Deuteronomy 31:18

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!

Deuteronomy 31:18 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:18

I will surely hide my face in that day
Which is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of; that he was the spring and source of all their good things, their sun and their shield, who being withdrawn from them, they would be deprived of every thing that was good, and be liable to all evil; and this he would do,

for all the evils which they shall have wrought;
for all the immoralities they should be guilty of, every transgression of his law, whether of the first or second table, and especially idolatry:

in that they are turned unto other gods;
to the worship and service of them, which of all evils would be the most provoking to God; and the way of speaking suggests as if all evils were included in idolatry, and sprang from it, or were committed with it.

Deuteronomy 31:18 In-Context

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.
20 When I bring the Israelites to the land I swore to their ancestors, which is full of milk and honey, and they eat, get full, then fat, and then turn toward other gods, serving them and disrespecting me and breaking my covenant,
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