Lyrics · Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy, Choose Life
Deuteronomy 1:1-34:12
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About this song
About this song
This song belongs to the Deuteronomy collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
- Bible book
- Deuteronomy
- Collection
- Deuteronomy
- Musical styles
- Acoustic
Lyrics transcribed from this recording. Word-for-word review is pending.
Named in this songJordan
About the passage
Deuteronomy 1: Eleven days away, forty years later
Deuteronomy opens with a geography lesson that is really a reckoning with delay. Horeb and Kadesh-barnea were only eleven days apart, yet Moses speaks in the fortieth year. He remembers the growth that required delegated judges, the scouts who returned with fruit and called the land good, and the people who transformed deliverance from Egypt into an accusation that God hated them. The judgment falls with a bitter reversal: the children feared as prey will inherit what their parents refused. Israel then tries to obey the old command after a new prohibition has been given, marching without the LORD's presence and being routed. The chapter makes distance moral as well as geographical. Israel reached the border quickly; unbelief kept it there.
Study Deuteronomy 1 in depthDeuteronomy 2: Borders Israel is forbidden to cross
Israel's route toward Canaan is marked as much by forbidden territory as by conquered territory. Edom, Moab, and Ammon each stand behind boundaries Israel is not permitted to erase, because the LORD has already granted those lands to others. The notices about Emims, Horims, Zamzummims, and other displaced peoples also weaken the old terror of giants without pretending such peoples were imaginary. After the condemned generation passes, the command changes at the Arnon. Sihon's kingdom is now designated for Israel, even though Moses first offers peaceful passage and payment for supplies. Sihon's refusal is followed by defeat. Yet the chapter ends by naming the Ammonite land Israel did not touch. Victory does not create an unlimited claim. The God who gives one territory can forbid another.
Study Deuteronomy 2 in depthDeuteronomy 3: A conquered kingdom and a crossing denied
The defeat of Og expands Israel's eastern victories and directly answers the old terror of high walls and giant peoples. Sixty fortified cities fall, and the conquered territory is then measured, named, and assigned rather than left as a vague trophy. Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh receive land east of Jordan, but their rest does not release their fighting men from helping the other tribes reach theirs. Moses turns these victories into Joshua's preparation: what he has already seen becomes the basis for courage about what remains. The chapter then narrows from national conquest to one denied personal request. Moses asks to cross and see the good land, but he is told to stop asking. He may look from Pisgah. Joshua will lead the people in.
Study Deuteronomy 3 in depth


