Deuteronomy 8

You must carefully obey every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and grow in number, and go in and take over the land the LORD promised your ancestors with an oath.

1All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.

NoteMoses is speaking, in the plains of Moab, to the generation of Israelites about to cross the Jordan into Canaan; "today" and "this day" throughout the chapter refer to the day of this speech. In the Hebrew, most of the chapter addresses the whole nation as though it were a single person, "you" singular, which modern English cannot show, since our "you" is both singular and plural.

2Remember the whole way the LORD your God led you these forty years in the desert. He did it to humble you and to test you, to find out what was in your heart, and whether you would keep his commands or not.

2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

NoteThe forty years refers to the period between the escape from Egypt and this moment, during which the people lived as nomads in the Sinai and Negev deserts rather than entering Canaan directly. The Hebrew word behind "test" is the ordinary word for putting something to the proof, as one tests metal, not for luring someone into wrongdoing.

3He humbled you. He let you go hungry, and then he fed you with manna, food that neither you nor your ancestors had ever known. He did this to teach you that people do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

NoteManna was the food the Israelites are said to have gathered each morning in the desert; it is described elsewhere as fine, flaky, white, and tasting of honey wafers. The name itself comes from the Hebrew question *man hu*, roughly "what is it?", the point being that it was something unrecognizable, with no name of its own. "Bread" here, as often in Hebrew, stands for food in general, not one baked item.

4Your clothes did not wear out on you, and your feet did not swell, in all those forty years.

4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

NoteSwollen feet were the standard mark of long marching on foot; the two details together, clothes and feet, are a compact way of saying the people came through forty years of travel without the wear that travel normally costs.

5So think this over in your heart: the LORD your God corrects you the same way a man corrects his own son.

5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

NoteThe Hebrew word covers a father's whole training of a son: instruction, correction, and punishment together. It is closer to "bring up" or "discipline" than to "punish."

6So keep the commands of the LORD your God. Live the way he tells you to live, and stand in awe of him.

6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

Note"Fear" in the King James sense here translates a Hebrew word that ranges from terror to reverence; used of God in these speeches it means awe and serious regard, not fright. "Walk in his ways" is a Hebrew idiom for conduct, the road you walk is the life you lead.

7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land of streams, of springs, and of underground waters that flow out in the valleys and hills.

7For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

8It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey.

8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

NoteThese seven crops (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, honey) were the staples of the land, and the list became a standard summary of its produce. "Honey" may mean wild bees' honey or the thick syrup boiled from dates; the Hebrew word covers both.

9It is a land where you will have all the food you need and will not go without anything; a land whose rocks hold iron, and whose hills you can dig into for copper.

9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

Note"Brass" in 1611 English meant copper or bronze; brass as we know it, an alloy of copper and zinc, was not yet in use. Copper was mined in the Arabah, the valley south of the Dead Sea. "Whose stones are iron" means rock containing iron ore, not that the stones themselves are metal.

10When you have eaten and are full, then praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "bless" works in both directions: God blesses people by giving them good, and people bless God by acknowledging and thanking him for it. Here it is the second sense, the origin of the Jewish practice of saying a blessing after a meal.

11Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep his commands, his rulings, and his laws that I am giving you today.

11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

NoteThree overlapping Hebrew terms are being piled up: *mitzvot*, direct orders; *mishpatim*, rulings of the kind a judge hands down, often case law; and *huqqim*, fixed decrees or set customs. Ancient legal language commonly stacked such words for completeness rather than drawing sharp distinctions between them.

12When you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and settled in them,

12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13and when your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold increase, and everything you own increases,

13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14then your heart may become proud, and you may forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

Note"House of slavery" is a fixed Hebrew phrase for Egypt, used repeatedly in these books; "house" here means household or place of service, as one might say "the workhouse." A "lifted-up heart" is the Hebrew idiom for arrogance, the heart being thought of as the seat of thought and will, not of feeling.

15He is the one who led you through that huge and terrifying desert, where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions, and dry ground with no water. He brought water out of hard rock for you.

15Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;

Note"Fiery serpents" translates *seraphim*, literally "burning ones", venomous snakes, so called either from the burning pain of the bite or from a coppery appearance; an episode with them is told in Numbers 21. Flint is one of the hardest common stones, so "rock of flint" names the least likely place on earth for water to come from.

16He is the one who fed you in the desert with manna, which your ancestors had never known. He did it to humble you and to test you, so that in the end he could do you good.

16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17You might say to yourself, “My own power and the strength of my hands got me all this wealth.”

17And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18But remember the LORD your God, because he is the one who gives you the power to gain wealth. He does this to carry out the agreement he promised your ancestors with an oath, just as he is doing today.

18But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement between two parties, sworn with an oath and often with a ceremony, the ordinary word for a treaty between kings or a pact between men. The one meant here is the sworn promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of descendants and of this land.

19And this is what will happen: if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, serving them and bowing down to them, I warn you today that you will surely be destroyed.

19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Note"I testify against you" is courtroom language: the speaker is formally putting on record, before witnesses, a warning that can later be cited against the accused. Treaties of the period ended in exactly this way, with blessings for keeping the terms and curses for breaking them.

20You will be destroyed just like the nations the LORD is destroying ahead of you, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

20As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

NoteThe nations are the peoples already living in Canaan, whose displacement is described in the preceding books. The point of the comparison is that Israel is being warned it holds the land on the same terms as anyone else, with no exemption.