Hæc sunt verba fœderis quod præcepit Dominus Moysi ut feriret cum filiis Israël in terra Moab: præter illud fœdus, quod cum eis pepigit in Horeb.

These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

These are the terms of that covenant which the Lord would have Moses make with the sons of Israel, there in the country of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them on mount Horeb.

Vocavitque Moyses omnem Israël, et dixit ad eos: Vos vidistis universa, quæ fecit Dominus coram vobis in terra Ægypti Pharaoni, et omnibus servis ejus, universæque terræ illius,

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land.

Moses gathered all Israel round him, and said to them, Your own eyes have witnessed, in the land of Egypt, the Lord’s dealings with Pharao and his court and all his kingdom;

tentationes magnas, quas viderunt oculi tui, signa illa, portentaque ingentia,

The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and wonders,

the challenge of all those wonders and portents, plain to your view.

et non dedit vobis Dominus cor intelligens, et oculos videntes, et aures quæ possunt audire, usque in præsentem diem.

And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day.

But to this day the Lord has not enlightened your hearts; yours are blind eyes, yours are deaf ears still.

Adduxit vos quadraginta annis per desertum: non sunt attrita vestimenta vestra, nec calceamenta pedum vestrorum vetustate consumpta sunt.

He hath brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age.

Has he not been your guide all through those forty years in the desert? And all that time the garments that covered you did not wear out, the shoes on your feet did not perish with age;

Panem non comedistis, vinum et siceram non bibistis: ut sciretis quia ego sum Dominus Deus vester.

You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God.

you had no bread with you, no wine or strong drink, but you ate and drank your fill; and can you doubt that you have the Lord your God to protect you?

Et venistis ad hunc locum: egressusque est Sehon rex Hesebon, et Og rex Basan, occurrentes nobis ad pugnam. Et percussimus eos,

And you came to this place: and Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.

And here, at our journey’s end, it is still the same; Sehon King of Hesebon and Og king of Basan came out to give us battle, but we conquered them,

et tulimus terram eorum, ac tradidimus possidendam Ruben et Gad, et dimidiæ tribui Manasse.

And took their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses.

and divided up their territory between Ruben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasses.

Custodite ergo verba pacti hujus, et implete ea: ut intelligatis universa quæ facitis.

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfil them: that you may understand all that you do.

Hold fast, then, to the terms of this covenant, and fulfil them if you would order your lives as wise men do.

Vos statis hodie cuncti coram Domino Deo vestro, principes vestri, et tribus, ac majores natu, atque doctores, omnis populus Israël,

You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel,

You stand here, all of you, in the presence of the Lord your God, for a single purpose, leaders of tribes with their tribes around them, elders, counsellors, the whole assembly of Israel;

liberi et uxores vestræ, et advena qui tecum moratur in castris, exceptis lignorum cæsoribus, et his qui comportant aquas:

Your children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water:

your children, your wives, and the aliens that share your camp; servants, too, that hew wood and draw water at your bidding.

ut transeas in fœdere Domini Dei tui, et in jurejurando quod hodie Dominus Deus tuus percutit tecum:

That thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee.

It is to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a sworn covenant he would make with you this day;

ut suscitet te sibi in populum, et ipse sit Deus tuus sicut locutus est tibi, et sicut juravit patribus tuis, Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob.

That he may raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

he would make you his people, and be himself your God; such is the promise he has made to you, such was the oath he took to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Nec vobis solis ego hoc fœdus ferio, et hæc juramenta confirmo,

Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these oaths,

And it is not only with you that I ratify this covenant, this oath;

sed cunctis præsentibus et absentibus.

But with all that are present and that are absent.

it is with others, too, that are not here to make it.

Vos enim nostis quomodo habitaverimus in terra Ægypti, et quomodo transierimus per medium nationum, quas transeuntes

For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them,

Ours is a race, as you know, that has dwelt in Egypt; since then, we have made our way through the midst of many peoples, and as we passed

vidistis abominationes et sordes, id est, idola eorum, lignum et lapidem, argentum et aurum, quæ colebant.

