Study Desk

Yes, always use honest weights and measures, so that you may enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders.

"Every third year you must offer a special tithe of your crops. In this year of the special tithe you must give your tithes to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that they will have enough to eat in your towns.

"Today the Lord your God has commanded you to obey all these decrees and regulations. So be careful to obey them wholeheartedly.

So you must obey the Lord your God by keeping all these commands and decrees that I am giving you today."

A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment.

"The siege and terrible distress of the enemy's attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.

The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.

She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.

He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief.

You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he provided for you so you would know that he is the Lord your God.

"Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do.

I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

"And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?'

"The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.

"The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?'

It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?'

No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!