Deuteronomy 29

1 These are the things that the Israelis were required to do to keep the agreement that Yahweh was making with them. Moses/I commanded them to keep this agreement [when they/we were] in the Moab region [on the east side of the Jordan River]. This was in addition to the agreement that Yahweh had made with them/us at Sinai [Mountain].

These [are] the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Choreb.

2 Moses/I summoned all the Israeli people and said to them, “You saw [SYN] for yourselves what Yahweh did to the king of Egypt and to his officials and to his entire country.

And Moses called all the sons of Israel and said to them, Ye have seen all things that the Lord did in the land of Egypt before you to Pharao and his servants, and all his land;

3 You [SYN] saw all the plagues [that Yahweh caused them to experience], and all the various miracles [DOU] [that Yahweh performed].

the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders.

4 But until now, Yahweh has not enabled you to understand [the meaning of] all that you have seen and heard.

Yet the Lord God has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day.

5 For 40 years Yahweh has led you while you traveled/walked through the desert. During that time, your clothes and your sandals have not worn out.

And he led you forty years in the wilderness; your garments did not grow old, and your sandals were not worn away off your feet.

6 You did not have bread to eat or wine or other fermented/strong drinks to drink, but Yahweh [took care of you], in order that you would know that he is your God.

Ye did not eat bread, ye did not drink wine or strong drink, that ye might know that I [am] the Lord your God.

7 “And when we came to this place, Sihon, the king who ruled in Heshbon [city], and Og, the king who ruled the Bashan [region], came [with their armies] to attack us, but we defeated them.

And ye came as far as this place; and there came forth Seon king of Esebon, and Og king of Basan, to meet us in war.

8 We took/conquered their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

And we smote them and took their land, and I gave it for an inheritance to Ruben and Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasse.

9 “So faithfully keep all of this agreement, in order that you will be successful in everything that you do.

And ye shall take heed to do all the words of this covenant, that ye may understand all things that ye shall do.

10 Today all of us are standing in the presence of Yahweh our God. The leaders of all our tribes, our elders, our officials, all you Israeli men,

Ye all stand to-day before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, every man of Israel,

11 your wives, your children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood for you and carry water for you, are here.

your wives, and your children, and the stranger who is in the midst of your camp, from your hewer of wood even to your drawer of water,

12 [We are here] today to promise to keep this solemn agreement with Yahweh.

that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God and into his oaths, as many as the Lord thy God appoints thee this day;

13 [He is making this agreement with you] in order to confirm that you are his people, and that he is your God. This agreement is what he promised you, and which is what he vowed to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

that he may appoint thee to himself for a people, and he shall be thy God, as he said to thee, and as he sware to thy fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob.

14 This agreement is not only with you.

And I do not appoint to you alone this covenant and this oath;

15 He is making this agreement with us [who are here today] and also with our descendants who are not yet born.

but to those also who are here with you to-day before the Lord your God, and to those who are not here with you to-day.

16 “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].

For ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, how we came through the midst of the nations through whom ye came.

17 In those countries they saw those disgusting idols made of wood and stone and [decorated with] silver and gold.

And ye beheld their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which are among them.

18 So be sure that no man or woman or family or tribe that is here [today] turns away from Yahweh our God, to worship/serve the gods of those nations. Doing that would be like a root [of a plant that would grow] among you and bear poisonous and bitter fruit [MET].

Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness.

19 “Be sure that no one here today who hears this agreement thinks, ‘Everything will go well with me, even if I stubbornly do what I want to.’ If you are stubborn like that, the result will be that Yahweh will eventually get rid of all of you, both good people and evil people [MET].

And it shall be if one shall hear the words of this curse, and shall flatter himself in his heart, saying, Let good happen to me, for I will walk in the error of my heart, lest the sinner destroy the guiltless with [him]:

20 Yahweh will not forgive anyone who is [stubborn] like that. Instead, he will be extremely angry [DOU] with that person, and that person will experience all the curses that I have told you about, until Yahweh gets rid of that person and his family [IDM].

God shall by no means be willing to pardon him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy shall flame out against that man; and all the curses of this covenant shall attach themselves to him, which are written in this book, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.

21 From all the tribes of Israel, Yahweh will separate that individual. Yahweh will cause him to experience all the disasters that I have listed in the agreement that states the things that Yahweh will do to curse [those who disobey] the laws [that I have written] in this scroll/book.

And the Lord shall separate that man for evil of all the children of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in the book of this law.

22 “In the future, your descendants and people from other countries will see the disasters and the illnesses that Yahweh has caused to happen to you.

And another generation shall say—even your sons who shall rise up after you, and the stranger who shall come from a land afar off, and shall see the plagues of that land and their diseases, which the Lord has sent upon it,

23 They will see that all your land has been ruined by burning sulfur and salt. Nothing will have been planted. Not even weeds will grow there. Your land will resemble Sodom and Gomorrah [cities], and Admah and Zeboiim [cities], which Yahweh destroyed when he was very angry [DOU] [with the people who lived there].

brimstone and burning salt, (the whole land shall not be sown, neither shall any green thing spring, nor rise upon it, as Sodom and Gomorrha were overthrown, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord overthrew in his wrath and anger: )—

24 And the people from those other nations will ask, ‘Why did Yahweh do this to this land? Why was he very angry [with the people who lived here]?’

and all the nations shall say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land? what [is] this great fierceness of anger?

25 “Then other people will reply, ‘It is because they refused to keep the agreement that Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors [worshiped], had made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

And [men] shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, the things which he appointed to their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

26 Instead, they served/worshiped other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that Yahweh had told them not to worship.

and they went and served other gods, which they knew not, neither did he assign [them] to them.

27 So, Yahweh became very angry with the Israeli people in this land, and he caused them to experience all the disasters that their leader warned them about.

And the Lord was exceedingly angry with that land to bring upon it according to all the curses which are written in the book of this law.

28 Yahweh became extremely angry [DOU] with them and took/yanked them [MET] out of their land and banished them into another land, and they are still there.’

And the Lord removed them from their land in anger, and wrath, and very great indignation, and cast them out into another land as at present.

29 “[There are some] things that Yahweh our God has (kept secret/not revealed), but he has revealed his laws to us, and [he expects] us and our descendants to obey them forever.”

The secret things [belong] to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed [belong] to us and to our children for ever, to do all the words of this law.