The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 29 -

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land.

The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders,

And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day.

He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age.

You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

And you came to this place: sand Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.

And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses.

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfill them: that you may understand all that you do.

You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:

That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee.

That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,

But with all that are present and that are absent.

For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them,

You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:

And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,

Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned:

Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.

Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;

the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.

But the LORD has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet.

You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.

When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them.

We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.

Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

All of you stand today in the presence of the LORD your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,

that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today,

that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only,

but with those who stand here with us today before the LORD our God, and also with those who are not here with us today

(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed;

and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them);

lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;

and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry.

The LORD will not pardon him, but then the LORD’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under the sky.

The LORD will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick,

that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

Even all the nations will say, “Why has the LORD done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?”

Then men will say, “Because they abandoned 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,

and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them.

Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book.

The LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”

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