Deuteronômio 29

BLIVRE · Chapter 29/34

1Estas são as palavras do pacto que o SENHOR mandou que Moisés fizesse com os filhos de Israel na terra de Moabe, além do pacto que estabeleceu com eles em Horebe.

2Moisés, pois, chamou a todo Israel, e disse-lhes: Vós vistes tudo o que o SENHOR fez diante vossos olhos na terra do Egito a Faraó e a todos os seus servos, e a toda sua terra:

3As provas grandes que viram teus olhos, o sinais, e as grandes maravilhas.

4E o SENHOR não vos deu coração para entender, nem olhos para ver, nem ouvidos para ouvir, até o dia de hoje.

5E eu vos trouxe quarenta anos pelo deserto: vossas roupas não se hão envelhecido sobre vós, nem teu sapato se envelheceu sobre teu pé.

6Não comestes pão, nem bebestes vinho nem bebida forte: para que soubestes que eu sou o SENHOR vosso Deus.

7E chegastes a este lugar, e saiu Seom rei de Hesbom, e Ogue rei de Basã, diante de nós para lutar, e os ferimos;

8E tomamos sua terra, e a demos por herança a Rúben e a Gade, e à meia tribo de Manassés.

9Guardareis, pois, as palavras deste pacto, e as poreis por obra, para que prospereis em tudo o que fizerdes.

10Vós todos estais hoje diante do SENHOR vosso Deus; vossos príncipes de vossas tribos, vossos anciãos, e vossos oficiais, todos os homens de Israel,

11Vossas crianças, vossas mulheres, e teus estrangeiros que habitam em meio de teu campo, desde o que corta tua lenha até o que tira tuas águas:

12Para que entres no pacto do SENHOR teu Deus, e em seu juramento, que o SENHOR teu Deus estabelece hoje contigo:

13Para te confirmar hoje por seu povo, e que ele seja a ti por Deus, da maneira que ele te disse, e como ele jurou a teus pais Abraão, Isaque, e Jacó.

14E não somente convosco estabeleço eu este pacto e este juramento,

15Mas, sim, com os que estão aqui presentes hoje conosco diante do SENHOR nosso Deus, e com os que não estão aqui hoje conosco.

16Porque vós sabeis como habitamos na terra do Egito, e como passamos por meio das nações que passastes;

17E vistes suas abominações e seus ídolos, madeira e pedra, prata e ouro, que têm consigo.

18Para que não haja entre vós homem, ou mulher, ou família, ou tribo, cujo coração se volte hoje de com o SENHOR nosso Deus, por andar a servir aos deuses daquelas nações; que não haja em vós raiz que lance veneno e amargura;

19E seja que, quando o tal ouvir as palavras desta maldição, ele se abençoe em seu coração, dizendo: Terei paz, ainda que ande segundo o pensamento de meu coração, para acrescentar a embriaguez à sede:

20O SENHOR se recusará a lhe perdoar; antes fumegará logo o furor do SENHOR e seu zelo sobre o tal homem, e se assentará sobre ele toda maldição escrita neste livro, e o SENHOR apagará seu nome de debaixo do céu:

21E o SENHOR o separará de todas as tribos de Israel para o mal, conforme todas as maldições do pacto escrito neste livro da lei.

22E dirá a geração vindoura, vossos filhos que virão depois de vós, e o estrangeiro que virá de distantes terras, quando virem as pragas desta terra, e suas enfermidades de que o SENHOR a fez enfermar,

23(Enxofre e sal, abrasada toda sua terra: não será semeada, nem produzirá, nem crescerá nela erva nenhuma, como na destruição de Sodoma e de Gomorra, de Admá e de Zeboim, que o SENHOR destruiu em seu furor e em sua ira:)

24Dirão, pois, todas as nações: Por que fez o SENHOR isto a esta terra? Que ira é esta de tão grande furor?

25E responderão. Porquanto deixaram o pacto do SENHOR o Deus de seus pais, que ele estabeleceu com eles quando os tirou da terra do Egito,

26E foram e serviram a deuses alheios, e inclinaram-se a eles, deuses que não conheciam, e que nenhuma coisa lhes haviam dado:

27Acendeu-se portanto, o furor do SENHOR contra esta terra, para trazer sobre ela todas as maldições escritas nesta livro;

28E o SENHOR os desarraigou de sua terra com ira, e com indignação, e com furor grande, e os expulsou a outra terra, como hoje.

29As coisas secretas pertencem ao SENHOR nosso Deus: mas as reveladas são para nós e para nossos filhos para sempre, para que cumpramos todas as palavras desta lei.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses summons the entire people — men, women, children, and foreigners — to solemnly reaffirm the covenant with God, warning against the false security of thinking one can secretly disobey without consequence, and prophetically describes the future desolation of the land should the covenant be broken.

