16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt. You also know how we passed through other countries on the way here.
17 You saw the statues of their gods that were made out of wood, stone, silver and gold. The Lord hates those statues.
18 Make sure there isn't a man or woman among your families or tribes who turns away from the Lord our God. No one must worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that kind of worship doesn't spread like bitter poison through your whole community.
19 Some people who worship those gods will hear the oath that seals the covenant I'm making. They think they can escape trouble by saying to themselves, "We'll be safe, even though we're stubborn and go our own way." But trouble will come on them everywhere in the land.
20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive those people. His burning anger will blaze out against them. All of the curses I've written down in this scroll will fall on them. And the Lord will wipe out their names from the earth.
21 He will find those people in all of the tribes of Israel and give them nothing but trouble. That will be in keeping with all of the curses of the covenant. They are written down in this Scroll of the Law.
22 Even your children's children will see the troubles that have fallen on the land. They'll see the sicknesses the Lord has brought on it. People who come from countries far away will also see those things.