Deuteronomy 11

Love the LORD and Keep His Charge

1“You shall love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments all the days. 2Know today—for I am not speaking with your children who have not known and have not seen—the discipline of the LORD your God: his greatness, his strong hand, and his outstretched arm; 3his signs and his deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all his land; 4and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and chariots, how he made the waters of the Sea of Reeds flow over them when they pursued you, and the LORD destroyed them to this day; 5and what he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6and what he did to Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. 7For your own eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD that he did.

Keep the Commandment and Possess the Land

8“So you shall keep all the commandment that I command you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land that you are crossing over to possess, 9and so that you may prolong your days upon the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

A Land that Depends on Rain from Heaven

10“For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a vegetable garden. 11But the land that you are crossing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys. From the rain of the heavens it drinks water, 12a land that the LORD your God seeks after. The eyes of the LORD your God are continually upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

If You Listen Diligently

13“And it will be, if you diligently listen to my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your life, 14then I will give the rain of your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, so that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. 15I will give grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16Guard yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them. 17Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that there is no rain and the ground does not give its produce, and you will quickly perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

Put These Words on Your Heart

18“You shall put these words of mine on your heart and on your life. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. 20Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied upon the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

No One Will Stand before You

22“For if you diligently keep all this commandment that I command you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him, 23then the LORD will dispossess all these nations from before you, and you will possess nations greater and mightier than you. 24Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. From the wilderness and Lebanon, from the River, the Euphrates River, as far as the western sea, shall be your territory. 25No one will stand before you. The LORD your God will put the dread and fear of you upon all the land on which you tread, as he spoke to you.

Blessing and Curse

26“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today; 28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God but turn aside from the way that I command you today to go after other gods whom you have not known. 29And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30Are they not beyond the Jordan, toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31For you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall possess it and live in it. 32So you shall be careful to do all the statutes and judgments that I set before you today.