Deuteronomy 8:11-20

New International Reader's Version

¹¹ Make sure you don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t fail to obey his commands, laws and rules. I’m giving them to you today. ¹² But suppose you don’t obey his commands. And suppose you have plenty to eat. You build fine houses and live in them. ¹³ The number of your herds and flocks increases. You also get more and more silver and gold. And everything you have multiplies. ¹⁴ Then your hearts will become proud. And you will forget the Lord your God. The Lord brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves. ¹⁵ He led you through that huge and terrible desert. It was a dry land. It didn’t have any water. It had poisonous snakes and scorpions. The Lord gave you water out of solid rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert. Your people had never even known anything about manna before. The Lord took your pride away. He tested you. He did it so that things would go well with you in the end. ¹⁷ You might say to yourself, “My power and my strong hands have made me rich.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God. He gives you the ability to produce wealth. That shows he stands by the terms of the covenant he made with you. He promised it to your people of long ago. And he’s still faithful to his covenant today.

¹⁹ Don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t serve other gods. Don’t worship them and bow down to them. I am a witness against you today that if you do, you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰ You will be destroyed just like the nations the Lord your God is destroying to make room for you. That’s what will happen if you don’t obey him.