(8) Keep, therefore, all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you today, so that you may have the strength to enter and take possession of the land that you are about to cross into and possess, (9) and that you may long endure upon the soil that ה' swore to your fathers to assign to them and to their heirs, a land flowing with milk and honey. (10) For the land that you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come. There the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors, like a vegetable garden; (11) but the land you are about to cross into and possess, a land of hills and valleys, soaks up its water from the rains of heaven. (12) It is a land which your God ה' looks after, on which your God ה' always keeps an eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end. (13) If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving your God ה' and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. (16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For יהוה’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that ה' is assigning to you. (18) Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, (19) and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; (20) and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— (21) to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that ה' swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
(א) כי הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה לא כארץ מצרים - כן שיטת פרשיות הללו, צריכים אתם לשמור מצות ה' אלקיכם, כי הארץ הזאת טובה מארץ מצרים לשומרי מצותיו ורעה מכל הארצות ללא שומרים, כי הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה איננה כארץ מצרים, שאין צריכין למטר ובין טובים ובין חטאים בטורח השקאת שדותיהם יש להם לחם, אבל ארץ ישראל אם אתם שומרים מצות.
(1) כי הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה לא כארץ מצרים היא, This is part of the structure of these portions of the Torah, i.e. you need to observe the commandments of the Lord your God, for this land is better than the land of Egypt for those who observe God's mitzvot, and is worse for those who do not observe them. For the land that you are approaching is not like the land of Egypt, which does not need rain, and where both good people and sinners have bread because they work to irrigate their fields [with water from the Nile]. But in the land of Israel, if you observe the mitzvot, rainfall is provided by God when it is needed.