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Deuteronomy 31:16

in Deuteronomy 31

And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

KJV

And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

This verse in Deuteronomy 31

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers - שכב shocheb, thou shalt lie down; it signifies to rest, take rest in sleep, and, metaphorically, to die. Much stress cannot be safely laid on this expression to prove the immortality of the soul, or that the people in the time of Moses had a distinct notion of its separate existence.

This site's exposition

You will soon rest with your fathers

on Deuteronomy 31:16-18

God tells Moses what the nation will do before it enters the land. The words are those of a broken marriage, “prostitute themselves with the foreign gods”, and the judgment is withdrawal, “hide My face from them”.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (who had been the natives, but henceforward were to be looked upon as the strangers of that land) would undoubtedly be counted a deserting of God, and, like adultery, a violation of the covenant.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

The strangers of the land - That is, of the Canaanites, who will be turned out of their possessions, and become as strangers in their own land. This aggravates their folly to worship such gods as could neither preserve their friends, nor annoy their enemies.
And the Lord said unto Moses,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the Lord said unto Moses, . . . this people will rise up--In this remarkable interview, Moses was distinctly apprised of the infidelity of Israel, their corruptions of the true religion through intercourse with the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan (Am 5:26), and their chastisements in consequence of those national defections.

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

The words behind it

28 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.

  • וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֔הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • הִנְּךָ֥here you

    hinekhaH2009 →843 times

  • שֹׁכֵ֖ב[are] about to lie down

    shokhevH7901 →212 times

  • עִם־with

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָancestors your

    ʾavoteikhaH1 →1212 times

  • וְקָם֩and it will arise

    vekamH6965 →628 times

  • הָעָ֨םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַזֶּ֜ה<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • וְזָנָ֣ה׀and it will act as a prostitute

    vezanahH2181 →94 times

  • אַחֲרֵ֣י׀after

    ʾachareiH310 →715 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] gods of

    ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times

  • נֵֽכַר־<the> foreignness of

    nekhar-H5236 →

  • הָאָ֗רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhere

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • ה֤וּאit

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • בָא־[is] about to go

    va'-H935 →2568 times

  • שָׁ֙מָּה֙there towards

    shamahH8033 →834 times

  • בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹin midst its

    bekirboH7130 →227 times

  • וַעֲזָבַ֕נִיand it will forsake me

    vaazavaniH5800 →215 times

  • וְהֵפֵר֙and it will break

    veheferH6565 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בְּרִיתִ֔יcovenant my

    beritiH1285 →284 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • כָּרַ֖תִּיI made

    karatiH3772 →288 times

  • אִתּֽוֹ׃with it

    ʾitoH854 →929 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

    Judges 10:13

    But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 2:13

      “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

    • 1 Chronicles 28:9

      As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought.…

    • Judges 2:12

      Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down…

  • Through

    Exodus 34:15

    Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.

    it leads to

    • Judges 2:17

      Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience…

    • Psalms 106:28

      They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

    • 1 Corinthians 8:4

      So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

    • Numbers 25:2

      who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.

  • Through

    Judges 10:6

    And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 23:13

      The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh…

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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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.