The Lord takes care of his people

8 Be careful to obey all the commands that I am giving to you today. If you do that, you will continue to live, and you will have many children. You will go into the land that the Lord your God promised to your ancestors. It will become your home. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way across the desert. He took care of you for 40 years. He caused many troubles to come and to test you. He did that to see if you would trust him. He wanted to know whether you would continue to obey his commands. ³ He caused you to become hungry and then he fed you with manna.^[a] Neither you nor your ancestors had ever seen this food before. In this way, he taught you that food alone cannot cause people to live. They need to hear every word that the Lord speaks. That is what gives them true life.

⁴ During those 40 years in the desert, your clothes did not spoil. Your feet did not become big with pain. ⁵ You should realize that the Lord your God wants you to learn what is right. When he punishes you, he is warning you. That is what a parent does to teach his child. ⁶ So obey the Lord's commands. Live in a way that pleases him. Respect him with fear.

⁷ Remember that the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land that has many streams, pools and springs of water. There is water that runs in the valleys and in the hills. ^8-9 It is a land where you will have plenty of food to eat. There is wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and honey. You will have everything that you need. The rocks have iron in them. You can dig copper out of the hills. ¹⁰ You can eat all the food that you want. Then remember to thank the Lord your God for the good land that he has given to you.

Remember that God has blessed you

¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God. Always remember to obey his commands, rules and laws that I am telling you today. ¹² When you are living in the land, you will have plenty of food to eat. You will build beautiful houses to live in. ¹³ You will have many cows, sheep and goats. You will have plenty of gold and silver. You will have many more things than you have now. ¹⁴ Then be careful! Do not become proud. Never forget the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. He rescued you from the place where you were slaves. ¹⁵ He led you through the large and terrible desert where there were dangerous snakes and scorpions. It was very hot and dry. There was no water there for you to drink. But the Lord made water pour out of a hard rock for you. ¹⁶ In the desert, he gave you manna to eat. That was food that your ancestors had never seen. He tested you, to see if you would trust him. He did that to help you enjoy good things in the end.

¹⁷ You must never say to yourself, ‘I have got all these valuable things because I am strong and clever!’ ¹⁸ Instead, you must always remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you the strength to get good things. He does that to show that his covenant still has authority today. That is the covenant that he promised to your ancestors. ¹⁹ But if you forget the Lord your God, he will destroy you. If you turn to other gods and you worship them, I warn you now: God will certainly destroy you! ²⁰ The Lord will do the same thing to you as he does to your enemies. Like those nations, he will completely destroy you if you do not obey him.