Deuteronomy 8

God’s Gracious Dealings

1“Every commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore [to give] to your fathers. 2And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years. 5Therefore, know in your heart (be fully cognizant) that the LORD your God disciplines and instructs you just as a man disciplines and instructs his son. 6Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect]. 7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9a land where you will eat bread without shortage, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10When you have eaten and are satisfied, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

11“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have increases, 14then your heart will become lifted up [by self-conceit and arrogance] and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 15He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; it was He who brought water for you out of the flinty rock. 16He fed you manna in the wilderness, [a substance] which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you [by dependence on Him] and that He might test you, to do good [things] for you at the end. 17Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18But you shall remember [with profound respect] the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore (solemnly promised) 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 them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will most certainly perish. 20Like the nations which the LORD causes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you would not listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God.