Deuteronomy 29:18-28

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.

22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.

23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.

24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.

27 Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.

28 In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

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

• 1. S Deuteronomy 13:6
• 2. S Deuteronomy 11:16; Hebrews 12:15
• 3. Psalms 72:17; Isaiah 65:16
• 4. Psalms 36:2
• 5. S Exodus 23:21
• 6. Exodus 34:14; Ezekiel 23:25; Zephaniah 1:18
• 7. Psalms 74:1; Psalms 79:5; Psalms 80:4; Ezekiel 36:5
• 8. Exodus 32:33; Deuteronomy 9:14; 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 14:27; Revelation 3:5
• 9. Deuteronomy 32:23; Ezekiel 7:26
• 10. S Deuteronomy 28:61
• 11. Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 49:17; Jeremiah 50:13
• 12. Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 9:18; Isaiah 64:10; Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 44:2,6; Micah 5:11; Isaiah 34:9
• 13. S Genesis 13:10; Ezekiel 47:11; Jeremiah 17:6
• 14. S Genesis 19:24,25; Zephaniah 2:9; S Matthew 10:15; Romans 9:29
• 15. S Genesis 14:8
• 16. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 16:10; Jeremiah 22:8-9; Jeremiah 52:13
• 17. 2 Kings 17:23; 2 Chronicles 36:21
• 18. S Deuteronomy 28:15; Da 9:11,13,14
• 19. Psalms 7:11
• 20. 1 Kings 14:15; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Psalms 9:6; Psalms 52:5; Proverbs 2:22; Jeremiah 12:14; Jeremiah 31:28; Jeremiah 42:10; Ezekiel 19:12