Deuteronomy 31:17

17 At that point my anger will burn against them, and I'll be the one who abandons them! I'll hide my face from them. They will become nothing but food for their enemies, and all sorts of bad things and misfortunes will happen to them. Then they will say: ‘Haven't these terrible things happened to us because our God is no longer with us?'

Deuteronomy 31:17 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:17

Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day
As the anger of a man is against his wife who has treacherously departed from him: and jealousy, which is the rage of such a man, is very cruel; and much more the wrath and anger of a jealous God, who is a consuming fire:

and I will forsake them;
withdraw his favours from them, and his protection of them:

and I will hide my face from them;
take no notice of them in a providential way for good, nor hear their cries, to deliver them from evil:

and they shall be devoured;
by their enemies, or by the sore judgments of God, by famine, sword, pestilence, and evil beasts, they and their substance:

and many evils and troubles shall befall them;
both in their own land, and in other countries, where they would be, and have been carried captive:

so that they will say in that day, are not these evils come upon us,
because our God [is] not amongst us?
of which they would be sensible by their being exposed to their enemies for want of his protection, and by the evils upon them through his displeasure, and by their being deprived of the good things that came from him; but no intimation is given of their being sensible of their sins as the cause of all this.

Deuteronomy 31:17 In-Context

15 The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the cloud pillar stood at the tent's entrance.
16 The LORD then said to Moses: "Soon you will rest with your ancestors, and the people will rise up and act unfaithfully, going after strange gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me, breaking my covenant that I made with them.
17 At that point my anger will burn against them, and I'll be the one who abandons them! I'll hide my face from them. They will become nothing but food for their enemies, and all sorts of bad things and misfortunes will happen to them. Then they will say: ‘Haven't these terrible things happened to us because our God is no longer with us?'
18 But I will hide my face at that time because of the many wrong things they have done, because they have turned to other gods!
19 So in light of all that, you must write down this poem and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths so that the poem becomes a witness for me against them.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Heb lacks for their enemies.
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