Deuteronomy 29:2-12

2 Moses called all the Israelites together and said to them: You have seen everything the Lord did before your own eyes to the king of Egypt and to the king's leaders and to the whole country.

3 With your own eyes you saw the great troubles, signs, and miracles.

4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands; you don't really understand what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears.

5 I led you through the desert for forty years, and during that time neither your clothes nor sandals wore out.

6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or beer. This was so you would understand that I am the Lord your God.

7 When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight us, but we defeated them.

8 We captured their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh to be their own.

9 You must carefully obey everything in this agreement so that you will succeed in everything you do.

10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God -- your leaders and important men, your older leaders, officers, and all the other men of Israel,

11 your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you, who chop your wood and carry your water.

12 You are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God, an agreement the Lord your God is making with you today.

Deuteronomy 29:2-12 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.