Deuteronomy 27-30

New Life Version

The Law Written on Stones

27 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel said to the people, “Keep all the Laws which I tell you today. ² On the day you cross the Jordan to the land the Lord your God gives you, set up large stones and cover them with plaster. ³ Write on them all the words of this Law when you cross the river and go into the land the Lord your God gives you. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. ⁴ When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal and cover them with plaster, as I tell you today. ⁵ Build an altar of stones there to the Lord your God. Do not work on them with an iron tool. ⁶ And build the altar of the Lord your God with stones that are not cut. Then give a burnt gift on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Give peace gifts and eat there. And be full of joy before the Lord your God. ⁸ Write all the words of this Law on the stones. Make it easy to read.”

What Happens to Those Who Do Not Obey

⁹ Then Moses and the Levite religious leaders said to all Israel, “Be quiet and listen, O Israel! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ So obey the Lord your God. Keep all of His Laws which I tell you today.”

¹¹ Moses told the people that same day, ¹² “Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin will stand on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan. They will pray that good will come to the people. ¹³ And Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali will stand on Mount Ebal to tell of the curses. ¹⁴ The Levites will say with a loud voice to all the people of Israel:

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is every man who makes a god or something to look like a god, the work of the hands of the able workman, and sets it up in secret. It is hated by the Lord.’ Then all the people will answer, ‘Let it be so.’

¹⁶ ‘Cursed is the one who puts his father or mother to shame.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

¹⁷ ‘Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor’s land-mark.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

¹⁸ ‘Cursed is the one who leads a blind person on the road the wrong way.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

¹⁹ ‘Cursed is the one who is not fair to a stranger, a child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²⁰ ‘Cursed is the man who lies with his father’s wife because he has taken off the clothes of her who belongs to his father.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²¹ ‘Cursed is the man who lies with any animal.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²² ‘Cursed is the man who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²³ ‘Cursed is the man who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²⁴ ‘Cursed is the one who hits his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²⁵ ‘Cursed is the one who receives pay to kill a person who is not guilty.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

²⁶ ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this Law.’ And all the people will say, ‘Let it be so.’

28 “Be faithful in obeying the Lord your God. Be careful to keep all His Laws which I tell you today. And the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² All these good things will come upon you if you will obey the Lord your God. ³ Good will come to you in the city, and good will come to you in the country. ⁴ Good will come to your children, and the fruit of your ground, and the young of your animals. Your cattle and flock will have many young ones. ⁵ Good will come to your basket and your bread pan. ⁶ Good will come to you when you come in, and when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord will cause you to win the battles against those who fight against you. They will come against you one way, and run away from you seven ways. ⁸ The Lord will send good upon you in your store-houses and in all your work. He will bring good to you in the land the Lord your God gives you. ⁹ The Lord will make you a holy nation to Himself, as He promised you. But you must keep the Laws of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all the nations of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹ The Lord will give much to you. He will give you many children, and many young ones among your animals, and much food from the ground, in the land the Lord promised to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open for you His good store-house, the heavens. He will give rain to your land at the right time. He will bring good to all the work you do. You will give to many nations. But you will not use anything that belongs to them. ¹³ The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. If you listen to the Laws of the Lord your God which I tell you today and be careful to obey them, you will only be above and not below. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the words I tell you today, to the right or to the left. Do not follow other gods and work for them.

¹⁵ “If you will not obey the Lord your God or be careful to do all His Laws which I tell you today, all these curses will come upon you. ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city, and in the country. ¹⁷ Your basket and your bread pan will be cursed. ¹⁸ Your children will be cursed, and the fruit of your ground, and the young of your cattle and flock. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and when you go out.

²⁰ “The Lord will send upon you curses, trouble and sharp words in all you try to do, until you are destroyed. You will be quick to die, because of the sinful things you do, and because you have turned away from Me. ²¹ The Lord will make disease to be with you until He has destroyed you from the land you are going in to take. ²² The Lord will punish you with a wasting disease, a hot sickness, growing pain, heat like fire, the sword, and diseases that destroy your food. They will follow you until you die. ²³ The heavens above your head will be brass. And the earth under you will be iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain of your land into dust. It will come down on you until you are destroyed. ²⁵ The Lord will cause you to lose the battle against those who hate you. You will go one way against them, but run seven ways away from them. You will fill all the nations of the earth with fear. ²⁶ Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. There will be no one to make them afraid and to send them away.

