Deuteronomy 11

1 “[Because of all that] Yahweh your God [has done for you], you must love him and continually obey all his rules and regulations and commandments.

“And so, love the Lord your God, and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments, at all times.

2 It was you and your ancestors, not your children, whom he disciplined [by causing all of you to have/experience difficulties]. So, starting today, continue to think about how very great and very powerful he is [DOU, MTY].

Acknowledge, on this day, the things that your sons did not know. For they did not see the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great acts, and powerful hand, and outstretched arm,

3 Think about the various miracles [DOU] that he performed in Egypt. Think about what he did to the king of Egypt and to his country.

the signs and works that he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king, and to his entire land,

4 Think about what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots. Think about how he caused the Red Sea to flood/cover over them while they were pursuing your ancestors, and how the army of Egypt was completely (wiped out/destroyed).

and to the entire army of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord wiped them away, even to the present day;

5 Think about what Yahweh did for your ancestors in the desert before you arrived at this place.

and the things that he accomplished for you in the wilderness, until you arrived at this place;

6 Think about what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the two sons of Eliab from the tribe of Reuben. While all of your ancestors were watching, the earth split open, and they fell into the opening [and disappeared], along with their families and their tents, their servants, and their animals.

and to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, who was the son of Reuben, those whom the earth, opening its mouth, engulfed with their households and tents, and with their entire substance which they had in the midst of Israel.

7 You [SYN] and your ancestors have seen all these miracles that Yahweh performed.

Your eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, which he has accomplished,

8 So, obey all the commandments that I am giving you today, in order that you will be strong and able to cross the river and occupy the land that you are about to enter,

so that you would keep all his commandments, which I entrust to you this day, and so that you would be able to enter and possess the land, toward which you are advancing,

9 and in order that you will live for a long time in that land, the land that Yahweh solemnly promised your ancestors that he would give to them and to their descendants, a land that is very fertile [IDM].

and so that you may live, for a long time, in the land which the Lord promised under oath to your fathers, and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 The land that you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt, where your ancestors lived. In Egypt, after they planted seeds, it was necessary for them to work hard [MTY] to water [the plants that grew].

For the land, which you shall enter and possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from which you departed, where, when seed has been sown, waters are brought in by irrigation, in the manner of gardens.

11 But the land that you are about to enter is a land where there are many hills and valleys, where there is plenty of rain.

Rather, it has mountainous regions and plains, which lay waiting for rain from heaven.

12 Yahweh takes care of that land. He [SYN] watches over it every day, from the beginning of each year to the end of each year.

And the Lord your God always visits it, and his eyes are upon it, from the beginning of the year, all the way to its end.

13 Today I am commanding you to love Yahweh our God and to serve him with your entire inner beings. If you do that,

So then, if you obey my commandments, which I am instructing to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with your whole heart and your whole soul,

14 each year he will send rain on your land at the (right times/times when it is needed), (in the autumn/at the end of the dry season) and (in the spring/before the next dry season starts). As a result, you will have grain and [grapes to make] wine and [olives to make olive] oil.

he will give to your land the early rain and the late rain, so that you may gather your grain, and your wine, and your oil,

15 And he will cause grass to grow in your fields for your livestock [to eat]. You will have all the food that you want.

and your hay from the fields in order to feed your cattle, and so that you yourselves may eat and be satisfied.

16 “But I warn you, do not turn away from Yahweh our God and start to worship other gods,

Be careful, lest perhaps your heart may be deceived, and you might withdraw from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them.

17 because if you do that, Yahweh will become very angry with you. He will prevent any rain from falling. As a result, the crops will not grow, and you will soon die [from hunger] in the good land that Yahweh is about to give to you.

And the Lord, becoming angry, might close up heaven, so that the rain would not descend, nor would the earth produce her seedlings, and then you would quickly perish from the excellent land, which the Lord will give to you.

18 So, keep thinking [IDM] about these commands. Write them [on tiny scrolls] and fasten them to your arms/wrists, and write them on bands that you fasten to your foreheads [to help you to remember them].

Place these words of mine in your hearts and minds, and hang them as a sign on your hands, and arrange them between your eyes.

19 Teach them to your children again and again. Talk about them [all the time]: When you are in your houses and when you are walking outside; talk about them when you are lying down at night and when you are getting up in the morning.

Teach your sons to meditate on them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down or rise up.

20 Write them on the doorposts and on the gates of your houses.

You shall write them upon the doorposts and the gates of your house,

21 Do that in order that you and your children will live for a long time in the land that Yahweh promised to our ancestors that he would give to them. That land will belong to you [and your descendants] as long as there is a sky above the earth.

so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your sons, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, that he would give it to them for as long as heaven is suspended above the earth.

22 “Faithfully continue to obey what I am commanding you to do—to love Yahweh our God, and to conduct your lives as he wants you to do, and to (be faithful to/have a close relationship with) him.

For if you keep the commandments which I am entrusting to you, and if you do them, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, clinging to him,

23 If you do that, Yahweh will expel all the people-groups in that land as you advance, people-groups that are more numerous and more powerful than you are.

the Lord will scatter all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, though they are greater and stronger than you.

24 All the ground [in that land] on which you walk will be yours. Your territory will extend from the desert [in the south] to the Lebanon [Mountains in the north], and from the Euphrates River [in the east] to the [Mediterranean] Sea in the west.

Every place upon which your foot shall tread will be yours. From the desert, and from Lebanon, from the great river Euphrates, as far as the western sea, shall be your borders.

25 Yahweh our God will cause all the people in that land to be afraid of you, which is what he promised, with the result that no people-group will be able to stop you.

No one will stand against you. The Lord your God will spread the terror and dread of you over all the land upon which you shall tread, just as he has spoken to you.

26 “Listen carefully: Today I am telling you [that Yahweh will either] bless [you or he will] curse you.

Behold, I am setting forth in your sight today a blessing and a curse.

27 If you obey the commandments of Yahweh our God that I am giving to you today, he will bless you.

It will be a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am instructing to you this day.

28 If you do not obey them, and if you turn away from him to worship other gods that you have never known about before, he will curse you.

It will be a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but instead you withdraw from the way, which I am revealing to you now, and you walk after foreign gods that you have not known.

29 And when Yahweh brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, [some of you must stand on top of] Gerizim Mountain and proclaim what will cause Yahweh to bless you, and [the others must stand on top of] Ebal Mountain and proclaim [what will cause Yahweh to] curse you.”

Yet truly, when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, to which you are traveling for a habitation, you shall place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, the curse upon Mount Ebal,

30 (Those two mountains are [RHQ] west of the Jordan [River], west of the Jordan Valley near the huge oak tree at Moreh [village] in the land where the Canaan people-group lives. They live close to the sacred trees near Gilgal.)

which are across the Jordan, behind the way which slopes toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who lives in the plains opposite Gilgal, which is near the valley extending toward and entering a distant place.

31 “You will soon cross the Jordan [River] to occupy the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. When you enter that land and start to live there,

For you shall cross over the Jordan, so that you may possess the land which the Lord your God will give you, so that you may have it and possess it.

32 be sure to obey all the rules and regulations that I am giving to you today.”

Therefore, see to it that you fulfill the ceremonies and judgments, which I am placing in your sight this day.”