Deuteronomy 11

1 Therefore thou shalt loue the Lord thy God, and shalt keepe that, which he commandeth to be kept: that is, his ordinances, and his lawes, and his commandements alway.

“[Because of all that] Yahweh your God [has done for you], you must love him and continually obey all his rules and regulations and commandments.

2 And consider this day (for I speake not to your children, which haue neither knowen nor seene) the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatnesse, his mighty hande, and his stretched out arme,

It was you and your ancestors, not your children, whom he disciplined [by causing all of you to have/experience difficulties]. So, starting today, continue to think about how very great and very powerful he is [DOU, MTY].

3 And his signes, and his actes, which hee did in the middes of Egypt vnto Pharaoh the King of Egypt and vnto all his land:

Think about the various miracles [DOU] that he performed in Egypt. Think about what he did to the king of Egypt and to his country.

4 And what he did vnto the hoste of the Egyptians, vnto their horses, and to their charets, when he caused the waters of the red Sea to ouerflowe them, as they pursued after you, and the Lord destroied them vnto this day:

Think about what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots. Think about how he caused the Red Sea to flood/cover over them while they were pursuing your ancestors, and how the army of Egypt was completely (wiped out/destroyed).

5 And what he did vnto you in the wildernesse, vntill yee came vnto this place:

Think about what Yahweh did for your ancestors in the desert before you arrived at this place.

6 And what he did vnto Dathan and Abiram the sonnes of Eliab ye sonne of Reuben, when the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them with their housholds and their tents, and all their substance that they had in the middes of al Israel.

Think about what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the two sons of Eliab from the tribe of Reuben. While all of your ancestors were watching, the earth split open, and they fell into the opening [and disappeared], along with their families and their tents, their servants, and their animals.

7 For your eyes haue seene all the great actes of the Lord which he did.

You [SYN] and your ancestors have seen all these miracles that Yahweh performed.

8 Therefore shall ye keepe all the commandements, which I commaund you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possesse the land whither ye goe to possesse it:

So, obey all the commandments that I am giving you today, in order that you will be strong and able to cross the river and occupy the land that you are about to enter,

9 Also that ye may prolong your daies in the land, which the Lord sware vnto your fathers, to giue vnto them and to their seede, euen a lande that floweth with milke and honie.

and in order that you will live for a long time in that land, the land that Yahweh solemnly promised your ancestors that he would give to them and to their descendants, a land that is very fertile [IDM].

10 For the land whither thou goest to possesse it, is not as the lande of Egypt, from whence ye came, where thou sowedst thy seede, and wateredst it with thy feete as a garden of herbes:

The land that you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt, where your ancestors lived. In Egypt, after they planted seeds, it was necessary for them to work hard [MTY] to water [the plants that grew].

11 But the land whither ye goe to possesse it, is a land of mountaines and valleis, and drinketh water of the raine of heauen.

But the land that you are about to enter is a land where there are many hills and valleys, where there is plenty of rain.

12 This land doth the Lord thy God care for: the eies of the Lord thy God are alwaies vpon it, from the beginning of the yeere, euen vnto the ende of the yeere.

Yahweh takes care of that land. He [SYN] watches over it every day, from the beginning of each year to the end of each year.

13 If yee shall hearken therefore vnto my commandements, which I commaund you this day, that yee loue the Lord your God and serue him with all your heart, and with all your soule,

Today I am commanding you to love Yahweh our God and to serve him with your entire inner beings. If you do that,

14 I also wil giue raine vnto your land in due time, the first raine and the latter, that thou maist gather in thy wheat, and thy wine, and thine oyle.

each year he will send rain on your land at the (right times/times when it is needed), (in the autumn/at the end of the dry season) and (in the spring/before the next dry season starts). As a result, you will have grain and [grapes to make] wine and [olives to make olive] oil.

15 Also I will send grasse in thy fieldes, for thy cattel, that thou maist eate, and haue inough.

And he will cause grass to grow in your fields for your livestock [to eat]. You will have all the food that you want.

