Deuteronomy 29

1 These are the things that the Israelis were required to do to keep the agreement that Yahweh was making with them. Moses/I commanded them to keep this agreement [when they/we were] in the Moab region [on the east side of the Jordan River]. This was in addition to the agreement that Yahweh had made with them/us at Sinai [Mountain].

These are the words of the agreement which Moses was ordered by the Lord to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the agreement which he made with them in Horeb.

2 Moses/I summoned all the Israeli people and said to them, “You saw [SYN] for yourselves what Yahweh did to the king of Egypt and to his officials and to his entire country.

And Moses said in the hearing of all Israel, You have seen all the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;

3 You [SYN] saw all the plagues [that Yahweh caused them to experience], and all the various miracles [DOU] [that Yahweh performed].

The great tests which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders:

4 But until now, Yahweh has not enabled you to understand [the meaning of] all that you have seen and heard.

But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.

5 For 40 years Yahweh has led you while you traveled/walked through the desert. During that time, your clothes and your sandals have not worn out.

For forty years I have been your guide through the waste land: your clothing has not become old on your backs, or your shoes on your feet.

6 You did not have bread to eat or wine or other fermented/strong drinks to drink, but Yahweh [took care of you], in order that you would know that he is your God.

You have had no bread, or wine, or strong drink: so that you might see that I am the Lord your God.

7 “And when we came to this place, Sihon, the king who ruled in Heshbon [city], and Og, the king who ruled the Bashan [region], came [with their armies] to attack us, but we defeated them.

When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to make war against us and we overcame them:

8 We took/conquered their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

And we took their land and gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, for their heritage.

9 “So faithfully keep all of this agreement, in order that you will be successful in everything that you do.

So keep the words of this agreement and do them, so that it may be well for you in everything you do.

10 Today all of us are standing in the presence of Yahweh our God. The leaders of all our tribes, our elders, our officials, all you Israeli men,

You have come here today, all of you, before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, the overseers, and those who are in authority over you, with all the men of Israel,

11 your wives, your children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood for you and carry water for you, are here.

And your little ones, your wives, and the men of other lands who are with you in your tents, down to the wood-cutter and the servant who gets water for you:

12 [We are here] today to promise to keep this solemn agreement with Yahweh.

With the purpose of taking part in the agreement of the Lord your God, and his oath which he makes with you today:

13 [He is making this agreement with you] in order to confirm that you are his people, and that he is your God. This agreement is what he promised you, and which is what he vowed to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And so that he may make you his people today, and be your God, as he has said to you, and as he made an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 This agreement is not only with you.

And not with you only do I make this agreement and this oath;

15 He is making this agreement with us [who are here today] and also with our descendants who are not yet born.

But with everyone who is here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are not here:

16 “You remember [the things that our ancestors suffered] in Egypt, and how they traveled through the land that belonged to other nations [after they came out of Egypt].

(For you have in mind how we were living in the land of Egypt; and how we came through all the nations which were on your way;

17 In those countries they saw those disgusting idols made of wood and stone and [decorated with] silver and gold.

And you have seen their disgusting doings, and the images of wood and stone and silver and gold which were among them: )

18 So be sure that no man or woman or family or tribe that is here [today] turns away from Yahweh our God, to worship/serve the gods of those nations. Doing that would be like a root [of a plant that would grow] among you and bear poisonous and bitter fruit [MET].

So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow;

19 “Be sure that no one here today who hears this agreement thinks, ‘Everything will go well with me, even if I stubbornly do what I want to.’ If you are stubborn like that, the result will be that Yahweh will eventually get rid of all of you, both good people and evil people [MET].

If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

20 Yahweh will not forgive anyone who is [stubborn] like that. Instead, he will be extremely angry [DOU] with that person, and that person will experience all the curses that I have told you about, until Yahweh gets rid of that person and his family [IDM].

The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.

21 From all the tribes of Israel, Yahweh will separate that individual. Yahweh will cause him to experience all the disasters that I have listed in the agreement that states the things that Yahweh will do to curse [those who disobey] the laws [that I have written] in this scroll/book.

He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law.

22 “In the future, your descendants and people from other countries will see the disasters and the illnesses that Yahweh has caused to happen to you.

And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it;

23 They will see that all your land has been ruined by burning sulfur and salt. Nothing will have been planted. Not even weeds will grow there. Your land will resemble Sodom and Gomorrah [cities], and Admah and Zeboiim [cities], which Yahweh destroyed when he was very angry [DOU] [with the people who lived there].

And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath:

24 And the people from those other nations will ask, ‘Why did Yahweh do this to this land? Why was he very angry [with the people who lived here]?’

Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath?

25 “Then other people will reply, ‘It is because they refused to keep the agreement that Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped], had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt:

26 Instead, they served/worshiped other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that Yahweh had told them not to worship.

And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them:

27 So, Yahweh became very angry with the Israeli people in this land, and he caused them to experience all the disasters that their leader warned them about.

And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book:

28 Yahweh became extremely angry [DOU] with them and took/yanked them [MET] out of their land and banished them into another land, and they are still there.’

Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day.

29 “[There are some] things that Yahweh our God has (kept secret/not revealed), but he has revealed his laws to us, and [he expects] us and our descendants to obey them forever.”

The secret things are the Lord our God's: but the things which have been made clear are ours and our children's for ever, so that we may do all the words of this law.