Deuteronomy 29 - Easy To Read Version

¹ The Lord made an agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Horeb (Sinai). In addition to that agreement, the Lord also commanded Moses to make another agreement with them while they were in Moab. This is that agreement.

² Moses called together all the Israelite people. He said to them, “You saw all the things the Lord did in the land of Egypt. You saw the things he did to Pharaoh, to Pharaoh’s officers, and to his whole country.

³ You saw the great troubles he gave them. You saw the miracles and amazing things he did.

⁴ But even today you still don’t understand what happened. The Lord has not let you really understand what you saw and heard.

⁵ The Lord led you through the desert for 40 years. And during all that time your clothes and your shoes did not wear out.

⁶ You did not have any food with you. You did not have any wine or anything else to drink. {But the Lord took care of you.} He did this so that you would understand that he is the Lord your God.

⁷ “You came to this place, and King Sihon from Heshbon and King Og from Bashan came out to fight against us. But we defeated them.

⁸ Then we took their land and gave it to the people in the family groups of Reuben and Gad, and to half the family group of Manasseh.

⁹ If you obey all the commands in this agreement, then you will continue to succeed in everything you do.

¹⁰ “Today all of you are standing here before the Lord your God. Your leaders, your officials, your elders (leaders), and all the other men are here.

¹¹ Your wives and children are here and also the foreigners living among you—the people who cut your wood and bring you water.

¹² You are all here to enter into an agreement with the Lord your God. The Lord is making this agreement with you today.

¹³ With this agreement, the Lord is making you his own special people. And he himself will become your God. He told you this. He promised this to your ancestors [189] —Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ The Lord is making this agreement with its promises not only with you people.

¹⁵ He is making this agreement with all of us that stand here today before the Lord our God. But this agreement is also for our descendants [190] that are not here with us today.

¹⁶ You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt. And you remember how we traveled through the countries that were on our way here.

¹⁷ You saw their hated things—the idols [191] they had made from wood, stone, silver, and gold.

¹⁸ Be sure that there is no man, woman, family or family group here today that turns away from the Lord our God. No person should go and serve the gods of the other nations. People who do that are like a plant that grows bitter and poisonous fruit.

^19-21 “A person might hear these curses, but he might comfort himself and say, ‘I will continue doing what I want. Nothing bad will happen to me.’ That person might cause bad things to happen not only to himself but to everyone—even to the good people. [192]

²² “In the future, your descendants [193] and foreigners from faraway countries will see how the land has been ruined. They will see the diseases that the Lord has brought to it.

²³ All the land will be useless—destroyed by burning sulfur and covered with salt. The land will have nothing planted in it. Nothing will be growing—not even weeds. The land will be destroyed like Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, the cities the Lord destroyed when he was very angry.

²⁴ “All the other nations will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land? Why was he so angry?’

²⁵ The answer will be: ‘The Lord is angry because the people of Israel left the Agreement of the Lord, the God of their ancestors. [194] They stopped following the Agreement that the Lord made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

²⁶ The people of Israel started serving other gods—gods they never worshiped before. The Lord told his people not to worship those gods.

²⁷ That is why the Lord became very angry against the people of this land. So he brought to them all the curses that are written in this book.

²⁸ The Lord became very angry and upset at them. So he took them out of their land. He put them in another land, where they are today.’

²⁹ “There are some things that the Lord our God has kept secret. Only he knows those things. But the Lord told us about some things. And those teachings are for us and our descendants [195] forever! And we must obey all the commands in that law.