Add parallel Print Page Options

A Call to Remember and Obey

“Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell. Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

“So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. 10 When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. 12 For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13 and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! 14 Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. 15 Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! 16 He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. 17 He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ 18 Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

19 “But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. 20 Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God.

Do Not Forget Yahweh Your God

“The entire commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you (A)may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers. (B)And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has (C)led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, (D)testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that (E)man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh. (F)Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. (G)Thus you shall know in your heart that Yahweh your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. So you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways and to [a]fear Him. For (H)Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And so (I)you will eat and be satisfied, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which He has given you.

11 [b]Beware lest you (J)forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 lest (K)you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live in them, 13 and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 and your heart becomes [c]lifted up and you (L)forget Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of [d]slavery. 15 He led you through (M)the great and fearsome wilderness, with its (N)fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He (O)brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 In the wilderness He fed you manna (P)which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might (Q)test you, to do good for you [e]in the end, 17 lest (R)you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for (S)it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Now it will be, if you ever forget Yahweh your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, (T)I testify against you today that you will surely perish. 20 Like the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so (U)you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 8:6 Or reverence
  2. Deuteronomy 8:11 Lit Take heed to yourself
  3. Deuteronomy 8:14 Or proud
  4. Deuteronomy 8:14 Lit slaves
  5. Deuteronomy 8:16 Lit at your end