Deuteronomy 29
New American Standard Bible
The Covenant in Moab
29 [a](A)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the (B)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.
2 [b]And 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 all his servants, and to all his land; 3 (C)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day (D)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; (E)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 (F)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 (G)When you [c]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we [d]defeated them; 8 and we took their land and (H)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 (I)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, (J)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.
10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from (K)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His 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 (L)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 “Now it is not with you alone that I am (M)making this covenant and this oath, 15 (N)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of (O)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); 18 (P)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 to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you (Q)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order [e]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and (R)His wrath will [f](S)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will (T)wipe out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant (U)which is written in this Book of the Law.
22 “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and (V)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is (W)brimstone and salt, (X)burned debris, [g]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of (Y)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24 All the nations will say, ‘(Z)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great [h]outburst of anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is (AA)because they abandoned 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 And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not [i]assigned to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, (AB)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and (AC)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’
29 “(AD)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but (AE)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may [j]follow all the words of this Law.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 29:1 Ch 28:69 in Heb
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Ch 29:1 in Heb
- Deuteronomy 29:7 Lit came to
- Deuteronomy 29:7 Lit struck
- Deuteronomy 29:19 I.e., to destroy everything
- Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit smoke
- Deuteronomy 29:23 Lit it is not sown and does not make plants sprout
- Deuteronomy 29:24 Lit heat
- Deuteronomy 29:26 Lit apportioned
- Deuteronomy 29:29 Lit perform
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
- Deuteronomy 29:1 This v. is 28:69 in MT
- Deuteronomy 29:2 This v. is 29:1 in MT, and so throughout the chapter
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Lit. his slaves
- Deuteronomy 29:6 Or know
- Deuteronomy 29:12 Lit. the Lord your God
- Deuteronomy 29:16 The Heb. lacks the territory of
- Deuteronomy 29:18 Lit. wormwood; i.e. bitter things
- Deuteronomy 29:19 Lit. he
- Deuteronomy 29:19 The quotation possibly ends here.
- Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit. him
- Deuteronomy 29:20 Lit. name
- Deuteronomy 29:21 Lit. evil
- Deuteronomy 29:23 The Heb. lacks will be covered
- Deuteronomy 29:25 The Heb. lacks themselves
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