¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig,^(A) and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,^(B)

¹² If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors.^{(A) 13} He will love you and bless you^(B) and increase your numbers.^(C) He will bless the fruit of your womb,^(D) the crops of your land—your grain, new wine^(E) and olive oil^(F)—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^{(G) 14} You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.^{(H) 15} The Lord will keep you free from every disease.^(I) He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt,^(J) but he will inflict them on all who hate you.^{(K) 16} You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you.^(L) Do not look on them with pity^(M) and do not serve their gods,^(N) for that will be a snare^(O) to you.

¹⁷ You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?^(P)” ¹⁸ But do not be afraid^(Q) of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.^(R)

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied,^(A) praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget^(B) the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,^{(C) 13} and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget^(D) the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness,^(E) that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes^(F) and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.^{(G) 16} He gave you manna^(H) to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known,^(I) to humble and test^(J) you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself,^(K) “My power and the strength of my hands^(L) have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,^(M) and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods^(N) and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.^{(O) 20} Like the nations^(P) the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.^(Q)

¹⁰ I clothed you with an embroidered^(A) dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen^(B) and covered you with costly garments.^{(C) 11} I adorned you with jewelry:^(D) I put bracelets^(E) on your arms and a necklace^(F) around your neck, ¹² and I put a ring on your nose,^(G) earrings^(H) on your ears and a beautiful crown^(I) on your head.^{(J) 13} So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes^(K) were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil^(L) and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.^{(M) 14} And your fame^(N) spread among the nations on account of your beauty,^(O) because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(P)

¹⁵ “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by^(Q) and your beauty became his.^{(R) 16} You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places,^(S) where you carried on your prostitution.^(T) You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.^{[a] 17} You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.^{(U) 18} And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense^(V) before them. ¹⁹ Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(W)

²⁰ “‘And you took your sons and daughters^(X) whom you bore to me^(Y) and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?^(Z)

³¹ “You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord:

²³ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich^(A) to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Othniel

⁷ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord^(A) their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.^(B)