Deuteronomy 29:19

19 When that kind of person hears the words of this agreement, they congratulate themselves, thinking: I'll be fine even though I insist on being stubborn. This would cause something wet to dry up and become like something parched.

Deuteronomy 29:19 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:19

And it cometh to pass, when he heareth the words of this
curse
That is, the man before compared to a root bearing bitter herbs, when he should hear the curses pronounced by the law against such persons as himself:

that he bless himself in his heart;
inwardly pronounce himself blessed, thinking himself secure from the curse of the law, and flattering himself it will never reach him nor come upon him:

saying, I shall have peace;
all happiness and prosperity, in soul, body, and estate; inward peace of mind now, and eternal peace hereafter:

though I walk in the imagination of my heart;
in worshipping idols which he vainly and wickedly imagined to be gods; to the worship of which his wicked heart prompted him, and he was resolutely and stubbornly bent upon, and in which he continued:

to add drunkenness to thirst;
as a thirsty man to quench his thirst drinks, and adds to that, or drinks yet more and more until he is drunken; so a man inclined to idolatry, that has a secret desire after it, thirsts after such stolen or forbidden waters, and drinks of them, adds thereunto, drinks again and again until he is drunk with the wine of fornication, or idolatry, as it is called ( Revelation 17:2 ) ; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan understand the words of adding sin to sin, particularly of adding sins of ignorance to pride, or to presumptuous ones. Wicked men, deceivers and deceived, always grow worse and worse, increasing to more ungodliness, and yet promise themselves peace and impunity, ( 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ) .

Deuteronomy 29:19 In-Context

17 You saw the horrific things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they had with them.
18 Make sure there isn't any one among you right now—male or female, clan or tribe—whose mind is turning from being with the LORD our God in favor of going to serve these nations' gods. Make sure there isn't any root among you that is sprouting poison and bitterness.
19 When that kind of person hears the words of this agreement, they congratulate themselves, thinking: I'll be fine even though I insist on being stubborn. This would cause something wet to dry up and become like something parched.
20 The LORD won't be willing to forgive that kind of person; instead, the LORD's anger and passion will smolder against that person. Every curse written in this scroll will stretch out over them, and the LORD will wipe out their name from under the heavens.
21 Out of all Israel's tribes, the LORD will single them out for disaster in compliance with all the covenant curses that are written in this Instruction scroll.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Heb uncertain; perhaps the agricultural imagery of 29:18 is continued here or the terms are metaphors for human states.
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