Deuteronomy 29

¹These are the words of the agreement which Moses was ordered by the Lord to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the agreement which he made with them in Horeb.

²And Moses said in the hearing of all Israel, You have seen all the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;

³The great tests which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders:

⁴But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.

⁵For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet.

⁶You have had no bread, or wine, or strong drink: so that you might see that I am the Lord your God.

⁷When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to make war against us and we overcame them:

⁸And we took their land and gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for their heritage.

⁹So keep the words of this agreement and do them, so that it may be well for you in everything you do.

¹⁰You have come here today, all of you, before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, the overseers, and those who are in authority over you, with all the men of Israel,

¹¹And your little ones, your wives, and the men of other lands who are with you in your tents, down to the wood-cutter and the servant who gets water for you:

¹²With the purpose of taking part in the agreement of the Lord your God, and his oath which he makes with you today:

¹³And so that he may make you his people today, and be your God, as he has said to you, and as he made an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴And not with you only do I make this agreement and this oath;

¹⁵But with everyone who is here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are not here:

¹⁶(For you have in mind how we were living in the land of Egypt; and how we came through all the nations which were on your way;

¹⁷And you have seen their disgusting doings, and the images of wood and stone and silver and gold which were among them:)

¹⁸So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow;

¹⁹If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

²⁰The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.

²¹He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law.

²²And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it;

²³And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath:

²⁴Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath?

²⁵Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt:

²⁶And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them:

²⁷And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book:

²⁸Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day.

²⁹The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29

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

²Moses called to 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 to all his servants, and to all his land;

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

⁴but the Lord has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

⁵I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet.

⁶You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

⁷When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them:

⁸and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to 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 you may prosper in all that you do.

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

¹¹your little ones, your wives, and your foreigner who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water;

¹²that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you this day;

¹³that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

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

¹⁵but with him who stands here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day

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

¹⁷and you 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 turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;

¹⁹and it happen, when he hears 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."

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

²¹The Lord will set him apart to 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.

²²The generation to come, your children who shall rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick;

²³and that the whole land of it is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

²⁴even all the nations shall say, "Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?"

²⁵Then men shall say, "Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, 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 worshiped them, gods that they did not know, and that he had not given to them:

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

²⁸and the Lord 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 to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.