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Love and Obey the Lord

¹ "Love the Lord your God. Always do what He tells you and keep all His Laws. ² I am not speaking to your children. They have not seen how the Lord worked and how great He is. ³ They have not seen the special things you have seen, what He did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land. ⁴ They have not seen what He did to Egypt's army, the horses and war-wagons. He made the water of the Red Sea flow over them while they were coming after you. He destroyed every one of them. ⁵ They have not seen what He did to you in the desert until you came to this place. ⁶ They do not know what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, those of their house, their tents, and every living thing that followed them among Israel. ⁷ But your own eyes have seen all the great work the Lord has done.

⁸ "So keep every Law which I am telling you today. And you will be strong and go in and take the land which is to be yours. ⁹ You will live long in the land the Lord promised to your fathers and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land you are going in to take is not like the land you came from in Egypt. There you planted your seed and watered it using your feet, like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are about to go into and take for your own is a land of hills and valleys. It drinks water from the rain of heaven. ¹² The Lord your God cares for this land. His eyes watch over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

¹³ "Listen to and obey all the Laws I am telling you today. Love the Lord your God. Work for Him with all your heart and soul. If you do, ¹⁴ He will give the rain for your land at the right times, the early and late rain. So you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. ¹⁵ He will give grass in your fields for your cattle. And you will eat and be filled. ¹⁶ Be careful not to let your hearts be fooled so you turn away and work for other gods and worship them. ¹⁷ Or the anger of the Lord will burn against you. He will shut the heavens so there will be no rain and the ground will not give its fruit. Then you will be quick to die from the good land the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ "Keep these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. Tie them as something special to see upon your hand and on your forehead between your eyes. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them beside the door of your house and on your gates. ²¹ And your days and the days of your children will become many in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² Be careful to obey all this Law which I am telling you. Love the Lord your God. Walk in all His ways and hold on to Him. If you do, ²³ the Lord will drive out all these nations in front of you. And you will take for your own what has belonged to nations greater and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where your foot steps will be yours. Your land will be from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the sea in the west. ²⁵ There no man will be able to stand in front of you. The Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land where you walk, as He has promised you.

²⁶ "See, I am putting in front of you today good and a curse. ²⁷ Good will come to you if you listen to the Laws of the Lord your God, which I am telling you today. ²⁸ But a curse will come to you if you do not listen to the Laws of the Lord your God and turn aside from the way I am telling you today, by following other gods you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord your God brings you into the land which is to be yours, you are to speak on Mount Gerizim about the good and on Mount Ebal the curses. ³⁰ You know they are on the other side of the Jordan, west of the road where the sun goes down. They are in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, beside Gilgal, next to the trees of Moreh. ³¹ You are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take the land the Lord your God is giving you. It will be your land and you will live in it. ³² Be careful to obey all the Laws which I am giving you today.