Deuteronomy 4:9

9 "Only 1give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart 2all the days of your life; but 3make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

Deuteronomy 4:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only take heed to thyself
To walk according to this law, and not swerve from it:

and keep thy soul diligently;
from the transgressions and breaches of it:

lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen;
either the statutes and judgments set before them, and the circumstances of the delivery of them; or the punishment inflicted on the breakers of them; or the favours bestowed on those that observed them:

and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life;
out of thy mind and memory, and have no place in thy affections, through a neglect and disuse of them:

but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;
their children and grandchildren, that they may be trained up in them in their youth, and so not depart from them when grown up, and in years; see ( Deuteronomy 6:7 ) .

Deuteronomy 4:9 In-Context

7 "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?
8 "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
9 "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
10 "Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'
11 "You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Deuteronomy 4:23; Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 8:11, 14, 19; Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 23:19
  • 2. Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 12:1; Deuteronomy 16:3
  • 3. Genesis 18:19; Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 6:7, 20-25; Deuteronomy 11:19; Deuteronomy 32:46; Psalms 78:5, 6; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4
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