Explanation

This chapter emphasizes that the covenant with God was not a contract meant only for leaders or a religious elite, but included every person present, from the one who cut the wood to the one who drew the water — a remarkably democratic inclusion by ancient standards, crossing lines of social class. The specific warning against anyone who might secretly think, 'I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my own heart,' anticipates a timeless spiritual danger: the illusion that private, hidden decisions carry no real consequences before God. The startling image of the land turned into something like Sodom and Gomorrah, prompting foreign nations to ask why the Lord did this to that land, shows how Israel's own experience of discipline would ironically serve as a public lesson on the seriousness of a broken covenant — even through failure, a spiritual message would be communicated to the nations.

Fun facts

  • The closing line, 'the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong unto us' (v. 29), is frequently quoted in theological discussions about the limits of human knowledge before the mysteries of God, humbly acknowledging that not everything about the divine plan is accessible to human understanding.
  • The comparison of Israel's future desolation to the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim (v. 23) — cities first mentioned in Genesis 14 and destroyed in Genesis 19 — shows how events from the beginning of the Pentateuch continued to serve as a benchmark of divine judgment throughout the rest of the biblical narrative.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronômio 29:1Marks a second formal covenant, made in Moab, complementing — not replacing — the original covenant made at Horeb.
  2. Deuteronômio 29:2Moses summons the whole people, reminding them of what they saw with their own eyes: what God did against Pharaoh and all of Egypt.
  3. Deuteronômio 29:3Reinforces that this generation saw concrete proof — signs and great wonders — not secondhand stories.
  4. Deuteronômio 29:4Moses admits that even after seeing all the miracles of Egypt and the wilderness, the people still had not been given “an heart to perceive”: a rare admission, within the text itself, that witnessing a miracle does not guarantee understanding or automatic faithfulness.
  5. Deuteronômio 29:5Returns to God’s constant care in the wilderness: neither clothes nor sandals wore out in forty years.
  6. Deuteronômio 29:6The reason for the manna, and for going without ordinary wine, was to teach direct dependence on God, not on what the land normally produces.
  7. Deuteronômio 29:7Recalls the recent victories over Sihon and Og, still-fresh proof of God’s power before crossing the Jordan.
  8. Deuteronômio 29:8Recalls that the land of these two kings had already been distributed to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
  9. Deuteronômio 29:9Closes the historical introduction with a practical appeal: keeping this covenant is the key to prospering in everything.
  10. Deuteronômio 29:10Details who was gathered for this covenant renewal: leaders, elders, officers, and every man of Israel.
  11. Deuteronômio 29:11Expands the list to include children, women, and even the foreigner living in the camp, down to the humblest workers.
  12. Deuteronômio 29:12The purpose of the gathering is to formalize everyone’s entry into this covenant and into the oath made by God.
  13. Deuteronômio 29:13Repeats the covenant’s central formula: God confirms the people as His own, fulfilling what He swore to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
  14. Deuteronômio 29:14Makes clear that this covenant does not apply only to those physically present at that moment.
  15. Deuteronômio 29:15Extends the covenant to future generations as well, not yet even born — a commitment that reaches across time.
  16. Deuteronômio 29:16Recalls the experience of passing through various foreign nations during the journey, each with its own customs.
  17. Deuteronômio 29:17Specifies what they saw among these peoples: idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold — the concrete idolatry they were to avoid.
  18. Deuteronômio 29:18The central fear is that someone — a family or an entire tribe — might quietly turn aside to serve those same foreign gods.
  19. Deuteronômio 29:19Describes the danger of a false security: someone thinking they can follow their own desires and still have peace — a dangerous self-deception.
  20. Deuteronômio 29:20God’s response to that self-deception would be harsh: a refusal to forgive and the full weight of every curse already written.
  21. Deuteronômio 29:21That person would be set apart as a warning example among all the tribes, bearing the weight of the covenant’s curses.
  22. Deuteronômio 29:22Anticipates a future scene: later generations and foreigners looking on from outside at the plagues and disasters that struck the land.
  23. Deuteronômio 29:23The image of the land devastated by “brimstone, and salt,” like Sodom and Gomorrah, draws on an already-familiar example of destruction to describe what would happen to Israel’s land if the people broke the covenant. The scorched landscape becomes visible proof of judgment for anyone passing through afterward.
  24. Deuteronômio 29:24Imagines the natural question from these onlookers: why would God do something so severe to His own land?
  25. Deuteronômio 29:25The anticipated answer is direct: the people abandoned the covenant made with the God who brought them out of Egypt.
  26. Deuteronômio 29:26Details the specific abandonment: serving and worshiping strange gods that God had never authorized or assigned to them.
  27. Deuteronômio 29:27That is why God’s anger would burn, bringing upon the land every curse already written in the law.
  28. Deuteronômio 29:28Describes the final outcome: expulsion from the land in fierce anger, cast into another place, as visible testimony to this day.
  29. Deuteronômio 29:29The phrase about “the secret things” acknowledges that not everything has an explanation available to the people: what was revealed, the law, is what they are responsible for living out and teaching their children, without trying to solve every mystery on their own.

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