(Nehemiah 1:1–11)
1
When all these things have come on you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, and when you call them to mind among all the other nations where Yahweh your God has driven you,
2
and when you return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice, following all that I am commanding you today- you and your children-with all your heart and with all your soul,
3
then Yahweh your God will reverse your captivity and have compassion on you; he will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
4
If any of your exiled people are in the farthest places under the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you.
5
Yahweh your God will bring you into the land that your forefathers possessed, and you will possess it again; he will do you good and will multiply you more than he did your forefathers.
6
Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
7
Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, those who persecuted you.
8
You will return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and you will do all his commandments that I am commanding you today.
9
Yahweh your God will make you abundant in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, for prosperity; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for prosperity, as he rejoiced over your fathers.
10
He will do this if you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep his commandments and regulations that are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul.
The Choice of Life or Death
11
For this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, neither is it too far for you to reach.
12
It is not in heaven, so that you should have to say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it down to us and make us able to hear it, so that we may do it?’
13
Neither is it beyond the sea, so that you should have to say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us and make us to hear it, so that we may do it?’
14
But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and your heart, so that you may do it.
15
See, today I have placed before you life and good, death and evil.
16
If you obey the decrees of Yahweh your God, in which I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his regulations, and his statutes, you will live and multiply, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
17
But if your heart turns away, and you do not listen but instead are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them,
18
then I announce to you today that you will surely perish; you will not prolong your days in the land that you are passing over the Jordan to go into and possess.
19
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life so that you may live, you and your descendants.
20
Do this so as to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him. For he is your life and the length of your days; do this so that you may live in the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
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