Deuteronomy11
New American Standard
1“You shall therefore love the Lord your God, and always keep His directive, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
2Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm,
3and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;
4and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely eliminated them;
5and what He did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place;
6and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel—
7but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.
8“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land into which you are about to cross to possess it;
9and so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it by your foot like a vegetable garden.
11But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,
12a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.
13“And it shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul,
14that He will provide rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, so that you may gather your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
15He will also provide grass in your field for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16Beware that your hearts are not easily deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods, and worship them.
17Otherwise, the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the sky so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then you will quickly perish from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
18“You shall therefore take these words of mine to heart and to soul; and you shall tie them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead.
19You shall also teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.
20And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
21so that your days and the days of your sons may be increased on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
22For if you are careful to keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and cling to Him,
23then the Lord will dispossess all these nations from you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.
24Every place on which the sole of your foot steps shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.
25No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will instill the dread of you and the fear of you in all the land on which you set foot, just as He has spoken to you.
26“See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse:
27the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today;
28and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.
29“And it shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
30Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
31For you are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall possess it and live in it,
32and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am placing before you today.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 11.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The great work God wrought for Israel. (1–7). Promises and threatenings. (8–17). Careful study of God's word requisite. (18–25). The blessings and the curse set forth. (26–32).
vv1-7
Observe the connexion of these two; Thou shalt love the Lord, and keep his charge. Love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love, 1Jo 5:3. Moses recounts some of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes had seen. What our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, should affect us, and make us better long afterwards.
vv8-17
Moses sets before them, for the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did or did not keep God's commandment. Sin tends to shorten the days of all men, and to shorten the days of a people's prosperity. God will bless them with an abundance of all good things, if they would love him and serve him. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is; but the favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil. Revolt from God to idols would certainly be their ruin. Take heed that your hearts be not deceived. All who forsake God to set their affection upon any creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived, to their own destruction; and this will make it worse, that it was for want of taking heed.
vv18-25
Let all be directed by the three rules here given. 1. Let our hearts be filled with the word of God. There will not be good practices in the life, unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good principles in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God, having constant regard to it as the guide of our way, as the rule of our work, Ps 119:30. 3. Let our tongues be employed about the word of God. Nor will any thing do more to cause prosperity, and keeping up religion in a nation, than the good education of children.
Key Words
אָהַב: to have affection for (sexually or otherwise)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת: watch, i.e. the act (custody), or (concretely) the sentry, the post; objectively preservation, or (concretely) safe; figuratively observance, i.e. (abstractly) duty or (objectively) a usage or party
חֻקָּה: {an enactment; hence, an appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage)}
מִשְׁפָּט: properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant's right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style
מִצְוָה: a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
Cross References
Deuteronomy 11The historical account of the earth swallowing Dathan and Abiram mentioned in verse 6.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Identical commandment to bind God's words as signs and frontlets.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Identical commandment to teach the words to children when sitting, walking, lying down, and rising.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
The fulfillment of Joshua setting the blessings and curses on Gerizim and Ebal.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The historical account of God destroying Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and army in the Red Sea.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
New Testament reference to the agricultural patience required for the early and latter rain.
Supported by JFB
Prophetic promise of the early rain and the latter rain in their seasons.
Supported by JFB
Moses reiterates setting life/death and blessing/cursing before Israel for their choice.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Historical example of heaven being shut up from rain due to Israel's idolatry.
Supported by JFB
The original command during Passover to keep God's law as a sign on the hand.
Supported by Matthew Poole
God's original covenant boundary promise to Abraham, including the Euphrates river.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The explicit cataloging of blessings on Gerizim and curses on Ebal.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel description of Canaan's natural water supply contrasted with Egypt.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The plains of Moreh connected to Abraham's first altar in Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Poole