Deuteronomy 8:7-17

7 For Yahweh your God [is] bringing you to a good land [with] streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys and in the hills,

8 [to] a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate trees, a land of olive trees, olive oil and honey;

9 [to] a land where you may eat food in it {without scarcity}; you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones [are] iron and from its mountains you can mine copper.

10 And you will eat, and {you will be satisfied}, and you will bless Yahweh your God because [of] the good land that he has given to you.

11 "Take care for yourself so that you not forget Yahweh your God [by] not keeping his commandments and his regulations and his statutes that I [am] commanding you {today},

12 lest [when] you have eaten and you are satisfied and you have built good houses and you live [in them],

13 and your herds and your flocks have multiplied, and {you have accumulated silver and gold}, and all that {you have} has multiplied,

14 then your heart {becomes proud} and you forget Yahweh your God, {the one who brought you out} from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery,

15 the one leading you in the great and terrible desert [infested] with {dangerous} snakes and scorpions and parched ground, where there is no water, [and] the one bringing out water for you from flint rock,

16 the one {feeding you} manna in the desert, [food] that your ancestors did not know, in order to humble you and in order to test you [so that he could] do good to you {in the future}.

17 And you may think in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand {acquired this wealth for} me.'

Deuteronomy 8:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 8

In this chapter Moses repeats the exhortation to observe the commands of God, and urges the Israelites to it, from the consideration of the great and good things God had done for them in the wilderness, and even in those instances which were chastisements, and were of an humbling nature, De 8:1-6, and on the consideration of the blessings of the good land they were going to possess, De 8:7-9 for which blessings they are exhorted to be thankful, and are cautioned against pride of heart through them, and forgetfulness of God, and of his goodness to them while in the wilderness, and when brought into the land of Canaan, which they were to ascribe to his power and goodness, and not their own, De 8:10-18, and the chapter is concluded with a warning against idolatry, lest they perish through it as the nations before them, De 8:19,20.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "valley"
• [b]. Hebrew "hill"
• [c]. Hebrew "vine"
• [d]. Hebrew "fig tree"
• [e]. Hebrew "pomegranate tree"
• [f]. Hebrew "olive tree"
• [g]. Literally "not in scarcity"
• [h]. Literally "you will eat your fill"
• [i]. Literally "the day"
• [j]. Literally "and silver and gold has multiplied for you"
• [k]. Literally "is for you"
• [l]. Literally "raises up"
• [m]. Literally "the one bringing you out"
• [n]. Literally "burning"
• [o]. Hebrew "snake"
• [p]. Hebrew "scorpion"
• [q]. Or "was"
• [r]. Literally "causing you to eat"
• [s]. Or "fathers"
• [t]. Literally "in the end/later"
• [u]. Or "say"
• [v]. Literally "gave this wealth to"