²⁷ “The Lord will punish you with the sores of Egypt, growing sores, and skin diseases, that will not be healed. ²⁸ The Lord will punish you by making you crazy, and blind, and troubled in your mind. ²⁹ You will have to feel for your way at noon, as the blind man feels his way in darkness. And your way will not go well. It will be made hard for you, and you will always be robbed. There will be no one to save you. ³⁰ You will marry a wife. But another man will lie with her. You will build a house. But you will not live in it. You will plant vines. But you will not eat the fruit. ³¹ Your bull will be killed in front of you. But you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be taken from you, and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to those who hate you. No one will help you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation. Your eyes will watch for them always and you will have much desire for them. But there will be nothing you can do. ³³ A nation you have not known will eat the food of your field and of your work. You will suffer under the power of others always. ³⁴ You will be driven crazy by what you see. ³⁵ The Lord will make sores on your knees and legs that you cannot heal, from the bottom of your foot to the top of your head. ³⁶ The Lord will bring you and your chosen king to a nation that you and your fathers have not known. There you will work for other gods, of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become a people who are hated, who are made fun of, and a shame among the people where the Lord will send you.

³⁸ “You will sow much seed in the field, but gather little, for the locust will eat it. ³⁹ You will plant and take care of vines, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, for worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees everywhere. But you will not pour the oil upon yourself, for your olives will fall off. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters, but you will not keep them, for they will be taken away. ⁴² The locust will own all your trees and the food of your field. ⁴³ The stranger among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will become less and less. ⁴⁴ He will give to you. But you will not give to him. He will be the head and you will be the tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you. They will follow you and come upon you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping all the Laws He gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be something special to see, and a powerful work upon you and your children forever. ⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart because of all He has given you, ⁴⁸ you will serve those who hate you, whom the Lord will send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, without clothing, and needing all things. He will put a heavy load on your neck until He has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as fast as an eagle flies. It will be a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation that shows a hard face. It will have no respect for the old, or show favor to the young. ⁵¹ It will eat the young ones of your cattle and the food of your field until you are destroyed. It will leave you no grain, new wine, oil, or the young of your cattle or flock, until it has caused you to die. ⁵² Your towns will be taken over by its armies until your high strong walls that you have trusted in come down everywhere in your land. Its armies will take over all your towns everywhere in the land the Lord your God has given you. ⁵³ During this time and because of the trouble caused by those who hate you, you will eat your own children, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you. ⁵⁴ The most gentle man among you will be against his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has. ⁵⁵ He will not give them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because it is all he has left for himself. This is how bad the trouble will be that those who hate you will bring to all your towns. ⁵⁶ The most gentle woman among you may be careful not to set the bottom of her foot on the ground. But she will be hard to the husband she loves, to her son and daughter, ⁵⁷ to the afterbirth which comes out of her body, and to the children who are born from her. She will eat them in secret because she has nothing else. This is how bad the trouble will be that those who hate you will bring to all your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to obey all the words of the Law which are written in this book, to fear this honored name of the Lord your God, ⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring bad diseases on you and your children, hard and lasting diseases and sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring all the diseases upon you that you were afraid of in Egypt. And they will stay with you. ⁶¹ The Lord will bring upon you every sickness and every trouble which is not written in the book of this Law also, until you are destroyed. ⁶² You will have been as many as the stars of heaven but there will be few of you left, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ As the Lord was happy with you and caused good to come to you and you were many, He will be happy to bring trouble upon you and destroy you. And you will be taken from the land you are going in to take. ⁶⁴ The Lord will spread you out among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. ⁶⁵ You will find no rest among those nations. There will be no place of rest for the bottom of your foot. But there the Lord will give you fear in your heart, eyes that become weak, and sorrow in your soul. ⁶⁶ Your life will be full of doubts. You will be afraid night and day. And you will not be sure of anything in your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘If it were only evening!’ In the evening you will say, ‘If it were only morning!’ because of the fear of your heart, and the things your eyes see. ⁶⁸ The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, in the way I said, ‘You will never see it again.’ There you will try to sell yourselves as men and women servants to those who hate you. But no one will buy you.”

