Deuteronomy
30: 15-20
Moses
said to all Israel the words which the Lord commanded him, “See, I have set
before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.
If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding
you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his
commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous,
and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to
possess. But if your heart turns
away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve
them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in
the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendents may live, loving
the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to
you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to
give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
Joshua
24:1-2a, 14-25
Then
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Sechem, and summoned the elders, the
heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves
before God. And Joshua said to all
the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Revere the Lord, and serve
him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors
served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will
serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or
the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.” Then
the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to
serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up
from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great
signs in our sight. He protected us
along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we
passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived
in the land. Therefore we also will
serve the Lord, for he is our God.” But
Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.
He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your
sins. If you forsake the Lord and
serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after
having done you good.” And the
people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”
Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves
that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.”
And they said, “We are witnesses.”
He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and
incline your hearts to the Lord, the god of Israel.”
The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we
will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made
statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
Jeremiah
31:31-34
“The
days are surely coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I
took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that
they broke, though I was their husband,” says the Lord.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my law within them, and I will
write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the
Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
says the Lord; “for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no
more.”
Comments
on the colonists’ massacre of the Pequots at Mystic Fort by the colonial
commanders
Captain
John Mason: The Lord was as it were
pleased to say unto us, The Land of Canaan will I give unto thee tho’ but few
and strangers in it.
Captain
John Underhill: We had sufficient light from the word of God for our
proceedings. . . . Our Indians came
to us, and much rejoiced at our victories, and greatly admired [i.e., were
surprised at] the manner of the Englishmen’s fight, but cried mach it mach it
[i.e., machit, an Algonquian word for “bad”]: that is, it is naught
[i.e., wicked], because it is too furious, and slays too many men.