Deuteronomy 11:20-30

20 And ye shall write them on the lintels of your houses, and on your gates;

21 that your days may be long, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord sware to your fathers to give to them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22 And it shall come to pass that if ye will indeed hearken to all these commands, which I charge thee to observe this day, to love the Lord our God, and to walk in all his ways, and to cleave close to him;

23 then the Lord shall cast out all these nations before you, and ye shall inherit great nations and stronger than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be your; from the wilderness and Antilibanus, and from the great river, the river Euphrates, even as far as the west sea shall be your coasts.

25 No one shall stand before you; and the Lord your God will put the fear of you and the dread of you on the face of all the land, on which ye shall tread, as he told you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day the blessing and the curse;

27 the blessing, if ye hearken to the commands of the Lord your God, all that I command you this day;

28 and the curse, if ye do not hearken to the commands of the Lord our God, as many as I command you this day, and ye wander from the way which I have commanded you, having gone to serve other gods, which ye know not.

29 And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land into which thou goest over to inherit it, then thou shalt put blessing on mount Garizin, and the curse upon mount Gaebal.

30 Lo! are not these beyond Jordan, behind, westward in the land of Chanaan, which lies westward near Golgol, by the high oak?

Deuteronomy 11:20-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 11

In this chapter, the exhortation to love the Lord, and keep his commands, is repeated and urged again and again from various considerations; as not only from the chastisement of Pharaoh and the wicked Egyptians, but of such Israelites who offended the Lord, and transgressed his law, De 12:1-7, from the goodness and excellency of the land they were going to inherit, De 11:8-11, from the blessing of rain that would come upon it, and be productive of all good things for man and beast, in case of obedience, and a restraint of it in case of disobedience, De 11:12-17, from the continuance of them and their offspring in the land, should they be careful to observe the commands themselves, and teach them their children, De 11:18-21, and from the extensiveness of their conquests and dominions, De 11:22-25 and from the different issue and effects of their conduct and behaviour, a blessing upon them if obedient, but a curse if disobedient, De 11:26-28 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal; the situation of which places is described when they should come into the land of Canaan, of which they are assured, De 11:29-32.

Footnotes

• [a]. thresholds.