(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)
Nitsavim
Enter Covenant
29:9. “You are taking a stand this day, all of you, before the LORD* your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, 10. your little ones, your wives, and your stranger that is in your camp, from the cutter of your wood to the drawer of your water, 11. so you could cross into covenant with the LORD* your God, and into His oath, which the LORD* your God cuts with you this day 12. to establish you today for a people to Himself and He will be God to you, as He has said to you, and as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 13. Neither with you alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath, 14. but with him who stands here with us this day before the LORD* our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. 15. (For you know we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the nations which you passed by 16. and you saw their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them.) 17. In the event there would be among you a man, or a woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD* our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, or there would be among you a root that bears poison and absinthe 18. and it would happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. 19. The LORD* will not pardon him but then the anger of the LORD* and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curses written in this scroll will lie upon him, and the LORD* erases his name from under heaven. 20. And the LORD* will separate him for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this scroll of the Torah, 21. so that the generations to come of your children that will rise up after you and the stranger that will come from a far land will say when they see the plagues of that land and the sickness which the LORD* has laid upon it 22. and that the whole land of it is brimstone, salt, and burning. It is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which the LORD* overthrew in His anger and in His wrath: 23. even all nations will say, Why has the LORD* done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean? 24. Then men will say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD* God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt, 25. for they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they did not know and He had not given to them. 26. And the anger of the LORD* was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, 27. and the LORD* rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land as it is this day.
29:28. “The secret things belong to the LORD* our God, but those things which are revealed are ours and our children’s forever, so we can do all the words of this teaching.”
Israel Restored
30.1. “And it will be when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you and you will call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD* your God has driven you, 2. and return to the LORD* your God, and will obey His voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your being, 3. then the LORD* your God will turn your captivity and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations where the LORD* your God has scattered you. 4. If you are driven out to the outermost of heaven, the LORD* your God will gather you from there and He will fetch you from there, 5. and the LORD* your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed and you will possess it. And He will do good for you and multiply you above your fathers. 6. And the LORD* your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD* your God with all your heart and with your whole being, so you may live. 7. And the LORD* your God will put all these curses upon your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8. And you will return and obey the voice of the LORD* and do all His commandments which I command you this day. 9. And the LORD* your God will give you abundance in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, for good, for the LORD* will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10. if you hearken to the voice of the LORD* your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this scroll of the Torah, and if you turn to the LORD* your God with all your heart and with your entire being.
30:11. “For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in the skies, so that you would say, Who will go up for us to the sky and bring it to us and cause us to hear it so that we could do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we could do it? 14. But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you could do it.” (Rom. 10:7,8)
Choose Life
30:15. “See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; 16. in that I command you this day to love the LORD* your God, to walk in His Ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so you will live and multiply. And the LORD* your God will bless you in the land where you go to possess it. 17. But if your heart turns away, so that you will not heed, but will be drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them; 18. I announce to you this day that you will surely perish, you will not prolong your days upon the land which you cross the Jordan to go to possess it. 19. I’ll call heaven and earth to witness this day against you, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so both you and your descendants may live, 20. so you can love the LORD* your God, so you can obey His voice and you can cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, so you can stay in the land which the LORD* swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.”
Next week’s Torah readings: Vayelekh