CHAPTER 29
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.
Moses
summoned
all
Israel
and proclaimed
to them,
“You
have seen
with your own eyes
everything
the LORD
did
in Egypt
to Pharaoh,
to all
his officials,
and to all
his land.
During the forty
years
I led
you
in the wilderness,
neither your clothes
nor the sandals
on
your feet
wore out;
you did not
eat
bread
or drink
wine
or strong drink,
so that
you might know
that
I
am the LORD
your God.
When you reached
this
place,
Sihon
king
of Heshbon
and Og
king
of Bashan
came out
against us
in battle,
but we defeated them.
We took
their land
and gave
it as an inheritance
to the Reubenites,
the Gadites,
and the half-tribe
of Manasseh.
All
of you
are standing
today
before
the LORD
your God—
you leaders
of tribes,
elders,
officials,
and all
the men
of Israel,
so that you may enter
into the covenant
of the LORD
your God,
which
He
is making
with you today,
and into His oath,
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.
but
also with
those who
are standing
here
with us
today
in the presence
of the LORD
our God,
as well as
with those who
are not
here today.
For
you yourselves
know
how
we lived
in the land
of Egypt
and passed
through
the nations
as you traveled.
Make sure there is
no
man
or 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.
Make sure there is
no
root
among you
that bears
such poisonous
and bitter fruit,
because when such a person hears
the words
of this
oath,
he may invoke a blessing
on himself,
saying,
‘I will have
peace,
even though
I walk
in the stubbornness
of my own heart.’
This will bring disaster
on the watered land
as well as
the dry.
The LORD
will never
be willing
to forgive him.
Instead,
His
anger
and jealousy
will burn
against that
man,
and every
curse
written
in this
book
will fall
upon him.
The LORD
will blot out
his name
from under
heaven
and single him out
for disaster
from all
the tribes
of Israel,
according to all
the curses
of the covenant
written
in this
Book
of the Law.
Then the generation
to come—
your sons
who
follow
you
and the foreigner
who
comes
from a distant
land—
will see
the plagues
of the land
and the sicknesses
the LORD
has inflicted on it.
All
its soil
will be a burning waste
of brimstone
and salt,
unsown
and unproductive,
with no
plant
growing on it,
just like the destruction
of Sodom
and Gomorrah,
Admah
and Zeboiim,
which
the LORD
overthrew
in His fierce anger.
All
the nations
will ask,
‘Why
has the LORD
done
this
to this
land?
Why
this
great
outburst
of anger?’
And the people will answer,
‘It is because
they abandoned
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.
They went
and served
other
gods,
and they worshiped
gods
they had not
known—
gods that the LORD had not
given
to them.
Therefore the LORD’s
anger
burned
against this
land,
and He brought
upon it
every
curse
written
in this
book.
The LORD
uprooted
them from
their land
in His anger,
rage,
and great
wrath,
and He cast them
into
another
land,
where they are today.’
The secret things belong
to the LORD
our God,
but the things revealed
belong to us
and to our children
forever,
so that we may follow
all
the words
of this
law.