Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 29:10
All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the full assembly of Israel, including tribal chiefs, elders, and officials, as they gather to renew the covenant before entering the land. The moment occurs immediately after a call to keep the covenant and before the listing of those included in the agreement.
The words — The text emphasizes נִצָּבִים (ni.tza.Vim), meaning "[are] standing," and רָאשֵׁי/כֶ֣ם (ra.shei./Khem), meaning "chiefs [of] you." These terms denote a formal, physical assembly of leadership positioned before divine presence.
The thread — Corporate assembly before God appears in Deuteronomy 4:10, where the people are gathered at Horeb, and Deuteronomy 31:12, which commands the inclusion of all demographics to hear the law. The pattern continues in 2 Chronicles 34:29, where a king summons elders to publicly renew covenant obligations.
Why it lands — The verse requires acknowledgment that covenant responsibility extends across every social rank and age group within the community. It demands that readers treat divine instruction as binding on the entire assembly, not merely its leadership.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:10 The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”
- Deuteronomy 31:12 Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words of this law.
- 2 Chronicles 34:29 Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
- Nehemiah 8:2 On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand.
- Nehemiah 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.
- Nehemiah 9:38 In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”
- Nehemiah 10:28 “The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the people of the land to obey the Law of God—along with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand,
- Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
- Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And books were opened, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.