29:8. And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Mana.s.ses.
29:9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do.
29:10. You all stand this day before the Lord your G.o.d, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,
29:11. Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:
29:12. That thou mayst pa.s.s in the covenant of the Lord thy G.o.d, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy G.o.d maketh with thee.
29:13. That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy G.o.d as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
29:14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,
29:15. But with all that are present and that are absent.
29:16. For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have pa.s.sed through the midst of nations, and pa.s.sing through them,
29:17. You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.
29:18. Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our G.o.d, to go and serve the G.o.ds of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.
29:19. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,
The drunken, etc., absumat ebria sitientem... It is a proverbial expression, which may either be understood, as spoken by the sinner, blessing, that is, flattering himself in his sins with the imagination of peace, and so great an abundance as may satisfy, and as it were, consume all thirst and want: or it may be referred to the root of bitterness, spoken of before, which being drunken with sin may attract, and by that means consume, such as thirst after the like evils.
29:20. And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,
29:21. And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:
29:22. And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,
29:23. Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:
29:24. And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?
29:25. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:
29:26. And they have served strange G.o.ds, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been a.s.signed:
29:27. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:
29:28. And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.
29:29. Secret things to the Lord our G.o.d: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Secret things, etc... As much as to say, secret things belong to, and are known to, G.o.d alone; our business must be to observe what he has revealed and manifested to us, and to direct our lives accordingly.
Deuteronomy Chapter 30
Great mercies are promised to the penitent: G.o.d"s commandment is feasible. Life and death are set before them.
30:1. Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing or the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which the Lord thy G.o.d shall have scattered thee,
30:2. And shalt return to him, and obey his commandments, as I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:
30:3. The Lord thy G.o.d will bring back again thy captivity, and will have mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into which he scattered thee before.
30:4. If thou be driven as far as the poles of heaven, the Lord thy G.o.d will fetch thee back from hence,
30:5. And will take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he will make thee more numerous than were thy fathers.
30:6. The Lord thy G.o.d will circ.u.mcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that thou mayst love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou mayst live.
30:7. And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them that hate and persecute thee.
30:8. But thou shalt return, and hear the voice of the Lord thy G.o.d, and shalt do all the commandments which I command thee this day:
30:9. And the Lord thy G.o.d will make thee abound in all the works of thy hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, in the fruitfulness of thy land, and in the plenty of all things. For the Lord will return to rejoice over thee in all good things, as he rejoiced in thy fathers:
30:10. Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy G.o.d, and keep his precepts and ceremonies, which are written in this law: and return to the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.
30:11. This commandment, that I command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee:
30:12. Nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say: Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfil it in work?
30:13. Nor is it beyond the sea: that thou mayst excuse thyself, and say: Which of us can cross the sea, and bring it unto us: that we may hear, and do that which is commanded?
30:14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it.
30:15. Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil:
30:16. That thou mayst love the Lord thy G.o.d, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and bless thee in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.
30:17. But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange G.o.ds, and serve them:
30:18. I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pa.s.s over the Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it.
30:19. I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
30:20. And that thou mayst love the Lord thy G.o.d, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.
Deuteronomy Chapter 31
Moses encourageth the people, and Josue, who is appointed to succeed him. He delivereth the law to the priests. G.o.d foretelleth that the people will often forsake him, and that he will punish them. He commandeth Moses to write a canticle, as a constant remembrancer of the law.
31:1. And Moses went, and spoke all these words to all Israel,
31:2. And he said to them: I am this day a hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer go out and come in, especially as the Lord also hath said to me: Thou shalt not pa.s.s over this Jordan.