CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Deuteronomy 29
Chapter 29 of 34
Chapter Overview
What happens in Deuteronomy 29
Moses renews the covenant with Israel in Moab, reminding them of God's faithfulness and warning that turning away from God will bring total devastation. The chapter ends with the powerful truth that the revealed word of God belongs to his people forever.
Scripture
Deuteronomy 29
Remembering God's Faithfulness
Study note
Moses begins the covenant renewal by reminding Israel of everything God did for them -- the plagues in Egypt, forty years of miraculous care in the wilderness, and victory over enemy kings. Despite seeing all this, they have not yet fully understood God's purposes.
1 These are the terms of the covenant the Lord told Moses to set up. He made it with the Israelites in Moab. It was on top of the covenant from Horeb. These 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.
2 Moses gathered all of Israel. He said: You watched all the Lord did in Egypt. You saw what he did to Pharaoh, his leaders, and his whole country. And 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;
3 Your own eyes saw those amazing tests. You saw those great signs and wonders. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
4 But even now, the Lord has not given you the ability to truly grasp it. You cannot see clearly or hear what matters. Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
5 For forty years I guided you through the wilderness. Your clothes never wore out, and your sandals never fell apart. And 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.
6 You had no bread to eat and no wine or beer to drink, so you would learn firsthand that I am the Lord your God. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
7 When you arrived here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight us, but we beat them. And 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:
8 We took their land and split it among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
9 So follow everything in this covenant and live by it. Then you will succeed at everything you attempt. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
All Israel Enters the Covenant
Study note
Every person stands before God to enter the covenant -- leaders, elders, officials, men, women, children, and even foreigners in the camp. This covenant is not just for those present but also for future generations not yet born.
10 Today every one of you stands before the Lord your God. Your leaders are here. Your tribal heads, your elders, and your officers are here. Every Israelite man is here. Ye 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,
11 your children, your wives, and the foreigners in your camp who chop wood and carry water for you. Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water:
12 You are here today to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God. This is a serious promise the Lord is making with you right now. That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:
13 Through this covenant he makes you his own people. He confirms that he is your God. He told you this. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That 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.
14 This sworn covenant is not just between me and those of you standing here right now. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
15 This agreement includes everyone standing here today before the Lord our God. It also includes your children who are not yet born. But 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:
Warning Against Secret Rebellion
Study note
Moses warns against anyone who secretly turns away from God, thinking they can disobey without consequences. Such a person will not be forgiven, and every curse in the law will fall upon them. No one can hide rebellion from God.
16 You know from experience what life was like in Egypt and what you saw as you traveled through other nations. (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
17 You saw their disgusting worship practices and their idols made of wood and stone and covered in silver and gold. And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
18 Make sure no one among you today — no man, woman, family, or tribe — turns away from the Lord our God to chase after other gods. Do not let any poisonous root of unfaithfulness grow up among you. Lest 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;
19 If anyone hears this solemn oath and secretly thinks, 'I will be fine even if I go my own way,' it will bring disaster on everyone. It will be like a flood that wipes out dry land and wet land alike. And 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:
20 The Lord will never forgive that person. His anger and passion will blaze against them, and every curse in this book will crash down on them. The Lord will erase their name from the earth. 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.
21 The Lord will single that person out from all the tribes of Israel. He will punish them. Every curse in this book of the covenant will fall on them. 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:
The Devastated Land
Study note
Moses looks ahead to a time when the land lies in ruins and future generations ask why God destroyed it. The answer will be clear: Israel abandoned God's covenant and worshiped other gods. The chapter ends with the famous reminder that secret things belong to God, but what he has revealed belongs to his people forever.
22 People in the future will see the ruin. Visitors from far lands will see how badly the Lord struck this land. They will see the disease and ruin. 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 hath laid upon it;
23 The entire land will be a scorched wasteland of sulfur and salt. Nothing will be planted. Nothing will sprout. Not a blade of grass will grow anywhere. It will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. These were the cities the Lord wiped out in his blazing fury. And 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:
24 Every nation will ask, 'Why has the Lord done this to their land? What caused such intense, burning anger?' Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?
25 People will answer: 'They left the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers. He made that covenant with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 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:
26 They went off and worshipped other gods. They bowed down to gods they had never known before. These were gods the Lord had never given to them. For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
27 Therefore the Lord's anger blazed against this land, bringing down every curse recorded in this book. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
28 In white-hot fury the Lord ripped them out of their land and threw them into another country, where they remain to this day.' 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.
29 The things God has kept secret belong to the Lord our God alone. But everything he has chosen to show us belongs to us and our children forever. This is so we will follow every part of this law. The 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Deuteronomy 29
Covenant renewal for a new generationThe hidden things belong to GodWarning against presumptuous sinGod's faithfulness across generations
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Deuteronomy 29:4 Romans 11:8
Paul quotes the observation that God had not yet given Israel eyes to see or ears to hear when discussing the mystery of Israel's partial hardening and God's sovereign purposes.
Apply This Today
Living Deuteronomy 29
The famous verse 'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children' teaches a profound balance: we are not responsible for what God has not revealed, but we are fully responsible for what He has. Covenant renewal was essential because each generation must own its relationship with God rather than coasting on the faith of parents.
Go Deeper
Study Deuteronomy in Covenant Path
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