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 that Yahweh commanded Moses to tell the people of Israel in the land of Moab, words that were added to the covenant that he had made with them at 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.
Moses called to all Israel and said to them, “You have seen everything that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to 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 sufferings that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
4 But until now, Yahweh has not enabled you to understand [the meaning of] all that you have seen and heard.
But until today Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
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.
I have led you for forty years in the wilderness; your clothes did not wear out on you, and your sandals did not wear out 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 did not eat any bread, and you did not drink any wine or other alcoholic drinks, so that you might know that I am Yahweh 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, the king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us to fight, and we struck them down.
8 We took/conquered their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.
We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
9 “So faithfully keep all of this agreement, in order that you will be successful in everything that you do.
Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may prosper in everything that 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 stand today, all of you, before Yahweh your God; your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, and your officers—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.
your little ones, your wives, and the foreigner who is among you in your camp, from him who cuts your wood to him who draws your water.
12 [We are here] today to promise to keep this solemn agreement with Yahweh.
You are here in order to enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God and into the oath that Yahweh your God is making 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.
so that he may make you today into a people for himself, and that he may be God for you, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14 This agreement is not only with you.
For it is not only with you that I am making this covenant 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.
with everyone standing here with us today before Yahweh our God—but also with those who are not here with us today.
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].
You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.
17 In those countries they saw those disgusting idols made of wood and stone and [decorated with] silver and gold.
You have seen their disgusting idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, that 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].
Make sure there is not among you any man, woman, clan, or tribe whose heart is turning away today from Yahweh our God, so as to go worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is not among you any root that produces gall and wormwood.
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].
When that person hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself in his heart and say, 'I will have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' This would destroy the wet together with the dry.
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].
Yahweh will not pardon him, but instead, the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will smolder against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book will come on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven.
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.
Yahweh will set him apart for disaster out of all the tribes of Israel, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant that are written 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.
The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will speak when they see the plagues on this land and the diseases with which Yahweh has made it sick—
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 when they see that the whole land has become sulfur and burning salt, where nothing is sown or bears fruit, where no vegetation grows, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, that Yahweh destroyed in his anger and 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]?’
they will say together with all the other nations, 'Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?'
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 people will say, 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, that he made with them when he brought 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 because they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods that they had not known and that he had not given to 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.
Therefore the anger of Yahweh has been kindled against this land, so as to bring on it all the curses that are written 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.’
Yahweh has uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great fury, and has thrown them into another land, as today.'
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 matters belong alone to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong forever to us and to our descendants, so that we may do all the words of this law.
