Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 4:26
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites assembled on the plains of Moab, immediately before they cross the Jordan to possess the land. He delivers this warning following the stipulation that long residence in the territory will not excuse future idolatry.
The words — The Hebrew verb הִעִיד (ha.'i.do.Ti) translates literally as "I call as witnesses," paired with אָבַד ('a.Vod) meaning "certainly to perish." These terms frame the covenant curse as a formal legal declaration rather than a casual warning.
The thread — The specific threat of perishing in the land recurs in Deuteronomy 30:18, where Moses again declares that disobedience will prevent the people from prolonging their days in the territory they are about to enter. This creates a direct literary link between the initial covenant warning and the later restatement of its consequences.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that land possession is strictly conditional upon exclusive covenant loyalty, not merely on historical settlement or generational presence. It requires the reader to treat spiritual compromise as a direct cause of national termination rather than a peripheral moral failure.
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 call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
- Micah 6:2 Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
- Deuteronomy 30:18 I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
- Isaiah 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- Jeremiah 22:29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
- Jeremiah 2:12 Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you.
- Leviticus 18:28 So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
- Joshua 23:16 If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”
- Jeremiah 44:22 So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.