Deuteronomy 11
The Israelites are reminded to love and obey God, keeping his commandments and ceremonies, and to teach their sons about the great works God accomplished for them. If they obey, God will give them rain and fertile land, but if they disobey, he will withhold rain and they will perish. They are instructed to place God's words in their hearts, teach them to their sons, and write them on their doorposts. If they keep God's commandments, he will scatter their enemies and give them the land he promised. A blessing will come if they obey, but a curse if they disobey and follow foreign gods.
"And so, love the Lord your God, and observe his precepts and ceremonies, his judgments and commandments, at all timesAcknowledge, on this day, the things that your sons did not know. For they did not see the chastisements of the Lord your God, his great acts, and powerful hand, and outstretched armthe signs and works that he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, the king, and to his entire landand to the entire army of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the waters of the Red Sea covered them as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord wiped them away, even to the present dayand the things that he accomplished for you in the wilderness, until you arrived at this placeand to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, who was the son of Reuben, those whom the earth, opening its mouth, engulfed with their households and tents, and with their entire substance which they had in the midst of IsraelYour eyes have seen all the great works of the Lord, which he has accomplishedso that you would keep all his commandments, which I entrust to you this day, and so that you would be able to enter and possess the land, toward which you are advancingand so that you may live, for a long time, in the land which the Lord promised under oath to your fathers, and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honeyFor the land, which you shall enter and possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from which you departed, where, when seed has been sown, waters are brought in by irrigation, in the manner of gardensRather, it has mountainous regions and plains, which lay waiting for rain from heavenAnd the Lord your God always visits it, and his eyes are upon it, from the beginning of the year, all the way to its endSo then, if you obey my commandments, which I am instructing to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with your whole heart and your whole soulhe will give to your land the early rain and the late rain, so that you may gather your grain, and your wine, and your oiland your hay from the fields in order to feed your cattle, and so that you yourselves may eat and be satisfiedBe careful, lest perhaps your heart may be deceived, and you might withdraw from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore themAnd the Lord, becoming angry, might close up heaven, so that the rain would not descend, nor would the earth produce her seedlings, and then you would quickly perish from the excellent land, which the Lord will give to youPlace these words of mine in your hearts and minds, and hang them as a sign on your hands, and arrange them between your eyesTeach your sons to meditate on them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down or rise upYou shall write them upon the doorposts and the gates of your houseso that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your sons, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, that he would give it to them for as long as heaven is suspended above the earthFor if you keep the commandments which I am entrusting to you, and if you do them, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, clinging to himthe Lord will scatter all these nations before your face, and you shall possess them, though they are greater and stronger than youEvery place upon which your foot shall tread will be yours. From the desert, and from Lebanon, from the great river Euphrates, as far as the western sea, shall be your bordersNo one will stand against you. The Lord your God will spread the terror and dread of you over all the land upon which you shall tread, just as he has spoken to youBehold, I am setting forth in your sight today a blessing and a curseIt will be a blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am instructing to you this dayIt will be a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but instead you withdraw from the way, which I am revealing to you now, and you walk after foreign gods that you have not knownYet truly, when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, to which you are traveling for a habitation, you shall place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, the curse upon Mount Ebalwhich are across the Jordan, behind the way which slopes toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite, who lives in the plains opposite Gilgal, which is near the valley extending toward and entering a distant placeFor you shall cross over the Jordan, so that you may possess the land which the Lord your God will give you, so that you may have it and possess itTherefore, see to it that you fulfill the ceremonies and judgments, which I am placing in your sight this day.
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