Open English Translation DEU Chapter 29

2 Then Mosheh (Moses) called all Yisrael together and told them, “You’ve all seen everything that Yahweh did to Far-oh and all his servants in Egypt and what he did to all his country right in front of your eyes—3 the sufferings of the people there that you saw for yourselves, along with the incredible miracles, 4 yet up until now, Yahweh hasn’t enabled you all to understand the meaning of everything that you saw and heard. 5 For forty years, Yahweh led you all in the wilderness, but your clothes didn’t wear through, and the sandals on your feet never wore out. 6 You all survived without bread to eat or any wine or alcohol to drink so that you’d realise that I am your god Yahweh. 7 Then when we arrived here, King Sihon from Heshbon and King Og from Bashan came out to battle against us, but we defeated them.[ref] 8 We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuven and Gad, and the half-tribe of Menashsheh to become their inheritance.[ref] 9 So follow all the instructions in this agreement and obey the rules so that you’ll all prosper in everything you do.

10 All of you stand here today in front of your god Yahweh: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the Israeli men 11 along with your wives and children, and the foreigners living among you (who cut wood and fetch water for you), 12 to enter into an agreement with your god Yahweh, and to accept the promise that he’s made to you today. 13 That will establish your country as his people, and he will be your god as he told you he would, having promised it to your ancestors Abraham, Yitshak, and Yakov. 14 This agreement isn’t just with all of you here today, 15 the ones standing here, but also with those who aren’t here with you today.

16 You all know how we lived in Egypt, and then travelled through other kingdoms on our way here, 17 and you’ve all seen their disgusting practices and the idols that they had, made of wood and stone, gold and silver. 18 If there happens to be a man or woman, or clan or tribe, whose loyalty is turning away today from your god Yahweh and to go and serve those gods in those other nations, i.e., if there’s a bitter or poisonous root among you all,[ref] 19 and if they hear the words of this curse, then they’ll think to themselves, ‘We’ll have peace, even though our minds are fixed on where we’re going,’ so that the good and the bad are carried along together, 20 Yahweh won’t be willing to forgive them. No, his jealousy and anger will rage against them, and all the curses written in this book will land on them, and Yahweh will wipe out their name never to be remembered again. 21 Then Yahweh will single out that person or group from all of Yisrael’s tribe, to be marked out for disaster as per all the curses that are written in this book of instructions.

22 Then a future generation (your descendants who’ll be born in the future, plus the foreigner who comes from a distant land), when they see the plagues that hit that land and the diseases that Yahweh sent to make it sick, will say, 23 ‘All that land is sulfur and burning salt. No one plants anything and nothing sprouts, and not even grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Amorah (Gomorrah), Admah and Tsevoim, which Yahweh destroyed in his rage and anger,’[ref] 24 and all the nations will ask, ‘Why did Yahweh do that to that country? What’s he so angry about?’ 25 Then others will reply, ‘Because they neglected their agreement with Yahweh, the god of their ancestors, that he made with them when he brought them out from Egypt, 26 and they went and served other gods and bowed down to them—gods that they hadn’t heard of before or had anything to do with. 27 That’s why Yahweh was angry at that country and brought all the curses written in this book onto it—28 tearing them away from their land in his raging anger, and threw them into another land as we can see today.’

29 Our god Yahweh has his secrets, but what he’s revealed is for us and our children forever, so that we can follow all his instructions.