Deuteronomy 29:24

24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

Deuteronomy 29:24 in Other Translations

24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?

24 all the nations will say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?'

24 “And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’

24 All the nations will ask, "Why did God do this to this country? What on earth could have made him this angry?"

24 All the nations will ask, 'Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'

Deuteronomy 29:24 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:24

Even all nations shall say
For the destruction of this land, and the people of it, would be, as it has been, so very great and awful, and so very remarkable and surprising, that the fame of it would be heard among all the nations of the world, as it has been; who, upon hearing the sad report of it, would ask the following questions:

wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land?
so distinguished from all others for the fruitfulness and pleasantness of it; the people, the inhabitants of which, he chose, above all others, to be a special and peculiar people; and where he had a temple built for him, and where he had his residence, and worship used to be given unto him:

what [meaneth] the heat of this great anger?
what is the reason of his stirring up his fierce wrath, and causing it to burn in so furious a manner? surely it must be something very horrible and provoking indeed!

Deuteronomy 29:24 In-Context

22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it.

23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.

24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.

26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 16:10; Jeremiah 22:8-9; Jeremiah 52:13