Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 30:13
And it is not beyond the sea, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites gathered on the plains of Moab, immediately preceding their entry into Canaan. He clarifies that keeping the covenant does not require impossible expeditions to retrieve divine instruction.
The words — The Hebrew phrase מֵ/עֵ֥בֶר לַ/יָּ֖ם (me/'E.ver la/i.Yam) translates literally as "from the other side of the sea." It is paired with הִ֑וא (hi'), meaning "it," to specify that the commandment is not geographically located across the western waters.
The thread — The text places this geographic limitation directly between Deuteronomy 30:12, which denies a heavenly location, and Deuteronomy 30:14, which places the word in the mouth and heart. The accessible nature of divine instruction also appears in Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 3:13, and Proverbs 8:11.
Why it lands — The passage explicitly states that no one needs to cross a physical barrier to obtain the commandment for obedience. It requires the reader to abandon the search for distant intermediaries and attend to the instruction already presented.
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
Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Cross-references
- Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- Proverbs 3:13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,
- Proverbs 8:11 For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.
- Proverbs 16:6 By loving devotion and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns aside from evil.
- Matthew 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.
- John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- Acts 8:27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
- Acts 10:22 “Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”
- Acts 10:33 So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”
- Acts 16:9 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”