Do Not Forget the Lord

8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live^(A) and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.^{(B) 2} Remember how the Lord your God led^(C) you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test^(D) you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled^(E) you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,^(F) which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach^(G) you that man does not live on bread^(H) alone but on every word that comes from the mouth^(I) of the Lord.^{(J) 4} Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.^{(K) 5} Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.^(L)

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him^(M) and revering him.^{(N) 7} For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land^(O)—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;^{(P) 8} a land with wheat and barley,^(Q) vines^(R) and fig trees,^(S) pomegranates, olive oil and honey;^{(T) 9} a land where bread^(U) will not be scarce and you will lack nothing;^(V) a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.^(W)

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied,^(X) praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget^(Y) the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,^{(Z) 13} and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget^(AA) the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness,^(AB) that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes^(AC) and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.^{(AD) 16} He gave you manna^(AE) to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known,^(AF) to humble and test^(AG) you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself,^(AH) “My power and the strength of my hands^(AI) have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,^(AJ) and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods^(AK) and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.^{(AL) 20} Like the nations^(AM) the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.^(AN)

Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness

9 Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan^(AO) to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you,^(AP) with large cities^(AQ) that have walls up to the sky.^{(AR) 2} The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?”^{(AS) 3} But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you^(AT) like a devouring fire.^(AU) He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly,^(AV) as the Lord has promised you.

⁴ After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself,^(AW) “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness^(AX) of these nations^(AY) that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity^(AZ) that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness^(BA) of these nations,^(BB) the Lord your God will drive them out^(BC) before you, to accomplish what he swore^(BD) to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.^{(BE) 6} Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(BF)

The Golden Calf

⁷ Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger^(BG) of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious^(BH) against the Lord.^{(BI) 8} At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath^(BJ) so that he was angry enough to destroy you.^{(BK) 9} When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant^(BL) that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days^(BM) and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.^{(BN) 10} The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.^(BO) On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(BP)

¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights,^(BQ) the Lord gave me the two stone tablets,^(BR) the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt.^(BS) They have turned away quickly^(BT) from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people^(BU), and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone,^(BV) so that I may destroy them and blot out^(BW) their name from under heaven.^(BX) And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵ So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.^{(BY) 16} When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.^(BZ) You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then once again I fell^(CA) prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water,^(CB) because of all the sin you had committed,^(CC) doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.^(CD) But again the Lord listened to me.^{(CE) 20} And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹ Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust^(CF) and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.^(CG)

²² You also made the Lord angry^(CH) at Taberah,^(CI) at Massah^(CJ) and at Kibroth Hattaavah.^(CK)

²³ And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea,^(CL) he said, “Go up and take possession^(CM) of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled^(CN) against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust^(CO) him or obey him. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.^(CP)

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^(CQ) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^{(CR) 26} I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^(CS) your own inheritance^(CT) that you redeemed^(CU) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(CV) 27} Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^(CW) of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country^(CX) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(CY) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^{(CZ) 29} But they are your people,^(DA) your inheritance^(DB) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(DC)”

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets^(DD) like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark.^{[a] 2} I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”^(DE)

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood^(DF) and chiseled^(DG) out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments^(DH) he had proclaimed^(DI) to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(DJ) And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain^(DK) and put the tablets in the ark^(DL) I had made,^(DM) as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.^(DN)

⁶ (The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah.^(DO) There Aaron died^(DP) and was buried, and Eleazar^(DQ) his son succeeded him as priest.^{(DR) 7} From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.^{(DS) 8} At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^(DT) to carry the ark of the covenant^(DU) of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister^(DV) and to pronounce blessings^(DW) in his name, as they still do today.^{(DX) 9} That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(DY) as the Lord your God told them.)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.^{(DZ) 11} “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the Lord

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you^(EA) but to fear^(EB) the Lord your God, to walk^(EC) in obedience to him, to love him,^(ED) to serve the Lord^(EE) your God with all your heart^(EF) and with all your soul,^{(EG) 13} and to observe the Lord’s commands^(EH) and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?^(EI)

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens,^(EJ) even the highest heavens,^(EK) the earth and everything in it.^{(EL) 15} Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^(EM) them, and he chose you,^(EN) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^{(EO) 16} Circumcise^(EP) your hearts,^(EQ) therefore, and do not be stiff-necked^(ER) any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods^(ES) and Lord of lords,^(ET) the great God, mighty and awesome,^(EU) who shows no partiality^(EV) and accepts no bribes.^{(EW) 18} He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,^(EX) and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.^{(EY) 19} And you are to love^(EZ) those who are foreigners,^(FA) for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.^{(FB) 20} Fear the Lord your God and serve him.^(FC) Hold fast^(FD) to him and take your oaths in his name.^{(FE) 21} He is the one you praise;^(FF) he is your God, who performed for you those great^(FG) and awesome wonders^(FH) you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all,^(FI) and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.^(FJ)