Deuteronomy 8
1 You must take care to follow every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may live and have many descendants, and go in and take over the country the Lord promised to give to your fore fathers.
“All the commandments which I am entrusting to you this day, take care to observe them diligently, so that you may live and be multiplied, and so that, upon entering, you may possess the land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers.
2 Remember how for these forty years the Lord your God has led you all the way through the desert, humbling you and testing you in order to find out what you were really thinking, and whether or not you would keep his commandments.
And you shall remember the entire journey along which the Lord your God led you, for forty years through the desert, to afflict you, and to test you, and to make known the things that were turning in your soul, whether or not you would keep his commandments.
3 He humbled you, and when you were hungry he gave you manna to eat, which nobody, including you and your forefathers, had ever had before This was in order to make it clear to you that human beings do not live by only eating bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
He afflicted you with need, and he gave you Manna as your food, which neither you nor your fathers knew, so as to reveal to you that it is not by bread alone that man lives, but by every word that goes forth from the mouth of God.
4 During these forty years your clothing didn't wear out and your feet didn't swell up.
Your garment, with which you were covered, has by no means decayed due to age, and your foot has not been worn down, even to this fortieth year,
5 So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines their child, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
so that you would recognize in your heart that, just as a man educates his son, so has the Lord your God educated you.
6 That's why you have to keep the commandments of the Lord your God, following his ways and respecting him.
So may you keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.
7 For the Lord your God is taking you to a good country. It's a land of streams and pools and springs that flow through the valleys and down the hills;
For the Lord your God will lead you into a good land: a land of brooks and waters and fountains, in which deep rivers burst forth from its plains and mountains,
8 It's a land that produces wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.
a land of crops, barley, and vineyards, in which fig and pomegranate and olive trees spring up, a land of oil and honey.
9 It's a land where you won't run out of food, where you will have everything you need; a land whose rocks contain iron ore and whose hills can be mined for copper.
In that place, without any need, you shall eat your bread and enjoy an abundance of all things: where the stones are like iron, and where ore for brass is dug out of its mountains.
10 When you eat and are full, make sure you thank the Lord your God for the good land that he's given you.
So then, when you have eaten and been satisfied, you should bless the Lord your God for the excellent land which he has given to you.
11 Make sure you don't forget the Lord your God by disobeying his commandments and rules and regulations that I'm giving you today.
Be observant and cautious, lest at some time you may forget the Lord your God, and neglect his commandments, as well as the judgments and ceremonies, which I instruct to you this day.
12 For when you eat and are full, when you build beautiful houses to live in,
Otherwise, after you have eaten and been satisfied, and have built beautiful houses and have lived in them,
13 and when your herds and flocks grow larger, and your silver and gold accumulates, and all your possessions increase,
and have obtained herds of oxen, and flocks of sheep, and a plentitude of gold and silver and all things,
14 then you will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery.
your heart might be lifted up, and you might not remember the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude,
15 He guided you through the immense and terrifying desert with its poisonous snakes and scorpions—a dried up, waterless land. He brought water for you out of a flint rock.
and who was your leader in the great and terrible wilderness, in which there was the serpent with a burning breath, and the scorpion, and the snake of thirst, and no waters at all. He led streams out of the hardest rock,
16 He fed you in the desert with manna that your forefathers had never known, humbling you and testing you, so that eventually you would do well in the future.
and he nourished you in the wilderness with Manna, which your fathers had not known. And after he had afflicted and tested you, in the very end, he took pity on you.
17 You might think to yourselves, “I became rich through all my hard work.”
Otherwise, you might say in your heart: ‘My own strength, and the power of my own hand, have brought forth all these things for me.’
18 But remember it's the Lord your God who gives you the ability to become rich, in order to fulfill his agreement he promised to your forefathers that still exists today.
But remember the Lord your God, that he himself has provided you with strength, so that he may fulfill his covenant, about which he swore to your fathers, just as the present day reveals.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God, and run after other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, I assure you right now that you will definitely die!
But if you forget the Lord your God, so that you follow foreign gods, and serve and adore them: behold, I now foretell to you that you shall utterly perish.
20 In the same way the Lord destroyed the nations as you advanced, you will also die if you don't obey the Lord your God.
Just like the nations, which the Lord destroyed upon your arrival, so shall you also perish, if you have been disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”
