22 The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it(O)— 23 all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger(P)— 24 they and indeed all the nations will wonder, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?’(Q) 25 They will conclude, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They turned and served other gods, worshiping them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them; 27 so the anger of the Lord was kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written in this book. 28 The Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath and cast them into another land, as is now the case.’(R) 29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.