2 1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did obefore your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great ptrials that your eyes saw, the qsigns, and those great wonders. 4 But rto this day the Lord has not sgiven you a theart to understand or ueyes to see or vears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. wYour clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You xhave not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, ySihon the king of Heshbon and zOg the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 aWe took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may bprosper2 in all that you do.
10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes,3 your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who cchops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, das he promised you, and eas he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.
16 “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 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a froot bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the gstubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, hwhich the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— 24 all the nations will say, i‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they jabandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not kallotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord luprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.’
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Repentance and Forgiveness
1 “And when all these things come upon you, mthe blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and nreturn to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will orestore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will pgather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 qIf your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will rcircumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses son your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again ttake delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life and Death
11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 uIt is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
15 “See, vI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 wIf you obey the commandments of the Lord your God1 that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,2 then you shall xlive and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, ythat you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 zI call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Joshua to Succeed Moses
1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, a“I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, b‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 cThe Lord your God himself will go over before you. dHe will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and eJoshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to fSihon and gOg, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 hBe strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. iHe will not leave you or forsake you.”
7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, jfor you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be kwith you; he will not leave you or forsake you. lDo not fear or be dismayed.”
The Reading of the Law
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who mcarried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of nrelease, at the oFeast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall pread this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, qand the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, rwho have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel
14 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And the Lord appeared in the tent sin a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood tover the entrance of the tent.
16 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and uwhore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.
19 “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them into the land vflowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have weaten and are full and xgrown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.
23 And the Lord1 commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, yfor you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be zwith you.”
