Deuteronomy 8:19

If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Moses speaks to the Israelites on the plains of Moab, immediately before they cross the Jordan into the promised land.

The words — The term אִם־ (‘im-) translates literally as “if,” and the verb שׁכח (shākach) means “to forget.”

The thread — This warning runs parallel to Deuteronomy 4:26, 29:25, and 30:18, which repeatedly pair covenant abandonment with the threat of perishing.

Why it lands — It requires readers to acknowledge that idolatry is fundamentally a failure to remember God’s provision, and it plainly states that such rebellion guarantees destruction.

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

וְהָיָ֗הve./ha.Yahand/ it will be אִם־'im-<if>שָׁכֹ֤חַsha.Kho.achcertainly [if] <to forget>תִּשְׁכַּח֙tish.Kachyou will forget אֶת־'et-<obj.>יְהוָ֣הYah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ'e.lo.Hei./khaGod/ your וְהָֽלַכְתָּ֗ve./ha.lakh.Taand/ you will walk אַחֲרֵי֙'a.cha.Reiafter אֱלֹהִ֣ים'E.lo.Himgods אֲחֵרִ֔ים'a.che.Rimother וַעֲבַדְתָּ֖םva./'a.vad.Ta/mand/ you will serve/ them וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִ֣יתָve./hish.ta.cha.Vi.taand/ you will bow downלָהֶ֑םla./Hemto <the>/ themהַעִדֹ֤תִיha.'i.Do.tiI testifyבָכֶם֙va./Khemagainst <the>/ youהַיּ֔וֹםhai./Yomthis/ day כִּ֥יkithat אָבֹ֖ד'a.Vodcertainly <to perish>תֹּאבֵדֽוּן׃toe.Du/nyou will perish/ !

King James Version

And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Cross-references

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.
Deuteronomy 29:25 And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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.
Joshua 23:13 know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
1 Samuel 12:25 But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Amos 3:2 “Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.
Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.
Luke 12:47 That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.