Deuteronomy
Chapter 11
1 So you must love God, follow his instructions, laws, decisions, and commands always.
2 Understand today: I am not talking to your children who have not known or seen how God disciplines, his greatness, his powerful hand, and his extended arm.
3 God’s miracles and what he did in Egypt before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his whole country;
4 God did to Egypt’s army, their horses, and their chariots; how He made the Red Sea’s water flood over them as they chased you, and how God has destroyed them up to today;
5 And what he did for you in the desert until you arrived here;
6 And what happened to Dathan and Abiram, Eliab’s sons from the Reuben tribe: how the ground opened up and swallowed them, their families, their tents, and all their belongings in front of all Israel.
7 But your eyes have seen all the great things God did.
8 So you must obey all the rules I give you today, so that you can be strong and take over the land you are going to live in.
9 So that you may live longer in the land, which God promised to your ancestors to give to them and their children, a land filled with milk and honey.
10 The land you are going to make your own is not like Egypt, where you came from. There you planted your seeds and used your feet to water them, like a herb garden.
11 The land where you are going to take over has hills and valleys and gets its water from the rain that comes from the sky.
12 A land that God takes care of: God’s eyes are always on it, from the start of the year to the end of the year.
13 If you carefully listen to my commands that I give you today, to love God and serve Him with all your heart and soul, it will happen.
14 I will send rain to your land at the right time, both early and late rains, so you can collect your grain, wine, and oil.
15 I will make grass grow in your fields for your cattle so you can eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, don’t let your heart be fooled, and don’t turn away to serve other gods and bow down to them.
17 If you make God angry, He might close the sky so it won’t rain, and the ground won’t grow food, and you might quickly die in the good land God is giving you.
18 Keep these words of mine in your heart and soul, tie them on your hand as a reminder, and let them be like a band on your forehead.
19 Teach your children these things. Talk about them at home, when you travel, when you go to bed, and when you get up.
20 Write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates.
21 May your life and your children’s lives be long in the land that God promised to your ancestors, like endless days in heaven on earth.
22 If you carefully follow all these commands I give you, to do them, to love God, to walk in all his ways, and to hold fast to him;
23 God will force all these nations to leave before you, and you will take over greater and stronger nations than you.
24 Every place where you step will belong to you: from the desert and Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the farthest sea will be your border.
25 No one will be able to resist you: for God will make everyone fear and dread you wherever you go, just as he has promised you.
26 Look, today I give you a choice between a blessing and a curse.
27 You will be blessed if you follow the commands of God that I give you today.
28 And a curse if you do not follow God’s commandments, but turn away from the path I tell you today, to follow different gods, which you do not know.
29 When God brings you to the land you will take over, you should speak the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal.
30 Aren’t they across the Jordan River, along the path where the sun sets, in the Canaanites’ land, near Gilgal and next to the Moreh fields?
31 You will cross the Jordan River to take over the land that God gives you, and you will own it and live there.
32 Obey all the rules and decisions I am giving you today.