Deuteronomy 29:16

16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by,

Deuteronomy 29:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:16

For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt
How long they and their fathers had dwelt there, the number of years they had been in the land, as the Targum of Jonathan, which was upwards of two hundred years; and being a country the inhabitants of which were much given to idolatry, they had seen many of their idols, and much of their idolatrous worship; and their hearts had been apt to be ensnared by it, and the minds of some tinctured with it, and the remembrance thereof might make ill impressions on them; to remove or prevent which this covenant was made:

and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
as the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and Midianites, as Aben Ezra observes, through whose borders they came, as they passed by their countries in their journeys in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 29:16 In-Context

14 "I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone,

15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today

16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by,

17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them--wood and stone and silver and gold);

18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;