Deuteronomy 29

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

These are the things that the Israelis were required to do to keep the agreement that Yahweh was making with them. Moses/I commanded them to keep this agreement [when they/we were] in the Moab region [on the east side of the Jordan River]. This was in addition to the agreement that Yahweh had made with them/us at Sinai [Mountain].

2 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land.

Moses/I summoned all the Israeli people and said to them, “You saw [SYN] for yourselves what Yahweh did to the king of Egypt and to his officials and to his entire country.

3 The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders,

You [SYN] saw all the plagues [that Yahweh caused them to experience], and all the various miracles [DOU] [that Yahweh performed].

4 And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day.

But until now, Yahweh has not enabled you to understand [the meaning of] all that you have seen and heard.

5 He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age.

For 40 years Yahweh has led you while you traveled/walked through the desert. During that time, your clothes and your sandals have not worn out.

6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

You did not have bread to eat or wine or other fermented/strong drinks to drink, but Yahweh [took care of you], in order that you would know that he is your God.

7 And you came to this place: sand Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.

“And when we came to this place, Sihon, the king who ruled in Heshbon [city], and Og, the king who ruled the Bashan [region], came [with their armies] to attack us, but we defeated them.

8 And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses.

We took/conquered their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfill them: that you may understand all that you do.

“So faithfully keep all of this agreement, in order that you will be successful in everything that you do.

10 You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

Today all of us are standing in the presence of Yahweh our God. The leaders of all our tribes, our elders, our officials, all you Israeli men,

11 Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:

your wives, your children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood for you and carry water for you, are here.

12 That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee.

[We are here] today to promise to keep this solemn agreement with Yahweh.

13 That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[He is making this agreement with you] in order to confirm that you are his people, and that he is your God. This agreement is what he promised you, and which is what he vowed to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,

This agreement is not only with you.

15 But with all that are present and that are absent.

He is making this agreement with us [who are here today] and also with our descendants who are not yet born.

16 For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them,

“You remember [the things that our ancestors suffered] in Egypt, and how they traveled through the land that belonged to other nations [after they came out of Egypt].

17 You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

In those countries they saw those disgusting idols made of wood and stone and [decorated with] silver and gold.

18 Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

So be sure that no man or woman or family or tribe that is here [today] turns away from Yahweh our God, to worship/serve the gods of those nations. Doing that would be like a root [of a plant that would grow] among you and bear poisonous and bitter fruit [MET].

19 And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

“Be sure that no one here today who hears this agreement thinks, ‘Everything will go well with me, even if I stubbornly do what I want to.’ If you are stubborn like that, the result will be that Yahweh will eventually get rid of all of you, both good people and evil people [MET].

20 And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

Yahweh will not forgive anyone who is [stubborn] like that. Instead, he will be extremely angry [DOU] with that person, and that person will experience all the curses that I have told you about, until Yahweh gets rid of that person and his family [IDM].

21 And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:

From all the tribes of Israel, Yahweh will separate that individual. Yahweh will cause him to experience all the disasters that I have listed in the agreement that states the things that Yahweh will do to curse [those who disobey] the laws [that I have written] in this scroll/book.

22 And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,

“In the future, your descendants and people from other countries will see the disasters and the illnesses that Yahweh has caused to happen to you.

23 Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

They will see that all your land has been ruined by burning sulfur and salt. Nothing will have been planted. Not even weeds will grow there. Your land will resemble Sodom and Gomorrah [cities], and Admah and Zeboiim [cities], which Yahweh destroyed when he was very angry [DOU] [with the people who lived there].

24 And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

And the people from those other nations will ask, ‘Why did Yahweh do this to this land? Why was he very angry [with the people who lived here]?’

25 And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

“Then other people will reply, ‘It is because they refused to keep the agreement that Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped], had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

26 And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned:

Instead, they served/worshiped other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that Yahweh had told them not to worship.

27 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

So, Yahweh became very angry with the Israeli people in this land, and he caused them to experience all the disasters that their leader warned them about.

28 And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.

Yahweh became extremely angry [DOU] with them and took/yanked them [MET] out of their land and banished them into another land, and they are still there.’

29 Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

“[There are some] things that Yahweh our God has (kept secret/not revealed), but he has revealed his laws to us, and [he expects] us and our descendants to obey them forever.”