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Deuteronomy 18:13

in Deuteronomy 18

You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God.

KJV

Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.

This verse in Deuteronomy 18

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
Perfect - As in Gen 17:1; Job 1:1; Mat 5:48. The sense is that Israel was to keep the worship of the true God wholly uncontaminated by idolatrous pollutions.

This site's exposition

For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD

on Deuteronomy 18:12-13

The dispossession is given a stated ground, and it is these practices. Genesis 15:16 held the land back until the iniquity of the Amorites was full. Leviticus 18:24-25 has the land vomiting out its people for the same acts.

This site's exposition

You must be blameless

Albert Barnes reads blameless here as the worship of the true God kept free of every idolatrous mixture. The line stands between the forbidden practices of verses 10 and 11 and the conjurers of verse 14, so it governs where Israel seeks guidance. Joshua 24:14 asks the same sincerity.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Perfect - Sincerely and wholly his, seeking him and cleaving to him and to his word alone, and therefore abhorring all commerce and conversations with devils.
Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. Sincerely serve and worship him, faithfully adhere to his word, laws, statutes, and ordinances, and walk uprightly before him.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

A promise is given them of the spirit of prophecy to continue among them, and to centre at last in Christ the great prophet,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations--(See on Le 18:21; In spite of this express command, the people of Canaan, especially the Philistines, were a constant snare and stumbling block to the Israelites, on account of their divinations and superstitious practices. CHRIST THE PROPHET IS TO BE HEARD.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

The meaning thereof is that we are to direct our hearts to Him only, and believe that He alone does everything. It is He Who knows the truth about all future events, and from His prophets, or from His pious ones, in other words the Urim and Thummim.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Deuteronomy 18:13:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
כל אלה עשה [FOR] ALL THAT DO THESE THINGS [ARE AN ABOMINATION UNTO THE LORD] — it does not say, “he who does all these things”, but “all who do these things” — who do even only one of them (Sifrei Devarim:1; cf. Makkot 24a).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Deuteronomy 18:12:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

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

5 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • תָּמִ֣יםblameless

    tamimH8549 →

  • תִּֽהְיֶ֔הyou will be

    tihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • עִ֖םwith

    ʾimH5973 →1050 times

  • יְהוָ֥הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ סGod your

    ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Matthew 5:48

    Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 1:15–16

      But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

    • James 1:4

      Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

  • Through

    Genesis 17:1

    When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

    it leads to

    • Luke 1:6

      Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Philippians 4:13

      I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

    • Ephesians 3:20

      Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

  • Through

    Job 1:1

    There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

    it leads to

    • James 5:11

      See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

    • Ezekiel 14:14

      then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.

  • Through

    Philippians 3:12

    Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 6:11–12

      But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.