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Deuteronomy 8:12-14

lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Deuteronomy 8:12-14 sits inside this longer paragraph.

Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today; lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end; and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today.

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them;

    and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

    then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

  • KJV King James Version

    Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

    And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

    Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

Show all 3 translations
  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    lest when thou hast eaten and art satisfied, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

    and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

    then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

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Cross-references (23)

  • Psalms 106:21 (v14) They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
  • Proverbs 30:9 (v12) lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
  • Deuteronomy 28:47 (v12) Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;
  • Deuteronomy 32:15 (v12) But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
  • Hosea 13:5-6 (v12) I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their…
Show all 23 cross-references
  • 1 Corinthians 4:7-8 (v14) For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not…
  • Deuteronomy 8:11 (v14) Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today;
  • Deuteronomy 31:20 (v12) For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled…
  • 2 Chronicles 26:16 (v14) But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into…
  • 2 Chronicles 32:25 (v14) But Hezekiah didn’t reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath on him,…
  • Job 1:3 (v13) His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very…
  • Ecclesiastes 2:4 (v12) I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.
  • Jeremiah 22:14-15 (v12) who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’ and cuts out windows for himself; with a cedar ceiling, and painted with…
  • Amos 5:11 (v12) Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in…
  • Haggai 1:4 (v12) “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?
  • Luke 17:28 (v12) Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
  • Genesis 13:1-5 (v13) Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and…
  • Deuteronomy 17:20 (v14) that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away from the commandment to the right hand, or to the left, to…
  • Jeremiah 2:6 (v14) They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts…
  • Jeremiah 2:31 (v14) Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken…
  • Ezekiel 11:3 (v12) who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’
  • Luke 12:13-21 (v13) One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a…
  • Psalms 39:6 (v13) “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (9 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v14 By attributing God’s benefits to thine own wisdom and…

By attributing God’s benefits to thine own wisdom and labor, or to good fortune.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–14 Deu 8:12 Lest [when] thou hast eaten and art…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v14 Thine heart be lifted up; as if thou didst…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–14 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply,.... Having…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v14 Lifted up - As if thou didst receive and…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v14 Deu 8:14. Lifted up — As if thou didst…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v14 14. thine heart be lifted up] Deu_17:20; Hos_13:6.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v12 (12) Hast built goodly houses.—One of the conditions prescribed…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 General Information:
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