Deuteronomy 8:19
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If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
To strengthen his admonition, Moses pointed again in conclusion, as he had already done in Deu 6:14 (cf. Deu 4:25.), to the destruction which would come upon Israel through apostasy from its God.
Open source ↗Moses had charged parents in teaching their children to whet the word of God upon them (Deu 6:7) by frequent repetition of the same things over and over again; and here he himself takes the same method of instructing the Israelites as his children, frequently inculcating the same precepts and cautions, with the same motives or arguments to enforce them, that what they heard so often might abide with them. In this chapter Moses gives them, I. General exhortations to obedience (Deu 8:1, Deu 8:6). II. A review of the great things God had done for them in the wilderness, as a good argument for obedience (Deu 8:2-5, Deu 8:15, Deu 8:16). III. A prospect of the good land into which God would now bring them (Deu 8:7-9). IV. A necessary caution against the temptations of a prosperous condition (Deu 8:10-14, and Deu 8:17, Deu 8:18). V. A fair warning of the fatal consequences of apostasy from God (Deu 8:19, Deu 8:20).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.
But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
“Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
“I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.
know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.