The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

⭑ Berean Study Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 11 -

(Deuteronomy 4:1–14)

You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm;

the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea

(a)

engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day;

what He did for you in the wilderness until you reached this place;

and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them.

For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.

God’s Great Blessings

(Joshua 1:1–9)

You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.

But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.

It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

then I will provide

(b)

rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil.

And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.

But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods,

or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

Remember God’s Words

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,

so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.

For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.

Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.(c)

No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you.

A Blessing and a Curse

See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today,

but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak (d) of Moreh?

For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it,

be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

Footnotes

(a)11:4 Or the Sea of Reeds

(b)11:14 Hebrew; SP, LXX, and Vulgate He will provide; also in verse 15

(d)11:30 SP, LXX, and Syriac (see Genesis 12:6); Hebrew Oaks or Terebinths or Great Trees

(Deuteronomy 4:1–14)

Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments, always.

Know this day—for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm,

his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land;

and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;

and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel;

but your eyes have seen all of the LORD’s great work which he did.

God’s Great Blessings

(Joshua 1:1–9)

Therefore you shall keep the entire commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land that you go over to possess;

and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

For the land, where you go in to possess isn’t like the land of Egypt that you came out of, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;

but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky,

a land which the LORD your God cares for. The LORD your God’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.

It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other gods and worship them;

and the LORD’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.

Remember God’s Words

Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates;

that your days and your children’s days may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you—to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him—

then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your border.

No man will be able to stand before you. The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.

A Blessing and a Curse

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:

the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today;

and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

It shall happen, when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal.

Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it.

You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today.