When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel

<t /><p class="bodytext">This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

Look! I have already given the land to you.<n id="1" /> Go, occupy the territory that I,<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, promised<n id="3" /> to give to your ancestors<n id="4" /> Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants.&#8221;<n id="5" />

So I chose<n id="1" /> as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials.

Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the <sc>Lordsc> our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea.

Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar<n id="1" /> to the descendants of Lot<n id="2" /> as their possession.

But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the <sc>Lordsc> our<n id="1" /> God had made him obstinate<n id="2" /> and stubborn<n id="3" /> so that he might deliver him over to you<n id="4" /> this very day.

We captured all his cities at that time &#8211; there was not a town we did not take from them &#8211; sixty cities, all the region of Argob,<n id="1" /> the dominion of Og in Bashan.

<t /><p class="bodytext">At that time I instructed you as follows: &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> your God has given you this land for your possession. You warriors are to cross over before your fellow Israelites<n id="1" /> equipped for battle.

I also commanded Joshua at the same time, &#8220;You have seen everything the <sc>Lordsc> your God did to these two kings; he<n id="1" /> will do the same to all the kingdoms where you are going.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances<n id="1" /> I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your ancestors,<n id="2" /> is giving you.

Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth<n id="1" /> today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the <sc>Lordsc> your God is about to give you as a permanent possession.p>

Honor<n id="1" /> your father and your mother just as the <sc>Lordsc> your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he<n id="2" /> is about to give you.

You go near so that you can hear everything the <sc>Lordsc> our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he<n id="1" /> says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.&#8221;

When the <sc>Lordsc> heard you speaking to me, he<n id="1" /> said to me, &#8220;I have heard what these people have said to you &#8211; they have spoken well.

If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey<n id="1" /> all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever.

and that you may so revere the <sc>Lordsc> your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments<n id="1" /> that I am giving<n id="2" /> you &#8211; you, your children, and your grandchildren &#8211; all your lives, to prolong your days.

<t /><p class="bodytext">You must destroy<n id="1" /> all the people whom the <sc>Lordsc> your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship<n id="2" /> their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Remember the whole way by which he<n id="1" /> has brought you these forty years through the desert<n id="2" /> so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

You must remember the <sc>Lordsc> your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; if you do this he will confirm his covenant that he made by oath to your ancestors,<n id="1" /> even as he has to this day.