Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 8:14
then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, warning them of the spiritual danger that follows material prosperity.
The words — The Hebrew verb רָם (ram) literally means "to be lifted up," describing the heart's elevation into pride. The verb שָׁכַח (shaḵaḵ) means "to forget," indicating a willful neglect of God's past deliverance from Egypt and slavery.
The thread — The text states that prosperity triggers a proud heart that forgets God as the one who delivered them from bondage. This pattern of forgetting God's salvation appears in Psalms 106:21 and is echoed in 1 Corinthians 4:7, where Paul notes that all superiority is received. It directly extends the warning in Deuteronomy 8:11 to avoid forgetting God through disobedience.
Why it lands — The passage demands the reader examine whether current success breeds self-reliance or gratitude for God's prior intervention. It requires active remembrance of God's deliverance to prevent pride from displacing dependence.
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
Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Cross-references
- Psalms 106:21 They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
- 1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
- Deuteronomy 8:11 Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.
- 2 Chronicles 26:16 But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
- 2 Chronicles 32:25 But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
- Deuteronomy 17:20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, in order that he and his sons may reign many years over his kingdom in Israel.
- Jeremiah 2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
- Jeremiah 2:31 You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?