Lev 19:23-25, Deu 28-30, Jer 31:5 | ESV | STEP | When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food , then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden . Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten .

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. ^{▼▼Hebrew as its uncircumcision} Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for Obedience

1 “And ^bif you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you ^chigh above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^dovertake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and ^eblessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be ^fthe fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your ^gkneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be ^hwhen you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord ⁱwill cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord ^jwill command the blessing on you in your barns and ^kin all that you undertake. ^lAnd he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 ^mThe Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And ⁿall the peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^ocalled by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^pafraid of you. 11 And ^qthe Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in ^rthe fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, ^sto give the rain to your land in its season and ^tto bless all the work of your hands. And ^uyou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you ^vthe head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 ^wand if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Curses for Disobedience

15 “But ^xif you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and ^yovertake you. 16 Cursed shall you be ^zin the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

20 “The Lord ^aawill send on you curses, confusion, and ^abfrustration in all that you undertake to do, ^acuntil you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make ^adthe pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 22 ^aeThe Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought ^{▼▼Or sword} and with ^agblight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And ^ahthe heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 ^ai“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you ^ajshall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And ^akyour dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and ^althere shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will strike you ^amwith the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and ^anscabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with ^aomadness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall ^apgrope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. ^{▼▼Or shall not succeed in finding your ways} And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 ^arYou shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. ^asYou shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. ^atYou shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 ^auYour sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, ^avbut you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad ^awby the sights that your eyes see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs ^axwith grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

36 “The Lord will ^aybring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you ^aznor your fathers have known. And ^bathere you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become ^bba horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. 38 ^bcYou shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for ^bdthe locust shall consume it. 39 ^beYou shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you ^bfshall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for ^bgthey shall go into captivity. 42 ^bhThe cricket ^{▼▼Identity uncertain} shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. 43 ^bjThe sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 ^bkHe shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. ^blHe shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

45 ^bm“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be ^bna sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 ^boBecause you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he ^bpwill put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 ^bqThe Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, ^brswooping down like the eagle, a nation ^bswhose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation ^btwho shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall ^bueat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

52 “They shall ^bvbesiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. 53 And ^bwyou shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, ^bxin the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. 54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will ^bybegrudge food to his brother, to ^bzthe wife he embraces, ^{▼▼Hebrew the wife of his bosom} and to the last of the children whom he has left, 55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, ^cbin the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. 56 ^ccThe most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, ^{▼▼Hebrew the husband of her bosom} to her son and to her daughter, 57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, ^cein the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, ^cfthe Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all ^cgthe diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 Whereas ^chyou were as numerous ^cias the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And as the Lord ^cjtook delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will ^cktake delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

64 “And the Lord ^clwill scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and ^cmthere you shall serve other gods ^cnof wood and stone, ^cowhich neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 And ^cpamong these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but ^cqthe Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and ^cra languishing soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. 67 ^csIn the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and ^ctthe sights that your eyes shall see. 68 And the Lord ^cuwill bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that ^cvyou should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

Deuteronomy 29

The Covenant Renewed in Moab

1 ^{▼▼Ch 28:69 in Hebrew} These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel ^cxin the land of Moab, besides ^cythe covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

2 ^{▼▼Ch 29:1 in Hebrew} And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: ^da“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great ^dbtrials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day ^dcthe Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 ^ddI have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 ^deYou have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, ^dfSihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and ^dggave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 ^dhTherefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper ^{▼▼Or deal wisely} in all that you do.

10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew your heads, your tribes} your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the ^dksojourner who is in your camp, from ^dlthe one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the ^dmsworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may ^dnestablish you today as his people, and that ^dohe may be your God, as he promised you, and ^dpas he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone ^dqthat I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, ^drand with whoever is not here with us today.

16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ^dsa root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather ^dtthe anger of the Lord and ^duhis jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord ^dvwill blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, ^dwwill say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and ^dxsalt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, ^dyan overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, ^dzAdmah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath— 24 all the nations ^eawill say, ^eb‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, ^ecbringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord ^eduprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and ^eecast them into another land, as they are this day.’

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 30

Repentance and Forgiveness

1 ^ef“And ^egwhen all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and ^ehyou call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and ^eireturn to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God ^ejwill restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will ^ekgather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 ^elIf your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. ^emAnd he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And ^enthe Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, ^eoso that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 ^epThe Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. ^eqFor the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

11 “For this commandment that I command you today ^eris not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 ^esIt is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, ^etI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew lacks If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God} that I command you today, ^evby loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, ^{▼▼Or his just decrees} then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if ^exyour heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 ^eyI declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^ezblessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^faand holding fast to him, for ^fbhe is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^fcthe land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Jeremiah 31:5

5 ^fdAgain you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.