There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky,<n id="1" /> because you will have disobeyed<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God.

Then if you and your descendants<n id="1" /> turn to the <sc>Lordsc> your God and obey him with your whole mind and being<n id="2" /> just as<n id="3" /> I am commanding you today,

You will return and obey the <sc>Lordsc>, keeping all his commandments I am giving<n id="1" /> you today.

<t /><p class="poetry">And this is the blessing<n id="1" /> to Judah. He said,p> <p class="poetry">Listen, O <sc>Lordsc>, to Judah&#8217;s voice,p> <p class="poetry">and bring him to his people.p> <p class="poetry">May his power be great,p> <p class="poetry">and may you help him against his foes.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said.<n id="1" /> Then he inscribed the words<n id="2" /> on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

You said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> our God has shown us his great glory<n id="1" /> and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us<n id="2" /> that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

And when he<n id="1" /> sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, &#8220;Go up and possess the land I have given you,&#8221; you rebelled against the <sc>Lordsc> your God<n id="2" /> and would neither believe nor obey him.

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>

<t /><p class="bodytext">If a matter is too difficult for you to judge &#8211; bloodshed,<n id="1" /> legal claim,<n id="2" /> or assault<n id="3" /> &#8211; matters of controversy in your villages<n id="4" /> &#8211; you must leave there and go up to the place the <sc>Lordsc> your God chooses.<n id="5" />

This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the <sc>Lordsc> your God: &#8220;Please do not make us hear the voice of the <sc>Lordsc> our<n id="1" /> God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.&#8221;

I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead;<n id="1" /> I have obeyed you<n id="2" /> and have done everything you have commanded me.

<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.

<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.

if you obey the <sc>Lordsc> your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him<n id="1" /> with your whole mind and being.p>

I also call on you<n id="1" /> to love the <sc>Lordsc> your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually<n id="2" /> in the land the <sc>Lordsc> promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.&#8221;p>