Daily Text and Bible Reading: Wednesday, March 5 [Press play below]

29.1 These are the words of the covenant that Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant that he made with them at Horeb.
29.2 Moses then called together all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land,
29.3 the great judgments that your eyes saw, those great signs and miracles.
29.4 But Jehovah has not given you a heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, down to this day.
29.5 ‘While I kept guiding you for 40 years in the wilderness, your garments did not wear out on you and your sandals did not wear out on your feet.
29.6 You did not eat bread, and you did not drink wine or anything alcoholic, so that you would know that I am Jehovah your God.’
29.7 You eventually came to this place, and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us in battle, but we defeated them.
29.8 After that we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of the Manassites.
29.9 Therefore, observe the words of this covenant and obey them, so that everything you do will turn out well.
29.10 “All of you are stationed today before Jehovah your God, the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officers, every man of Israel,
29.11 your children, your wives, and your foreign resident who is in the midst of your camp, from the one gathering your wood to the one drawing your water.
29.12 You are here in order to enter into the covenant of Jehovah your God and his oath, which Jehovah your God is making with you today
29.13 in order that he may establish you today as his people and that he may be your God, just as he has promised you and just as he swore to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
29.14 “Now it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath,
29.15 but it is with those standing here with us today before Jehovah our God and with those who are not here with us today.
29.16 (For you well know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the midst of various nations on our journey.
29.17 And you used to see their detestable things and their disgusting idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, that were among them.)
29.18 Beware that there may not be a man or a woman, a family or a tribe among you today whose heart turns away from Jehovah our God to go serve the gods of those nations, that there may not be a root among you producing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
29.19 “But if someone hears the words of this oath and boasts in his heart, saying, ‘I will have peace, though I insist on walking in the ways of my own heart,’ to the ruin of everything in his path,
29.20 Jehovah will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, Jehovah’s great anger will blaze against that man, and the entire curse written in this book will certainly come upon him, and Jehovah will indeed wipe out his name from under the heavens.
29.21 Jehovah will then single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity in accord with the entire curse of the covenant that is written in this book of the Law.
29.22 “When the future generation of your sons and the foreigner from a distant land see the plagues of the land, the maladies that Jehovah has brought upon it—
29.23 sulfur and salt and burning, so that its whole land will not be sown or sprout, nor will any vegetation spring up in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath—
29.24 they and all the nations will say, ‘Why did Jehovah do this to this land? What caused this great, burning anger?’
29.25 Then they will say, ‘It was because they abandoned the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their forefathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
29.26 But they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods that they had not known and that he had not permitted them to worship.
29.27 Then Jehovah’s burning anger came against that land by bringing upon it the entire curse written in this book.
29.28 Therefore, Jehovah uprooted them from their soil in his anger and fury and great indignation and deported them to another land, where they are today.’
29.29 “The things concealed belong to Jehovah our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our descendants forever, so that we may carry out all the words of this Law.
30.1 “When all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I have put before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where Jehovah your God has dispersed you,
30.2 and you return to Jehovah your God and listen to his voice according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, with all your heart and all your soul,
30.3 Jehovah your God will then bring back your captives and show you mercy and regather you from all the peoples where Jehovah your God has scattered you.
30.4 Even if your people are dispersed to the extremity of the heavens, from there Jehovah your God will gather you and bring you back.
30.5 Jehovah your God will bring you into the land your fathers took possession of, and you will possess it; and he will make you prosper and will multiply you more than your fathers.
30.6 Jehovah your God will cleanse your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and you may live.
30.7 Then Jehovah your God will bring all these curses upon your enemies, who hated and persecuted you.
30.8 “You will then return and listen to the voice of Jehovah and observe all his commandments that I am commanding you today.
30.9 Jehovah your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hands, multiplying your children and your livestock and the produce of your ground, for Jehovah will again delight to make you prosper, just as he delighted in your forefathers.
30.10 For then you will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God and keep his commandments and statutes written in this book of the Law, and you will return to Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul.
30.11 “Now this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it beyond your reach.
30.12 It is not in the heavens, so that you have to say, ‘Who will ascend to the heavens and get it for us, so that we may hear it and observe it?’
30.13 Nor is it on the other side of the sea, so that you have to say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us, so that we may hear it and observe it?’
