Deuteronomy 11

1 Love the Lord your God and do everything he says—his rules, regulations, and commandments.

Thou shalt therefore love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, all the days.

2 You should realize that it's not your children who have experienced the Lord your God's discipline. It was you who saw his greatness, his power and strength;

And ye shall know this day, that [I speak] not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his strong hand, and his outstretched arm;

3 and his miracles. You saw what he did to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole country.

And his signs, and his acts, which he displayed in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4 You saw what he did to the Egyptian army and its horses and chariots when he swept them away in the Red Sea, drowning them as they chased after you. The story hasn't changed!

And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto its horses, and to its chariots; over whom he caused the water of the Red Sea to flow, as they pursued after you, and whom the Lord destroyed unto this day;

5 You saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived here.

And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came unto this place;

6 You saw what he did, right there among you, to Dothan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab of the tribe of Reuben, when the earth split open and swallowed them down—their families, their tents, and all their animals.

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the living substance that followed them, in the midst of all Israel;

7 You saw with your own eyes all the amazing things that the Lord has done.

But it is your own eyes which have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he hath done.

8 So you must keep every commandment I am giving you today That way you will have the strength to enter and take over the country that you are crossing the Jordan to have as your own,

Ye shall therefore keep all the commandment which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land, whither ye go over to possess it;

9 You will also have long lives in the country that the Lord promised to give your forefathers and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And in order that ye may live many days in the land, which the Lord hath sworn unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 The country you're entering to occupy isn't like the country of Egypt that you've come from. There you had to sow your seed and work hard irrigating the ground, like taking care of a vegetable garden.

For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, from where ye came out, where thou sowest thy seed, and waterest it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;

11 But here in the country that you are crossing the Jordan to take over is a land of mountains and valleys that receives plenty of rain

But the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, from the rain of heaven doth it drink water.

12 It is a land that the Lord your God takes care of. The Lord your God it is always watching over it, all year long.

A land which the Lord thy God careth for; always are the eyes of the Lord thy God upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 So if you pay careful attention to keep the commandments I'm giving you today, if you love the Lord your God and to worship with all your mind and with all your being,

And it shall come to pass, if ye will hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 then I will send rain for your land at the right time, rain in autumn and spring, so that you can harvest your grain, new wine, and olive oil.

That I will send rain for your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil.

15 I will also provide grass in the fields for your livestock. You will have more than enough to eat.

And I will give grass in thy field for thy cattle; and thou shalt eat and be satisfied,

16 But make sure you're not that you're not fooled into worshiping and bowing down to other gods,

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 or the Lord will become angry with you. He won't send any rain, and the land won't produce any crops, and you will soon die, even in the good land that the Lord is giving you.

[For] then the Lord's wrath will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens that there be no rain, and the land will not yield her products; and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth unto you.

18 Focus your minds on the words that I'm saying. Tie them on your hands as reminders and put them on your foreheads as well.

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 Teach them to your children and talk about them when you're at home and when you're traveling, when you lie down and when you get up.

And ye shall teach them to your children, to speak of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your homes and on your gates,

And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

21 so that as long as the earth lasts, you and your children may have long lives in the country the Lord promised to give your forefathers.

In order that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give unto them, as the days of the heavens over the earth.

22 If you are careful to keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow, if you love the Lord your God and follow all his ways, and hold onto him,

For if ye will diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, in order to do it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him:

23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will take over the country from nations that are greater and stronger than you.

Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall supplant nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

24 Everywhere you walk will belong to you. Your territory will extend from the desert all the way to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Every place whereon the sole of your foot may tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the Western Sea shall be your boundary.

25 No one will be able to withstand you; the Lord your God will make everyone living there absolutely terrified of you wherever you go, just as he promised you.

There shall no man be able to stand up before you; the dread of you and the fear of you will the Lord your God lay upon all the land which ye may tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you.

26 Look! Today I'm placing before you both a blessing and a curse.

Behold, I lay before you this day a blessing and a curse:

27 You will receive a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I'm giving you today.

The blessing, if ye will hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day;

28 But you will receive a curse if you disobey the commandments of the Lord your God and don't keep to the path I'm ordering you to follow today by worshiping some other unknown gods.

And the curse, if ye will not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God, and ye turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye know not.

29 When the Lord your God takes you into the country you are going in to occupy, announce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizzim, and the curse upon mount 'Ebal.

30 (These mountains are to the west of the Jordan, in the country of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh.)

Behold, they are on the other side of the Jordan, far away in the direction of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites, who dwell in the plain, opposite Gilgal, near the grove of Moreh.

31 Shortly you're going to cross the Jordan to enter and occupy the country the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there,

For ye are about to pass over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God giveth you; and ye will possess it, and dwell therein.

32 make sure you follow all the rules and regulations that I'm giving you today.

And ye shall then observe to do all the statutes and ordinances which I set before you this day.