1Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God , and keep his charge , and his statutes , and his ordinances , and his commandments , alway . 2And know ye this day : for I speak not with your children that have not known , and that have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God , his greatness , his mighty hand , and his outstretched arm , 3and his signs, and his works , which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt , and unto all his land; 4and what he did unto the army of Egypt , unto their horses , and to their chariots ; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you , and how Jehovah hath destroyed them unto this day ; 5and what he did unto you in the wilderness , until ye came unto this place ; 6and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben ; how the earth opened its mouth , and swallowed them up , and their households , and their tents, and every living thing that followed them , in the midst of all Israel : 7but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did .
The Consequences of Obedience and Disobedience
8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day , that ye may be strong , and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it ; 9and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed , a land flowing with milk and honey . 10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it , is not as the land of Egypt , from whence ye came out , where thou sowedst thy seed , and wateredst it with thy foot , as a garden of herbs ; 11but the land , whither ye go over to possess it , is a land of hills and valleys , and drinketh water of the rain of heaven , 12a land which Jehovah thy God careth for : the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it , from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year . 13And it shall come to pass , if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day , to love Jehovah your God , and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul , 14that I will give the rain of your land in its season , the former rain and the latter rain , that thou mayest gather in thy grain , and thy new wine , and thine oil . 15And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full . 16Take heed to yourselves , lest your heart be deceived , and ye turn aside , and serve other gods, and worship them ; 17and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you , and he shut up the heavens , so that there shall be no rain , and the land shall not yield its fruit ; and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you .
The Importance of Teaching God's Commands
18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand , and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes . 19And ye shall teach them your children , talking of them , when thou sittest in thy house , and when thou walkest by the way , and when thou liest down , and when thou risest up . 20And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house , and upon thy gates ; 21that your days may be multiplied , and the days of your children , in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them , as the days of the heavens above the earth . 22For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you , to do it , to love Jehovah your God , to walk in all his ways , and to cleave unto him ; 23then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you , and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves . 24Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness , and Lebanon , from the river , the river Euphrates , even unto the hinder sea shall be your border . 25There shall no man be able to stand before you : Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon , as he hath spoken unto you .
The Promise of the Land
26Behold , I set before you this day a blessing and a curse : 27the blessing , if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God , which I command you this day ; 28and the curse , if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah your God , but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day , to go after other gods, which ye have not known . 29And it shall come to pass , when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it , that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim , and the curse upon mount Ebal . 30Are they not beyond the Jordan , behind the way of the going down of the sun , in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah , over against Gilgal , beside the oaks of Moreh ? 31For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you , and ye shall possess it , and dwell therein . 32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day .