Deuteronomy 29:11

11 your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you, who chop your wood and carry your water.

Deuteronomy 29:11 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:11

Your little ones, your wives
Who are scarce ever mentioned in any special law or solemn transaction:

and thy stranger that [is] in thy camp;
not only the proselyte of righteousness, who embraced the Jewish religion entirely, but the proselyte of the gate, who was admitted to dwell among them, having renounced idolatry. These standing with the Israelites, when this covenant was made, has respect to the Gentiles, who as well as the Jews have an interest in the covenant of grace made with Christ; in whom there is, neither Jew nor Gentile, any difference between them:

from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water;
that hewed wood for firing and other uses, and drew water for the camp; who were generally mean persons, and perhaps some that came out of Egypt with them are here intended; however, mean and abject persons are meant, and signifies that none should be excluded from a concern in this solemn affair on account of their meanness.

Deuteronomy 29:11 In-Context

9 You must carefully obey everything in this agreement so that you will succeed in everything you do.
10 Today you are all standing here before the Lord your God -- your leaders and important men, your older leaders, officers, and all the other men of Israel,
11 your wives and children and the foreigners who live among you, who chop your wood and carry your water.
12 You are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God, an agreement the Lord your God is making with you today.
13 This will make you today his own people. He will be your God, as he told you and as he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.