You have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

you saw detestable and shameful sights, saw how they worshipped idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.

Ne forte sit inter vos vir aut mulier, familia aut tribus, cujus cor aversum est hodie a Domino Deo nostro, ut vadat et serviat diis illarum gentium: et sit inter vos radix germinans fel et amaritudinem.

Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

Pray God there may be no man or woman here, no household or tribe, that is false at heart to the Lord our God, ready to forsake him and serve those other, alien gods. From such a root as that, gall and wormwood must needs spring.

Cumque audierit verba juramenti hujus, benedicat sibi in corde suo, dicens: Pax erit mihi, et ambulabo in pravitate cordis mei: et absumat ebria sitientem,

And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and the drunken may consume the thirsty,

Does such a man, listening to the terms of this oath, flatter himself with the thought that all will be well with him, and that he can go on in his perverse ways, till the damp ground imparts its moisture to the dry?

et Dominus non ignoscat ei: sed tunc quam maxime furor ejus fumet, et zelus contra hominem illum, et sedeant super eum omnia maledicta, quæ scripta sunt in hoc volumine: et deleat Dominus nomen ejus sub cælo,

And the Lord should not forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his name from under heaven,

Then the Lord will not spare him. The divine anger will burn high in indignation against such a man, and all the curses of which this book makes mention will fall upon him, till the Lord has effaced his memory among living men,

et consumat eum in perditionem ex omnibus tribubus Israël, juxta maledictiones, quæ in libro legis hujus ac fœderis continentur.

And utterly destroy him out of all the tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the book of this law and covenant:

singled him out among the whole people of Israel for a miserable end, for every curse that gives this law and covenant its sanction.

Dicetque sequens generatio, et filii qui nascentur deinceps, et peregrini qui de longe venerint, videntes plagas terræ illius, et infirmitates, quibus eam afflixerit Dominus,

And the following generation shall say, and the children that shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar, seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath afflicted it,

A warning that land will be, which the Lord so visits with plague and affliction; a warning to the next generation, and their children after them, and to strangers who come from far off to see it.

sulphure, et salis ardore comburens, ita ut ultra non seratur, nec virens quippiam germinet, in exemplum subversionis Sodomæ et Gomorrhæ, Adamæ et Seboim, quas subvertit Dominus in ira et furore suo.

Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

Here is a land he has burnt up with brimstone and salty fumes, till it is sown no more and no green thing grows there, overwhelmed as he overwhelmed Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, when his anger raged fierce against them.

Et dicent omnes gentes: Quare sic fecit Dominus terræ huic? quæ est hæc ira furoris ejus immensa?

And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?

And all will ask, Why has the Lord treated this land so? What means this anger, this terrible vengeance of his?

Et respondebunt: Quia dereliquerunt pactum Domini, quod pepigit cum patribus eorum, quando eduxit eos de terra Ægypti:

And they shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:

And the answer will come, It was because they forsook the covenant which the Lord had made with their fathers when he rescued them out of the land of Egypt;

et servierunt diis alienis, et adoraverunt eos, quos nesciebant, et quibus non fuerant attributi:

And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew not, and for whom they had not been assigned:

because they enslaved themselves to the worship of alien gods unknown to them, gods that were no gods of theirs.

idcirco iratus est furor Domini contra terram istam, ut induceret super eam omnia maledicta, quæ in hoc volumine scripta sunt:

Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this volume:

That is why the Lord’s vengeance fell heavy on this land, and he brought on them all the curses which the book of his law contained,

et ejecit eos de terra sua in ira et in furore, et in indignatione maxima, projecitque in terram alienam, sicut hodie comprobatur.

And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.

so hot his anger burned, so fierce his indignation; dispossessing them of their own land and banishing them into a country of strangers, for all to see.

Abscondita, Domino Deo nostro; quæ manifesta sunt, nobis et filiis nostris usque in sempiternum, ut faciamus universa verba legis hujus.

Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The Lord our God keeps his own secrets; what he will reveal, he has revealed to us, and to our children in perpetuity; ours to live by this law and by all the terms of it.