The Skeptics Annotated Bible (201 page)

(30.6)
“The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed.”

7 And
the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies
, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.

(30.7)
“The LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies.”
See Dt 28.16-64 for some of the curses God has in mind.

8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life
, that both thou and thy seed may live:

(30.19)
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.”
158 Do humans have free will?

20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

31
And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.

2 And he said unto them,
I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in
: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

(31.2)
“I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in.”
159 Was Moses in good mental and physical health at age 120?

3
The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them
: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.

(31.3)
“The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them.”
Moses tells the people that God will destroy all the inhabitants of the lands that they pass through. Moses was wrong about that, though. See Joshua 15.63, 16.10, Judges 1.21, 1.27-36, and 3.1-5.

4 And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed.

5 And the LORD shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.

6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.