²⁵ After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt^(A) and make any kind of idol,^(B) doing evil^(C) in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, ²⁶ I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses^(D) against you^(E) this day that you will quickly perish^(F) from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will scatter^(G) you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive^(H) among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ There you will worship man-made gods^(I) of wood and stone,^(J) which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.^{(K) 29} But if from there you seek^(L) the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart^(M) and with all your soul.^{(N) 30} When you are in distress^(O) and all these things have happened to you, then in later days^(P) you will return^(Q) to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a merciful^(R) God; he will not abandon^(S) or destroy^(T) you or forget^(U) the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.