Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 29:6
You ate no bread and drank no wine or strong drink, so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel after forty years of wilderness wandering, recounting His sustained provision before they confront the armies of Sihon and Og.
The words — The verse hinges on לֹא (lo'), meaning "not," which negates consumption, and לְמַעַן (le.Ma.'an), meaning "so that," which establishes the purpose of the abstinence.
The thread — The motif of sustained provision appears in Deuteronomy 8:3, where manna replaces ordinary bread to teach dependence, and Exodus 16:12, which details God's daily feeding. The prohibition against intoxication in Ephesians 5:18 echoes the wilderness abstinence that preserved Israel's focus on divine authority.
Why it lands — The text states that Israel's complete abstinence from bread, wine, and strong drink was a direct act of obedience designed to produce knowledge of God's identity. It asks the reader to recognize that sustained reliance on divine provision, rather than ordinary sustenance, cultivates explicit awareness of God's sovereignty.
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 have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
- Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
- Exodus 16:12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”
- Exodus 16:35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
- Numbers 16:14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”
- Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”
- Nehemiah 9:15 In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land that You had sworn to give them.
- Psalms 78:24 He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
- 1 Corinthians 10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.