Deuteronomy 8:1-8

1 Take care to do all the commandments which I command thee this day that ye may live and be multiplied and enter in and inherit the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way by which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to afflict thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or not.

3 And he afflicted thee and caused thee to hunger and sustained thee with manna, food of which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD shall man live.

4 Thy raiment never waxed old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5 And know in thine heart, that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD thy God chastens thee.

6 Keep, therefore, the commandments of the LORD thy God by walking in his ways and fearing him.

7 For the LORD thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks, of waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,

8 a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olives, of oil, and honey;

Deuteronomy 8:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 8

In this chapter Moses repeats the exhortation to observe the commands of God, and urges the Israelites to it, from the consideration of the great and good things God had done for them in the wilderness, and even in those instances which were chastisements, and were of an humbling nature, De 8:1-6, and on the consideration of the blessings of the good land they were going to possess, De 8:7-9 for which blessings they are exhorted to be thankful, and are cautioned against pride of heart through them, and forgetfulness of God, and of his goodness to them while in the wilderness, and when brought into the land of Canaan, which they were to ascribe to his power and goodness, and not their own, De 8:10-18, and the chapter is concluded with a warning against idolatry, lest they perish through it as the nations before them, De 8:19,20.