Study Desk

"Then people will say, 'It is because they abandoned (broke) the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things which are revealed and disclosed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may do all of the words of this law.

"So it shall be when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

and you have returned to the LORD your God and have listened to and obeyed His voice with all your heart and with all your soul, in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your children,

then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes [in your return from exile], and have compassion on you, and will gather you together again from all the peoples (nations) where He has scattered you.

"Even if any of your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you together from there, and from there He will bring you back.

"The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it; and He shall make you prosper and multiply—even more than your fathers.

"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing].

"The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who have persecuted you.

"Then the LORD your God shall make you abundantly prosperous in everything that you do, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your land; for the LORD will again delight over you for good, just as He delighted over your fathers,

if you listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.

by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

"It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will go across before you [to lead you], just as the LORD has said.

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble in dread before them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or abandon you."

when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all [the people of] Israel so that they may hear.

"Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) within your cities, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and be careful to obey all the words of this law.

"Their children, who have not known [the law], will hear and learn to fear [and worship] the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

"Then My anger will be kindled and burn against them in that day, and I will abandon (turn away from) them and hide My face from them. They will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come on them, so that they will say in that day, 'Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come on us?'

"Take this Book of the Law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.