Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 31:26
“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Levites carrying the ark near the end of his life, commanding them to secure the written Law before his death.
The words — לָקֹ֗חַ (la.Ko.ach) translates as “take,” and מִ/צַּ֛ד (mi./Tzad) indicates placement “from the side of” or beside the ark.
The thread — This directive links to the written song in Deuteronomy 31:19, the ark’s contents recorded in 1 Kings 8:9, and the scroll’s rediscovery in 2 Kings 22:8.
Why it lands — The text commands preserving the Law as a permanent legal witness against Israel’s future rebellion, requiring readers to recognize Scripture as an objective standard that confronts disobedience.
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
Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 31:19 Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.
- 1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.
- 2 Kings 22:8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
- 2 Kings 22:13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words in this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing all that is written about us.”
- 2 Chronicles 34:14 While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given by Moses.
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Galatians 2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.