Deuteronomy 31:29

29 For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evil in the eyes of Yahweh, {provoking him with the work of your hands}."

Deuteronomy 31:29 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:29

For I know that after my death
Which was just at hand, some time after that, not immediately; this he knew by a spirit of prophecy, namely, what follows:

ye will utterly corrupt [yourselves];
their ways, works, and manners, and so themselves; corrupt the worship of God by making idols, and serving them, which is the corruption chiefly intended:

and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you:
from the way of the commandments of God, which Moses had given them in his name, and in which they were directed to walk; but, as here foretold, would wander and swerve from them as they did:

and evil will befall you in the latter days;
not only in the times of the judges, and in the time of the Babylonish captivity, but in their present captivity, as they call it; which shows that the following song has things in it which respect times at a great distance, and even the present ones, and yet to come:

because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to
anger through the work of your hands;
their idols, idolatry being the evil chiefly designed, which is of all things the most provoking of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:29 In-Context

27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck [even now] while I [am] still alive with you {today}, rebelling against Yahweh, and {how much more} after my death.

28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, so that I may speak in their ears these words, and [that] I may call as witness against them heaven and earth.

29 For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evil in the eyes of Yahweh, {provoking him with the work of your hands}."

30 So Moses spoke into the ears of the assembly of Israel the words of this song {until they were complete}.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "the evil"; the definite article indicates the general concept of evil
• [b] Literally "to provoke him with/by the work of your hands"