DEUTERONOMY 29

These are the words of the covenant which Yehowah commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, as well as the covenant which he made with them at Horeb.

2 Now Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, You yourselves have seen all that Yehowah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land: 3 the great temptations which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet Yehowah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until today. 5 And I led you in the desert for forty years; your clothing has not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk any wine or strong drink, so that you would know that I am Yehowah your God. 7 When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we defeated them; 8 and we took their land, and gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites for an inheritance. 9 Therefore you shall keep the words of this covenant, and observe them, so that you may be prudent in all you do.

10 Today you are all stationed before Yehowah your God-your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel; 11 your children and your wives; and the settlers in the midst of your camp, both gatherers of wood and drawers of water- 12 so that you may enter into a covenant with Yehowah your God and into his oath which Yehowah your God will swear with you today, 13 so that he may confirm you today as a people for himself, and that he himself may be a God to you, as he has promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 And I do not make this covenant and this oath with you alone, 15 but with both those who stand here with us today before Yehowah our God, and also those who are not here with us today.

16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations which you traversed; 17 and you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood and stone, and of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 And therefore there shall be no man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yehowah our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations, lest there should be a root in you which bears poison and wormwood.

19 But if any such person hears the words of this oath, and blesses himself in his heart and says, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, thinking to consume both moist and dry together, 20 Yehowah will not be willing to pardon him. But then the anger and jealousy of Yehowah will smoke against that man, and every oath written on this scroll shall lie on him, and Yehowah will wipe out his name from under heaven. 21 So Yehowah will single him out as evil from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the oaths of the covenant written on this scroll of the law. 22 Then the following generation-your sons who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land-will say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses with which Yehowah has made it unhealthy, 23 the whole land of it being brimstone and salt, and a burning, and being unsown, and unproductive, and no plant coming up in it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yehowah overthrew in his anger and fury; 24 even all the nations will say, Why has Yehowah done this to the land? What is the reason for the heat of this great anger? 25 And they will say, It is because they forsook the covenant of Yehowah the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods, and bowed down to them, gods whom they had not known, and whom he had not assigned to them. 27 So Yehowah's anger flared up against that land and brought on it every curse written on this scroll; 28 and Yehowah plucked them out of their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and pitched them into another land, as at this day.

29 Secret things belong to Yehowah our God; but the things revealed belong to us and our sons for ever, so that we may observe all the words of this law.