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].
“All the command which I am commanding you today you observe to do, so that you live, and have multiplied, and gone in, and possessed the land which YHWH has sworn 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 have remembered all the way which your God YHWH has caused you to go these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you to try you, to know that which [is] in your heart, whether you keep His commands or not.
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 humbles you, and causes you to hunger, and causes you to eat the manna (which you have not known, even your fathers have not known), in order to cause you to know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything proceeding [from] the mouth of YHWH.
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 raiment has not worn out from off you, and your foot has not swelled these forty years,
5 Do not forget that Yahweh our God disciplines us, like parents discipline their children.
and you have known with your heart that as a man disciplines his son, your God YHWH is disciplining 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 have kept the commands of your God YHWH, 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 your God YHWH is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of waters, of fountains, and of depths coming out in valley and in mountain;
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, and vine, and fig, and pomegranate; a land of oil olive 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 in which you eat bread without scarcity—you do not lack anything in it; a land whose stones [are] iron, and you dig bronze out of its mountains.
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 have eaten and been satisfied, and have blessed your God YHWH on the good land which he has given to 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 lest you forget your God YHWH so as not to keep His commands, and His judgments, and His statutes which I am commanding you today;
12 When your stomachs are full [every day], and when you have built good houses and are living in them,
lest you eat and have been satisfied, and build good houses and have inhabited [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 herd and your flock are multiplied, and silver and gold are multiplied to you, and all that is yours is multiplied,
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.
and your heart has been high, and you have forgotten your God YHWH who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants;
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 is causing you to go in the great and the terrible wilderness [with] burning serpent, and scorpion, and thirst—where there is no water; who is bringing out waters to you from 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 is causing you to eat manna in the wilderness, which your fathers have not known, in order to humble you, and in order to try you, to do you good in your latter end;
17 Be sure that you do not think to yourselves, ‘I have acquired all these things by my own power [MTY] and ability.’
and you have said in your heart, My power and the might of my hand have made this wealth for me.
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.
And you have remembered your God YHWH, for it [is] He who is giving power to you to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He has sworn 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 has been, if you really forget your God YHWH, and have gone after other gods, and served them, and bowed yourself to them, I have testified against you today that you utterly 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 the nations whom YHWH is destroying from your presence, so you perish, because you do not listen to the voice of your God YHWH.”