30.14 For the word is very near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart, so that you may do it.
30.15 “See, I do put before you today life and good, and death and bad.
30.16 If you listen to the commandments of Jehovah your God that I am commanding you today, by loving Jehovah your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his judicial decisions, then you will live and multiply, and Jehovah your God will bless you in the land you are going to possess.
30.17 “But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are enticed and bow down to other gods and serve them,
30.18 I tell you today that you will certainly perish. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
30.19 I take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you today that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the curse; and you must choose life so that you may live, you and your descendants,
30.20 by loving Jehovah your God, by listening to his voice, and by sticking to him, for he is your life and by him you will endure a long time in the land that Jehovah swore to give to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
31.1 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel,
31.2 saying to them: “I am 120 years old today. I can no longer lead you, for Jehovah has said to me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’
31.3 Jehovah your God is the one crossing before you, and he himself will annihilate these nations before you, and you will drive them away. Joshua is the one who will lead you across, just as Jehovah has spoken.
31.4 Jehovah will do to them just as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land when he annihilated them.
31.5 Jehovah will defeat them for you, and you are to do to them according to the whole commandment that I have given you.
31.6 Be courageous and strong. Do not be afraid or struck with terror before them, for Jehovah your God is the one marching with you. He will neither desert you nor abandon you.”
31.7 Moses then called Joshua and said to him before the eyes of all Israel: “Be courageous and strong, for you are the one who will bring this people into the land that Jehovah swore to their forefathers to give to them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance.
31.8 Jehovah is the one marching before you, and he will continue with you. He will neither desert you nor abandon you. Do not be afraid or be terrified.”
31.9 Then Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the Levites, who carry the ark of Jehovah’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
31.10 Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of the release, during the Festival of Booths,
31.11 when all Israel appears before the presence of Jehovah your God in the place that he chooses, you should read this Law for all Israel to hear it.
31.12 Gather the people together, the men, the women, the children, and your foreign resident who is within your cities, in order that they may listen and learn about and fear Jehovah your God and take care to carry out all the words of this Law.
31.13 Then their sons who have not known this Law will listen and learn to fear Jehovah your God all the days that you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
31.14 Jehovah then said to Moses: “Look! The time has drawn near for you to die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.
31.15 Then Jehovah appeared at the tent in the pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood by the entrance of the tent.
31.16 Jehovah now said to Moses: “Look! You are about to die, and this people will begin to commit spiritual prostitution with the foreign gods that are around them in the land to which they are going. They will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
31.17 At that time my anger will blaze against them, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Then after many calamities and distresses have come upon them, they will say, ‘Is it not because our God is not in our midst that these calamities have come upon us?’
31.18 But I will keep my face hidden in that day because of all the wickedness that they have done in turning to other gods.
31.19 “Now write down this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites. Have them learn it in order that this song may serve as my witness against the people of Israel.
31.20 When I bring them to the land that I have sworn about to their forefathers—one flowing with milk and honey—and they eat their fill and prosper, they will turn to other gods and serve them and treat me with disrespect and break my covenant.
31.21 When many calamities and distresses come upon them, this song will serve as a witness to them (for their descendants should not forget it), for I already know the inclination that they have developed even before I bring them into the land about which I have sworn.”
31.22 So Moses wrote down this song in that day and taught it to the Israelites.
31.23 He then commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said: “Be courageous and strong, for you are the one who will bring the Israelites into the land about which I have sworn to them, and I will continue with you.”
31.24 As soon as Moses had completed writing the words of this Law in a book in their entirety,
31.25 Moses commanded the Levites who carry the ark of Jehovah’s covenant, saying:
31.26 “Take this book of the Law and place it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and it will serve as a witness there against you.
31.27 For I myself well know your rebelliousness and your stubbornness. If you have been so rebellious against Jehovah while I am still alive with you, then how much more so will you be after my death!
31.28 Gather together to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, and let me speak these words in their hearing, and let me take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them.
31.29 For I well know that after my death you will surely act wickedly and turn aside from the way about which I have commanded you. And calamity will certainly befall you at the close of the days, because you will do what is bad in the eyes of Jehovah and you will offend him by the works of your hands.”
31.30 Then in the hearing of the entire congregation of Israel, Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end: