Keeping the Commandments
Deuteronomy 8, verse 1. “Every commandment I command you today you must be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and inherit the land the Lord swore to your fathers. Deuteronomy 8, verse 2. Now you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God led you in the desert, to deal harshly with you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8, verse 3. So He dealt harshly with you and weakened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God man shall live. Deuteronomy 8, verse 4. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your feet become callused these forty years. Deuteronomy 8, verse 5. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Deuteronomy 8, verse 6. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. Deuteronomy 8, verse 7. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good and great land, where torrents of waters and springs of bottomless depths flow through the plains and through the mountains; Deuteronomy 8, verse 8. a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; Deuteronomy 8, verse 9. a land where you will not eat your bread in poverty, and in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you can dig copper. Deuteronomy 8, verse 10. Thus you shall eat and be full and bless the Lord your God for the good land He gave you. Deuteronomy 8, verse 11. “Watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, judgments, and ordinances I command you today, Deuteronomy 8, verse 12. lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, Deuteronomy 8, verse 13. and when your cattle and sheep multiply, and your silver and gold are multiplied, and all you have is multiplied, Deuteronomy 8, verse 14. when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, Deuteronomy 8, verse 15. who led you through that great and fearful desert, with its biting serpent and scorpion and thirst, where there was no water, who brought a spring of water for you out of the sharp-edged rock, Deuteronomy 8, verse 16. who fed you in the desert with manna your fathers did not know, that He might deal harshly with you and might test you, to do you good in the end of your days— Deuteronomy 8, verse 17. then do not say in your heart, ‘My strength and the might of my hand gained me this great power.’ Deuteronomy 8, verse 18. Then you shall remember the Lord your God, for He it is who gives you strength, that you may gain power, and He may establish His covenant the Lord swore to your fathers, as it is today. Deuteronomy 8, verse 19. Thus it shall be, if you forget the Lord your God, and follow after different gods and serve and worship them, I testify against you today, you shall surely perish. Deuteronomy 8, verse 20. As the remaining nations the Lord destroys before your face, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.