Do Not Forget the Lord

8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live^(A) and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.^{(B) 2} Remember how the Lord your God led^(C) you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test^(D) you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled^(E) you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,^(F) which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach^(G) you that man does not live on bread^(H) alone but on every word that comes from the mouth^(I) of the Lord.^{(J) 4} Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.^{(K) 5} Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.^(L)

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him^(M) and revering him.^{(N) 7} For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land^(O)—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;^{(P) 8} a land with wheat and barley,^(Q) vines^(R) and fig trees,^(S) pomegranates, olive oil and honey;^{(T) 9} a land where bread^(U) will not be scarce and you will lack nothing;^(V) a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.^(W)

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied,^(X) praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget^(Y) 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,^{(Z) 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^(AA) 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,^(AB) that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes^(AC) and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.^{(AD) 16} He gave you manna^(AE) to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known,^(AF) to humble and test^(AG) you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself,^(AH) “My power and the strength of my hands^(AI) 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,^(AJ) 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^(AK) and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.^{(AL) 20} Like the nations^(AM) the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.^(AN)

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem^(A)

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s^(B) reign, Sennacherib^(C) king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.^{(D) 2} Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish^(E) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field,^{(F) 3} Eliakim^(G) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator,^(H) Shebna^(I) the secretary,^(J) and Joah^(K) son of Asaph the recorder^(L) went out to him.

⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah^(Y) said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(Z) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

¹² But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?^(AA)”

¹³ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew,^(AB) “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!^{(AC) 14} This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive^(AD) you. He cannot deliver you! ¹⁵ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver^(AE) us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’^(AF)

¹⁶ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree^(AG) and drink water from your own cistern,^{(AH) 17} until I come and take you to a land like your own^(AI)—a land of grain and new wine,^(AJ) a land of bread and vineyards.

¹⁸ “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?^(AK) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?^(AL) Have they rescued Samaria^(AM) from my hand? ²⁰ Who of all the gods^(AN) of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”^(AO)

²¹ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”^(AP)

²² Then Eliakim^(AQ) son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder^(AR) went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn,^(AS) and told him what the field commander had said.

Psalm 149