All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God:

However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,

You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him.

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that

if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.

The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,

You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.

Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him.

“If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.

“But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:

if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.