Deuteronomy 29:4-14

4 But Jehovah hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not grown old upon you, and thy sandal is not grown old upon thy foot;

6 ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink, that ye might know that I am Jehovah your God.

7 And ye came to this place; and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us for battle, and we smote them.

8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of the Manassites.

9 Ye shall keep then the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

10 Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God: your chiefs [of] your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel,

11 your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, as well the hewer of thy wood as the drawer of thy water;

12 that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day;

13 that he may establish thee this day for a people unto himself, and [that] he may be to thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,

Deuteronomy 29:4-14 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.