Love and Serve the Lord
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1"You shall therefore love the LORD your God and 2keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
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And consider today (since I am not speaking to 3your children who have not known or seen it), consider the disciplinea of the LORD your God, 4his greatness, 5his mighty hand and his outstretched arm,
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6his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land,
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and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, 7how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day,
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and 8what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place,
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and 9what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel.
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For your eyes have seen 10all the great work of the LORD that he did.
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"You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may 11be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess,
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and 12that you may live long in the land 13that the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, 14a land flowing with milk and honey.
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For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it,b like a garden of vegetables.
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15But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven,
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a land that the LORD your God cares for. 16The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
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"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, 17to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
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18hec will give the rain for your land in its season, 19the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
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Take care 22lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and 23serve other gods and worship them;
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then 24the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he 25will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and 26you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.
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27"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and 28you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
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You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
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29You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
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30that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, 31as long as the heavens are above the earth.
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For if 32you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and 33holding fast to him,
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then the LORD 34 will drive out all these nations before you, and you will 35dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
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36Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be 37from the wilderness tod the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.
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38No one shall be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will lay 39the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, 40as he promised you.
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41"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:
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42the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today,
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and 43the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, 44to go after other gods that you have not known.
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And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set 45the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
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Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the 46Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside 47the oake of Moreh?
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For you are 48to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it,
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you shall be careful 49to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)