Deuteronomy 11

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

Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep his instructions, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always.

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;

Know this day: for I do not speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty 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 works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to 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 to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;

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

and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to 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 to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing 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 your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD which he did.

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,

Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and multiply, and go in and possess the land, where you 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 that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, 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, where you go in to possess it, isn't as the land of Egypt, that you came out from, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your feet, 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, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water of the rain of the sky,

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 your God cares for: the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to 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,

It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to 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 give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil.

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

I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

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

Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you 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.

and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives 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 you shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for symbols 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.

You shall teach them your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

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

You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your 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.

that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above 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 you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to 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 you shall dispossess 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 shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Perath, even to the western sea shall be your border.

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.

No man shall be able to stand before you: the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread on, as he has spoken to you.

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

Look, I set 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 you shall listen to 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 you shall not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known.

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.

It shall happen, when the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on 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.)

Aren't they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks 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 you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell in it.

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

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