-stocks and stones, which neither thou, nor thy fathers have 65 known. But even among these nations he will not give thee rest, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot. Indeed the Lord will give thee there a strange trembling heart, and failing 66 eyes, and a desponding soul, and thy life shall hang in suspence before thine eyes, and thou shalt be in terror, day and 67 night, and have no assurance of thy life. In the morning thou wilt say; How will it be with me in the evening! And in the evening thou wilt say; How may it be with me in the morning! on account of the terror of thy heart with which thou shalt be affrighted, and on account of the sights of thine eyes which 68 thou shalt see. And the Lord will send thee back into Egypt,

in ships, (by the way which I ordered thou shalt see it no more :) and thou shalt there be exposed to sale to your ene mies, for bond men and bond women, and there will be no purchaser.

XXIX.

2

These were the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to state to the children of Israel, in the land of Moab, over and above the covenant which he had made with them at Choreb.

Then Moses called all the sons of Israel, and said to them, You have seen all the things which the Lord did in Egypt, before your eyes, to Pharao and his servants, and all his land3 those great trials which your eyes have seen, those signs, and 4 those great wonders. Now hath not the Lord God given you

a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even at this 5 day? When he led you forty years in the wilderness, your

clothes did not grow too old, nor were your shoes worn out 6 from your feet. You did not eat bread, nor drink wine, nor 7 strong drink,that you might know that the Lord Iam is your God.

And when you came to this place, and Seon, king of Esebon, and 8 Og king of Basan, came out to meet us in battle, we smote them,

and took their land, and I have given it to Reuben, and Gad, and 9 to the half of the tribe of Manasses: you shall therefore be care10 ful to perform all the words of this covenant. In order that you

might fully comprehend all that you are to do, you have this day stood, all of you, before the Lord your God, the chiefs of your tribes, and your senate, and your judges, and your offi11 cers, every man of Israel, your wives, and your children, and

the stranger who is in your camp, from the hewer of wood to 12 the drawer of water, to enter into a covenant with the Lord your 13 God, and into the curses which the Lord thy God this day

stateth to thee, that he may establish thee a people for himself. 14 So he himself will be thy God, as he said to thee, and as he

hath sworn to thy fathers, Abraham, and Isaak, and Jacob. 15 Now I make this covenant, and this oath, not with you only,

but both with those who are here this day, with you before the Lord your God, and with those who are not here with you 16 this day. Inasmuch as you know how we lived in the land of 17 Egypt, and have seen, as we passed through the nations,

through which you passed, their abominations and their idols, 18 wood and stone, silver and gold, which are among them; is there any man among you, or any woman, or family, or tribe, whose understanding hath turned them from the Lord your God, to go and serve the gods of those nations? Is there any such root among you, springing up for gall and bitterness? 19 Now in case any one shall hear the words of this curse, and

bless himself in his heart, saying, Good luck betide me! I will walk in the error of my own heart, that the sinner may not in20 volve the guiltless in ruin with himself. God will not be propitious to him, but most assuredly the anger of the Lord, and his indignation, will then be kindled against that man; and all the curses of this covenant, which are written in this book, 21 shall cleave to him; and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. The Lord will indeed separate him, from all. the children of Israel, according to all the curses of this cove22 nant, which are written in this book of the law. And when the generations to come-your children who shall rise up after you, and the stranger who may come from a far distant country, will say when they shall see the plagues of that land, and the diseases thereof, which the Lord hath sent upon 23 it-brimstone and burnt salt-when through the whole land there shall be no sowing-no natural productions, no verdure on it, à destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorra, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord overthrew with wrath and indig24 nation-When all the nations shall say, Why hath the Lord dealt thus with this land? What hath occasioned this great 25 fierceness of indignation? Then they will say, Because they

forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out 26 of the land of Egypt, and went and served strange gods, which 27 they did not know, and which he had not arranged for them,

therefore the Lord was provoked to wrath against this land, to bring upon it all the curses which are written in the book of 28 the law; and the Lord rooted them out from their land, with wrath, and anger, and very great indignation, and cast them out into another land, as at this day.

