New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.
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These are the terms of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the People of Israel in the land of Moab, renewing the Covenant he made with them at Horeb.
2 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,
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Moses called all Israel together and said, You've seen with your own eyes everything that God did in Egypt to Pharaoh and his servants, and to the land itself -
3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
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the massive trials to which you were eyewitnesses, the great signs and miracle-wonders.
4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.
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But God didn't give you an understanding heart or perceptive eyes or attentive ears until right now, this very day.
5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. The clothes on your back have not worn out, and the sandals on your feet have not worn out;
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I took you through the wilderness for forty years and through all that time the clothes on your backs didn't wear out, the sandals on your feet didn't wear out,
6 you have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink—so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
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and you lived well without bread and wine and beer, proving to you that I am in fact God, your God.
7 When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us for battle, but we defeated them.
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When you arrived here in this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan met us primed for war but we beat them.
8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
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We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
9 Therefore diligently observe the words of this covenant, in order that you may succeed in everything that you do.
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Diligently keep the words of this Covenant. Do what they say so that you will live well and wisely in every detail.
10 You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel,
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You are all standing here today in the Presence of God, your God - the heads of your tribes, your leaders, your officials, all Israel:
11 your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water—
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your babies, your wives, the resident foreigners in your camps who fetch your firewood and water
12 to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today;
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- ready to cross over into the solemnly sworn Covenant that God, your God, is making with you today,
13 in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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the Covenant that this day confirms that you are his people and he is God, your God, just as he promised you and your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the Lord our God,
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I'm not making this Covenant and its oath with you alone.
15 but also with those who are not here with us today.
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I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today.
16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.
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You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels.
17 You have seen their detestable things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, that were among them.
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You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods.
18 It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the Lord our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.
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Don't let down your guard lest even now, today, someone - man or woman, clan or tribe - gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you,
19 All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, "We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways" (thus bringing disaster on moist and dry alike) —
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a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, "I'll live just the way I please, thank you," and ends up ruining life for everybody.
20 the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for the Lord's anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.
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God won't let him off the hook. God's anger and jealousy will erupt like a volcano against that person. The curses written in this book will bury him. God will delete his name from the records.
21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
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God will separate him out from all the tribes of Israel for special punishment, according to all the curses of the Covenant written in this Book of Revelation.
22 The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it—
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The next generation, your children who come after you and the foreigner who comes from a far country, will be appalled when they see the widespread devastation, how God made the whole land sick.
23 all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger—
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They'll see a fire-blackened wasteland of brimstone and salt flats, nothing planted, nothing growing, not so much as a blade of grass anywhere - like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fiery rage.
24 they and indeed all the nations will wonder, "Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?"
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All the nations will ask, "Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?"
25 They will conclude, "It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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Your children will answer, "Because they abandoned the Covenant of the God of their ancestors that he made with them after he got them out of Egypt;
26 They turned and served other gods, worshiping them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them;
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they went off and worshiped other gods, submitted to gods they'd never heard of before, gods they had no business dealing with.
27 so the anger of the Lord was kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written in this book.
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So God's anger erupted against that land and all the curses written in this book came down on it.
28 The Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is now the case."
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God, furiously angry, pulled them, roots and all, out of their land and dumped them in another country, as you can see."
29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.
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God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.