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Deuteronomy 29:16-29
New International Version
Deuteronomy 29:16-29
New International Version
16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.(A) 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns(B) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.(C)
19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing(D) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”(E) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive(F) them; his wrath and zeal(G) will burn(H) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot(I) out their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster,(J) according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.(K)
22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.(L) 23 The whole land will be a burning waste(M) of salt(N) and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,(O) Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.(P) 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?(Q) Why this fierce, burning anger?”
25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.(R) 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.(S) 28 In furious anger and in great wrath(T) the Lord uprooted(U) them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”
29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God,(V) but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.(W)
Deuteronomy 29:16-29
New Living Translation
Deuteronomy 29:16-29
New Living Translation
16 “You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. 17 You have seen their detestable practices and their idols[a] made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.
19 “Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.’ This would lead to utter ruin! 20 The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. 21 The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.
22 “Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it. 23 They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’
24 “And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’
25 “And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord. 27 That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book. 28 In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’
29 “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 29:17 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.