8 So then, follow all the instructions that I’m giving you all today so that you’ll all be strong to enter and take possession of the land once you cross the river 9 and so that you all might live for a long time in that land which Yahweh promised to give them and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey 10 because it’s not like Egypt where your ancestors came out from, where you planted seed and had to water the fields by hand. 11 But the land that you’re all about to enter over the river has a terrain of hills and valleys, i.e., it drinks in the rain water. 12 It’s a land that your god Yahweh cares about—watching over it from the beginning of each year to the end.

13 If you all listen to the instructions that I’m giving you today, loving your god Yahweh and serving him with sincerity and with energy,[ref] 14 then he says that he’ll give the land the seasonal early and late rains so that you’ll be able to produce grain, and new wine, and olive oil. 15 He’ll provide grass in the countryside for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied. 16 Guard yourselves to make sure that you’re not deceived and end up turning around to serve other ‘gods’ and bow down to them, 17 because then Yahweh would become angry at you and close the skies so that there’d be no rain, and the land would stop producing, and you’d all soon die from off the good land that he’s about to give you.

18 Memorise these words of mine and constantly think about them. Your hands should always be applying them and your minds should always be evaluating them.[ref] 19 Teach them repeatedly to your children: when you’re sitting at home, when you’re walking down the road, when you go to lie down, and when you get up. 20 Carve them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates, 21 so that your own lifetimes, and the lifetimes of your children will be extended in the land that Yahweh promised to give to your ancestors to have as long as the sky remains over the earth.

22 If you all follow these instructions that I’m telling you to do, to love your god Yahweh and live how he wants you to, and stay faithful to him, 23 then he’ll drive all those peoples out ahead of you all, and you’ll dispossess groups that are larger and more powerful than yourselves. 24 Every place that your feet step on will become yours: from the southern desert to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.[ref] 25 No one will be able to resist you all. Your god Yahweh will make those peoples in that land terrified of you, just as he promised he would.

26 Now listen, today I’m giving you all the option of a blessing or a curse: 27 the blessing is if you all decide to obey your god Yahweh’s instructions that I’m giving you today, 28 but the curse is if you all don’t take any notice of his instructions, or if you turn away from what I’m commanding you all today to go after other gods that you previously had nothing to do with. 29 Whenever your god Yahweh brings you into the land that you’re entering to take possession of, you must pronounce the blessing from Mt. Gerizim, and the curse from Mt. Eyval.[ref] 30 (Those two mountains are across the Yarden river, west of the river plain where the Canaanites live, near the Oak of Moreh opposite Gilgal.) 31 You’ll all soon be crossing the Yarden to go in and occupy the land that your god Yahweh is giving you. As you all take it over and start to live there, 32 make sure that you follow all the instructions and rules that I’m giving to you all today.