Deuteronomy 29

Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the covenant Yahveh commanded Moses to establish with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.

Deuteronomy 29:2 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything Yahveh did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and his entire land.

Deuteronomy 29:3 You saw with your own eyes the great trials and those great signs and wonders.

Deuteronomy 29:4 Yet to this day, Yahveh has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

Deuteronomy 29:5 I led you forty years in the open country; your clothes and the sandals on your feet did not wear out;

Deuteronomy 29:6 you did not eat bread or drink wine or beer – so that you might know that I am Yahveh your God.

Deuteronomy 29:7 When you reached this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.

Deuteronomy 29:8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

Deuteronomy 29:9 Therefore, watch the words of this covenant and follow them so that you will succeed in everything you do.

Deuteronomy 29:10 “All of you are standing today before Yahveh your God – your leaders, tribes, elders, officials, all the men of Israel,

Deuteronomy 29:11 your dependents, your wives, and the guests in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water –

Deuteronomy 29:12 so that you may enter into the covenant of Yahveh your God, which he is establishing with you today, so that you may enter into his oath[1]

Deuteronomy 29:13 and 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 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 29:14 I am establishing this covenant and this oath not only with you,

Deuteronomy 29:15 but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of Yahveh our God and with those who are not here today.

Deuteronomy 29:16 “Indeed, you know how we stayed in the land of Egypt and passed through the nations where you traveled.

Deuteronomy 29:17 You saw their repulsive things[2] and idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them.

Deuteronomy 29:18 Or else there may be a man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from Yahveh our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Deuteronomy 29:19 When someone hears the words of this oath, he may celebrate himself, and this is what he says: ‘I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.’ This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered land as well as the dry land.

Deuteronomy 29:20 Yahveh will not be willing to forgive him. Instead, his anger and jealousy will burn against that person, and every oath written in this scroll will descend on him. Yahveh will blot out his name under the sky,

Deuteronomy 29:21 And Yahveh will separate him from all the tribes of Israel for harm, according to all the oaths of the covenant written in this book of instruction.

Deuteronomy 29:22 “Future generations of your children who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant country will see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses Yahveh has inflicted on it.

Deuteronomy 29:23 All its land will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unplanted, producing nothing, with no plant growing on it, just like the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahveh demolished in his fierce anger.

Deuteronomy 29:24 All the nations will ask, ‘Why has Yahveh done this to this land? Why this intense outburst of anger?’

Deuteronomy 29:25 Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahveh, the God of their fathers, which he had established with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 29:26 They began to serve other gods, bowing in worship to gods they had not known – gods that Yahveh had not permitted them to worship.

Deuteronomy 29:27 Therefore Yahveh’s nose burned at this land, and he brought every affliction written in this book on it.

Deuteronomy 29:28 Yahveh uprooted them from their land in his anger, rage, and intense wrath and tossed them into another land where they are today.’

Deuteronomy 29:29 The hidden things belong to Yahveh our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children permanently, so that we may follow all the words of this instruction.

[1]אָלָה = oath. Deuteronomy 29:12, 14, 19, 20, 21; 30:7.

[2]שִׁקּוּץ = repulsive thing.

Deuteronomy 29 quotes:

“Chapter 29 draws attention to the terms and implications of Israel’s entering into the covenant that is sealed with a ‘curse’ (v. 12 [ET]), involving both present and future generations (vv. 11–15). The new element here is that all members of the community, from the leaders to menial servants, stand as individuals before the Lord (vv. 9–15), and are thus under the curse and wrath of God if the covenant is broken. The chapter especially recalls the standpoint of chapter 13 on apostasy and idolatry (v. 18 [ET]). This is then developed in terms of the person who might hear the words of the curse, and then invoke a blessing upon himself, thinking that he is safe from the curse, while continuing in his own stubborn and rebellious ways (cf. 27:15–26). Such a person is a root, whose bitter poison can bring ruin to the entire nation (v. 19 ET]). Earlier, this is attributed to the absence of ‘a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear’ to ‘this day’ (v. 4 [ET]). Such sin will never be forgiven within Israel. The wrath of the Lord (vv. 20–28 [ET]) will ‘burn’ against such a person, and ‘single’ him out for the full quota of curses contained in chapters 27 – 28 (v. 21 [ET]). In time this will lead to the land itself becoming an unproductive burning waste like Sodom and Gomorrah, prompting the nations to ask why this should be so. The answer will be that Israel abandoned the covenant of the Lord by worshipping other gods they did not know, gods he had not given them (vv. 22– 28; cf. 4:19; 28:64). As a result, the Lord’s anger will burn against the land, uprooting Israel and thrusting them into another land, as it is now. Finally, verse 29 [ET] flows into the following chapter, where the resolution to this failure is described.”

Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

“In the concluding charge, Moses returns first of all to dwell briefly on some of the themes already contained in the earlier discourses (vv. 1–8.1 The substance of the material presented here in summary form is a recollection of God’s acts in history, from the Exodus, through the testing period in the wilderness, and up to the arrival of the people on the plains of Moab. To the reader, the repetition may seem somewhat tedious at first sight, but the significance of the repetition appears in v. 3: the Lord has not granted you,2 up to this day, a mind3 to understand, and eyes to see, and ears to hear. With the perspective of time, the Israelites could learn to see God’s presence in their past experience, but it required insight and perception.”

Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 356). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Day: December 19, 2025

Deuteronomy 29

Deuteronomy 29

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