King James Bible
"Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey."
Moses calls Israel to active obedience—not merely hearing God's commands but carefully putting them into practice. The emphatic pairing of 'hear' and 'observe to do' reflects the Hebrew concept of shema, where true hearing results in obedient action. Obedience brings tangible covenant blessings: personal wellbeing and national prosperity through population growth. These promises echo God's original blessing to Abraham about becoming a great nation, linking current obedience to ancestral promises. Moses grounds the command in covenant history, invoking the patriarchal promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This appeal to ancestral faith emphasizes continuity and God's faithfulness across generations. This poetic description of Canaan represents agricultural abundance—milk from livestock and honey from date palms or bees. The phrase became Israel's shorthand for the promised land's fertility, contrasting sharply with their wilderness wanderings and Egyptian bondage.