Rewards of Obedience

(Leviticus 25:18-22; Deuteronomy 4:1-14; Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

1Thou shalt love then Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments continually. 2And know ye this day ...; for [I speak] not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his powerful hand, and his stretched-out arm, 3and his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and unto their chariots, over which he made the water of the Red sea flow as they pursued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them unto this day; 5 -- and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came to this place; 6and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, -- how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, with their households, and their tents, and all the living substance that belonged to them, in the midst of all Israel. 7For your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he hath done.

God's Great Blessings

(Joshua 1:1-9)

8Keep then all the commandment which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and enter in and possess the land, whither ye pass over to possess it; 9and that ye may prolong your days in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give unto them and unto their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10For the land, whither thou enterest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11but the land, whereunto ye are passing over to possess it, is a land of mountains and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven, 12a land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14that I will give rain to your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain; and thou shalt gather in thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil; 15and I will give grass in thy field for thy cattle; and thou shalt eat and be full. 16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and bow down to them, 17and Jehovah's wrath kindle against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and that the ground yield not its produce, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah is giving you.

Remember God's Words

18And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; 20and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates; 21that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens [which are] above the earth. 22For if ye diligently keep all this commandment which I command you [this day] to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him, 23then will Jehovah dispossess all these nations from before you, and ye shall take possession of nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours; from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall your border be. 25No man shall be able to stand before you: the fear of you and the dread of you will Jehovah your God lay upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

A Blessing and a Curse

26See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day; 28and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known.

29And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God hath brought thee into the land whither thou enterest in to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, beyond the way toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell on the plain opposite to Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? 31For ye pass over the Jordan to enter in to possess the land which Jehovah your God giveth you, and ye shall take possession of it, and dwell therein. 32And ye shall take heed to do all the statutes and ordinances which I set before you this day.