Deuteronomy 11

1You must love the LORD your God and obey all his requirements, decrees, regula- 11:1 1 1 tions, and commands. 2Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who tev I 829-80 have never experienced the discipline of the LORD your God or seen his greatness and his 1012-1 strong hand and powerful arm. 3They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he per- eat 5:24 formed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land. 4They didn’t see what the LORD did tothe 14:4 armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Sea* as Exod ies 15:4 they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!, 5“Your children didn’t see how the LORD cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here. 6They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Nie 16:31: Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along 26-10-11 with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7But you have seen the LORD perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!

The Blessings of Obedience

88"Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have 11:8 strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. 9If you obey, you will enjoy a eat Meo" 28 long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants— 11:9 a land flowing with milk and honey! 10For the land you are about to enter and take over is Deut 4:40: 8:33; not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and madeirri- Prov 10:27 gation ditches with your foot as ina vegetable garden. 11Rather, the land you will soon take aN 6-7-9 over isa land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain— 12a land that the LORD your God cares. for. He watches over it through each season of the year! 13"Tf you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, andifyoulove the LORD 11:13 I I your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then he will send the rains in their 9eu,*?9 617 proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new 11:14 wine, and olive oil. 15He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves Lev 26 will have all you want to eat. 11:15 16"But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD Deut 6:10-12 and serve and worship other gods. 17If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He B18... 56.43 will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce itsharvests. 44.470 Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you. Deut 4:26; 28:24 18“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands i 18 199.16 and wear them on your forehead as reminders. *9 Teach them to your children. Talk about 44.49 them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and Deut 4:9; 6:7 when you are getting up. 20Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 2150 that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors. pie 7s 10:20 22"Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your” 4.23 _ God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him. 23Then the LORD will drive out all the Deut 4:38; 7:1 nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take ue 518 over their land. 24Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch Exod 23:31 from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in S535 1:3" the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.* 25No one will be able to stand against you, for 44:25 the LORD your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever Exod 23:27 you go in the whole land. 11:26 26"Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! 27You will be Deut 30:1, 15-20

between God and Israel. Both parties had agreed to the terms.The blessings would benefit Israel if they kept their part of thecovenant: They would receive the land, live there forever, havefruitful crops, and expel their enemies. The curse would fall onisrael only if they broke their agreement; then they would forfeitGod’s blessing and be in danger of crop failure, invasion, andexpulsion from their land. Joshua later reviewed these blessingsand curses with the entire nation (Joshua 8:34).11:26 [tis amazing that God set before the Israelites a choicebetween a blessing and a curse. It is even more amazing thatmost of them, through their disobedience, chose the curse. Wehave the same fundamental choice today. We can live for our-selves or live in service to God. To choose our own way is to

blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. 28But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before. 29“When the LORD your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal. 30(These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley,* near the town of Gilgal, not far from the oaks of Moreh.)3"For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it, $2you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today. 3. Laws for proper worship