Deuteronomy 11:21-31

21 so that [they] may multiply your days and the days of your children on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give [it] to them {as long as heaven endures over the earth}.
22 Yes, if you diligently keep all this commandment that I [am] commanding you {to observe it}, by loving Yahweh your God {by walking in} all his ways and by holding fast to him,
23 then Yahweh will drive out all [of] these nations {before you}, and you will dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you.
24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, it shall be yours; your boundary shall be from the desert and Lebanon from the river, the river Euphrates, on up to the western sea.
25 No one can take a stand {against you}; your dread and your fear Yahweh your God will put on the {surface} of all the land {where you tread}, [just] as he {promised} to you.
26 "See, I am setting {before you} {today} a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you {today},
28 and the curse, if you [do] not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but [rather] you turn from the way that I [am] commanding you {today} to go after other gods that you have not known.
29 "And it will happen [that] when Yahweh your God has brought you to {the land that you are going to}, to take possession of it, then you shall pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
30 (Are they not beyond the Jordan, {toward the west}, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Jordan Valley, opposite Gilgal beside the terebinth of Moreh?)
31 For you are [now] about to cross the Jordan to go to take possession of the land that Yahweh, your God, [is] giving to you, and you will take possession of it and live in it,

Deuteronomy 11:21-31 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 20

  • [a]. Or "fathers"
  • [b]. Literally "like the days of heaven above the earth"
  • [c]. Or "every one of"
  • [d]. Literally "to do it"
  • [e]. Literally "to walk in"
  • [f]. Literally "to the face of you"
  • [g]. That is, the Mediterranean Sea
  • [h]. Literally "to your faces"
  • [i]. Literally "faces"
  • [j]. Literally "which you tread in it"
  • [k]. Literally "spoke"
  • [l]. Literally "to the face of you"
  • [m]. Literally "the day"
  • [n]. Literally "the day"
  • [o]. Literally "the day"
  • [p]. Literally "the land that you are going there"
  • [q]. Hebrew "and"
  • [r]. Literally "after the way of the descent of the sun"
  • [s]. Hebrew "in the Arabah"
  • [t]. Or "oaks"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.