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13 [a](A)If, then, you truly listen to my commandments which I give you today, loving and serving the Lord, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, 14 I will give the seasonal rain to your land, the early rain[b] and the late rain, that you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in; 15 and I will bring forth grass in your fields for your animals. Thus you may eat and be satisfied. 16 (B)But be careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods and bow down to them.(C) 17 For then the anger of the Lord will flare up against you and he will close up the heavens, so that no rain will fall, and the soil will not yield its crops, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.

Need for Fidelity. 18 (D)Therefore, take these words of mine into your heart and soul. Bind them on your arm as a sign, and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up, 20 and write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that, as long as the heavens are above the earth, you and your children may live on in the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors he would give them.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:13–15 Here as elsewhere Moses shifts between speaking of the Lord in the third person and speaking for the Lord in the first person.
  2. 11:14 The early rain: the rains which begin in October or November and continue intermittently throughout the winter. The late rain: the heavy showers of March and April. In Palestine crops are sown in autumn and harvested in spring and summer.

13 So if you faithfully obey(A) the commands I am giving you today—to love(B) the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul(C) 14 then I will send rain(D) on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains,(E) so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass(F) in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.(G)

16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.(H) 17 Then the Lord’s anger(I) will burn against you, and he will shut up(J) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,(K) and you will soon perish(L) from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.(M) 19 Teach them to your children,(N) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.(O) 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,(P) 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many(Q) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.(R)

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13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

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