Deuteronomy 11

Chapter 11

1 “You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands.2 Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm.3 They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land.

4 They didn’t see what the LORD did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Seat as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!
5 “Your children didn’t see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here.6 They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.

7 But you have seen the LORD perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!

The Blessings of Obedience

8 “Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter.9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey!10 For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.11 Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain—

12 a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!
13 “If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul,14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil.

15 He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.
16 “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods.

17 If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you.
18 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.
22 “Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.23 Then the LORD will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land.24 Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.t

25 No one will be able to stand against you, for the LORD your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.
26 “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!27 You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today.

28 But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.
29 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.30 (These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley,t near the town of Gilgal, not far from the oaks of Moreh.)31 For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it,

32 you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today.

DEUTERONOMY 11

If You Are Loyal to the [Lord], //He Will Bless You

Moses said to Israel:

1 The [Lord] is your God, so you must always love him and obey his laws and teachings. 2 Remember, he corrected you and not your children. You are the ones who saw the [Lord] use his great power 3 t when he worked miracles in Egypt, making terrible things happen to the king and all his people.

4 t And when the Egyptian army chased you in their chariots, you saw the [Lord] drown them and their horses in the Red Sea.t Egypt still suffers from that defeat!
5 You saw what the [Lord] did for you while you were in the desert, right up to the time you arrived here.

6 t And you saw how the [Lord] made the ground open up in the middle of our camp underneath the tents of Dathan and Abiram, t who were swallowed up along with their families, their animals, and their tents.

7 With your own eyes, you saw the [Lord]'s mighty power do all these things.
8 Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and if you obey the laws and teachings I'm giving you today, you will be strong enough to conquer the land 9 that the [Lord] promised your ancestors and their descendants. It's rich with milk and honey, and you will live there and enjoy it for a long time. 10 It's better land than you had in Egypt, where you had to struggle just to water your crops.t 11 But the hills and valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from heaven, t

12 because the [Lord] your God keeps his eye on this land and takes care of it all year long.
13  t The [Lord] your God commands you to love him and to serve him with all your heart and soul. If you obey him,

14-15 he will send rain at the right seasons, t so you will have more than enough food, wine, and olive oil, and there will be plenty of grass for your cattle.
16 But watch out! You will be tempted to turn your backs on the [Lord]. And if you worship other gods,

17 the [Lord] will become angry and keep the rain from falling. Nothing will grow in your fields, and you will die and disappear from the good land that the [Lord] is giving you.
18  t Memorize these laws and think about them. Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and your foreheads to help you obey them. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them all the time—whether you're at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. 20 Write them on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates.

21 Then you and your descendants will live a long time in the land that the [Lord] promised your ancestors. Your families will live there as long as the sky is above the earth.
22 Love the [Lord] your God faithfully and obey all the laws and teachings I'm giving you today. If you live the way the [Lord] wants, 23 he will help you take the land. And even though the nations there are more powerful than you, the [Lord] will force them to leave when you attack. 24 t You will capture the land everywhere you go, from the Southern Desert to the Lebanon Mountains, and from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stand up to you. The [Lord] will make everyone terrified of you, just as he promised.
26 You have a choice—do you want the [Lord] to bless you, or do you want him to put a curse on you? 27 Today I am giving you his laws, and if you obey him, he will bless you.

28 But if you disobey him and worship those gods that have never done anything for you, the [Lord] will put a curse on you.
29  t After the [Lord] your God helps you take the land, you must have a ceremony where you announce his blessings from Mount Gerizim and his curses from Mount Ebal.

30 You know that these two mountains are west of the Jordan River in land now controlled by the Canaanites living in the Jordan River valley. The mountains are west of the road near the sacred trees of Moreh on the other side of Gilgal.
31 Soon you will cross the Jordan River to conquer the land that the [Lord] your God is giving you. And when you have settled there, 32 be careful to obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you today.