Deuteronomy 11:16

16 {Take care} so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to 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 then 'I will send the rain for your land in its season, early rain and later rain, and you will gather your grain and your wine and your olive oil.
15 And I will give vegetation in your field for your livestock, and {you will eat your fill}.'
16 {Take care} so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to them.
17 And [then] {the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you}, and he will shut up the heavens, and there shall not be rain, and [so] the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land that Yahweh [is] giving to you.
18 "And you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your inner self, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as an emblem between your eyes.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "Watch for yourself"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.