Deuteronomy 30; Deuteronomy 31

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Deuteronomy 30

1 I have told you about all of those blessings and curses. The LORD will bring them on you. Then you will think carefully about them everywhere the LORD your God scatters you among the nations.
2 You and your children will return to the LORD your God. You will obey him with all your heart and with all your soul. That will be in keeping with everything I'm commanding you today.
3 When all of that happens, the LORD your God will bless you with great success again. He will be very kind to you. He'll bring you back from all of the nations where he scattered you.
4 Suppose you have been forced to go away to the farthest land on earth. The LORD your God will bring you back even from there.
5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your people long ago. You will take it over. He'll make you better off than your people were. He'll increase your numbers more than he increased theirs.
6 The LORD your God will keep your hearts from being stubborn. He'll do the same thing for your children and their children. Then you will love him with all your heart and with all your soul. And you will live.
7 The LORD your God will put all of those curses on your enemies. They hated you and hunted you down.
8 You will obey the LORD again. You will follow all of his commands that I'm giving you today.
9 Then the LORD your God will give you great success in everything you do. You will have many children. Your livestock will have many little ones. Your crops will do very well. The LORD will take delight in you again. He'll give you success. That's what he did for your people long ago.
10 But you must obey the LORD your God. You must keep his commands and rules. They are written in this Scroll of the Law. You must turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11 What I'm commanding you today is not too hard for you. It isn't beyond your reach.
12 It isn't up in heaven. So you don't have to ask, "Who will go up into heaven to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?"
13 And it isn't beyond the ocean. So you don't have to ask, "Who will go across the ocean to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?"
14 No, the message isn't far away at all. In fact, it's really near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart so that you can obey it.
15 Today I'm giving you a choice. You can have life and success. Or you can have death and harm.
16 I'm commanding you today to love the LORD your God. I'm commanding you to live exactly as he wants you to live. You must obey his commands, rules and laws. Then you will live. Your numbers will increase. The LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.
17 Don't let your hearts turn away from the Lord. Instead, obey him. Don't let yourselves be drawn away to other gods. And don't bow down to them and worship them.
18 If you do, I announce to you this very day that you will certainly be destroyed. You are about to go across the Jordan River and take over the land. But you won't live there very long.
19 I'm calling for heaven and earth to give witness against you this very day. I'm offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses. But I want you to choose life. Then you and your children will live.
20 And you will love the LORD your God. You will obey him. You will remain true to him. The LORD is your very life. He will give you many years in the land. He took an oath. He promised to give that land to your fathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.

Deuteronomy 31

1 Here are the words I spoke to all of the people of Israel.
2 I said, "I am now 120 years old. I'm not able to lead you anymore. The LORD has said to me, 'You will not go across the Jordan River.'
3 "The LORD your God himself will go across ahead of you. He'll destroy the nations that are there in order to make room for you. You will take over their land. Joshua will also go across ahead of you, just as the LORD said he would.
4 "The LORD will do to those nations what he did to Sihon and Og. He destroyed those Amorite kings along with their land.
5 The LORD will hand those nations over to you. Then you must do to them everything I've commanded you to do.
6 "Be strong and brave. Don't be afraid of them. Don't be terrified because of them. The LORD your God will go with you. He will never leave you. He'll never desert you."
7 Then I sent for Joshua. I spoke to him in front of all of the people of Israel. I said, "Be strong and brave. You must go with these people. They are going into the land the LORD promised with an oath to give to their fathers. You must divide it up among them. They will each receive their share.
8 The LORD himself will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will never leave you. He'll never desert you. So don't be afraid. Don't lose hope."
9 I wrote down that law. I gave it to the priests, who are sons of Levi. They carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. I also gave the law to all of the elders of Israel.
10 Then I commanded them, "You must read this law at the end of every seven years. Do it in the year when you forgive people what they owe. Read it during the Feast of Booths.
11 That's when all of the people of Israel come to appear in front of the LORD your God at the holy tent. It will be at the place he will choose. You must read this law to them.
12 "Gather the people together. Gather the men, women and children. Also bring together the outsiders who are living in your towns. Then they can listen and learn to have respect for the LORD your God. And they'll be careful to obey all of the words of this law.
13 Their children must hear it read too. They don't know this law yet. They too must learn to have respect for the LORD your God. They must respect him as long as you live in the land. You are about to go across the Jordan River and take that land as your very own."
14 The LORD spoke to me. He said, "The day when you will die is near. Have Joshua go to the Tent of Meeting. Join him there. That is where I will appoint him as the new leader." So Joshua and I went to the Tent of Meeting.
15 Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud. It stood over the entrance to the tent.
16 The LORD spoke to me. He said, "You are going to join the members of your family who have already died. The people will not be faithful to me. They will soon join themselves to the strange gods that are worshiped in the land they are entering. The people will desert me. They will break the covenant I made with them.
17 "On that day I will become angry with them. I will desert them. I will turn my face away from them. And they will be destroyed. Many horrible troubles and hard times will come on them. On that day they will say, 'Trouble has come on us. Our God isn't with us!'
18 "I will certainly turn away from them on that day. I will do it because they did a very evil thing when they turned to other gods.
19 "I want you to write down a song for yourselves. Teach it to the people of Israel. Have them sing it. It will be my witness against them.
20 "I will bring them into a land that has plenty of milk and honey. I promised the land to their fathers. I took an oath when I promised it. In that land they will eat until they have had enough. They will get fat. When they do, they will turn to other gods and worship them. They will turn their backs on me. They will break my covenant.
21 "Many horrible troubles and hard times will come on them. Then the song I am giving you will be a witness against them. That is because the song will not be forgotten by their children and their children's children. I know what they are likely to do. I know it even before I bring them into the land I promised them with an oath."
22 So that day I wrote the song down. And I taught it to the people of Israel.
23 The LORD gave a command to Joshua, the son of Nun. He said, "Be strong and brave. You will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them with an oath. I myself will be with you."
24 I finished writing the words of that law in a scroll. I wrote them down from beginning to end.
25 Then I gave a command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. I said,
26 "Take this Scroll of the Law. Place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. It will remain there as a witness against you.
27 I know how you refuse to obey the Lord. I know how stubborn you are. You have refused to obey him while I've been living among you. So you will certainly refuse to obey him after I'm dead!
28 Gather together all of the elders of your tribes and all of your officials. Bring them to me. Then I can speak these words to them. I can call for heaven and earth to give witness against them.
29 I know that after I'm dead you will certainly become very sinful. You will turn away from the path I've commanded you to take. In days to come, trouble will fall on you. That's because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. You will make him very angry because of the statues of gods your hands have made."
30 I spoke the words of this song from beginning to end. The whole community of Israel heard them. Here is what I said.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.