The Agreement in Moab

29 These are the words of the agreement the Lord told Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, as well as the agreement He had made with them at Mount Sinai.

² Moses called all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all the Lord did in front of you in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land. ³ You have seen great tests and powerful works. ⁴ Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. ⁵ I have led you forty years in the desert. Your clothes did not wear out. And your shoes did not wear out on your feet. ⁶ You did not eat bread, or drink wine or strong drink, so you might know that I am the Lord your God. ⁷ When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came to meet us to fight. But we won the fight. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as a gift to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half family group of Manasseh. ⁹ So be careful to keep the words of this agreement and obey them so all that you do will go well.

¹⁰ “Today you all stand before the Lord your God, you, your rulers, your families, your leaders, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children, your wives, the stranger who is among your tents, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who gets your water. ¹² You are here to take part in the agreement with the Lord your God, and in His promise which the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹³ So today He will make you His people. He will be your God, just as He told you and as He promised your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

¹⁴ “I am not making this agreement and this promise with you alone. ¹⁵ I am making them with those who stand here with us today before the Lord our God, and with those who are not here with us today. ¹⁶ You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the land of the nations on our way here. ¹⁷ You have seen their sinful things and their gods of wood, stone, silver and gold, which they had with them. ¹⁸ Be careful not to have any man or woman or family or group among you whose heart turns away from the Lord our God today to go and worship the gods of those nations. Do not let there be a root among you giving poison fruit and bad-tasting plants. ¹⁹ When one hears the words of this curse, he will say in his pride, ‘I have peace even though I am strong-willed in my heart.’ This will destroy the land that is watered along with the dry land. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. But the Lord will be jealous and His anger will burn against that man. Every curse written in this book will be upon him. And the Lord will take out his name from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will set him apart for trouble from all the families of Israel, with all the curses of the agreement which are written in this book of the Law.

²² “The children to come, your sons who grow up after you, and the stranger who comes from a land far away, will see the troubles and diseases the Lord has sent upon the land. And they will say, ²³ ‘The whole land is sulphur and salt, a burning waste, not planted and not giving any plants, and no grass grows in it. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in His anger.’ ²⁴ All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was He so angry?’ ²⁵ Then men will say, ‘It is because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they had not known and whom He had not given to them. ²⁷ So the anger of the Lord burned against that land. Every curse was brought upon it that is written in this book. ²⁸ The Lord drove them from their land in much anger. And He sent them into another land, as it is today.’

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are made known belong to us and to our children forever, so we may obey all the words of this Law.

Good Comes to Those Who Return to the Lord

30 “When all these things have come upon you, the good things and the curses which I have told you about, you will remember them in all the nations where the Lord your God has sent you. ² When you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul by all I have told you today, ³ then the Lord your God will have you return from where you were held. He will have loving-pity for you. He will gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has sent you. ⁴ Even if you are driven to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you into the land your fathers lived in and it will be yours. He will bring good to you and make you more in number than your fathers. ⁶ The Lord your God will take away the sin from your heart and from the heart of your children. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so you may live. ⁷ Then the Lord your God will send all these curses upon those who hate you and upon those who made it hard for you. ⁸ You will obey the Lord again, and keep all His Laws which I tell you today. ⁹ And the Lord your God will bring much good upon all the work you do, and upon your children, and the young of your cattle, and the food of your field. For the Lord will again be happy to bring good to you, just as He was happy with your fathers. ¹⁰ But you must obey the Lord your God to keep His Laws which are written in this book of the Law. You must turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

Life or Death

¹¹ “For this Law I give you today is not too hard for you, or too far from you. ¹² It is not in heaven. You do not need to say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ ¹³ It is not farther than the sea. You do not need to say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us to make us hear it, so we may obey it?’ ¹⁴ But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.

¹⁵ “See, I have put in front of you today life and what is good, and death and what is bad. ¹⁶ I tell you today to love the Lord your God. Walk in His ways. Keep all His Laws and all that He has decided. Then you will live and become many. And the Lord your God will bring good to you in the land you are going in to take. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but leave to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I tell you today that you will die for sure. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan which you are about to take for your own. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to speak against you today. I have put in front of you life and death, the good and the curse. So choose life so you and your children after you may live. ²⁰ Love the Lord your God and obey His voice. Hold on to Him. For He is your life, and by Him your days will be long. You will be allowed to live in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”