Deuteronomy 29:18-28

18 1so 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 2a 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 3His jealousy will 4burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will 5blot 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 6which are written in this book of the law.
22 "Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after * you and 7the 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 8brimstone and salt, 9a burning waste, unsown * and unproductive *, and no * grass grows in it, like the overthrow of 10Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.'
24 "All the nations will say, '11Why * has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'
25 "Then men will say, '12Because * they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
26 'They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them.
27 'Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, 13to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book;
28 and 14the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'

Deuteronomy 29:18-28 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. Deuteronomy 13:6
  • 2. Deuteronomy 32:32; Hebrews 12:15
  • 3. Psalms 79:5; Ezekiel 23:25
  • 4. Psalms 74:1; Psalms 80:4
  • 5. Exodus 32:33; Deuteronomy 9:14; 2 Kings 14:27
  • 6. Deuteronomy 30:10
  • 7. Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 49:17; Jeremiah 50:13
  • 8. Genesis 19:24; Isaiah 34:9; Jeremiah 17:6; Zephaniah 2:9
  • 9. Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 64:11
  • 10. Jude 7
  • 11. 1 Kings 9:8; Jeremiah 22:8
  • 12. 2 Kings 17:9-23; 2 Chronicles 36:13-21
  • 13. Daniel 9:11
  • 14. 2 Chronicles 7:20; Psalms 52:5; Proverbs 2:22; Ezekiel 19:12, 13

Footnotes 9

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