Deuteronomy 11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
Recalling the Wonders of the Lord. 1 Love the Lord, your God, therefore, and keep his charge, statutes, ordinances, and commandments always.(A) 2 Recall today that it was not your children, who have neither known nor seen the discipline of the Lord, your God—his greatness, his strong hand and outstretched arm;(B) 3 the signs and deeds he wrought in the midst of Egypt, on Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and on all his land;(C) 4 what he did to the Egyptian army and to their horses and chariots, engulfing them in the waters of the Red Sea[a] as they pursued you,(D) so that the Lord destroyed them even to this day; 5 what he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what he did to the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up out of the midst of Israel, with their families and tents and every living thing that belonged to them—(E) 7 but it was you who saw with your own eyes all these great deeds that the Lord has done.
The Gift of Rain. 8 (F)So keep all the commandments I give you today, that you may be strong enough to enter in and take possession of the land that you are crossing over to possess, 9 and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors he would give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 The land you are to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you would sow your seed and then water it by hand,[b] as in a vegetable garden. 11 (G)No, the land into which you are crossing to take possession is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in rain from the heavens, 12 a land which the Lord, your God, looks after; the eyes of the Lord, your God, are upon it continually through the year, from beginning to end.
13 [c](H)If, then, you truly listen to my commandments which I give you today, loving and serving the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, 14 I will give the seasonal rain to your land, the early rain[d] and the late rain, that you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in; 15 and I will bring forth grass in your fields for your animals. Thus you may eat and be satisfied. 16 (I)But be careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods and bow down to them.(J) 17 For then the anger of the Lord will flare up against you and he will close up the heavens, so that no rain will fall, and the soil will not yield its crops, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
Need for Fidelity. 18 (K)Therefore, take these words of mine into your heart and soul. Bind them on your arm as a sign, and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up, 20 and write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that, as long as the heavens are above the earth, you and your children may live on in the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors he would give them.
22 (L)For if you are careful to observe this entire commandment I am giving you, loving the Lord, your God, following his ways exactly, and holding fast to him, 23 the Lord will dispossess all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 (M)Every place where you set foot shall be yours: from the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea,[e] shall be your territory. 25 None shall stand up against you; the Lord, your God, will spread the fear and dread of you through any land where you set foot, as he promised you.(N)
Blessing and Curse. 26 (O)See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27 a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I give you today; 28 a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside from the way I command you today, to go after other gods, whom you do not know.(P) 29 When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land which you are to enter and possess, then on Mount Gerizim you shall pronounce the blessing,(Q) on Mount Ebal, the curse.[f] 30 (These are beyond the Jordan, on the other side of the western road in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal beside the oak of Moreh.)(R) 31 Now you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you. When, therefore, you take possession of it and settle there, 32 be careful to observe all the statutes and ordinances that I set before you today.
Footnotes
- 11:4 The Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, that is, “sea of reeds” or “reedy sea.”
- 11:10 By hand: lit., “by foot,” probably referring to a kind of mechanism for irrigation from the Nile.
- 11:13–15 Here as elsewhere Moses shifts between speaking of the Lord in the third person and speaking for the Lord in the first person.
- 11:14 The early rain: the rains which begin in October or November and continue intermittently throughout the winter. The late rain: the heavy showers of March and April. In Palestine crops are sown in autumn and harvested in spring and summer.
- 11:24 The Western Sea: the Mediterranean.
- 11:29 For the full ceremony of blessing and curse, see chaps. 27–28. Gerizim and Ebal are mountains in Samaria, separated by a deep ravine.
Deuteronomy 11
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
God’s Mighty Deeds. 1 You shall love the Lord, your God, and observe his ordinances, his statutes, his decrees, and his commandments always. 2 Remember this day, for I am now not speaking with your children, who did not experience the discipline of the Lord, your God, his majesty, his mighty hand and outstretched arm, 3 and the signs and deeds he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to the whole land, 4 what he did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and chariots, how he caused the waters of the Red Sea to flow over them as they pursued you, for the Lord brought a lasting destruction upon them, 5 and what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived here, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, how he opened a hole in the ground right in the midst of the Israelites that swallowed them up, them and their households and their tents and all of their possessions. 7 You have seen with your own eyes all of these great deeds that the Lord has done.
8 Therefore, keep all of the commandments that I give you today so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess 9 and so that the Lord may prolong your life in the land that the Lord promised to give to your forefathers and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 The land that you are entering to take possession of is not like the land of Egypt out of which you have come. There you planted your seeds and watered the plants by hand,[a] like you would in a vegetable garden. 11 The land that you are entering to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys that obtains its water from the rain of the skies. 12 It is a land that the Lord, your God, cares for, the Lord, your God, continuously keeps his eyes on it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.
13 [b]If you carefully observe the commandments that I give you today, to love the Lord, your God, and to serve him with all your heart and soul, 14 then he will provide the rain upon the land in its proper season, the fall rains and the spring rains, so that you can harvest your grain, your wine, and your oil. 15 I will provide grass in your field for your cattle, so that you may eat until you are full.
16 Only be careful not to let yourself be enticed, turning away and serving other gods, worshiping them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger would lash out against you. He would shut up the heavens so that there would be no rain, no produce from the land. Beware lest you soon perish in the good land that the Lord is giving you.
18 Rewards of Faithfulness. Fix these words in your heart and your soul, bind them as a reminder upon your hand, and wear them as a pendant between your eyes. 19 You are to teach them to your children. You shall talk of them when you are sitting in your home, and when you are walking along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You are to write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates 21 so that your days and the days of your children will be multiplied in the land that the Lord promised to give them, lasting as long as the heavens cover the earth.
22 If you are careful in observing all of these commandments that I give you, loving the Lord, your God, and walking in all of his ways and holding fast to him, 23 then the Lord will drive out all of these nations from before you. You will dispossess nations that are larger and stronger than you are. 24 Everywhere that your feet touch the ground shall be yours, from the desert and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, up to the western sea, this will all be your land.[c] 25 No one will be able to stand up to you. The Lord, your God, as he promised you, he has put fear and dread of you upon everyone in the land, wherever you go.
26 Blessing and Curse. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. 27 There will be a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I give you today. 28 There will be a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, and you turn from the way that I command you today and you seek after other gods whom you have previously not known. 29 When the Lord, your God, has brought you into the land that you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim a blessing on Mount Gerizim and a curse on Mount Ebal. 30 (Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the terebinth of Moreh?)[d] 31 You are to cross over the Jordan and enter in it and take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you. When you have taken possession of it and are living in it, 32 then you are to observe all of the statutes and decrees that I have placed before you today.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 11:10 Watered the plants by hand: that is, by scooping out channels that allow the water to reach the seed.
- Deuteronomy 11:13 In this section, Moses shifts between the first and third person, speaking as a prophet and then for the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 11:24 Israel never extended to these borders; they serve rather as an ideal. See Ps 72:8.
- Deuteronomy 11:30 The terebinth of Moreh were at Shechem, the modern Tell Balatah; the road to the place starts at Galgala and runs westward.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
