Deuteronomy — Chapter 29
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1These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
2Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.
3You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.
4Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
5For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.
6You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
7When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
8We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
9So keep and follow the words of this covenant, that you may prosper in all you do.
10All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,
11your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water—
12so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,
13and so that He may establish you today as His people, and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,
15but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.
16For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.
17You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.
18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,
19because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
21and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
22Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.
23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
24So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’
25And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
26They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them.
27Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.
28The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’
29The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
1These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
3The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
4Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
5And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
6Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
7And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:
8And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
9Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
10Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,
11Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:
12That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:
13That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
15But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:
16(For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
17And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
18Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
19And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
20The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
21And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:
22So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;
23And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
24Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
25Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
26For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
27And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
28And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
29The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
1These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
3the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders:
4but Jehovah hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
5And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxed old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxed old upon thy foot.
6Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God.
7And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:
8and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.
9Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
10Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
11your little ones, your wives, and thy sojourner that is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water;
12that thou mayest enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God maketh with thee this day;
13that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,
15but with him that standeth here with us this day before Jehovah our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day
16(for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed;
17and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them);
18lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
19and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.
20Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven.
21And Jehovah will set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law.
22And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith Jehovah hath made it sick;
23[and that] the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
24even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
25Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
26and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not given unto them:
27therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book;
28and Jehovah rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day.
29The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
1(28:69) These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
2Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land.
3Your eyes have seen the great judgments, those signs and mighty wonders.
4But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears!
5I have led you through the wilderness for 40 years. Your clothing has not worn out nor have your sandals deteriorated.
6You have eaten no bread and drunk no wine or beer—all so that you might know that I am the Lord your God!
7When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them.
8Then we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
9“Therefore, keep the terms of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do.
10You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,
11your infants, your wives, and the resident foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water—
12so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today.
13Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath,
15but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today.
16“(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled.
17You have seen their detestable things and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.)
18Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.
19When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, ‘I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.’ This will destroy the watered ground with the parched.
20The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger will rage against that man; all the curses written in this scroll will fall upon him, and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.
21The Lord will single him out for judgment from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.
22The generation to come—your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places—will see the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it.
23The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.
24Then all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?’
25Then people will say, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
26They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.
27That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses written in this scroll.
28So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.’
29The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.
1These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;
3the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
4But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
5I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet.
6You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.
7When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them.
8We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.
9Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
10All of you stand today in the presence of Yahweh your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
11your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water;
12that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God, and into his oath, which Yahweh your God makes with you today;
13that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only,
15but with those who stand here with us today before Yahweh our God, and also with those who are not here with us today
16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed;
17and you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them);
18lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.”
20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
21Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law.
22The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land, will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which Yahweh has made it sick;
23and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;
24even all the nations will say, “Why has Yahweh done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?”
25Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,
26and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know, and that he had not given to them.
27Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book.
28Yahweh rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
29The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Summary
Moses gathers Israel in Moab to enter into covenant with the LORD, reminding them of everything they saw in Egypt and during forty years of wilderness provision, yet noting that only now have their eyes and hearts truly begun to understand (vv. 1-9). The covenant includes not only those present but also future generations, and Moses warns against anyone who hears these words and still turns secretly to worship other gods, since the LORD will not forgive such presumption (vv. 10-21). He describes a devastated future land that will prompt other nations to ask why the LORD did this, with the answer being Israel's abandonment of the covenant, then closes by noting that secret things belong to the LORD while revealed things belong to Israel to obey (vv. 22-29).
Authorship & Background
Map & Geography
- Moses speaks from the plains of Moab. The covenant ratified here is "beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb" (v.1) — a second, distinct covenant location.
- Moses recounts the geographic journey: Egypt → the nations passed through → here in Moab (vv.2, 7, 16).
Places on this map
- Moabwest-central JordanThe plateau east of the Dead Sea, cut off from Israel by the rift valley and from Ammon by the Arnon gorge. High enough to farm grain, which is why Naomi's family went there in a famine. Wikipedia
- Mount SinaiJebel Musa, Sinai Peninsula, EgyptTraditionally Jebel Musa in the granite mountains of the southern Sinai peninsula, about 7,500 feet high. The identification dates from Christian monastic tradition rather than from the text, and other candidates have been proposed, but this has been the pilgrimage site since the fourth century. Wikipedia
- EgyptEgyptA ribbon of irrigated land along the Nile, ending in the Delta where Israel settled in Goshen. Rain-fed Canaan depended on weather; Egypt depended on a river that flooded on schedule, which made it the place everyone went when the harvest failed. Wikipedia
Towns sit on their excavated or traditional site. Regions, rivers and seas are ringed rather than dotted, because for those a single point is only an anchor. Coastlines from Natural Earth.
Commentary
- Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik emphasizes verse 4 as a statement about sovereign grace: spiritual perception is God's gift, not human achievement. He notes that verse 29 establishes healthy theological boundaries — we must not speculate beyond revelation or excuse disobedience by appealing to mystery.
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
- Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.
Videos
Articles
- GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Deuteronomy -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.
Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.
Reflection
- Seeing Without Perceiving (v.4) — Israel witnessed forty years of miracles yet still lacked a heart to understand what they'd seen. Is it possible to be around God's work constantly and still miss what He's teaching you?
- A Covenant That Binds Every Generation (vv.14-15) — Moses makes clear this covenant applies not only to those standing there but to generations not yet born, including us. Do you live as though God's claims on your life were made just as much to you as to the crowd at Moab?
- The Poisonous Root of Hidden Sin (v.18) — Moses warns of a root growing beneath the surface that will eventually bear bitter fruit. What hidden compromise are you tending that hasn't shown itself yet, but will?
- The Danger of Private Presumption (v.19) — The most vulnerable person is the one who hears God's warning and quietly assures himself he'll be fine anyway. Where have you told yourself "it won't happen to me" while continuing down a path God has already warned you about?
- Mystery and Responsibility (v.29) — God keeps some things hidden but has made His commands plain, and our accountability is tied to what's revealed, not what's secret. Are you using unanswered questions about God as an excuse to delay obeying what He's already made clear?