Deuteronomy 8

1 You shall observe to do all the commands which I charge you today, that you may live and be multiplied, and enter in and inherit the land, which the Lord your God sware [to give] to your fathers.

You must take care to follow every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may live and have many descendants, and go in and take over the country the Lord promised to give to your fore fathers.

2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness, that he might afflict you, and try you, and that the things in your heart might be made manifest, whether you would keep his commandments or no.

Remember how for these forty years the Lord your God has led you all the way through the desert, humbling you and testing you in order to find out what you were really thinking, and whether or not you would keep his commandments.

3 And he afflicted you and straitened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers knew not; that he might teach you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.

He humbled you, and when you were hungry he gave you manna to eat, which nobody, including you and your forefathers, had ever had before This was in order to make it clear to you that human beings do not live by only eating bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

4 Your garments grew not old from off you, your shoes were not worn from off you, your feet were not [painfully] hardened, behold! these forty years.

During these forty years your clothing didn't wear out and your feet didn't swell up.

5 And you shall know in your heart, that as if any man should chasten his son, so the Lord your God will chasten you.

So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines their child, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

6 And you shall keep the commands of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

That's why you have to keep the commandments of the Lord your God, following his ways and respecting him.

7 For the Lord your God will bring you into a good and extensive land, where there are torrents of waters, and fountains of deep places issuing through the plains and through the mountains:

For the Lord your God is taking you to a good country. It's a land of streams and pools and springs that flow through the valleys and down the hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, [wherein are] vines, figs, pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

It's a land that produces wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.

9 a land on which you shall not eat your bread with poverty, and you shall not lack any thing upon it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of its mountains you shall dig brass.

It's a land where you won't run out of food, where you will have everything you need; a land whose rocks contain iron ore and whose hills can be mined for copper.

10 And you shall eat and be filled, and shall bless the Lord your God on the good land, which he has given you.

When you eat and are full, make sure you thank the Lord your God for the good land that he's given you.

11 Take heed to yourself that you forget not the Lord your God, so as not to keep his commands, and his judgements, and ordinances, which I command you this day:

Make sure you don't forget the Lord your God by disobeying his commandments and rules and regulations that I'm giving you today.

12 lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived in them;

For when you eat and are full, when you build beautiful houses to live in,

13 and your oxen and your sheep are multiplied to you, and your silver and your gold are multiplied to you, and all your possessions are multiplied to you,

and when your herds and flocks grow larger, and your silver and gold accumulates, and all your possessions increase,

14 you should be exalted in heart, and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

then you will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery.

15 who brought you through that great and terrible wilderness, where [is] the biting serpent, and scorpion, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you a fountain of water out of the flinty rock:

He guided you through the immense and terrifying desert with its poisonous snakes and scorpions—a dried up, waterless land. He brought water for you out of a flint rock.

16 who fed you with manna in the wilderness, which you knew not, and your fathers knew not; that he might afflict you, and thoroughly try you, and do you good in your latter days.

He fed you in the desert with manna that your forefathers had never known, humbling you and testing you, so that eventually you would do well in the future.

17 Lest you should say in your heart, My strength, and the power of mine hand have wrought for me this great wealth.

You might think to yourselves, “I became rich through all my hard work.”

18 But you shall remember the Lord your God, that he gives you strength to get wealth; even that he may establish his covenant, which the Lord sware to your fathers, as at this day.

But remember it's the Lord your God who gives you the ability to become rich, in order to fulfill his agreement he promised to your forefathers that still exists today.

19 And it shall come to pass if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and should go after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall surely perish.

If you ever forget the Lord your God, and run after other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, I assure you right now that you will definitely die!

20 As also the other nations which the Lord God destroys before your face, so shall you perish, because you listened not to the voice of the Lord your God.

In the same way the Lord destroyed the nations as you advanced, you will also die if you don't obey the Lord your God.