Deuteronomy 29:10-21

10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel,
11 together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.
12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath,
13 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
14 I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you
15 who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.
16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here.
17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.
18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
20 The LORD will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the LORD will blot out their names from under heaven.
21 The LORD will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

Deuteronomy 29:10-21 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 16

  • 1. Jos 9:21,23,27; 1 Chronicles 20:3
  • 2. S Genesis 6:18; S Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 28:9
  • 3. S Genesis 17:7; Exodus 6:7
  • 4. Exodus 19:5; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 31:31; Jeremiah 32:40; Jeremiah 50:5; Ezekiel 16:62; Ezekiel 37:26; Hebrews 8:7-8
  • 5. S Genesis 6:18; Acts 2:39
  • 6. Exodus 20:23; Deuteronomy 4:28; Deuteronomy 28:36
  • 7. S Deuteronomy 13:6
  • 8. S Deuteronomy 11:16; Hebrews 12:15
  • 9. Psalms 72:17; Isaiah 65:16
  • 10. Psalms 36:2
  • 11. S Exodus 23:21
  • 12. Exodus 34:14; Ezekiel 23:25; Zephaniah 1:18
  • 13. Psalms 74:1; Psalms 79:5; Psalms 80:4; Ezekiel 36:5
  • 14. Exodus 32:33; Deuteronomy 9:14; 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 14:27; Revelation 3:5
  • 15. Deuteronomy 32:23; Ezekiel 7:26
  • 16. S Deuteronomy 28:61
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