Deuteronomy Chapter 29 — The Renewal of the Covenant
Moses calls the people of Israel to renew their covenant with God in Moab, reminding them of His past faithfulness and the dangers of idolatry.
1These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
2Moses called to all Israel, and said to them:
3the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
4But the LORD has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
5I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet.
6You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.
7When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them.
8We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites.
9Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
10All of you stand today in the presence of the LORD your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
11your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,
12that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, and into his oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today,
13that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only,
15but with those who stand here with us today before the LORD our God, and also with those who are not here with us today
16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the middle of the nations through which you passed;
17and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them);
18lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,” to destroy the moist with the dry.
20The LORD will not pardon him, but then the LORD’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under the sky.
21The LORD will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
22The generation to come—your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a far land—will say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick,
23that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.
24Even all the nations will say, “Why has the LORD done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?”
25Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,
26and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them.
27Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book.
28The LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and thrust them into another land, as it is today.”
29The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
WEB Translation
Notable Verses
Deuteronomy 29:5
“I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet.”
This verse highlights God's supernatural provision and care for the Israelites during their long journey through the desert.
Deuteronomy 29:29
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
This verse establishes the balance between the infinite nature of God and the practical responsibility of humans to follow what He has revealed.
Chapter Summary
In Deuteronomy 29, Moses addresses the Israelites in Moab to formalize a renewed covenant between them and God. He begins by recounting the miraculous signs they witnessed in Egypt and their forty-year journey through the wilderness, where God provided for their physical needs such that their clothes and sandals did not wear out. Moses emphasizes that this covenant extends not only to those present—including leaders, families, and foreigners—but also to future generations. He warns against the 'bitter poison' of idolatry, cautioning that any individual or tribe who turns away from God to serve other nations' deities will face severe judgment. The chapter describes the potential desolation of the land as a warning to other nations of what happens when a people abandons their covenant with God. Moses concludes by distinguishing between 'secret things' that belong to God and the 'revealed things' given to Israel to obey.
Frequently Asked Questions
This specific covenant renewal occurs in the land of Moab, just before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. It is described as an addition to the original covenant God made with the people at Mount Horeb.
The covenant includes everyone present: leaders, tribes, elders, officers, men, women, children, and foreigners. Moses also specifies that it applies to future generations who were not physically present at that time.
Moses warns that if any person or family turns to serve the gods of other nations, the curses of the law will fall upon them. He describes the land becoming a desolate wasteland of sulfur and salt, similar to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Study Note
The mention of clothes and sandals not wearing out for forty years is a specific literary detail used to emphasize the miraculous nature of God's sustenance throughout the Exodus.
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