Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 7:8
But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembly of Israel in the plains of Moab, reviewing the basis of their election just before they cross into Canaan.
The words — מֵאַהֲבַת (me-'ahavat) is a prepositional phrase meaning "from the love of," not a causal conjunction; the Hebrew grounds the whole clause in a source rather than a reason. שָׁמַר (shamar) for "kept" carries the sense of guarding or watching over, applied here to an oath.
The thread — The "brought you out of Egypt" formula recurs as the foundational self-identification of God (Exodus 20:2), and the oath to the fathers is invoked in the golden-calf crisis (Exodus 32:13). Jeremiah 31:3 later extends the same love language to an "everlasting" duration.
Why it lands — The verse removes merit from the equation: Israel was the fewest (v. 7), and the ground of their deliverance is stated as God's love plus His sworn word, not their character. The reader is asked to locate the basis of any covenant relationship in the one who swore, not in the one who received.
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
But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Exodus 32:13 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”
- Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- Ephesians 2:4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.
- Isaiah 43:4 Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
- Exodus 13:14 In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Exodus 13:3 So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
- Luke 1:72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
- Hebrews 6:13 When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,