Deuteronomy 8
1“Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving
you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and
occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.
2Remember
how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty
years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find
out whether or not you would obey his commands.
3Yes, he
humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a
food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach
you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every
word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
4For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell.
5Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.
6“So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
7For
the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams
and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the
valleys and hills.
8It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey.
9It
is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land
where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills.
10When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11“But
that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not
forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and
decrees that I am giving you today.
12For when you have become
full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, 13and when
your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold
have multiplied along with everything else, be careful!
14Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.
15Do
not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness
with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He
gave you water from the rock!
16He fed you with manna in the
wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you
and test you for your own good.
17He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’
18Remember
the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful,
in order to fulfil the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an
oath.