Study Desk

Then, standing there in front of the place of worship, you must pray: My ancestor was homeless, an Aramean who went to live in Egypt. There were only a few in his family then, but they became great and powerful, a nation of many people.

In response, you have agreed that the Lord will be your God, that you will obey all his laws and teachings, and that you will listen when he speaks to you.

Since you have agreed to obey the Lord , he has agreed that you will be his people and that you will belong to him, just as he promised.

So you must obey his laws and teachings that I am giving you."

The people of the Levi tribe will speak each curse in a loud voice, then the rest of the people will agree to that curse by saying, "Amen!" Here are the curses: We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who makes an idol or worships idols, even secretly. The Lord is disgusted with idols. We ask the Lord to put a curse on all who do not show respect for their father and mother. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who moves the rocks that mark property lines. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who tells blind people to go the wrong way. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who keeps the poor from getting justice, whether these poor are foreigners, widows, or orphans. We ask the Lord to put a curse on any man who sleeps with his father's wife; that man has shown no respect for his father's marriage. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who has sex with an animal. We ask the Lord to put a curse on any man who sleeps with his sister or his half sister or his mother-in-law. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who commits murder, even when there are no witnesses to the crime. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who accepts money to murder an innocent victim. We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who refuses to obey his laws. And so, to each of these curses, the people will answer, "Amen!"

If you follow and obey the Lord , he will make you his own special people, just as he promised.

But you must not reject any of his laws and teachings or worship other gods.

No matter what you try to accomplish, the Lord will confuse you, and you will feel his anger. You won't last long, and you may even meet with disaster, all because you rejected the Lord .

Because of hunger, a man who had been gentle and kind will eat his own children and refuse to share the meal with his brother or wife or with his other children.

So Moses finished telling the Israelites what they had to do in order to keep the agreement the Lord was making with them in Moab, which was in addition to the one the Lord had made with them at Mount Sinai. Moses called the nation of Israel together and told them: When you were in Egypt, you saw the Lord perform great miracles that caused trouble for the king, his officials, and everyone else in the country. He has even told you, "For forty years I, the Lord , led you through the desert, but your clothes and your sandals didn't wear out, and I gave you special food. I did these things so you would realize that I am your God." But the Lord must give you a change of heart before you truly understand what you have seen and heard. When we first camped here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan attacked, but we defeated them. Then we captured their land and divided it among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. Moses said: Israel, the Lord has made an agreement with you, and if you keep your part, you will be successful in everything you do. Today everyone in our nation is standing here in the Lord 's presence, including leaders and officials, parents and children, and even those foreigners who cut wood and carry water for us. We are at this place of worship to promise that we will keep our part of the agreement with the Lord our God. In this agreement, the Lord promised that you would be his people and that he would be your God. He first made this promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and today the Lord is making this same promise to you. But it isn't just for you; it is also for your descendants. When we lived in Egypt, you saw the Egyptians worship disgusting idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold. Then as we traveled through other nations, you saw those people worship other disgusting idols. So make sure that everyone in your tribe remains faithful to the Lord and never starts worshiping gods of other nations. If even one of you worships idols, you will be like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous fruit. You may be an Israelite and know all about the Lord 's agreement with us, but he won't bless you if you rebel against him. You may think you can get away with it, but you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you. The Lord will be furious, and instead of forgiving you, he will separate you from the other tribes. Then he will destroy you, by piling on you all the curses in The Book of God's Law, and you will be forgotten forever. The Lord will strike your country with diseases and disasters. Your descendants and foreigners from distant countries will see that your land has become a scorching desert of salt and sulfur, where nothing is planted, nothing sprouts, and nothing grows. It will be as lifeless as the land around the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, after the Lord became angry and destroyed them. People from other nations will ask, "Why did the Lord destroy this country? Why was he so furious?" And they will be given this answer: Our ancestors worshiped the Lord , but after he brought them out of Egypt and made an agreement with them, they rejected the agreement and decided to worship gods that had never helped them. The Lord had forbidden Israel to worship these gods, and so he became furious and punished the land with all the curses in The Book of God's Law. Then he pulled up Israel by the roots and tossed them into a foreign country, where they still are today. The Lord our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but he has commanded us to obey the laws he gave to us and our descendants.

So Moses finished telling the Israelites what they had to do in order to keep the agreement the Lord was making with them in Moab, which was in addition to the one the Lord had made with them at Mount Sinai. Moses called the nation of Israel together and told them: When you were in Egypt, you saw the Lord perform great miracles that caused trouble for the king, his officials, and everyone else in the country.

In this agreement, the Lord promised that you would be his people and that he would be your God. He first made this promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and today the Lord is making this same promise to you. But it isn't just for you; it is also for your descendants.

His commands aren't in heaven, so you can't excuse yourselves by saying, "How can we obey the Lord 's commands? They are in heaven, and no one can go up to get them, then bring them down and explain them to us."

I am commanding you to be loyal to the Lord , to live the way he has told you, and to obey his laws and teachings. You are about to cross the Jordan River and take the land that he is giving you. If you obey him, you will live and become successful and powerful. On the other hand, you might choose to disobey the Lord and reject him. So I'm warning you that if you bow down and worship other gods, you won't have long to live.

But you lie and cheat and are unfaithful to him. You have disgraced yourselves and are no longer worthy to be his children.

Israel, the Lord discovered you in a barren desert filled with howling winds. God became your fortress, protecting you as though you were his own eyes.

But the Lord has written a list of their sins and locked it in his vault.

Tell the heavens to celebrate and all gods to bow down to the Lord , because he will take revenge on those hateful enemies who killed his people. He will forgive the sins of Israel and purify their land.

The Lord came from Mount Sinai. From Edom, he gave light to his people, and his glory was shining from Mount Paran. Thousands of his warriors were with him, and fire was at his right hand.

The Lord loves the tribes of Israel, and he protects his people. They listen to his words and worship at his feet.