Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 32:34
“Have I not stored up these things, sealed up within My vaults?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering a covenant warning about the consequences of rebellion. The declaration occurs within a poetic lawsuit outlining impending national judgment.
The words — The Hebrew terms כָּמֻס (kaMus) and חָתֻם (chaTum) literally mean "stored up" and "sealed up." They describe divine retribution as a secured deposit kept in vaults until the appointed moment of execution.
The thread — This imagery of bound and stored judgment appears in Hosea 13:12, where Ephraim's iniquity is recorded, and in Job 14:17, where transgression is sealed in a bag. Jeremiah 2:22 contrasts this divine accounting with futile human attempts to remove guilt.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that God's judgment is neither forgotten nor arbitrary but securely recorded and awaiting fulfillment. It requires the reader to cease self-justification and accept that divine accounting will be executed.
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
Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
Cross-references
- Job 14:17 My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.
- Hosea 13:12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored up.
- Jeremiah 2:22 Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.
- Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
- 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.