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The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

¹ "When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. ² Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, ³ the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you. ⁴ Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. ⁵ Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. ⁶ The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live. ⁷ Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. ⁸ You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today. ⁹ The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors, ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.

Exhortation to Covenant Obedience

¹¹ "This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote. ¹² It is not in heaven, as though one must say, "Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" ¹³ And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, "Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" ¹⁴ For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it.

¹⁵ "Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. ¹⁶ What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess. ¹⁷ However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, ¹⁸ I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. ¹⁹ Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! ²⁰ I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."