16 But beware lest your heart deceiue you, and lest yee turne aside, and serue other gods, and worship them,

“But I warn you, do not turn away from Yahweh our God and start to worship other gods,

17 And so the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut vp the heauen, that there be no raine, and that your lande yeelde not her fruit, and yee perish quickly from the good land, which the Lord giueth you.

because if you do that, Yahweh will become very angry with you. He will prevent any rain from falling. As a result, the crops will not grow, and you will soon die [from hunger] in the good land that Yahweh is about to give to you.

18 Therefore shall ye lay vp these my words in your heart and in your soule, and binde them for a signe vpon your hand, that they may be as a frontlet betweene your eyes,

So, keep thinking [IDM] about these commands. Write them [on tiny scrolls] and fasten them to your arms/wrists, and write them on bands that you fasten to your foreheads [to help you to remember them].

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them, whe thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest downe, and when thou risest vp.

Teach them to your children again and again. Talk about them [all the time]: When you are in your houses and when you are walking outside; talk about them when you are lying down at night and when you are getting up in the morning.

20 And thou shalt write them vpon the postes of thine house, and vpon thy gates,

Write them on the doorposts and on the gates of your houses.

21 That your daies may be multiplied, and the daies of your children, in ye land which the Lord sware vnto your fathers to giue them, as long as the heauens are aboue the earth.

Do that in order that you and your children will live for a long time in the land that Yahweh promised to our ancestors that he would give to them. That land will belong to you [and your descendants] as long as there is a sky above the earth.

22 For if ye keepe diligently all these commandements, which I command you to doe: that is, to loue the Lord your God, to walke in all his waies, and to cleaue vnto him,

“Faithfully continue to obey what I am commanding you to do—to love Yahweh our God, and to conduct your lives as he wants you to do, and to (be faithful to/have a close relationship with) him.

23 Then will the Lord cast out all these nations before you, and ye shall possesse great nations and mightier then you.

If you do that, Yahweh will expel all the people-groups in that land as you advance, people-groups that are more numerous and more powerful than you are.

24 All the places whereon the soles of your feete shall tread, shalbe yours: your coast shalbe from the wildernes and from Lebanon, and from the Riuer, euen the riuer Perath, vnto ye vttermost Sea.

All the ground [in that land] on which you walk will be yours. Your territory will extend from the desert [in the south] to the Lebanon [Mountains in the north], and from the Euphrates River [in the east] to the [Mediterranean] Sea in the west.

25 No man shall stande against you: for the Lord your God shall cast the feare and dread of you vpon all the land that ye shall treade vpon, as he hath said vnto you.

Yahweh our God will cause all the people in that land to be afraid of you, which is what he promised, with the result that no people-group will be able to stop you.

26 Beholde, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

“Listen carefully: Today I am telling you [that Yahweh will either] bless [you or he will] curse you.

27 The blessing, if ye obey the commandements of the Lord your God which I command you this day:

If you obey the commandments of Yahweh our God that I am giving to you today, he will bless you.

28 And ye curse, if ye wil not obey the commandements of the Lord your God, but turne out of the way, which I commande you this day, to go after other gods, which ye haue not knowen.

If you do not obey them, and if you turn away from him to worship other gods that you have never known about before, he will curse you.

29 When the Lord thy God therefore hath brought thee into ye lande, whither thou goest to possesse it, then thou shalt put the blessing vpon mount Gerizim, and the curse vpon mount Ebal.

And when Yahweh brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, [some of you must stand on top of] Gerizim Mountain and proclaim what will cause Yahweh to bless you, and [the others must stand on top of] Ebal Mountain and proclaim [what will cause Yahweh to] curse you.”

30 Are they not beyond Iorden on that part, where the sunne goeth downe in the land of the Canaanites, which dwel in the plaine ouer against Gilgal, beside the groue of Moreh?

(Those two mountains are [RHQ] west of the Jordan [River], west of the Jordan Valley near the huge oak tree at Moreh [village] in the land where the Canaan people-group lives. They live close to the sacred trees near Gilgal.)

31 For yee shall passe ouer Iorden, to goe in to possesse the land, which ye Lord your God giueth you, and ye shall possesse it, and dwell therein.

“You will soon cross the Jordan [River] to occupy the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. When you enter that land and start to live there,

32 Take heede therefore that ye doe all the commandements and the lawes, which I set before you this day.

be sure to obey all the rules and regulations that I am giving to you today.”