Deuteronomy 11

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

'And thou hast loved Jehovah thy God, and kept His charge, and His statutes, and His judgments, and His commands, 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 have known to-day — for it is not your sons who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, His greatness, His strong hand, and His stretched-out arm,

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

and His signs, and His doings, which He hath done 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!

and that which He hath done to the force of Egypt, to its horses, and to its chariot, when He hath caused the waters of the Red Sea to flow against their faces in their pursuing after them, and Jehovah destroyeth them, unto this day;

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

and that which He hath done to you in the wilderness, till your coming in 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 that which He hath done to Dathan, and to Abiram, sons of Eliab, sons of Reuben, when the earth hath opened her mouth and swalloweth them, and their houses, and their tents, and all that liveth, which is at their feet, 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 eyes which are seeing all the great work of Jehovah, 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,

and ye have kept all the command which I am commanding thee to-day, so that ye are strong, and have gone in, and possessed the land whither ye are passing 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 so that ye prolong days on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to your fathers to give to 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 art going in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt whence ye have come out, where thou sowest thy seed, and hast watered with thy foot, as a garden of the green herb;

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 are passing over to possess it, [is] a land of hills and valleys; of the rain of the heavens it drinketh 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 Jehovah thy God is searching; continually [are] the eyes of Jehovah thy God upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the latter 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 hath been — if thou hearken diligently unto My commands which I am commanding you to-day, to love Jehovah 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 have given the rain of your land in its season — sprinkling and gathered — and thou hast gathered thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil,

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

and I have given herbs in thy field for thy cattle, and thou hast eaten, and been 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, lest your heart be enticed, and ye have turned aside, and served other gods, and bowed yourselves 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.

and the anger of Jehovah hath burned against you, and He hath restrained the heavens, and there is no rain, and the ground doth not give her increase, and ye have perished hastily from off the good land which Jehovah is giving to 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.

'And ye have placed these my words on your heart, and on your soul, and have bound them for a sign on your hand, and they have been for 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 have taught them to your sons, by speaking of them in thy sitting in thy house, and in thy going in the way, and in thy lying down, and in thy rising up,

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

and hast written them on the side-posts of thy house, and on 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.

so that your days are multiplied, and the days of your sons, on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to your fathers to give to them, as the days of the heavens on 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 diligently keep all this command which I am commanding you — to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave 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 hath Jehovah dispossessed all these nations from before you, and ye have possessed nations, greater and mightier than you;

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 on which the sole of your foot treadeth is yours; from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Phrat, even unto the farther sea is 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 doth station himself in your presence; your dread and your fear doth Jehovah your God put on the face of all the land on which ye tread, as He hath spoken to you.

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

'See, I am setting before you to-day a blessing and a reviling:

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

the blessing, when ye hearken unto the commands of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you to-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 reviling, if ye do not hearken unto the commands of Jehovah your God, and have turned aside out of the way which I am commanding you to-day, to go after other gods which ye 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.

'And it hath been, when Jehovah thy God doth bring thee in unto the land whither thou art going in to possess it, that thou hast given the blessing on mount Gerizim, and the reviling 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, behind the way of the going in of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who is dwelling in the plain over-against Gilgal, near 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 ye are passing over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you; and ye have possessed it, and dwelt in it,

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

and observed to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you to day.