Deuteronomy 8

God’s Gracious Dealings

1“All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you 1may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 22And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has 3led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, 4putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you 5understand that 6man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. 47Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 58So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to 9fear Him. 7For 10the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; 8a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10When 11you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

11“Be careful that you do not 12forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12otherwise, 13when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, 13and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, 14then your heart will 14become proud and you will 15forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of 16slavery; 15He who led you through 17the great and terrible wilderness, with its 18fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who 19brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna 20which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to 21put you to the test, to do good for you 22in the end. 17Otherwise, 23you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18But you are to remember the Lord your God, for 24it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, 25I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. 20Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so 26you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.