Deuteronomy 29:13-23

13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that 1He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 "Now not with you alone am I 2making this covenant and this oath,
15 3but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today
16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed;
17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of 4wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them);
18 5so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you 6a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
19 "It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, 'I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.'
20 "The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather * the anger of the LORD and 7His jealousy will 8burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will 9blot out his name from under heaven.
21 "Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant 10which are written in this book of the law.
22 "Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after * you and 11the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say,
23 'All its land is 12brimstone and salt, 13a burning waste, unsown * and unproductive *, and no * grass grows in it, like the overthrow of 14Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.'

Deuteronomy 29:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 29

This chapter begins with an intimation of another covenant the Lord was about to make with the people of Israel, De 29:1; and, to prepare their minds to an attention to it, various things which the Lord had done for them are recited, De 29:2-9; the persons are particularly mentioned with whom the covenant would now be made, the substance of which is, that they should be his people, and he their God, De 29:10-15; and since they had seen the idols in Egypt and other countries, with which they might have been ensnared, they are cautioned against idolatry and idolaters, as being most provoking to the Lord, De 29:16-21; which would bring destruction not only on particular persons, but upon their whole land, to the amazement of posterity; who, inquiring the reason of it, will be told, it was because they forsook the covenant of God, and particularly were guilty of idolatry, which, whether privately or openly committed, would be always punished, De 29:22-29.

Cross References 14

  • 1. Genesis 17:7; Exodus 6:7
  • 2. Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:7, 8
  • 3. Acts 2:39
  • 4. Exodus 20:23; Deuteronomy 4:28; Deuteronomy 28:36
  • 5. Deuteronomy 13:6
  • 6. Deuteronomy 32:32; Hebrews 12:15
  • 7. Psalms 79:5; Ezekiel 23:25
  • 8. Psalms 74:1; Psalms 80:4
  • 9. Exodus 32:33; Deuteronomy 9:14; 2 Kings 14:27
  • 10. Deuteronomy 30:10
  • 11. Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 49:17; Jeremiah 50:13
  • 12. Genesis 19:24; Isaiah 34:9; Jeremiah 17:6; Zephaniah 2:9
  • 13. Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 64:11
  • 14. Jude 7

Footnotes 7

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.