Study Desk

'Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey just as You swore to our fathers.'

and that He will put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken."

and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, "Be silent and listen, Israel! This day you have become a people for the LORD your God.

"The Levites shall then respond and say to all the people of Israel with a loud voice,

'Cursed is the person who makes a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall reply and say, 'Amen.'

'Cursed is one who misleads a person who is blind on the road.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

'Cursed is one who distorts the justice due a stranger, an orphan, or a widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

'Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to attack an innocent person.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

"The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.

and you will be groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you.

"You will betroth a woman, but another man will violate her; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit.

"A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually.

"The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of wood and stone.

"And you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the LORD drives you.

"You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locust will devour it.

"And they will become a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.

"Since you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things,

"The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand,

a nation with a defiant attitude, who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.