1. Love the Lord your God. Obey his orders, rules, laws and commands.
2. Remember today it was not your children who saw and felt the correction of the Lord your God. They did not see his majesty, his power and his strength.
3. They did not see his signs and the things he did in Egypt to the king and his whole country.
4. They did not see what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots. He drowned them in the Red Sea when they were chasing you. The Lord ruined them forever.
5. They did not see what he did for you in the desert until you arrived here.
6. They did not see what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite. The ground opened up and swallowed them, their families and their tents. And it swallowed up everyone who stood with them in Israel.
7. It was you who saw all these great things the Lord has done.
8. So obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will be strong. Then you can go in and take the land you are going to own.
9. Then you will live a long time in that land. The Lord promised to give it to your ancestors and their descendants. It is a land where much food grows.
10. The land you are going to take is not like Egypt, where you were. There you had to plant your seed. Then you had to water it, like a vegetable garden, by using your feet.
11. But you will soon cross the Jordan River and take the land. It is a land of hills and valleys. It drinks rain from heaven.
12. It is a land the Lord your God loves. His eyes are on it continually. He watches it from the beginning of the year to the end.
13. Carefully obey the commands I am giving you today. Love the Lord your God. Serve him with your whole being.
14. Then he will send rain on your land at the right time, in the fall and spring. You will be able to gather your grain, new wine and oil.
15. He will put grass in the fields for your cattle. You will have plenty to eat.
16. Be careful. Don’t be fooled. Don’t turn away and serve other gods. Don’t worship them.
17. If you do, the Lord will become angry with you. He will shut the heavens so it will not rain. Then the land will not grow crops. And you will soon die in the good land the Lord is giving you.
18. Remember my words in your hearts and souls. Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. Tie them on your foreheads to remind you.