Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 32:47
For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab before they cross the Jordan, commanding them to internalize his final instructions and teach them to their children.
The words — The Hebrew word רֵק (rek) translates literally to "empty" or "idle," and חַיֵּיכֶם (chai.yei.khem) means "your lives."
The thread — The verse ties obedience to sustained life in the promised land, a connection also found in Leviticus 18:5 and Proverbs 4:22.
Why it lands — The text states that the law is not optional instruction but the very source of survival, requiring readers to actively preserve and transmit it rather than dismiss it.
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
For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 18:5 Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Proverbs 4:22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body.
- 2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
- Proverbs 3:22 They will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck.
- 1 Peter 3:10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
- Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
- Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.
- Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.