Deuteronomy 29

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 ordeals which you yourselves witnessed, those signs and the great wonders.

³ But until today Yahweh has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

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 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 you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to do battleagainst us; we defeated them.

⁷ We conquered their country and gave it as heritage to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁸ 'Keep the words of this covenant, put them into practice, and you wil thrive in everything you do.

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 with your children and your wives (and the foreigner too who is in your camp, be he your wood-cutteror your water-carrier),

¹¹ and you are about to pass into the covenant of Yahweh your God, sworn with imprecation, which hehas made with you today,

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 Not only on your behalf am I today making this covenant and pronouncing this solemn curse,

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 '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 You have seen their abominations and their idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, whichwere there.

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, 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 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 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 '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 "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 And al the nations wil exclaim, "Why has Yahweh treated this country like this? Why this great blazeof anger?"

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 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 this is why Yahweh's anger has blazed against this country, afflicting it with al the curses written inthis book.

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 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.'