The Agreement in Moab
29 The Lord commanded Moses to make an agreement with the Israelites in Moab. This agreement was in addition to the agreement he had made with them at Mount Sinai.
2 Moses called all the Israelites together. And he said to them:
You have seen everything the Lord did to the king of Egypt. You saw what he did to the king’s leaders and to the whole country. 3 With your own eyes you saw the great troubles, signs and miracles. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands. You don’t really understand what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears. 5 The Lord led you through the desert for 40 years. During that time neither your clothes nor sandals wore out. 6 You ate no bread. You drank no wine or beer. This was so you would understand that he is the Lord your God.
7 You came to this place. Then Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight us. But we defeated them. 8 We captured their land. And we gave it to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh to own.
9 You must carefully obey everything in this agreement. Then you will succeed in everything you do. 10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God. Here are your leaders and important men. Your elders, officers and all the other men of Israel are here. 11 Here are your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you. They chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God. The Lord is making this agreement with you today. 13 This will make you today the Lord’s own people. He will be your God. This is what he told you. He promised it to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 But the Lord is not just making this agreement and its promises with you. 15 You are standing here before the Lord your God today. But he is also making it with those who are not here today.
16 You know how we lived in Egypt. You know how we passed through the countries when we came here. 17 You saw their hated idols made of wood, stone, silver and gold. 18 Make sure no man, woman, family group or tribe among you leaves the Lord. Don’t let them go and serve the gods of those nations. That would be like a plant that grows bitter, poisonous fruit.
19 That kind of person might hear these curses. But he blesses himself. And he thinks, “I will be safe. I will continue doing what I want to do.” That person might destroy all of your land, both wet and dry. 20 The Lord will not forgive that person. His anger will be like a burning fire against that man. All the curses written in this book will come on him. And the Lord will destroy any memory of him on the earth. 21 The Lord will separate him from all the tribes of Israel for punishment. All the curses of the agreement will happen to him. They are written in this Book of the Teachings.
22 Your children who will come after you will see this. And foreigners from faraway lands will see this. They will see the disasters that come to this land. And they will see the diseases the Lord will send on it. They will say, 23 “The land is nothing but burning cinders and salt. Nothing is planted. Nothing grows. Nothing blooms. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboiim. The Lord destroyed them because he was very angry.” 24 All the other nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to the land? Why is he so angry?”
25 And the answer will be, “It is because the people broke the agreement of the Lord, the God of their ancestors. He made it with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods. They bowed down to gods they did not even know. The Lord did not allow that. 27 So the Lord became very angry at the land. And he brought all the curses on it that are written in this book. 28 The Lord became angry and furious with them. So he took them out of their land. And he put them in another land where they are today.”
29 There are some things the Lord our God has kept secret. But there are some things he has let us know. These things belong to us and our children forever. It is so we will do everything in these teachings.