Deuteronomy 11:13–21

Bible verses · Also called: Deuteronomy 11:13-21, Deut 11:13-21, Second paragraph of the Shema, Vehaya im shamoa

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¹³ And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
¹⁴ That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
¹⁵ And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
¹⁷ And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
¹⁸ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
¹⁹ And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
²⁰ And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
²¹ That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Deuteronomy 11:13–21 · KJV · 신명기 article

The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version

Moses' exhortation promising timely rain and abundant harvests for obedience and warning of drought and destruction for serving other gods. It urges Israel to lay God's words on the heart and body, in the home, and in the teaching of children. It is the second section of the Jewish Shema and is often cited in discussions of faith formation and of the relationship between obedience and blessing.

Context

Deuteronomy is framed as a series of addresses delivered by Moses to the people on the plains of Moab before Israel crossed the Jordan. Chapter 11 concludes the long exhortation to love God and keep his commandments (chapters 5–11), which precedes the individual statutes (chapters 12–26). The immediately preceding verses, 10–12, contrast Egypt, where farming depended on irrigation from the river, with Canaan, a land watered by rain from heaven. Verses 13–21 build on this contrast, declaring that the early rain, which falls at the autumn sowing, and the latter rain, which falls before the spring harvest, depend on Israel's faithfulness to the covenant. Verses 18–20 repeat the wording of Deuteronomy 6:6–9 almost verbatim.

Interpretation

Traditional Jewish reading: Together with Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and Numbers 15:37–41, this passage forms the second section of the Shema, which is recited morning and evening. Judaism observes verses 18 and 20 literally: parchments inscribed with this text are placed in tefillin (phylacteries), which are bound on the hand and forehead, and in the mezuzah, a small case affixed to the doorpost. The first section is sometimes described as an acceptance of God's sovereign rule, and this section as an acceptance of the commandments.
Covenantal reading: Many Protestant commentaries read the promises of rain and harvest as covenant blessings and curses given to the community of Israel living in the land of Canaan. On this reading, the text is not a formula by which individual obedience yields immediate material blessing. Rather, it addresses whether the community as a whole is faithful to the covenant, and for Christians it applies as a principle for a life of loving and serving God.
Faith-formation reading: Verse 19, "when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way," is read as a command for parents to pass on God's word to their children throughout the whole of daily life. Protestant churches generally do not regard the sign upon the hand or the writing on the doorposts as literal obligations but understand them as a call to inscribe the word on the heart and in daily conduct.

Debates and Issues

Obedience and material blessing: Preaching in the prosperity theology tradition cites verses 13–15 as a promise that economic prosperity follows obedience and devotion. Critics argue that this takes the text out of context by transferring a covenant concerning Israel's land to matters of personal finance. Some hold that the passage should be read alongside Job, which addresses the suffering of the righteous, and Galatians 3:10–14, which teaches that Christ bore the curse of the law.
Translation and text: In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, God speaks in the first person in verses 14–15 ("I will give…"). The Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch are reported to use the third person. The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render the subject as "the LORD." In verse 13, the word seongpum ("nature") in the Korean Revised Version translates the Hebrew nephesh (life, soul, self); the New Korean Revised Version renders it tteut ("mind" or "will").

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently cited, together with Deuteronomy 6, in sermons emphasizing family worship and the faith formation of children. The expression "the early rain and the latter rain," along with passages such as Joel 2:23–27, is also used in prayer and preaching as a metaphor for God's timely grace or for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

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