1 ARST These are the covenantal commands of Yahweh that the Israelites were required to obey. When they were in the region of Moab on the east side of the Jordan River, Moses commanded them to keep these regulations. These regulations became part of the covenant that Yahweh had made with them at Mount Sinai. BSB BSB: These are the words of the covenant that 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.
2 ARST Moses summoned all the Israelite people and said to them,“You saw for yourselves what Yahweh did to the king of Egypt and to his officials and to his entire country. BSB BSB: 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.
3 ARST You saw all the plagues that Yahweh sent on them, and all the various miracles that he performed. BSB BSB: You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.
4 ARST But to this day, Yahweh has not enabled you to understand the meaning of all that you have seen and heard. BSB BSB: Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
5 ARST For forty years Yahweh has led you while you traveled through the desert. During that time, your clothes and your sandals have not worn out. BSB BSB: For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.
6 ARST You did not have bread to eat or wine or other fermented drinks to drink, but Yahweh took care of you, in order that you would know that he is your God. BSB BSB: You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
7 ARST And when we came to this place, Sihon, the king who ruled in the city of Heshbon, and Og, the king who ruled the region of Bashan, came out with their armies to attack us, but we defeated them. BSB BSB: When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
8 ARST We took their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. BSB BSB: We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
9 ARST So obey faithfully all of this covenant, in order that you will prosper in everything that you do. BSB BSB: So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.
10 ARST Today all of us are standing in the presence of Yahweh our God— I, the leaders of all your tribes, your elders, your officials, all you Israelite men, BSB BSB: All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,
11 ARST your wives, your children, and the foreigners who live among us and cut wood for us and carry water for us. BSB BSB: your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—
12 ARST You are all here today to agree to accept this covenant with Yahweh, and to bind yourselves to it. BSB BSB: so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,
13 ARST He is making this agreement with you in order to make sure that you are his people, and that he is your God. This is what he promised to do for you, and what he solemnly promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would do. BSB BSB: 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, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 ARST This covenant is not only with you. BSB BSB: I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,
15 ARST God is making this agreement with us who are here today and also with our descendants who are not yet born. BSB BSB: 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.
16 ARST You remember the things that our ancestors suffered in Egypt, and how they traveled through the land that belonged to other nations after they came out of Egypt. BSB BSB: For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.
17 ARST In those countries they saw those disgusting idols made of wood and stone and decorated with silver and gold. BSB BSB: You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.
18 ARST So be sure that no man or woman or family or tribe that is here today turns away from Yahweh our God, to worship any of the gods of those people groups. If you do that, you will bring disaster on yourselves. BSB BSB: 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,
19 ARST Be sure that no one here today who hears the words of this covenant says to himself,‘Everything will go well with me, even if I stubbornly do what I want to.’ If you do that, the result will be that Yahweh will eventually destroy all of you, both good people and evil people. BSB BSB: because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes 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.
20 ARST Yahweh will not forgive anyone who is stubborn like that. Instead, he will be extremely angry with that person, and all the curses that I have told you about will happen to that person, until Yahweh destroys that person and his family forever. BSB BSB: 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
21 ARST From all the tribes of Israel, Yahweh will choose that individual to suffer all the disasters that I have listed in the covenant— all the bad things that will happen to anyone whom Yahweh curses for disobeying the laws that I have written in this scroll. BSB BSB: and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
22 ARST In future years, your descendants and people from other countries will see the disasters and the illnesses that Yahweh has caused to happen to you. BSB BSB: 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.
23 ARST They will see that all your land has been ruined by burning sulfur and salt. Nothing will have been planted. Not even weeds will be there. Your land will resemble the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of Admah and Zeboyim, which Yahweh destroyed when he was very angry with those people. BSB BSB: All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur 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.
24 ARST And the people from those other nations will ask,‘Why did Yahweh do this to this land? Why was he so angry with the people who lived here?’ BSB BSB: So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’
25 ARST Then other people will reply,‘It is because they refused to obey the covenant that they had made with Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors worshiped, when he brought them out of Egypt. BSB BSB: 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.
26 ARST Instead, they wroshiped other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that Yahweh had not told them to worship. BSB BSB: They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them.
27 ARST So Yahweh became very angry with the people of this land, and he has caused to happen to them all the disasters that their leader warned them about. BSB BSB: Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.
28 ARST Yahweh became extremely angry with them and took them out of their land, and threw them into another land, and they are still there.’ BSB BSB: 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.’
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