Obedience and Discipline (Deuteronomy 4:1–14)
1 AKJV Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always. BSB BSB: You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
2 AKJV And know you this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, BSB BSB: Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm;
3 AKJV And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; BSB BSB: the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;
4 AKJV And what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day; BSB BSB: what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day;
5 AKJV And what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came into this place; BSB BSB: what He did for you in the wilderness until you reached this place;
6 AKJV And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the middle of all Israel: BSB BSB: and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them.
7 AKJV But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did. BSB BSB: For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.
God’s Great Blessings (Joshua 1:1–9)
8 AKJV Therefore shall you keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where you go to possess it; BSB BSB: You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
9 AKJV And that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey. BSB BSB: and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 AKJV For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs: BSB BSB: For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.
11 AKJV But the land, where you go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven: BSB BSB: But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.
12 AKJV A land which the LORD your God cares for: the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. BSB BSB: It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.
13 AKJV And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, BSB BSB: So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 AKJV That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil. BSB BSB: then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil.
15 AKJV And I will send grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full. BSB BSB: And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 AKJV Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; BSB BSB: But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods,
17 AKJV And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you. BSB BSB: or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.
Remember God’s Words 18 AKJV Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign on your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. BSB BSB: Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
19 AKJV And you shall teach them your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. BSB BSB: Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
20 AKJV And you shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates: BSB BSB: Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,
21 AKJV That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven on the earth. BSB BSB: so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.
22 AKJV For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to join to him; BSB BSB: For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—
23 AKJV Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. BSB BSB: then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.
24 AKJV Every place where on the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the uttermost sea shall your coast be. BSB BSB: Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.
25 AKJV There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread on, as he has said to you. BSB BSB: No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you.
A Blessing and a Curse 26 AKJV Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; BSB BSB: See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
27 AKJV A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: BSB BSB: a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today,
28 AKJV And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. BSB BSB: but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
30 AKJV Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the desert over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? BSB BSB: Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?
31 AKJV For you shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell therein. BSB BSB: For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it,
32 AKJV And you shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. BSB BSB: be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.