The Covenant in Moab

1These are the words of the covenant that YHWH commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that He made with them in Horeb.†

2And Moses called to all Israel and said to them, “You⁺ have seen all that YHWH did before your⁺ eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land— 3the great trials that your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4And YHWH has not given to you⁺ a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.

5And I have led you⁺ forty years in the wilderness;

your⁺ garments have not worn out from you⁺, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.

6Bread you⁺ have not eaten, and wine and strong drink you⁺ have not drunk,

so that you⁺ may know that I am YHWH your⁺ God.

7And you⁺ came to this place, and Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8And we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenite, and to the Gadite, and to the half-tribe of the Manassite. 9And you⁺ shall keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that in all that you⁺ do you⁺ may prosper.

10You⁺ stand today, all of you⁺, before the face of YHWH your⁺ God—your⁺ leaders of your⁺ tribes,† and your⁺ elders, and your⁺ officers—all the men of Israel, 11your⁺ little ones, and your⁺ wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12that you may enter into the covenant of YHWH your God and into His oath, which YHWH your God makes with you today, 13so that He may establish you today as a people unto Himself, and that He may be unto you God, as He has spoken to you and as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14And not with you⁺ alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath, 15but with those who are here with us today standing before the face of YHWH our God, and with him who is not here with us today.

16For you⁺ know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations that you⁺ passed through. 17And you⁺ saw their abominations, and their idols—wood and stone and silver and gold—that were among them,

18lest there be among you⁺ man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from YHWH our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations, lest there be among you⁺ a root bearing gall and wormwood,† 19and it will come to pass in his hearing the words of this oath,† that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,’ so that the wet are swept away with the dry. 20YHWH will not spare him, for then the anger of YHWH and His jealousy would burn against that man, and upon him will rest every oath written in this book, and YHWH will blot out his name from under the heavens. 21And YHWH will separate him for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the oaths of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

22And the latter generation of your⁺ sons who rise up after you⁺, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will say when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses that YHWH has laid on it: 23Of sulfur and salt is all the land burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there—like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which YHWH overthrew in His anger and His wrath.

24And all the nations will say, ‘What has YHWH done to this land upon thus? Why the heat of this great anger?’

25And they will say, ‘Upon that they have forsaken the covenant of YHWH, God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26For they went and served other gods and worshiped them—gods that they did not know, that He had not apportioned to them— 27and the anger of YHWH was kindled against that land, to bring on it every curse written in this book. 28And YHWH uprooted them from their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and He cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

29The things hidden are of YHWH our God, and the things revealed are to us and to our sons even to forever, that we may do all the words of this law.