Deuteronomy 31:21

And they will experience many terrible disasters. After that happens, their descendants will never forget this song, and it will be like a witness that says, ‘Now you know why Yahweh punished your ancestors.’ I will soon take them into the land that I vowed that I would give to them; but now, before I do that, I know what they are thinking that they will do when they are living there.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

In Context

20I am about to take them into a very fertile [IDM] land, a land that I solemnly promised their ancestors that I would give to them. There they will have plenty to eat, with the result that their stomachs will always be full and they will become fat. But then they will turn to other gods and start to worship them, and they will despise me and ◄break/stop obeying► the agreement that I made with them.

22So on the day that Yahweh gave Moses/me this song, he/I wrote it down, and he/I taught it to the Israeli people.

Read all of Deuteronomy 31

Cross References

Genesis 8:21When Yahweh smelled the pleasant odor, he was pleased with the sacrifice. Then he said to himself, “I will never again devastate everything on the earth because of the sinful things people do. Even though everything that people think is evil from the time they are young, I will not destroy all the living creatures again, as I did this time.

Deuteronomy 31:7Then Moses/I summoned Joshua, and while all the Israeli people were listening, he/I said to him, “Be brave and confident. You are the one who will lead these people into the land that Yahweh promised to our ancestors that he would give to them, and you will enable them to occupy it.

Isaiah 46:10Only I can tell what will happen in the future before it occurs; I tell it long before it happens. I will accomplish everything that I plan to accomplish, and I will do everything that I want to do.

Hosea 5:3I know everything about the people of Israel; nothing that they have done is hidden from me. Because the people of Israel have given themselves to worshiping idols like [MET] prostitutes give themselves to the men they sleep with, they have become unacceptable to me.

Amos 5:25You Israeli people [MTY], your ancestors wandered through the desert for 40 years; and during that time, they never brought any sacrifices and offerings to me!

Acts 2:23Even though you knew that, you turned this man Jesus over to his enemies. However, God had already planned for that, and he knew all about it. Then you urged men [SYN] who do not obey God’s law to kill Jesus. They did that by nailing him to a cross.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 31:15-22

Apostasy Foretold. ( b. c. 1451.) 14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation. 15 And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. 16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers;… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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