Bible Strands
Exodus 13:5
And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites immediately after marking their departure in the month of Abib. He instructs them to observe a specific ritual when Yahweh brings them into the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
The words — The text employs יְבִֽיאֲ/ךָ֣ (ye.vi.'a./Kha), meaning "he will bring you," and אֶרֶץ ('E.retz), meaning "land." These terms establish the command as contingent upon a future divine relocation to a specific inheritance.
The thread — The promise of entry into a land flowing with milk and honey appears in Exodus 3:8 and Exodus 6:8, where God pledges to fulfill the oath to the patriarchs. Joshua 24:11 later records the Israelites crossing the Jordan and confronting the Amorites and other Canaanite peoples.
Why it lands — The verse commands the Israelites to tie their future territorial inheritance to a present ritual observance. It requires them to treat the coming conquest as a divine oath that demands immediate worship rather than a military achievement.
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
And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
Cross-references
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Joshua 24:11 After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand.
- Exodus 6:8 And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”
- Exodus 12:25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.
- Exodus 3:17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
- Exodus 34:11 Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Deuteronomy 26:1 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Genesis 22:16 saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,