Deuteronomy 29

¹These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

²And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

³the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders:

⁴but Jehovah hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

⁵And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxed old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxed old upon thy foot.

⁶Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God.

⁷And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

⁸and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.

⁹Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

¹⁰Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

¹¹your little ones, your wives, and thy sojourner that is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water;

¹²that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day;

¹³that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

¹⁴Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,

¹⁵but with him that standeth here with us this day before Jehovah our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day

¹⁶(for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed;

¹⁷and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them);

¹⁸lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

¹⁹and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.

²⁰Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven.

²¹And Jehovah will set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law.

²²And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith Jehovah hath made it sick;

²³and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

²⁴even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?

²⁵Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,

²⁶and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not given unto them:

²⁷therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book;

²⁸and Jehovah rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day.

²⁹The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29

¹These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

²Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.

³You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.

⁴Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

⁵For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

⁶You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.

⁷When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

⁸We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁹So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.

¹⁰All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,

¹¹your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—

¹²so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,

¹³and so that He may establish you today as His people, and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,

¹⁵but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.

¹⁶For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.

¹⁷You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.

¹⁸Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

¹⁹because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

²⁰The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

²¹and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

²²Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.

²³All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.

²⁴So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’

²⁵And the people will answer, ‘It is 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.

²⁶They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them.

²⁷Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.

²⁸The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’

²⁹The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.