Deuteronomy 31:18

18 But I will certainly hide my face on that day, because [of] all of the evil that they did because they 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be taken notice of; that he was the spring and source of all their good things, their sun and their shield, who being withdrawn from them, they would be deprived of every thing that was good, and be liable to all evil; and this he would do,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 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you [are] about to lie [down] with your ancestors, and this people will arise and they will play the prostitute after {the foreign gods} of the land {to which they are going}.

17 And {my anger shall flare up against them} on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall become as prey, and disasters and troubles shall find them, and they shall say on that day, '[Is it] not because our God is not in our midst [that] these disasters have found us?'

18 But I will certainly hide my face on that day, because [of] all of the evil that they did because they turned to other gods.

19 "And so then write this song for yourselves and teach it to the {Israelites}; put it in their mouth, so that this song may be for me as a witness against the {Israelites}.

20 For when I bring them into the land that I swore to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, {they will eat their fill}, and they will become fat, and [then] they will turn to other gods, and they will serve them, and they will spurn me, and they will break my covenant.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "he"
• [b]. Hebrew "he"