Warnings against Angering God

²⁵ “After you’ve borne children and grandchildren, have been there for a long time in the land, have become so corrupted that you make images of any form, and have done evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, you will provoke him to anger. ²⁶ Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred^[a] today: you’ll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won’t live long in it, because you’ll certainly be exterminated. ²⁷ Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among the nations, and you’ll be fewer in number in the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. ²⁸ There you’ll serve gods made by human hands, serving^[b] trees and stones that cannot see, hear, eat, nor smell. ²⁹ If from there you will seek the Lord your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul. ³⁰ In your distress, when all these things happen to you in days to come and you return to the Lord your God, then you will hear his voice. ³¹ For God is compassionate. The Lord your God won’t fail you. He won’t destroy you or forget the covenant that he confirmed with your ancestors.”