Deuteronomy 8

1 “You must faithfully obey all the commandments that I am giving you today. If you do that, you will live [a long time], you will become very numerous, and you will occupy the land that Yahweh solemnly promised your ancestors that he would give [to you].

You shall observe to do all the commands which I charge you today, that you may live and be multiplied, and enter in and inherit the land, which the Lord your God sware [to give] to your fathers.

2 And do not forget how Yahweh our God led us as we traveled through the desert during these past 40 years. He [caused you to have many problems/difficulties], because he wanted to cause you to realize that you needed to trust him and not yourselves. And he wanted to test you, to find out what you intended to do [IDM], whether you would obey his commandments or not.

And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness, that he might afflict you, and try you, and that the things in your heart might be made manifest, whether you would keep his commandments or no.

3 So he caused you to have/experience difficulties. He allowed you to become hungry. Then he gave you manna [food from heaven], food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did that to teach you that people need food [for their bodies]; but [they also need food for their spirits, which comes from paying attention to] everything that Yahweh says [MTY].

And he afflicted you and straitened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers knew not; that he might teach you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.

4 During those 40 years [of walking through the desert], our clothes did not wear out and our feet did not swell [from walking a very long way through the desert].

Your garments grew not old from off you, your shoes were not worn from off you, your feet were not [painfully] hardened, behold! these forty years.

5 Do not forget that Yahweh our God disciplines us, like parents discipline their children.

And you shall know in your heart, that as if any man should chasten his son, so the Lord your God will chasten you.

6 “Do obey the commandments of Yahweh our God, and conduct your lives as he wants you to do, and revere him.

And you shall keep the commands of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 He is about to bring you into a good/fertile land, which has streams which flow down from the hills and pour/flow out of springs in the valleys.

For the Lord your God will bring you into a good and extensive land, where there are torrents of waters, and fountains of deep places issuing through the plains and through the mountains:

8 It is a land on which wheat and barley grow, a land where there are fig trees and pomegranates, and a land where there are olive trees and honey.

a land of wheat and barley, [wherein are] vines, figs, pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

9 It is a land where there will be plenty of food for you, where you will (not lack anything/have everything that you need) [LIT], a land which has iron [ore] in its rocks and from which you can dig copper [ore] from its hills.

a land on which you shall not eat your bread with poverty, and you shall not lack any thing upon it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of its mountains you shall dig brass.

10 [Every day] you will eat until your stomachs are full, and you will thank Yahweh our God for the fertile/good land that he has given you.

And you shall eat and be filled, and shall bless the Lord your God on the good land, which he has given you.

11 But, [when that happens], be sure not to forget Yahweh our God by disobeying his commandments and rules and regulations that I am giving to you today.

Take heed to yourself that you forget not the Lord your God, so as not to keep his commands, and his judgments, and ordinances, which I command you this day:

12 When your stomachs are full [every day], and when you have built good houses and are living in them,

lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived in them;

13 and when the number of your cattle and sheep has greatly increased, and when you have accumulated a large amount of silver and gold, and the amount of all your other possessions has greatly increased,

and your oxen and your sheep are multiplied to you, and your silver and your gold are multiplied to you, and all your possessions are multiplied to you,

14 be sure that you do not become proud [IDM] and forget Yahweh our God, who rescued your ancestors from being slaves in Egypt and brought them out from there.

you should be exalted in heart, and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

15 Do not forget that he led them [while they traveled] through that huge and terrible desert, where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. And do not forget that where the ground was very dry and there was no water, he caused water to flow for them out of (solid/very hard) rock.

who brought you through that great and terrible wilderness, where [is] the biting serpent, and scorpion, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you a fountain of water out of the flinty rock:

16 Do not forget that in that desert he gave your ancestors manna to eat, food that they had never eaten before. He [caused them to have/experience many problems/difficulties], because he wanted them to realize that they needed to trust him and not themselves. And he wanted to test them, to find out whether they intended to obey him, in order that when [those difficulties] ended, he would do many good things for them.

who fed you with manna in the wilderness, which you knew not, and your fathers knew not; that he might afflict you, and thoroughly try you, and do you good in your latter days.

17 Be sure that you do not think to yourselves, ‘I have acquired all these things by my own power [MTY] and ability.’

Lest you should say in your heart, My strength, and the power of mine hand have wrought for me this great wealth.

18 Do not forget that it is Yahweh our God who has enabled you to become rich. He does this because he faithfully does what he solemnly promised our ancestors that he would do.

But you shall remember the Lord your God, that he gives you strength to get wealth; even that he may establish his covenant, which the Lord sware to your fathers, as at this day.

19 “solemnly warn you that if you forget Yahweh our God and turn to other gods and start to serve them and worship them, you will certainly be destroyed.

And it shall come to pass if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and should go after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall surely perish.

20 If you do not obey Yahweh our God, he will certainly destroy you just like he will destroy the people-groups that you will fight against.”

As also the other nations which the Lord God destroys before your face, so shall you perish, because you listened not to the voice of the Lord your God.