Deuteronomy 29-31

New Life Version

The Agreement in Moab

29 These are the words of the agreement the Lord told Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, as well as the agreement He had made with them at Mount Sinai.

² Moses called all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all the Lord did in front of you in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land. ³ You have seen great tests and powerful works. ⁴ Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵ I have led you forty years in the desert. Your clothes did not wear out. And your shoes did not wear out on your feet. ⁶ You did not eat bread, or drink wine or strong drink, so you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came to meet us to fight. But we won the fight. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as a gift to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half family group of Manasseh. ⁹ So be careful to keep the words of this agreement and obey them so all that you do will go well.

¹⁰ “Today you all stand before the Lord your God, you, your rulers, your families, your leaders, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children, your wives, the stranger who is among your tents, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who gets your water. ¹² You are here to take part in the agreement with the Lord your God, and in His promise which the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹³ So today He will make you His people. He will be your God, just as He told you and as He promised your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

¹⁴ “I am not making this agreement and this promise with you alone. ¹⁵ I am making them with those who stand here with us today before the Lord our God, and with those who are not here with us today. ¹⁶ You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the land of the nations on our way here. ¹⁷ You have seen their sinful things and their gods of wood, stone, silver and gold, which they had with them. ¹⁸ Be careful not to have any man or woman or family or group among you whose heart turns away from the Lord our God today to go and worship the gods of those nations. Do not let there be a root among you giving poison fruit and bad-tasting plants. ¹⁹ When one hears the words of this curse, he will say in his pride, ‘I have peace even though I am strong-willed in my heart.’ This will destroy the land that is watered along with the dry land. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. But the Lord will be jealous and His anger will burn against that man. Every curse written in this book will be upon him. And the Lord will take out his name from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will set him apart for trouble from all the families of Israel, with all the curses of the agreement which are written in this book of the Law.

²² “The children to come, your sons who grow up after you, and the stranger who comes from a land far away, will see the troubles and diseases the Lord has sent upon the land. And they will say, ²³ ‘The whole land is sulphur and salt, a burning waste, not planted and not giving any plants, and no grass grows in it. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in His anger.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was He so angry?’ ²⁵ Then men will say, ‘It is because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they had not known and whom He had not given to them. ²⁷ So the anger of the Lord burned against that land. Every curse was brought upon it that is written in this book. ²⁸ The Lord drove them from their land in much anger. And He sent them into another land, as it is today.’

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are made known belong to us and to our children forever, so we may obey all the words of this Law.

Good Comes to Those Who Return to the Lord

30 “When all these things have come upon you, the good things and the curses which I have told you about, you will remember them in all the nations where the Lord your God has sent you. ² When you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul by all I have told you today, ³ then the Lord your God will have you return from where you were held. He will have loving-pity for you. He will gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has sent you. ⁴ Even if you are driven to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you into the land your fathers lived in and it will be yours. He will bring good to you and make you more in number than your fathers. ⁶ The Lord your God will take away the sin from your heart and from the heart of your children. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so you may live. ⁷ Then the Lord your God will send all these curses upon those who hate you and upon those who made it hard for you. ⁸ You will obey the Lord again, and keep all His Laws which I tell you today. ⁹ And the Lord your God will bring much good upon all the work you do, and upon your children, and the young of your cattle, and the food of your field. For the Lord will again be happy to bring good to you, just as He was happy with your fathers. ¹⁰ But you must obey the Lord your God to keep His Laws which are written in this book of the Law. You must turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

Life or Death

¹¹ “For this Law I give you today is not too hard for you, or too far from you. ¹² It is not in heaven. You do not need to say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ ¹³ It is not farther than the sea. You do not need to say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ ¹⁴ But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.

