Deuteronomy chapter 11

The essence of the Law, continued. The blessings from obedience. A blessing and a curse.

 


 

THE ESSENCE OF THE LAW, CONTINUED

 

VERSE 1. Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments, always.

From the hundreds of commandments in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ singled out the most important commandment of all. Read more »

 

VERSE 2. Know this day—for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm,

children who have not known. The children were not eyewitnesses of the awesome works of the LORD God.

 

VERSE 3. his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land;

 

VERSE 4. and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Sea of Suf to overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day;

 

VERSE 5. and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place;

 

VERSE 6. and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel;

 

VERSE 7. but your eyes have seen all of the LORD’s great work which he did.

your eyes have seen. Peter and many of the biblical authors were eyewitnesses. They saw with their own eyes, and they testified. Read more »

 

THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE

 

VERSE 8. Therefore you shall keep the entire commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land that you go over to possess;

that you may be strong. Can walking with the LORD God make you strong?

 

VERSE 9. and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

that you may prolong your days. They are promised a long life.

 

VERSE 10. For the land, where you go in to possess isn’t like the land of Egypt that you came out of, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;

 

VERSE 11. but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky,

The Promised Land is a lush paradise with frequent rain.

But since then, the climate has changed. Today’s reality is a dry desert.

 

VERSE 12. a land which the LORD your God cares for. The LORD your God’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.

a land which the LORD your God cares for. Doubtless the LORD God cares for all land everywhere. But the Land has a very special significance.

 

VERSE 13. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

From the hundreds of commandments in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ singled out the most important commandment of all. Read more »

 

VERSE 14. that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

 

VERSE 15. I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.

 

VERSE 16. Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other gods and worship them;

Be careful. It is very easy for us humans to drift. Perhaps without intending it to happen, we drift from one thing to another.

 

VERSE 17. and the LORD’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.

 

VERSE 18. Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Book of Deuteronomy and from the entire Bible.

lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. This is recommending that we memorize the Scriptures

 

VERSE 19. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Deuteronomy 6:7. and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

 

VERSE 20. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates;

Deuteronomy 6:9. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

 

VERSE 21. that your days and your children’s days may be multiplied in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

 

VERSE 22. For if you 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 cling to him—

 

VERSE 23. then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. The might of the enemy is inconsequential. And so is the strength of the child of God.

Rather, what counts is the greatness of the LORD God!

 

VERSE 24. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea shall be your border.

 

VERSE 25. No man will be able to stand before you. The LORD your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.

the fear of you and the dread of you. As God’s people traveled to new regions, the LORD God kept them safe by sending an angel. It caused the local inhabitants to be afraid of the Hebrews. Read more »

 

A BLESSING AND A CURSE

 

VERSE 26. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:

To choose the way of life means to learn from the Bible and act upon it. Blessings and wisdom will follow. As for you and your house, will you serve the LORD? Read more »

 

VERSE 27. the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today;

the blessing. The blessing stems from following the commandments.

 

VERSE 28. and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

the curse. The curse stems from NOT following the commandments.

 

VERSE 29. It shall happen, when the LORD your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal.

 

VERSE 30. Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

 

VERSE 31. For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it.

They will cross the Jordan and invade the Promised Land.

 

VERSE 32. You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today.

 


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DEUTERONOMY

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.