1These are the terms of the covenant that Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab. All this was in addition to the covenant Jehovah made with them at Mount Sinai. 2Moses called together all the people of Israel and said: »You saw for yourselves what Jehovah did to the king of Egypt, to his officials, and to his entire country. 3»You saw the terrible plagues, the miracles, and the great wonders that Jehovah performed. 4»To this very day Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear. 5»I led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you. Your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6»You have not eaten bread. You have not drunk wine or strong drink. This in order that you might know that I am Jehovah your God. 7When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle. We defeated them! 8»We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9»Keep the words of this covenant to do them that you may prosper in all that you do. 10»You stand today, all of you, before Jehovah your God: your leaders, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel. 11»Your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12that you may enter into the covenant with Jehovah your God, and into His oath that Jehovah your God is making with you today. 13»Jehovah will confirm today with this promise that you are his people and that he is your God. This is what he told you. This is what he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath. 14»You are not the only people to receive this promise and its conditions. 15»It is for those of you who are standing here with us today in the presence of Jehovah our God and also for those who are not here today. 16»You know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through other countries on our way here. 17»You saw their loathsome idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18»Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from Jehovah our God to serve the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant. 19»Be sure there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him. He would go stubbornly on his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike. 20Jehovah will never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of Jehovah and His jealousy will burn against that man. Every curse which is written in this book will rest on him. Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven. 21»Jehovah will destroy you by piling on you all the curses that are written in this book of Law. You will be forgotten forever. 22»The next generation of your children and foreigners who come from distant countries will see the plagues that have happened in this land and the diseases Jehovah sent here. 23»All its land is brimstone and salt. It is a burning waste, unsown and unproductive. No grass grows on it. Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. 24»All the nations will say: Why has Jehovah done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?' 25»Then men will say: ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26»‘They served other gods and worshiped them. These are gods whom they have not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27»‘Jehovah became angry against this land and brought on it all the curses described in this book. 28»‘His fierce anger and fury caused Jehovah to uproot these people from their land and deported them to another country. This is where they still are today.’ 29»Some secret things are hidden. They belong to Jehovah our God. The things that have been revealed in these teachings belong to us and to our children forever. We must obey every word of this Law.