<t /><p class="bodytext">Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

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.

Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number<n id="1" /> &#8211; as the <sc>Lordsc>, God of your ancestors,<n id="2" /> said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.p>

Rather it is because of his<n id="1" /> love<n id="2" /> for you and his faithfulness to the promise<n id="3" /> he solemnly vowed<n id="4" /> to your ancestors<n id="5" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> brought you out with great power,<n id="6" /> redeeming<n id="7" /> you from the place of slavery, from the power<n id="8" /> of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

<t /><p class="bodytext">You must keep carefully all these commandments<n id="1" /> I am giving<n id="2" /> you today so that you may live, increase in number,<n id="3" /> and go in and occupy the land that the <sc>Lordsc> promised to your ancestors.<n id="4" />

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.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now pay attention to all the commandments<n id="1" /> I am giving<n id="2" /> you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed,<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your ancestors,<n id="1" /> has given you to possess.<n id="2" />

Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the <sc>Lordsc> your God.p>

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, &#8220;How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.&#8221;

Thus you must obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving<n id="1" /> you today and doing what is right<n id="2" /> before him.<n id="3" />p>

Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude<n id="1" /> be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite<n id="2" /> and you do not lend<n id="3" /> him anything; he will cry out to the <sc>Lordsc> against you and you will be regarded as having sinned.<n id="4" />

It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the <sc>Lordsc> his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

and then you are careful to observe all these commandments<n id="1" /> I am giving<n id="2" /> you today (namely, to love the <sc>Lordsc> your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities<n id="3" /> to these three.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;If you indeed<n id="1" /> obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving<n id="2" /> you today, the <sc>Lordsc> your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

The <sc>Lordsc> 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<n id="1" /> commandments which I am urging<n id="2" /> you today to be careful to do.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;But if you ignore<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> 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:<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given<n id="1" /> you.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;If you refuse to obey<n id="1" /> all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the <sc>Lordsc> your God,