<t /><p class="bodytext">Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications.<n id="1" />

Stand aside<n id="1" /> and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory,<n id="2" /> and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.&#8221;p>

Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy<n id="1" /> is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains,<n id="2" />

so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the <sc>Lordsc> promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself.<n id="1" />

by serving other gods and worshiping them &#8211; the sun,<n id="1" /> moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.p>

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.

Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

<p class="poetry">Israel lives in safety,p> <p class="poetry">the fountain of Jacob is quite secure,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">in a land of grain and new wine;p> <p class="poetry">indeed, its heavens<n id="2" /> rain down dew.<n id="3" />p>

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage<n id="1" /> by describing people who are more numerous<n id="2" /> and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven<n id="3" /> itself! Moreover, they said they saw<n id="4" /> Anakites<n id="5" /> there.&#8221;

&#8220;O, Lord <sc>Godsc>,<n id="1" /> you have begun to show me<n id="2" /> your greatness and strength.<n id="3" /> (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?)

I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you<n id="1" /> today that you will surely and swiftly be removed<n id="2" /> from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be<n id="3" /> annihilated.

Then the anger of the <sc>Lordsc> will erupt<n id="1" /> against you and he will close up the sky<n id="2" /> so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed<n id="3" /> from the good land that the Lord<n id="4" /> is about to give you.

So when the <sc>Lordsc> your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he<n id="1" /> is giving you as an inheritance,<n id="2" /> you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven<n id="3" /> &#8211; do not forget!<n id="4" />p>

Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors &#8211; a land flowing with milk and honey.&#8221;p>

The <sc>Lordsc> will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do;<n id="1" /> you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.

The <sc>Lordsc> will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger<n id="1" /> will rage<n id="2" /> against that man; all the curses<n id="3" /> written in this scroll will fall upon him<n id="4" /> and the <sc>Lordsc> will obliterate his name from memory.<n id="5" />

Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!