Deuteronomy 29-31

New American Standard Bible

The Covenant in Moab

29 ^[a]^(A)These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the ^(B)covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

²^[b]And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; ³^(C)the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴Yet to this day ^(D)the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; ^(E)your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ⁶^(F)You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷^(G)When you ^[c]reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we ^[d]defeated them; ⁸and we took their land and ^(H)gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹^(I)So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, ^(J)in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

¹⁰“You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from ^(K)the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, ¹²so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that ^(L)He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴“Now it is not with you alone that I am ^(M)making this covenant and this oath, ¹⁵^(N)but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today ¹⁶(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; ¹⁷moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of ^(O)wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); ¹⁸^(P)so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you ^(Q)a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. ¹⁹And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order ^[e]to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ ²⁰The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and ^(R)His wrath will ^[f]^(S)burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will ^(T)wipe out his name from under heaven. ²¹Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant ^(U)which is written in this Book of the Law.

²²“Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and ^(V)the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, ²³‘All its land is ^(W)brimstone and salt, ^(X)burned debris, ^[g]unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of ^(Y)Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ ²⁴All the nations will say, ‘^(Z)Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great ^[h]outburst of anger?’ ²⁵Then people will say, ‘It is ^(AA)because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not ^[i]assigned to them. ²⁷Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, ^(AB)to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; ²⁸and ^(AC)the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

²⁹“^(AD)The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but ^(AE)the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may ^[j]follow all the words of this Law.

Restoration Promised

30 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, ^(AF)the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you ^[k]call them to mind ^(AG)in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, ²and you ^(AH)return to the Lord your God and ^[l]obey Him ^(AI)with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, ³then the Lord your God will ^(AJ)restore ^[m]you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and ^(AK)will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has ^(AL)scattered you. ⁴If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ^[n]ends of the earth, ^(AM)from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will ^[o]bring you back. ⁵^(AN)The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and ^(AO)make you more numerous than your fathers.

⁶“Moreover, ^(AP)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your ^[p]descendants, ^(AQ)to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. ⁷^(AR)And the Lord your God will ^[q]inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ⁸And you will again ^[r]obey the Lord, and ^[s]follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. ⁹^(AS)Then the Lord your God will prosper you ^[t]abundantly in every work of your hand, in the ^[u]children of your womb, the ^[v]offspring of your cattle, and in the ^[w]produce of your ground, for ^(AT)the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; ¹⁰^[x]if you ^[y]obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which ^(AU)are written in this Book of the Law, ^[z]if you turn to the Lord your God ^(AV)with all your heart and soul.

¹¹“For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹²It is not in heaven, ^[aa]that you could say, ‘^(AW)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ab]follow it?’ ¹³Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[ac]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[ad]follow it?’ ¹⁴On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[ae]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵“See, ^(AX)I have placed before you today life and ^[af]happiness, and death and ^[ag]adversity, ¹⁶in that I am commanding you today ^(AY)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(AZ)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that ^(BA)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[ah]and take possession of it. ¹⁹^(BB)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(BC)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[ai]descendants, ²⁰^(BD)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(BE)by holding close to Him; ^(BF)for ^[aj]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[ak]so that you may live in ^(BG)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Moses’ Last Counsel

31 So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them, “I am ^(BH)120 years old today; ^(BI)I am no longer able to ^[al]go out and come in, and the Lord has told me, ‘^(BJ)You shall not cross this Jordan.’ ³^(BK)It is the Lord your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. ^(BL)Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. ⁴And the Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵^(BM)The Lord will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you. ⁶^(BN)Be strong and courageous, ^(BO)do not be afraid or in dread of them, for ^(BP)the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. ^(BQ)He will not desert you or abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “^(BR)Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. ⁸And ^(BS)the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. ^(BT)He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

⁹So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ^(BU)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of ^(BV)the year of the release of debts, at the ^(BW)Feast of Booths, ¹¹when all Israel comes ^(BX)to appear before the Lord your God at ^(BY)the place which He will choose, ^(BZ)you shall read this Law before all Israel ^[am]so that they hear it. ¹²Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your ^[an]town, so that they may hear and ^(CA)learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to ^[ao]follow all the words of this Law. ¹³And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land ^[ap]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[aq]possess.”

Israel Will Fall Away

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^[ar]^(CB)the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” ^(CC)So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. ¹⁵^(CD)And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. ¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^(CE)you are about to ^[as]lie down with your fathers; and ^(CF)this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and ^(CG)they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷^(CH)Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and ^(CI)I will abandon them and ^(CJ)hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘^(CK)Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’ ¹⁸But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

¹⁹“Now then, ^(CL)write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it ^[at]on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. ²⁰^(CM)For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and ^(CN)become ^[au]prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. ²¹Then it will come about, ^(CO)when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their ^[av]descendants); for ^(CP)I know their inclination which they are ^[aw]developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.” ²²^(CQ)So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

Joshua Is Commissioned

²³^(CR)Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “^(CS)Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and ^(CT)I will be with you.”

²⁴It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete, ²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites ^(CU)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may ^[ax]remain there as a witness against you. ²⁷For I know ^(CV)your rebellion and ^(CW)your ^[ay]stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death? ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and ^(CX)call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death you will ^(CY)behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”