Deuteronomy 29:12

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.

Deuteronomy 29:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:12

That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God,
&c.] That is, they were all to appear and stand in this order before the Lord, that they might solemnly avouch him to be their God, and hear him declaring them to be his people, and the many promises and prophecies of good things he should deliver to them, as well as threatenings of wrath and vengeance in case of disobedience to him: or "that thou shouldest pass" F5: which some think is an allusion to the manner of making covenants, by slaying a creature, and cutting it in pieces, and passing between them, as in ( Jeremiah 34:18 ) ; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra:

and into his oath;
annexed to his covenant and promise, to show the immutability and certain fulfilment of it on his part; and may signify not only the oath he swore that they should be his people, but the oath he gave them, and they took, that he should be their God:

which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day;
which refers both to the covenant and the oath, or the covenant confirmed by an oath, even the covenant now made in the plains of Moab, distinct from that at Horeb or Sinai.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Krbel) "ut transeas", V. L. Tigurine version, Munster, Vatablus, Pagniuns, Cocceius; "ad transeundum", Montanus.

Deuteronomy 29:12 In-Context

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.
14 But I am not just making this agreement and its promises with you
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.