I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land to which ye go over the Jordan to possess it. Ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed.
Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.
Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that thou may live, thou and thy seed,
Come near, ye nations, to hear. And hearken, ye peoples. Let the earth hear, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all things that come forth from it.
Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the sons of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel.