
The Words of the Covenant
These are the words of the covenant,
which YAHWEH commanded Moses to make with the Children of YisraEl in the land of Moab,
beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
And Moses called unto all YisraEl, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that YAHWEH did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet YAHWEH hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am YAHWEH your Elohim. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. Ye stand this day all of you before YAHWEH your Elohim; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of YisraEl, Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: That thou shouldest enter into covenant with YAHWEH thy Elohim, and into his oath, which YAHWEH thy Elohim maketh with thee this day: That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a Elohim, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; But with him that standeth here with us this day before YAHWEH our Elohim, and also with him that is not here with us this day: (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from YAHWEH our Elohim, to go and serve the dieties of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: YAHWEH will not spare him, but then the anger of YAHWEH and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and YAHWEH shall blot out his name from under heaven.
And YAHWEH shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of YisraEl, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which YAHWEH hath laid upon it; And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which YAHWEH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath YAHWEH done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of YAHWEH Elohim of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other dieties, and worshipped them, dieties whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: And the anger of YAHWEH was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And YAHWEH rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
The secret things belong unto YAHWEH our Elohim: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither YAHWEH thy Elohim hath driven thee, And shalt return unto YAHWEH thy Elohim, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then YAHWEH thy Elohim will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither YAHWEH thy Elohim hath scattered thee.
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will YAHWEH thy Elohim gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And YAHWEH thy Elohim will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And YAHWEH thy Elohim will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love YAHWEH thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
And YAHWEH thy Elohim will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of YAHWEH, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And YAHWEH thy Elohim will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for YAHWEH will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of YAHWEH thy Elohim, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto YAHWEH thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love YAHWEH thy Elohim, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and YAHWEH thy Elohim shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other dieties, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
That thou mayest love YAHWEH thy Elohim,
and that thou mayest obey his voice,
and that thou mayest cleave unto him:
for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:
that thou mayest dwell in the land
which YAHWEH sware unto thy fathers,
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
to give them
(Deuteronomy 29-30).