Deuteronomy 8:1-20

  • Blessings from Jehovah reviewed (1-9)

    • “Not live by bread alone” (3)

  • Do not forget Jehovah (10-20)

8  “You should be careful to observe every commandment that I am giving you today, so that you may continue living+ and multiply and go in and take possession of the land about which Jehovah swore to your forefathers.+ 2  Remember the long road that Jehovah your God made you walk these 40 years in the wilderness,+ to humble you and to put you to the test+ so as to know what was in your heart,+ whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3  So he humbled you and let you go hungry+ and fed you with the manna,+ which neither you had known nor your fathers had known, in order to make you know that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by every expression from Jehovah’s mouth.+ 4  The clothing you wore did not wear out, nor did your feet become swollen these 40 years.+ 5  You well know in your heart that just as a man corrects his son, Jehovah your God was correcting you.+ 6  “Now you must keep the commandments of Jehovah your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7  For Jehovah your God is bringing you into a good land,+ a land of streams of water,* springs and fountains* flowing in the valley plain and in the mountainous region, 8  a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates,+ a land of olive oil and honey,+ 9  a land where food will not be scarce and you will lack nothing, a land where the stones contain iron and from its mountains you will mine copper. 10  “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you must praise Jehovah your God for the good land that he has given you.+ 11  Be careful not to forget Jehovah your God by failing to keep his commandments, his judicial decisions, and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 12  When you eat and are satisfied and you build fine houses and dwell in them,+ 13  when your herd and your flocks multiply and your silver and gold increase and you have an abundance of everything, 14  do not let your heart become proud+ and cause you to forget Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,+ 15  who caused you to walk through the great and fearsome wilderness,+ with poisonous serpents and scorpions and with parched ground that has no water. He made water flow out of the flinty rock+ 16  and fed you with manna+ in the wilderness, which your fathers had not known, in order to humble you+ and to put you to the test so as to benefit you in the future.+ 17  If you should say in your heart, ‘My own power and the strength of my own hand have produced this wealth for me,’+ 18  remember that it is Jehovah your God who gives power to you to make wealth,+ in order to carry out his covenant that he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.+ 19  “If you should ever forget Jehovah your God and you walk after other gods and serve them and bow down to them, I do bear witness against you today that you will surely perish.+ 20  Like the nations that Jehovah is destroying before you, that is how you will perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.+

Footnotes

Or “wadis of water.”
Or “deep water sources.”