Study Desk

You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens.

You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity.

If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received,

a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young.

The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children.

For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone!

In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!' And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!' For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you.

For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

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.

"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.

"In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.

"The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors.

"This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach.

For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you."

Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, "Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land.

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle, so that I may commission him there." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle.

"So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them.

For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant.