Deuteronomy 29

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the LORD did in the land of Egypt before your very eyes to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land;	1 Moses called all Israel together and said to them: 'You have seen everything that Yahweh did beforeyour eyes in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to his servants and to his whole country-
2 the great testings your own eyes have seen, and those great signs and wonders.	2 the great ordeals which you yourselves witnessed, those signs and the great wonders.
3 But not even at the present day has the LORD yet given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.	3 But until today Yahweh has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
4 'I led you for forty years in the desert. Your clothes did not fall from you in tatters nor your sandals from your feet;	4 'I have been leading you for forty years in the desert, yet the clothes which you have been wearinghave not worn out, nor have the sandals on your feet.
5 bread was not your food, nor wine or beer your drink. Thus you should know that I, the LORD, am your God.'	5 You have had no bread to eat, you have had no wine or fermented liquor to drink, so that you wouldlearn that I, Yahweh, am your God.
6 When we came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them	6 'When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to do battleagainst us; we defeated them.
7 and took over their land, which we then gave as a heritage to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.	7 We conquered their country and gave it as heritage to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
8 Keep the terms of this covenant, therefore, and fulfill them, that you may succeed in whatever you do.	8 'Keep the words of this covenant, put them into practice, and you wil thrive in everything you do.
9 "You are all now standing before the LORD, your God--your chiefs and judges, your elders and officials, and all of the men of Israel,	9 'Al of you are standing here today in the presence of Yahweh your God: your tribal leaders, yourelders, your scribes, al the men of Israel,
10 together with your wives and children and the aliens who live in your camp, down to those who hew wood and draw water for you--	10 with your children and your wives (and the foreigner too who is in your camp, be he your wood-cutteror your water-carrier),
11 that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD, your God, which he concluded with you today under this sanction of a curse;	11 and you are about to pass into the covenant of Yahweh your God, sworn with imprecation, which hehas made with you today,
12 so that he may now establish you as his people and he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.	12 and by which, today, he makes you a nation for himself and he himself becomes a God to you, as hehas promised you, and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
13 But it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant, under this sanction of a curse;	13 Not only on your behalf am I today making this covenant and pronouncing this solemn curse,
14 it is just as much with those who are not here among us today as it is with those of us who are now here present before the LORD, our God.	14 not only on behalf of those standing here with us in the presence of Yahweh our God today, but alsoon behalf of those not here with us today.
15 "You know in what surroundings we lived in the land of Egypt and what we passed by in the nations we traversed,	15 'Yes, you know the people with whom we used to live in Egypt, and those through whose countrieswe have travel ed -- the nations through whom we have passed.
16 and you saw the loathsome idols of wood and stone, of gold and silver, that they possess.	16 You have seen their abominations and their idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, whichwere there.
17 Let there be, then, no man or woman, no clan or tribe among you, who would now turn away their hearts from the LORD, our God, to go and serve these pagan gods! Let there be no root that would bear such poison and wormwood among you.	17 'Let there be no man or woman of you, no clan or tribe, whose heart turns away from Yahweh yourGod today, to go and serve the gods of these nations. Among you let there be no root which bears poison orwormwood.
18 If any such person, upon hearing the words of this curse, should beguile himself into thinking that he can safely persist in his stubbornness of heart, as though to sweep away both the watered soil and the parched ground,	18 If, after hearing this imprecation, anyone, blessing himself, should say in his heart, "I shall do wellenough if I fol ow the dictates of my heart; much water drives away thirst,"
19 the LORD will never consent to pardon him. Instead, the LORD'S wrath and jealousy will flare up against that man, and every curse mentioned in this book will alight on him. The LORD will blot out his name from under the heavens	19 Yahweh wil not pardon him. The wrath and jealousy of Yahweh wil blaze against such a person;every curse written in this book wil fal on him, and Yahweh will blot his name out under heaven.
20 and will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant inscribed in this book of the law.	20 Yahweh wil single him out of al the tribes of Israel for misfortune, in accordance with al the cursesof the covenant written in the book of this Law.
21 "Future generations, your own descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigners who will come here from far-off lands, when they see the calamities of this land and the ills with which the LORD has smitten it--	21 'The future generation, that of your children coming after you, and the foreigner arriving from somefar-away land, on seeing the plagues and diseases inflicted on this country by Yahweh, wil exclaim,
22 all its soil being nothing but sulphur and salt, a burnt-out waste, unsown and unfruitful, without a blade of grass, destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his furious wrath--	22 "Sulphur! Salt!-The whole country is burning! No one wil sow, nothing grow, no vegetation springever again! Devastation like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboi m, devastated by Yahweh in hisfurious wrath!"
23 they and all the nations will ask, 'Why has the LORD dealt thus with this land? Why this fierce outburst of wrath?'	23 And al the nations wil exclaim, "Why has Yahweh treated this country like this? Why this great blazeof anger?"
24 And the answer will be, 'Because they forsook the covenant which the LORD, the God of their fathers, had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,	24 'And people wil say, "Because they deserted the covenant of Yahweh, God of their ancestors, thecovenant which he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt;
25 and they went and served other gods and adored them, gods whom they did not know and whom he had not let fall to their lot:	25 because they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods hitherto unknown to them,gods that were no part of their heritage from him:
26 that is why the LORD was angry with this land and brought on it all the imprecations listed in this book;	26 this is why Yahweh's anger has blazed against this country, afflicting it with al the curses written inthis book.
27 in his furious wrath and tremendous anger the LORD uprooted them from their soil and cast them out into a strange land, where they are today.'	27 In anger, in fury, in fierce wrath, Yahweh has torn them from their own country and flung them intoanother country, where they are today."
28 (Both what is still hidden and what has already been revealed concern us and our descendants forever, that we may carry out all the words of this law.)	28 Things hidden belong to Yahweh our God, but things revealed are ours and our children's for ever,so that we can put al the words of this Law into practice.'