53
“You will eat your children, the flesh of your sons and daughters the
Lord
your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you.
54
The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children,
55
refusing to share with any of them his children's flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns.
56
The most sensitive and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and sensitivity, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son, and her daughter,
57
the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your gates.
58
“If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by
•fearing
this glorious and awesome name — Yahweh, your God —
59
He will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.
60
He will afflict you again with all the diseases of Egypt, which you dreaded, and they will cling to you.
61
The
Lord
will also afflict you with every sickness and plague not recorded in the book of this law, until you are destroyed.
62
Though you were as numerous as the stars of the sky, you will be left with only a few people, because you did not obey the
Lord
your God.
63
Just as the
Lord
was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so He will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be deported from the land you are entering to possess.
64
Then the
Lord
will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
65
You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the
Lord
will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit.
66
Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day, never certain of survival.
67
In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening! ' and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning! ' — because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see.
68
The
Lord
will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Deuteronomy
Chapter 29
Renewing the Covenant
1
These are the words of the covenant the
Lord
commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
2
Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the
Lord
did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to his entire land.
3
You saw with your own eyes the great trials and those great signs and wonders.
4
Yet to this day the
Lord
has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
5
I led you 40 years in the wilderness; your clothes and the sandals on your feet did not wear out;
6
you did not eat bread or drink wine or beer — so that you might know that I am
•Yahweh
your God.
7
When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
8
We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
9
Therefore, observe the words of this covenant and follow them, so that you will succeed in everything you do.
10
“All of you are standing today before the
Lord
your God — your leaders, tribes, elders, officials, all the men of Israel,
11
your children, your wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water —
12
so that you may enter into the covenant of the
Lord
your God, which He is making with you today, so that you may enter into His oath
13
and so that He may establish you today as His people and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14
I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,
15
but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the
Lord
our God and with those who are not here today.
Abandoning the Covenant
16
“Indeed, you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and passed through the nations where you traveled.
17
You saw their detestable images and idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them.
18
Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the
Lord
our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.
19
When someone hears the words of this oath, he may consider himself exempt, thinking, ‘I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.' This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered land as well as the dry land.
20
The
Lord
will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every curse written in this scroll will descend on him. The
Lord
will blot out his name under heaven,
21
and single him out for harm from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
22
“Future generations of your children who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant country will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the
Lord
has inflicted on it.
23
All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown, producing nothing, with no plant growing on it, just like the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the
Lord
demolished in His fierce anger.
24
All the nations will ask, ‘Why has the
Lord
done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger? '
25
Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He had made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
26
They began to worship other gods, bowing down to gods they had not known — gods that the
Lord
had not permitted them to worship.
27
Therefore the
Lord
's anger burned against this land, and He brought every curse written in this book on it.
28
The
Lord
uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and threw them into another land where they are today.'
29
The hidden things belong to the
Lord
our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy
Returning to the
Lord
30
“When all these things happen to you — the blessings and curses I have set before you — and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the
Lord
your God has driven you,
2
and you and your children return to the
Lord
your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am giving you today,
3
then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the
Lord
your God has scattered you.
4
Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth, He will gather you and bring you back from there.
5
The
Lord
your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than He did your fathers.
6
The
Lord
your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live.
7
The
Lord
your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.
8
Then you will again obey Him and follow all His commands I am giving you today.
9
The
Lord
your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands with children, the offspring of your livestock, and your land's produce. Indeed, the
Lord
will again delight in your prosperity, as He delighted in that of your fathers,
10
when you obey the
Lord
your God by keeping His commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to Him with all your heart and all your soul.
Choose Life
11
“This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.
12
It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it? '
13
And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it? '
14
But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.
15
See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.
16
For I am commanding you today to love the
Lord
your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the
Lord
your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17
But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow down to other gods and worship them,
18
I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan.
19
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
20
love the
Lord
your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the
Lord
swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy
Joshua Takes Moses' Place
31
Then Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel,
2
saying, “I am now 120 years old; I can no longer act as your leader. The
Lord
has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.'
3
The
Lord
your God is the One who will cross ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the
Lord
has said.
4
The
Lord
will deal with them as He did Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when He destroyed them.
5
The
Lord
will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.
6
Be strong and courageous; don't be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the
Lord
your God who goes with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.”
7
Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land the
Lord
swore to give to their fathers. You will enable them to take possession of it.
8
The
Lord
is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
9
Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the
Lord
's covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
10
Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation, during the Festival of Booths,
11
when all Israel assembles in the presence of the
Lord
your God at the place He chooses, you are to read this law aloud before all Israel.
12
Gather the people — men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates — so that they may listen and learn to
•fear
the
Lord
your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law.
13
Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the
Lord
your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
14
The
Lord
said to Moses, “The time of your death is now approaching. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting so that I may commission him.” When Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting,
15
the
Lord
appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.