< Deuteronomy 11 >
1 Love the Lord your God and do everything he says—his rules, regulations, and commandments.
Therefore you will love Yahweh your God and always keep his instructions, his statutes, his decrees, and his commandments.
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;
Notice that I am not speaking to your children, who have not known nor have they seen the punishment of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, or his outstretched arm,
3 and his miracles. You saw what he did to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole country.
the signs and deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, 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!
Neither did they see what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, or to their chariots, how he made the water of the Sea of Reeds overwhelm them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them until today,
5 You saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived here.
or what he did for 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.
They had not seen what Yahweh had done to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle 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 works of Yahweh that 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 keep all the commandments that I am commanding you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land where you are going 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 that Yahweh 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, is not like the land of Egypt, from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, like 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, and drinks water of the rain of the heavens,
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 that Yahweh your God cares for; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year 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 will happen, if you will listen diligently to my commandments that I command you today, to love Yahweh 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, 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 cattle, and you will eat and be full.
16 But make sure you're not that you're not fooled into worshiping and bowing down to other gods,
Pay attention to yourselves so that your heart is not deceived, and you turn aside and worship other gods and bow down to 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.
so that the anger of Yahweh is not kindled against you; and so that he does not shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its fruit, and so that you perish quickly from off the good land that Yahweh is giving 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 lay up these words of mine in your heart and soul, bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them 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.
You will teach them to your children and talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.
20 Write them on the doorposts of your homes and on your gates,
You will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city 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 and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give them for as long as the heavens are 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 diligently keep all these commandments that I am commanding you, so as to do them, to love Yahweh 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 Yahweh will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations larger 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 where the sole of your foot will tread will be yours; from the wilderness to Lebanon, from the river, the Euphrates River, to the western sea will 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 will be able to stand before you. Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the terror of you upon all the land that you tread on, as he has said to you.
26 Look! Today I'm placing before you both a blessing and a curse.
Look, I set before you today 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 obey the commandments of Yahweh your God that I command you today,
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 do not obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way that I command you today, to go after other gods that 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 will happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, that you will 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.)
Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the western road, in the land of the Canaanites who live 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 cross over the Jordan to go in to possess the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, and you will possess it and live in it.
32 make sure you follow all the rules and regulations that I'm giving you today.
You will keep all the statutes and the decrees that I set before you today.