Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 8:12
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, concluding his final instructions before they enter Canaan. He warns that future material abundance will not exempt them from obeying God’s commandments.
The words — The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen-) serves as a cautionary conjunction meaning "lest" or "otherwise." The verb שָׂבַעְתָּ (sa.va.'e.ta) literally means "you will be satisfied" or "you will be filled" after eating.
The thread — The text warns that prosperity threatens spiritual obedience, a pattern repeated in Proverbs 30:9 where excess food prompts denial of God. The same dynamic appears in Deuteronomy 28:47 and 32:15, which tie material multiplication to pride and rebellion.
Why it lands — The verse states that eating to satisfaction and building fine houses must not lead to forgetting God’s commands. It requires readers to maintain deliberate obedience and remembrance regardless of economic or social advancement.
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
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
Cross-references
- Proverbs 30:9 Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.
- Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Hosea 13:5 I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
- Deuteronomy 31:20 When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
- Ecclesiastes 2:4 I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
- Jeremiah 22:14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
- Haggai 1:4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
- Luke 17:28 It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.