¹⁵ “See, I have put in front of you today life and what is good, and death and what is bad. ¹⁶ I tell you today to love the Lord your God. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and all that He has decided. Then you will live and become many. And the Lord your God will bring good to you in the land you are going in to take. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but leave to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I tell you today that you will die for sure. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan which you are about to take for your own. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to speak against you today. I have put in front of you life and death, the good and the curse. So choose life so you and your children after you may live. ²⁰ Love the Lord your God and obey His voice. Hold on to Him. For He is your life, and by Him your days will be long. You will be allowed to live in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Joshua Is the New Leader

31 Then Moses spoke these words to all Israel. ² He said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to come and go. And the Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God Himself will cross before you. He will destroy these nations in front of you. And you will take their place. Joshua will cross before you also, as the Lord has said. ⁴ The Lord will do the same to them that He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land when He destroyed them. ⁵ The Lord will give them to you. Then you will do to them as I have told you. ⁶ Be strong and have strength of heart. Do not be afraid or shake with fear because of them. For the Lord your God is the One Who goes with you. He will be faithful to you. He will not leave you alone.”

⁷ Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in front of all Israel, “Be strong and have strength of heart. For you will go with this people into the land the Lord has promised to their fathers to give them. And you will bring them in to take it. ⁸ The Lord is the One Who goes before you. He will be with you. He will be faithful to you and will not leave you alone. Do not be afraid or troubled.”

Reading of the Law Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the religious leaders, the sons of Levi who carried the special box of the Law of the Lord, and to all the leaders of Israel. ¹⁰ Then Moses told them, “At the end of every seven years, at the time when money owed is done away with at the Special Supper of Tents, ¹¹ when all Israel comes to stand before the Lord your God at the place He will choose, you must read this Law so all Israel will hear it. ¹² Gather together the people in your town, the men and the women, the children, and the stranger. So they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God. Be careful to obey all the words of this Law. ¹³ Then their children, who have not known it, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to take.”

The Lord’s Last Words to Moses

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “See, the time for you to die is near. Call Joshua, and go to the meeting tent, so I may tell him what to do.” So Moses and Joshua went to the meeting tent. ¹⁵ The Lord showed Himself in a pillar of cloud which stayed at the door of the tent. ¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, “See, you will soon die and be with your fathers. Then these people will soon act like a woman who sells the use of her body. They will follow the strange gods of the land where they are going. They will turn away from Me and break My agreement which I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then My anger will burn against them. I will leave them alone and hide My face from them and they will be destroyed. Many hard things and big troubles will come upon them. So they will say in that day, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not with us?’ ¹⁸ But I will hide My face in that day because of all the sinful things they will do, for they will turn to other gods. ¹⁹ So write this song for yourselves. Teach it to the people of Israel. Put it on their lips, so this song may speak for Me against all the people of Israel. ²⁰ For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I promised to their fathers, and they eat and are filled and have become rich, they will turn to other gods and serve them. They will turn against Me and break My agreement. ²¹ When many hard things and big troubles come upon them, this song will speak for Me against them. It will not be forgotten from the lips of their children and their children’s children. I know the plans they are making today, before I have brought them into the land I promised them.” ²² So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the people of Israel.

²³ Then the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, “Be strong and have strength of heart. For you will bring the people of Israel into the land I promised them. And I will be with you.”

²⁴ Moses wrote the words of this Law in a book from beginning to the end. ²⁵ Then Moses said to the Levites who carried the special box of the Law of the Lord, ²⁶ “Take this book of the Law and put it beside the special box of the Law of the Lord your God. It will be there to speak against you. ²⁷ For I know how strong your will is and that you do not want to obey. See, while I am still alive with you today, you have gone against the Lord. How much worse it will be after my death! ²⁸ Gather together and bring to me all the leaders and heads of your families. I will speak these words to them and call heaven and earth to speak against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death you will sin and turn from the way I have told you. Much trouble will come to you in the days to come. For you will do what is sinful in the eyes of the Lord. You will make Him angry through the work of your hands.”

³⁰ Then Moses spoke all the words of this song to all the people of Israel.