Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 32:26
I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Moses in the Song of Moses, addressing Israel’s impending judgment for covenant unfaithfulness. The declaration follows a description of nationwide devastation and precedes the reason God withholds total annihilation.
The words — The Hebrew אָמַרְתִּי ('amar ti) translates to "I said," and אַשְׁבִּיתָה זִכְרָם ('ashbitah zikram) means "I will make cease their memory" or "blot out their remembrance."
The thread — This pattern of divine judgment and scattered exile appears in Deuteronomy 28:64, Leviticus 26:33, and Isaiah 63:16, where dispersion and the plea for God's recognition as Father recur.
Why it lands — The text establishes that God's threat of complete erasure is genuine, and his restraint is motivated by preventing enemy nations from claiming credit for his actions.
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
I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Isaiah 63:16 Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
- Leviticus 26:33 But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- Leviticus 26:38 You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you.
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 28:37 You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Psalms 34:16 But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
- Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.