Deuteronomy 8:2-12

2 Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

3 He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God's mouth.

4 Your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister those forty years.

5 You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.

6 So it's paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him.

7 God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys.

8 It's a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey.

9 It's land where you'll never go hungry - always food on the table and a roof over your head. It's a land where you'll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.

10 After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.

11 Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today

12 Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in,

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.