Deuteronomy 29:12

12 that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God makes with you this day;

Deuteronomy 29:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:12

That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God,
&c.] That is, they were all to appear and stand in this order before the Lord, that they might solemnly avouch him to be their God, and hear him declaring them to be his people, and the many promises and prophecies of good things he should deliver to them, as well as threatenings of wrath and vengeance in case of disobedience to him: or "that thou shouldest pass" F5: which some think is an allusion to the manner of making covenants, by slaying a creature, and cutting it in pieces, and passing between them, as in ( Jeremiah 34:18 ) ; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra:

and into his oath;
annexed to his covenant and promise, to show the immutability and certain fulfilment of it on his part; and may signify not only the oath he swore that they should be his people, but the oath he gave them, and they took, that he should be their God:

which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day;
which refers both to the covenant and the oath, or the covenant confirmed by an oath, even the covenant now made in the plains of Moab, distinct from that at Horeb or Sinai.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Krbel) "ut transeas", V. L. Tigurine version, Munster, Vatablus, Pagniuns, Cocceius; "ad transeundum", Montanus.

Deuteronomy 29:12 In-Context

10 "You stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel,
11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, both he who hews your wood and he who draws your water,
12 that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God makes with you this day;
13 that he may establish you this day as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14 Nor is it with you only that I make this sworn covenant,
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.