1 These are the wordes of the couenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the lande of Moab beside the couenant which hee had made with them in Horeb. 2 And Moses called all Israel, and said vnto them, Ye haue seene all that the Lord did before your eyes in the lande of Egypt vnto Pharaoh and vnto all his seruantes, and vnto all his lande, 3 The great tentations which thine eyes haue seene, those great miracles and wonders: 4 Yet the Lord hath not giuen you an heart to perceiue, and eyes to see, and eares to heare, vnto this day. 5 And I haue led you fourty yere in the wildernesse: your clothes are not waxed olde vpon you, neyther is thy shooe waxed olde vpon thy foote. 6 Ye haue eaten no bread, neither drunke wine, nor strong drinke, that ye might know how that I am the Lord your God. 7 After, ye came vnto this place, and Sihon King of Heshbon, and Og King of Bashan came out against vs vnto battell, and we slewe them, 8 And tooke their lande, and gaue it for an inheritance vnto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the halfe tribe of Manasseh. 9 Keepe therefore the wordes of this couenant and doe them, that ye may prosper in all that ye shall doe. 10 Ye stand this day euery one of you before the Lord your God: your heads of your tribes, your Elders and your officers, eue al ye me of Israel: 11 Your children, your wiues, and thy stranger that is in thy campe from the hewer of thy wood, vnto the drawer of thy water, 12 That thou shouldest passe into the couenant of the Lord thy God, and into his othe which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day, 13 For to establish thee this day a people vnto him selfe, and that he may be vnto thee a God, as he hath said vnto thee, and as he hath sworne vnto thy fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob. 14 Neither make I this couenant, and this othe with you onely, 15 But aswel with him that standeth here with vs this day before the Lord our God, as with him that is not here with vs this day. 16 For ye knowe, how we haue dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we passed thorowe the middes of the nations, which ye passed by. 17 And ye haue seene their abominations and their idoles (wood, and stone, siluer and golde) which were among them, 18 That there should not be among you man nor woman, nor familie, nor tribe, which should turne his heart away this day from the Lord our God, to goe and serue the gods of these nations, and that there shoulde not be among you any roote that bringeth forth gall and wormewood, 19 So that when he heareth the words of this curse, he blesse him selfe in his heart, saying, I shall haue peace, although I walke according to the stubburnes of mine owne heart, thus adding drunkennesse to thirst. 20 The Lord will not be mercifull vnto him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his ielousie shall smoke against that man, and euery curse that is written in this booke, shall light vpon him, and the Lord shall put out his name from vnder heauen, 21 And the Lord shall separate him vnto euil out of all the tribes of Israel, according vnto all the curses of the couenant, that is written in the booke of this Lawe. 22 So that the generatio to come, euen your children, that shall rise vp after you, and the stranger, that shall come from a farre lande, shall say, when they shall see the plagues of this lande, and the diseases thereof, wherewith the Lord shall smite it: 23 (For all that land shall burne with brimstone and salt: it shall not be sowen, nor bring forth, nor any grasse shall growe therein, like as in the ouerthrowing of Sodom, and Gomorah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord ouerthrewe in his wrath and in his anger) 24 Then shall all nations say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus vnto this lande? how fierce is this great wrath? 25 And they shall answere, Because they haue forsaken the couenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he had made with them, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 And went and serued other gods and worshipped them: euen gods which they knewe not, and which had giuen them nothing, 27 Therefore the wrath of the Lord waxed hot against this land, to bring vpon it euery curse that is written in this booke. 28 And ye Lord hath rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and hath cast them into another land, as appeareth this day. 29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things reueiled belong vnto vs, and to our children for euer, that we may doe all the wordes of this Lawe.
The Lord's Covenant with Israel in the Land of Moab
1 These are the terms of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab; all this was in addition to the covenant which the Lord had made with them at Mount Sinai.
2 Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “You saw for yourselves what the Lord did to the king of Egypt, to his officials, and to his entire country. 3 You saw the terrible plagues, the miracles, and the great wonders that the Lord performed. 4 But to this very day he has not let you understand what you have experienced. 5 For forty years the Lord led you through the desert, and your clothes and sandals never wore out. 6 You did not have bread to eat or wine or beer to drink, but the Lord provided for your needs in order to teach you that he is your God. 7 And when we came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us. But we defeated them, 8 took their land, and divided it among the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do.
10 “Today you are standing in the presence of the Lord your God, all of you—your leaders and officials, your men, 11 women, and children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood and carry water for you. 12 You are here today to enter into this covenant that the Lord your God is making with you and to accept its obligations, 13 so that the Lord may now confirm you as his people and be your God, as he promised you and your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 You are not the only ones with whom the Lord is making this covenant with its obligations. 15 He is making it with all of us who stand here in his presence today and also with our descendants who are not yet born.
16 “You remember what life was like in Egypt and what it was like to travel through the territory of other nations. 17 You saw their disgusting idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the Lord our God to worship the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant. 19 Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike. 20 The Lord will not forgive such a man. Instead, the Lord's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the Lord has destroyed him completely. 21 The Lord will make an example of him before all the tribes of Israel and will bring disaster on him in accordance with all the curses listed in the covenant that is written in this book of the Lord's teachings.
22 “In future generations your descendants and foreigners from distant lands will see the disasters and sufferings that the Lord has brought on your land. 23 The fields will be a barren waste, covered with sulfur and salt; nothing will be planted, and not even weeds will grow there. Your land will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed when he was furiously angry. 24 Then the whole world will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to their land? What was the reason for his fierce anger?’ 25 And the answer will be, ‘It is because the Lord's people broke the covenant they had made with him, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They served other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that the Lord had forbidden them to worship. 27 And so the Lord became angry with his people and brought on their land all the disasters written in this book. 28 The Lord became furiously angry, and in his great anger he uprooted them from their land and threw them into a foreign land, and there they are today.’
29 “There are some things that the Lord our God has kept secret; but he has revealed his Law, and we and our descendants are to obey it forever.