29

The things which are secret are for the Lord our God; but the things which are manifest are for us and our children forever, XXX. that we may perform all the words of this law; therefore when all these things have come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee; and thou shalt receive them into thy heart, among all the nations where the Lord 2 may have dispersed thee; and shalt turn to the Lord thy God,

and hearken to his voice, according to all that I this day com3 mand thee, with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul; the

Lord will heal thy sins, and have compassion on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations among which the Lord 4 hath dispersed thee. Though thy dispersion may have been from one end of the earth to the other, thence the Lord thy 5 God will gather thee, and thence the Lord thy God will take thee, and thence thy God will bring thee, into the land which 6 thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it: And he will deal kindly with thee, and make thee more numerous than thy fathers: And the Lord will purify thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and 7 with thy whole soul, that thou mayst live. And the Lord thy God will lay all these curses upon thine enemies, and upon them 8 who hate thee, and have persecuted thee. When thou shalt return, and hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and per9 form these commandments of his, which I this day enjoin thee, the Lord thy God will bless thee in every work of thy hands, in the offspring of thy body, and in the increase of thy cattle, and in the products of thy land; for the Lord thy God will turn again to rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fa10 thers, if thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to

keep his commandments, and his rules of rectitude, and these

judgments of his which are written in this book of the law-if thou wilt turn to the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and 11 with thy whole soul. For this command which I this day give 12 thee in charge is not grievous, nor is it far from thee. It is not in heaven above, that thou shouldst say, Who will ascend for us into heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it? 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who will cross the sea for us, and bring it to us, and let us hear it, that 14 we may do it? The word is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, and in thy hand, to do it.

15

Behold I have this day set before thee Life and Death, 16 Good and Evil. If thou wilt hearken to the commandments of the Lord thy God which I this day enjoin thee, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his rules of rectitude, and his judgments, you shall live, and multiply, and the Lord thy God will bless thee in all the land to which thou 17 art going, there to take possession of it. But if thy heart turn

aside, and thou wilt not hearken, but go astray, and worship 18 other gods, and serve them, I announce to thee this day, that

you shall surely perish, and shall not prolong your lives in the land, to which you are about to cross the Jordan, to take pos19 session of it. I call heaven and earth this day to witness against

you, that I have set Life and Death, the Blessing and the Curse 20 before you. Chuse thou life, that thou and thy seed may live, by loving the Lord thy God, and hearkening to his voice, and cleaving to him. For this is thy life, and the lengthening of thy days, to dwell in the land which the Lord solemnly promised thy fathers, Abraham, and Isaak, and Jacob, that he would give them.

XXXI.

When Moses had finished speaking all these words, 2 to all the children of Israel, he said to them, I am now a hundred and twenty years old. I shall no more be able to go out, and come in before you: for the Lord hath said to me, Thou 3 shalt not cross the Jordan. The Lord thy God, who goeth be fore thee, will himself drive out those nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them; and Joshua is to go before thee, 4 as the Lord hath spoken. The Lord thy God will indeed do to them as he did to Seon, and Og, the two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side the Jordan, and to their land-in

the same manner as the Lord rooted them out, and delivered 5 them up to you. And you shall do to them as I have com6 manded you. Act manfully, and be strong; fear not, nor be faint hearted, nor terrified at them; for the Lord thy God, who goeth before you, is with you-is among you. May he never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

7

Then Moses called Joshua, and said to him before all Israel, Be courageous, and strong; for thou shalt go before this people, into the land which the Lord solemnly promised your fathers to give them; and thou shalt put them in possession of 8 it; and the Lord, who marcheth with thee, will not leave thee nor forsake thee. Fear not, nor be dismayed.

9

Now Moses had written the words of this law in a book; so he gave it to the priests, the children of Levi, who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to the elders of the 10 children of Israel. And Moses gave them a charge on that day saying, At the end of every seven years, at the Solemnity of 11 the Release, during the festival of tabernacles, when all Israel assemble, to appear before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord shall chuse; you shall read this law before all 12 Israel, in their hearing. Let the people be assembled, the men,

and the women, and the children, and the proselyte who is in your cities, that they may hear, and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God; and let them hearken to do all the 13 words of this law. And let their children who have not known,

14

hearken, and learn to fear the Lord thy God, all the days they live in the land to which you are going, to cross the Jordan, there to take possession of it.

Now when the Lord said to Moses, Behold the time of thy death approacheth, call Joshua, and stand at the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, and I will give him a charge; thereupon Moses went with Joshua to the tabernacle of the testimony, and they stood at the doors of the tabernacle of the 15 testimony, and the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood at 16 the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, and while the pillar of the cloud stood at the doors of the tabernacle of the testimony, the Lord said to Moses, Behold when thou sleepest with thy fathers, this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the strange gods of the land to which they are going.