Love and Serve Yahweh

1“You shall therefore love Yahweh your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments all your days. 2So know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the [†]discipline of Yahweh your God—His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm, 3and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; 4and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the [†]Red Sea to [†]engulf them while they were pursuing you, and Yahweh made them perish [†]utterly; 5and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that [†]followed them, among all Israel— 7but your own eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which He did.

8“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; 9so that you may prolong your days on the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your [†]foot like a vegetable garden. 11But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12a land for which Yahweh your God cares; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it, from the [†]beginning even to the end of the year.

13“And it will be that, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love Yahweh your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, 14that [†]I, Yahweh, will give the rain for your land in its season, the [†]early and [†]late rains, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15And [†]I will give [†]grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16[†]Beware lest your hearts be deceived, and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them, 17and the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which Yahweh is giving you.

18“You shall therefore place these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as [†]phylacteries between your eyes. 19And you shall teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as [†]long as the heavens remain above the earth. 22For if you are careful to keep this entire commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him, 23then Yahweh will dispossess all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the [†]western sea. 25No man will be able to stand before you; Yahweh your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

A Blessing and a Curse

26“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am commanding you today; 28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by walking after other gods which you have not known.

29“And it will be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the [†]oaks of Moreh? 31For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it, 32and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.