Deuteronomy 32:12
in Deuteronomy 32The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Jehovah alone did lead him, And there was no foreign god with him.
KJV
So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
He found him in a desert land
on Deuteronomy 32:10-12
The eagle stirring its nest is the second use of that image for the exodus. At Exodus 19:4 God carried Israel on eagles' wings.
This site's exposition
no foreign god was with him
The word for alone returns at 33:28, where Israel lives in safety alone, so the God who led by Himself also sets His people apart. Matthew Henry observes that no foreign god helped Israel, so none had a claim on its worship. Verse 16 records that Israel served them anyway.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
With him - To assist him at that work or to deliver them. The more unworthy they in giving to idols a share in that worship which they owe to God only.
So the Lord alone did lead him,....
A prediction of the wasting destroying judgments which God would bring upon them for their sins, in which God is here justified by the many aggravations of their impieties,
There was no strange god with him to contribute to Israel's salvation, and therefore there should be none to share in Israel's homage and adoration, Ps. lxxxi. The settling of them in a good land. This was done in part already, in the happy planting of the two tribes and a half, an earnest of what would speedily and certainly be done for the rest of the tribes.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3335: “The Divine Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
MOSES in this Chapter is speaking concerning Israel in the wilderness. When the great host came out of Egypt, they were, through the debasing influences of slavery—which are not easily or quickly shaken off—not much better than a mere mob. They were not at all fitted to march at once to take possession of Canaan, nor to take part in the compacts of organized social life.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3335: “The Divine Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
MOSES in this Chapter is speaking concerning Israel in the wilderness. When the great host came out of Egypt, they were, through the debasing influences of slavery—which are not easily or quickly shaken off—not much better than a mere mob. They were not at all fitted to march at once to take possession of Canaan, nor to take part in the compacts of organized social life. Therefore God, instead of taking them by the short way along which they might have passed in a very few days, ordained it so in His Providence that they should wander about for 40 years in the wilderness—partly, it is true, as a punishment for their unbelief, but also in order that the nation might be trained and educated for its future destiny—made as fit as it could be, to be the custodian of the oracles of the Truths of God and to be the receiver of the Revelation which God intended to give to men. If you will read carefully over the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness, I think you will see that the practical training which God adopted was—if they had been right-minded men—splendidly adapted to bring them to the very highest state of spiritual life. In some respects it was weak through their flesh, but the method, itself, was superlatively excellent. Here was a people taken away from the multitude of gods which they had been known to see on every hand in Egypt and they were taught to reverence an unseen God for whom they had no symbol whatever for some time. And afterwards, when symbolical worship in some form was ordained, yet there was still so little of symbol that Moses could say, "They saw no similitude." They were trained to worship a spiritualGod—in spirit and in truth.
So the Lord alone did lead him - By his power, and by his only, were they brought out of Egypt, and supported in the wilderness. And there was no strange god - They had help from no other quarter. The Egyptian idols were not able to save their own votaries; but God not only saved his people, but destroyed the Egyptians.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
THE ETERNAL ALONE DID LEAD HIM — G-d dwells in Israel securely alone; 45 See further,:28. AND THERE WAS NOT WITH HIM — the pronoun referring either to G-d or Israel — ANY STRANGE GOD.
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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בָּדָ֣ד | badad | alone | H910 → | |
| יַנְחֶ֑נּוּ | yanchenu | he guided it | H5148 → | |
| וְאֵ֥ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| עִמּ֖וֹ | imo | with him | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אֵ֥ל | ʾel | [was] a god of | H410 → | 241 times |
| נֵכָֽר׃ | nekhar | foreignness | H5236 → |
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בָּדָ֣דalone
badadH910 →
יַנְחֶ֑נּוּhe guided it
yanchenuH5148 →
וְאֵ֥יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
עִמּ֖וֹwith him
imoH5973 →1050 times
אֵ֥ל[was] a god of
ʾelH410 →241 times
נֵכָֽר׃foreignness
nekharH5236 →
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
Isaiah 46:4Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and…
it leads to
- Psalms 71:18
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.
- Psalms 48:14
For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.
- Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
- Psalms 92:14
In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,
- James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Psalms 71:18
Through
Deuteronomy 1:31and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 46:3–4
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
- Acts 13:18
He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.
- Hosea 11:3–4
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them.
- Isaiah 46:3–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3335: “The Divine Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.