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The Torah · Old Testament

Deuteronomy 11

Remembered acts, promised rain and a choice before Israel

General context

Moses addresses listeners who have seen the Lord's acts, distinguishing them from children who have not. He recalls Egypt, the sea, the wilderness and the swallowing of Dathan and Abiram's households. The land ahead is described as dependent on rain from heaven and under the Lord's care. Rain, crops and pasture are promised with obedience, while turning to other gods is met with the warning of closed skies and loss of the land. The people must keep the words in heart and daily teaching. The address closes by setting blessing and curse before them and directing a future declaration at Gerizim and Ebal.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 11:1, Deuteronomy 11:2, Deuteronomy 11:3, Deuteronomy 11:4, Deuteronomy 11:5, Deuteronomy 11:6, Deuteronomy 11:7, Deuteronomy 11:8, Deuteronomy 11:9, Deuteronomy 11:10, Deuteronomy 11:11, Deuteronomy 11:12, Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 11:14, Deuteronomy 11:15, Deuteronomy 11:16, Deuteronomy 11:17, Deuteronomy 11:18, Deuteronomy 11:19, Deuteronomy 11:20, Deuteronomy 11:21, Deuteronomy 11:22, Deuteronomy 11:23, Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 11:25, Deuteronomy 11:26, Deuteronomy 11:27, Deuteronomy 11:28, Deuteronomy 11:29, Deuteronomy 11:30, Deuteronomy 11:31, Deuteronomy 11:32

Deuteronomy 11 (KJV)

1Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

2And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

3And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day;

5And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

6And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

7But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.

8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

9And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

12A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

26Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

28And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

29And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

30Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

31For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

32And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The agricultural comparison says Egypt was watered with the foot like a vegetable garden, while the new land has hills and valleys drinking heaven's rain. No particular irrigation device is named. The seasonal rains support grain, wine, oil and livestock. Gerizim is assigned the blessing and Ebal the curse after entry into the land. At 11:30 the KJV locates them beside the plains of Moreh, the ASV beside its oaks and the BBE by its holy tree. The ceremony is instructed here, not reported as already performed.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 11:10, Deuteronomy 11:11, Deuteronomy 11:12, Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 11:14, Deuteronomy 11:15, Deuteronomy 11:26, Deuteronomy 11:27, Deuteronomy 11:28, Deuteronomy 11:29, Deuteronomy 11:30, Deuteronomy 11:31, Deuteronomy 11:32

Literary context

The opening turns remembered sight into responsibility: the addressed generation has seen what its children must learn. The later repetition of household teaching joins that responsibility to daily routines. Rain and drought give the blessing-and-curse choice concrete agricultural consequences. The final pair of mountains gives a future location to the choice already being put into words. Conditional promises remain linked to hearing, loving and serving throughout the address.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 11:2, Deuteronomy 11:3, Deuteronomy 11:4, Deuteronomy 11:5, Deuteronomy 11:6, Deuteronomy 11:7, Deuteronomy 11:8, Deuteronomy 11:9, Deuteronomy 11:13, Deuteronomy 11:14, Deuteronomy 11:15, Deuteronomy 11:16, Deuteronomy 11:17, Deuteronomy 11:18, Deuteronomy 11:19, Deuteronomy 11:20, Deuteronomy 11:21, Deuteronomy 11:22, Deuteronomy 11:23, Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 11:25, Deuteronomy 11:26, Deuteronomy 11:27, Deuteronomy 11:28, Deuteronomy 11:29

Key moments

  1. The listeners' remembered sight (Deuteronomy 11:7). Moses tells the addressed listeners that their own eyes have seen the Lord's acts.
  2. Words taught through the day (Deuteronomy 11:19). Parents are instructed to teach and speak the words in ordinary daily settings.
  3. Blessing and curse (Deuteronomy 11:26). Moses sets the two outcomes before Israel, with their conditions stated next.

For reflection

How does the distinction between seeing and being taught connect the generations? What do the agricultural details add to the chapter's language of blessing and curse?

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