Deuteronomy 7

The Israelites were to have no mercy for those the Lord gave over to them. No treaties, no intermarrying, etc. Destroy the trappings of their false worship.

God would bless them more than other people and keep them free of disease and barrenness if they paid attention to His laws and took care to follow them. Deuteronomy 7:15 says that they would not be inflicted with the horrible diseases they knew in Egypt. I'm unsure if this refers to horrible diseases they saw in Egypt or experienced personally in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 6

"Fear the Lord you God by keeping all his decrees and commands" from Deuteronomy 6:2 NIV. I'm not sure I understand how this works. Fear God by doing what He says? Is that the same as doing what God says because you fear Him?

I'd like to come back to this and do more research.

Obey God and it will go well with you.

Another future research opportunity from 6:4 "The Lord our God, the Lord is one."

One of my favoirte scriptures ... "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV. It is a great reminder of how much we are to give to God of ourselves and what it is okay to hold back from Him. I don't need to keep anything from Him. Everything I have is really His. Anything I want to hold onto and keep for myself, whetehr good or bad, can be handled better by Almighty God than my me. I know ... "Duh!" right. So why do I try to do some things on my own without asking God what He thinks would be best. So much less stress in decision making when I remember to pray and ask for clear guidance.

Do whatever it takes to remember what God has told us. Talk about it consistently and frequently. Was that redundant? I think it was.

When times are easy and your life is overflowing with blessings don't forget who it was that blessed you.

Fear the one and only true God. Do not be led astray by any other so called gods.

"Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you." Deuteronomy 6:18 NIV. Notice it is referring to the Lord's sight ... not what is right and good in our own sight.

When your children ask why do we have to live this way, different from the rest of the world tell them because Jesus, Almighty God, brought us out of slavery to sin and darkness.

If we obey the Lord, that will be our righteousness.

Deuteronomy 5:12-33

The seventh day should be used for rest. We are commanded by God to rest. Why does this seem to be the hardest commandment to follow? We no longer seem to know how to rest. Even our vacations and days off are filled with work and effort.

Honor your parents so you will live long and things will go well for you. The strife alone that comes from not honoring your parents could easily shorten your life and lessen the quality simply through the stress it brings, even if you try to bury.

Murder, adultery, stealing, lying. On the surface these seem like the easy ones. They may be harder than we think. (I felt a whole lot more research coming on at this point but I also have a calling God gave me and she was calling me to feed her breakfast.) Perhaps I will come back to this and post at a later date.

Coveting: another one that is hard ... at least for me. One of my favorite time wasters is windermere.com looking at all the houses I will not be moving to and dreaming how nice life would be there. What is so bad about my life that I "need" this escape? Would not my home, my family and even my soul be in better shape if I spent less time dreaming about what I don't have and spent more time taking care of and appreciating all He has given me? He has given me so much! My life is truly full of so many blessings. God is great!

Deuteronomy 5:11

Deuteronomy 5:11b (New International Version)

  for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Deuteronomy 5:11b (New American Standard Bible)

  for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

לֹאStrong's H3808 - lo'  1) not, no: A) not (with verb - absolute prohibition), B) not (with modifier - negation),C) nothing (subst), D) without (with particle), E) before (of time)

נָקָהStrong's H5352 - naqah 1) to be empty, be clear, be pure, be free, be innocent, be desolate, be cut off: A) (Qal) to be empty, be clean, be pure, B) (Niphal)-a) to be cleaned out, be purged out -b) to be clean, be free from guilt, be innocent -c) to be free, be exempt from punishment -d) to be free, be exempt from obligation, C) (Piel) -a) to hold innocent, acquit -b) to leave unpunished

יְהֹוָה Strong's H3068 - Yĕhovah  Jehovah = "the existing One" -- 1) the proper name of the one true God

נָשָׂא Strong's H5375 - nasa'  1) to lift, bear up, carry, take, A) (Qal) -a) to lift, lift up -b) to bear, carry, support, sustain, endure -c) to take, take away, carry off, forgive, B) (Niphal) -a) to be lifted up, be exalted -b) to lift oneself up, rise up -c) to be borne, be carried -d) to be taken away, be carried off, be swept away, C) (Piel) -a) to lift up, exalt, support, aid, assist -b) to desire, long (fig.) -c) to carry, bear continuously -d) to take, take away, D) (Hithpael) to lift oneself up, exalt oneself, E) (Hiphil) -a) to cause one to bear (iniquity) -b) to cause to bring, have brought

אֲשֶׁר Strong's H834 - 'asher  1) (relative part.) A) which, who, B) that which ** 2) (conj) A) that (in obj clause), b) when, c) since, d) as, e) conditional if

שֵׁם Strong's H8034 - shem  1) name A) name, B) reputation, fame, glory, C) the Name (as designation of God), D) memorial, monument

שָׁוְא Strong's H7723 - shav'  1) emptiness, vanity, falsehood A) emptiness, nothingness, vanity, B) emptiness of speech, lying, C) worthlessness (of conduct)

My word-for-word translation: not - to be clear, free, innocent - Jehovah - to lift, take - who - name - emptiness, vanity

My conversational translation: Jehovah will not free those who use His name with empty meaning.

Not sure why I felt the need to research this one verse so thoroughly. I put it into my own translations just to clarify in my own head what it means to me. It seems to indicate serious consequences if we are not using His name with the honor and respect He deserves. Every time we use a name of God it should be done so with reverence, never lightly tossed about.

Deuteronomy 5:5-10

God punishes three to four generations of those who hate him. He shows His love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. This really strikes me as an example of how loving our God is ... punishes for three or four generations but loves for a thousand generations. It also makes me wish I knew more about my past generations.


My Native Alaskan great-great grandfather had the "white man" name of Charlie Moses. Was this name chosen by him or for him? Was he the leader of his tribe (I have a vague memory of being told he was), making the Moses part more meaningful?


My grandmother, Alpha, watched the Crystal Cathedral and her whole life seemed to show God's love flowing through her.


My great-grandmother, Lucy , had a beautiful compact bible covered in purple velvet with a decorative cross on the front and translated to German. There was a lock of red baby hair in it, but I don't know whose it was. My mother remembers having to put a doily on her head at church if she didn't have a hat. I believe that was while she was staying with Grandma Lucy.


That is about the extent of my knowledge regarding the beliefs of past generations. Basically nothing.


That was quite a tangent.

Deuteronomy 5:4

Deuteronomy 5:4 (New International Version)

⁴ The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.

This verse clears something up for me about how Moses could speak with God face to face, as you would with a friend, and not perish.

"face to face out of the fire"

Although they were face to face there was a covering to protect them from actually seeing God's face.

Deuteronomy 4

Do not add or subtract from God's laws as He teaches them here through Moses.

When the Lord spoke to the Israelites at Horeb He showed no shape, they heard only His voice. Take care not to fashion an image to represent what you have not seen.

Do not be overwhelmed and begin to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

If you seek the Lord you God with all you heart and soul, you will find Him.

The Lord is God; besides Him there is no other.

I'm going to try memorizing vs. 39. It's just a very comforting and at the same time convicting passage to me.

Deuteronomy 4:39 (New Century Version)

 ³⁹ Know and believe today that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god!