Deuteronomy 1:10
in Deuteronomy 1The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
KJV
The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 1
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe Lord your God hath multiplied you,.... Which was the reason why he could not bear them, or the government of them was too heavy for him, because they were so numerous, and the cases brought before him to decide were so many: and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude; whereby it appeared that the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, Gen 15:5, they were now 600,000 men fit for war, besides women and children, and those under age, which must make the number of them very large.
This site's exposition
I am not able to bear you myself alone
on Deuteronomy 1:9-11
Exodus 18 credits the plan for shared judging to Jethro, who watched Moses sit alone from morning to evening and told him the thing was too heavy. Here Moses tells it as his own proposal to the people and does not mention his father in law at all. Both accounts stand in the canon, and the difference fits what this chapter is doing, which is holding the people to what they themselves agreed to. The reason he gives for the change is the multitude, as the stars of heaven, which is the promise made to Abram at Genesis 15:5.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The Israelites already far exceeded that number, being at the last census above six hundred thousand [Nu 26:51]. It was a seasonable memento, calculated to animate their faith in the accomplishment of other parts of the divine promise.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
A reference is here made to the suggestion of Jethro (Ex 18:18). In noticing his practical adoption of a plan by which the administration of justice was committed to a select number of subordinate officers, Moses, by a beautiful allusion to the patriarchal blessing, ascribed the necessity of that memorable change in the government to the vast increase of the population.
Ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude - This was the promise God made to Abraham, Gen 15:5, Gen 15:6; and Moses considers it now as amply fulfilled. But was it really so? Many suppose the expression to be hyperbolical; and others, no friends to revelation, think it a vain empty boast, because the stars, in their apprehension, amount to innumerable millions. Let us consider this subject.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Adonoy, your God, has multiplied you, and you are today as numerous the stars in the sky.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| הִרְבָּ֣ה | hirbah | he has increased | H7235 → | 227 times |
| אֶתְכֶ֑ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְהִנְּכֶ֣ם | vehinekhem | and here you | H2009 → | 843 times |
| הַיּ֔וֹם | haiyom | this day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י | kechokhvei | [are] like [the] stars of | H3556 → | 37 times |
| הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| לָרֹֽב׃ | laro | for multitude | H7230 → | 149 times |
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖םGod your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
הִרְבָּ֣הhe has increased
hirbahH7235 →227 times
אֶתְכֶ֑ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
וְהִנְּכֶ֣םand here you
vehinekhemH2009 →843 times
הַיּ֔וֹםthis day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י[are] like [the] stars of
kechokhveiH3556 →37 times
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִםthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
לָרֹֽב׃for multitude
laroH7230 →149 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 22:17I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
it leads to
- Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
- Jeremiah 33:22
As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister…
- Genesis 26:4
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
- Psalms 2:8–9
Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.
- Genesis 15:5
Through
Genesis 15:5And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:22
Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 11:12
And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Romans 4:18
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Deuteronomy 10:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).