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, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

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

³The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

⁴Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, 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 waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

⁶Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord 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 Manasseh.

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 the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

¹¹Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:

¹²That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day:

¹³That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn 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 the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

¹⁶(For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;

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 the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these 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 imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

²⁰The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

²¹And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

²²So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it;

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

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

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

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

²⁷And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are 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 it is this day.

²⁹The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which 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.