Deuteronomy 11:16

16 Take care 1lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and 2serve other gods and worship them;

Deuteronomy 11:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 11:16

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived
By observing the influence of the heavens upon the fruitfulness of the earth, and so be drawn to the worship of the host of them, the sun, moon, and stars; or by the examples of nations round about them; and by the plausible arguments they may make use of, taken from the traditions of ancestors, from antiquity, and the consent of nations, and the great numbers of worshippers, and the like:

and ye turn aside;
from the true God, and the worship of him; or from the law, as Jarchi, which directs to the worship of one God, and forbids idolatry, or the worshipping of images:

and serve other gods, and worship them;
other gods than the one only living and true God; gods that made not the heavens and the earth, and which cannot give rain, nor any blessing and mercy of life, nor help and deliver their worshippers when in distress.

Deuteronomy 11:16 In-Context

14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
17 then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.
18 "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Cross References 2

  • 1. [Job 31:27]
  • 2. ver. 28; See Deuteronomy 6:14
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.