Deuteronomy 11:13-21

13 "And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, ¹to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 ²he^[a] will give the rain for your land in its season, ³the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.

15 ⁴And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and ⁵you shall eat and be full.

16 Take care ⁶lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and ⁷serve other gods and worship them;

17 then ⁸the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he ⁹will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and ¹⁰you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.

18 ¹¹"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and ¹²you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

20 ¹³You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

21 ¹⁴that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, ¹⁵as long as the heavens are above the earth.

Deuteronomy 11:13-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 11

In this chapter, the exhortation to love the Lord, and keep his commands, is repeated and urged again and again from various considerations; as not only from the chastisement of Pharaoh and the wicked Egyptians, but of such Israelites who offended the Lord, and transgressed his law, De 12:1-7, from the goodness and excellency of the land they were going to inherit, De 11:8-11, from the blessing of rain that would come upon it, and be productive of all good things for man and beast, in case of obedience, and a restraint of it in case of disobedience, De 11:12-17, from the continuance of them and their offspring in the land, should they be careful to observe the commands themselves, and teach them their children, De 11:18-21, and from the extensiveness of their conquests and dominions, De 11:22-25 and from the different issue and effects of their conduct and behaviour, a blessing upon them if obedient, but a curse if disobedient, De 11:26-28 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal; the situation of which places is described when they should come into the land of Canaan, of which they are assured, De 11:29-32.

Cross References

• 1. See Deuteronomy 6:5
• 2. Deuteronomy 28:12; Leviticus 26:4
• 3. [Job 29:23; Jeremiah 5:24; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23; James 5:7]
• 4. Psalms 104:14
• 5. Deuteronomy 6:11; [Joel 2:19]
• 6. [Job 31:27]
• 7. ver. 28; See Deuteronomy 6:14
• 8. Deuteronomy 6:15
• 9. 1 Kings 8:35; 2 Chronicles 6:26; 2 Chronicles 7:13; [Deuteronomy 28:23, 24; Leviticus 26:19, 20; Amos 4:7; Zechariah 14:17; Revelation 11:6]
• 10. Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:18; Joshua 23:15, 16
• 11. See Deuteronomy 6:6
• 12. See Deuteronomy 6:8
• 13. Deuteronomy 6:9
• 14. See Deuteronomy 4:40
• 15. Psalms 89:29

Footnotes

• [a]. Samaritan, Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew I; also verse 15