Deuteronomy 29:1-15

Renewing the Covenant

1 [a] These are the words of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
2 [b] Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen with your own eyes everything the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to his entire land.
3 You saw with your own eyes the great trials and those great signs and wonders.
4 Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.[c]
5 I led you 40 years in the wilderness; your clothes and the sandals on your feet did not wear out;
6 you did not eat bread or drink wine or beer-so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.
7 When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.[d]
9 Therefore, observe the words of this covenant and follow them, so that you will succeed in everything you do.
10 "All of you are standing today before the Lord your God-your leaders, tribes, elders, officials, all the men of Israel,
11 your children, your wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water-
12 so that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which He is making with you today, so that you may enter into His oath
13 and so that He may establish you today as His people and 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 and this oath not only with you,
15 but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not here today.

Deuteronomy 29:1-15 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.

Footnotes 4

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