Chapter 29
Verses 1-30: Covenant Renewal and Future Warning
1. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;
2. The great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders;
3. Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
4. I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not worn out upon you, and your shoe is not worn out upon your foot.
5. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
6. And when you came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we smote them.
7. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
8. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
9. You 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,
10. Your little ones, your wives, and your stranger that is in your camp, from the hewer of your wood unto the drawer of your water;
11. That you should enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you this day;
12. That He may establish you today for a people unto Himself, and that He may be unto you a God, as He has said unto you, and as He has sworn unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
13. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
14. But with him that stands here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:
15. For you know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which you passed by;
16. And you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:
17. Lest there should be among you a man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns 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 bears gall and wormwood;
18. And it come to pass, 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 imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.’
19. The 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.
20. And 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:
21. So 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 has laid upon it;
22. And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath:
23. Even all nations shall say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus unto this land? What means the heat of this great anger?’
24. Then 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:
25. For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom He had not given unto them:
26. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
27. And 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.’
28. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
30. And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.
Interpretation:
Deuteronomy 29 emphasizes the importance of faithfulness to the covenant with God. It reflects on the Israelites’ journey, highlighting God’s guidance and their experiences. This chapter stresses the dire consequences of forsaking the covenant, using vivid imagery and historical references to underscore the severity of disobedience. The chapter also reminds the Israelites of their unique relationship with God and the importance of transmitting these teachings to future generations.
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