Deuteronomy 29

1 These 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.

These 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.

2 Moses 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.

And 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;

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

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

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

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

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

For 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.

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

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

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

When 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:

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

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

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

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

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

You 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,

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

And 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:

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

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

13 and 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.

And 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.

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

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

15 but 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.

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

(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;

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

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

18 Make 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,

So 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;

19 because 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.

If 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:

20 The 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

The 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.

21 and 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.

He 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.

22 Then 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.

And 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;

23 All 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.

And 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:

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

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

25 And 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.

Then 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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

29 The 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.

The 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.