Deuteronomy 8:2-12

2 And you shall remember all [of] the way that Yahweh your God led you [during] these forty years in the desert in order to humble you and to test you to know what [is] in your heart, whether you would [diligently] keep his commandments or not.

3 And he humbled you and let you go hungry, and [then] he fed you with that which you did not know nor did your ancestors know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone but by all [that] goes out of the mouth of Yahweh humankind shall live.

4 Your clothing did not wear out {on you}, and your feet did not swell [during] these forty years.

5 And you should know with your heart that as a man disciplines his son, [so] Yahweh your God [is] disciplining you.

6 So you must keep the commandments of Yahweh your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

7 For Yahweh your God [is] bringing you to a good land [with] streams of water, springs and underground water, welling up in the valleys and in the hills,

8 [to] a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate trees, a land of olive trees, olive oil and honey;

9 [to] a land where you may eat food in it {without scarcity}; you will not find anything lacking in it, a land where its stones [are] iron and from its mountains you can mine copper.

10 And you will eat, and {you will be satisfied}, and you will bless Yahweh your God because [of] the good land that he has given to you.

11 "Take care for yourself so that you not forget Yahweh your God [by] not keeping his commandments and his regulations and his statutes that I [am] commanding you {today},

12 lest [when] you have eaten and you are satisfied and you have built good houses and you live [in them],

Deuteronomy 8:2-12 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "fathers"
• [b]. Or "by all [of] the going out of"
• [c]. Literally "from on you"
• [d]. Or "has disciplined you"
• [e]. Hebrew "valley"
• [f]. Hebrew "hill"
• [g]. Hebrew "vine"
• [h]. Hebrew "fig tree"
• [i]. Hebrew "pomegranate tree"
• [j]. Hebrew "olive tree"
• [k]. Literally "not in scarcity"
• [l]. Literally "you will eat your fill"
• [m]. Literally "the day"