Deuteronomy 29:8-18

8 And we smote them and took their land, and I gave it for an inheritance to Ruben and Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasse.

9 And ye shall take heed to do all the words of this covenant, that ye may understand all things that ye shall do.

10 Ye all stand to-day before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and your judges, and your officers, every man of Israel,

11 your wives, and your children, and the stranger who is in the midst of your camp, from your hewer of wood even to your drawer of water,

12 that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God and into his oaths, as many as the Lord thy God appoints thee this day;

13 that he may appoint thee to himself for a people, and he shall be thy God, as he said to thee, and as he sware to thy fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob.

14 And I do not appoint to you alone this covenant and this oath;

15 but to those also who are here with you to-day before the Lord your God, and to those who are not here with you to-day.

16 For ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, how we came through the midst of the nations through whom ye came.

17 And ye beheld their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which are among them.

18 Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness.

Deuteronomy 29:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 29

This chapter begins with an intimation of another covenant the Lord was about to make with the people of Israel, De 29:1; and, to prepare their minds to an attention to it, various things which the Lord had done for them are recited, De 29:2-9; the persons are particularly mentioned with whom the covenant would now be made, the substance of which is, that they should be his people, and he their God, De 29:10-15; and since they had seen the idols in Egypt and other countries, with which they might have been ensnared, they are cautioned against idolatry and idolaters, as being most provoking to the Lord, De 29:16-21; which would bring destruction not only on particular persons, but upon their whole land, to the amazement of posterity; who, inquiring the reason of it, will be told, it was because they forsook the covenant of God, and particularly were guilty of idolatry, which, whether privately or openly committed, would be always punished, De 29:22-29.