Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Deuteronomy 10:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Deuteronomy 10:17 portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes.
Read It With
- Deuteronomy 10:12–22
Read Deuteronomy 10:17 with 10:12–22. It portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: Moses gathers fear, walking, love, service, commands for good, divine ownership, election, heart circumcision, impartial justice, care for orphan, widow, and stranger, and Israel's own migrant memory.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Fear, Love, Heart Change, and Love of the Stranger advances Deuteronomy's movement from remembered wilderness failure through covenant instruction, land-facing law, public choice, leadership succession, witness song, blessing, and Moses' death. Its particular movement is this: Moses gathers fear, walking, love, service, commands for good, divine ownership, election, heart circumcision, impartial justice, care for orphan, widow, and stranger, and Israel's own migrant memory. At 10:17, the verse portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes.
Read Deuteronomy 10:17–19 together
Why these verses belong together: Impartial divine justice and migrant memory generate the command to love the resident outsider.
Verse 17. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
Verse 18. 18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Verse 19. 19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Follow the Context
- Wholehearted covenant response begins with divine choice and universal ownership.
- God's impartial care becomes Israel's command to love the resident outsider.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“heart”
In plain language: Heart language includes understanding, loyalty, intention, and responsiveness rather than emotion alone.
Heart language includes understanding, loyalty, intention, and responsiveness rather than emotion alone. Within Deuteronomy 10:12–22, it helps interpret this verse's role: portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes.
Why it matters: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Fear, Love, Heart Change, and Love of the Stranger.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not create a free-standing rule. At Deuteronomy 10:17, its distinct contribution is portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes; Election and fear do not authorize xenophobia, bribery, coercion, or neglect of immigrants; bodily circumcision language must not be used for forced surgery.
What Remains True
Because Deuteronomy 10:17 portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes, its proportionate enduring truth is this: Justice notices the person with less power, restrains indifference, protects access and evidence, and refuses to make bodily or social difference a measure of worth. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: Election and fear do not authorize xenophobia, bribery, coercion, or neglect of immigrants; bodily circumcision language must not be used for forced surgery.
How It Can Shape Life
- Verse role: Deuteronomy 10:17 portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes. Contextual meaning: Moses gathers fear, walking, love, service, commands for good, divine ownership, election, heart circumcision, impartial justice, care for orphan, widow, and stranger, and Israel's own migrant memory. Proportionate enduring truth: Justice notices the person with less power, restrains indifference, protects access and evidence, and refuses to make bodily or social difference a measure of worth. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: Election and fear do not authorize xenophobia, bribery, coercion, or neglect of immigrants; bodily circumcision language must not be used for forced surgery. Application: Measure reverence and covenant loyalty by impartial process, refusal of bribes, and concrete food, clothing, and welcome for orphan, widow, and migrant.
Teach It Back
Explain why Deuteronomy 10:17 portrays divine supremacy through impartiality and refusal of bribes. Use 10:12–22, state one Hebrew, textual, legal, historical, or compositional limit, identify one person or group at risk, and reject one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Deuteronomy 10:12–22 — Fear, Love, Heart Change, and Love of the StrangerSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Deuteronomy 10:17 remains within this thought-unit limit: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Fear, Love, Heart Change, and Love of the Stranger.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Deuteronomy 10:12–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 10:12–22
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 10:12–22
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Covenant rhetoric, treaty comparison, Torah authority, prophetic testing, and royal subordination within the guide's stated critical model.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 2,' complete guide sections on treaty form, canonical formulas, Shema, love and loyalty, prophecy, textual authority, and kingship, applied to Deuteronomy 10:12–22
Open source ↗modern scholarly handbook chapter abstract
The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch
Konrad Schmid
The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch, Oxford University Press, 2020
Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.
Exact location: Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open composition study
Deuteronomy: The First Torah
David A. Glatt-Gilad
TheTorah.com, 2015
Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.
Exact location: Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 10:12–22
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open poverty and reception study
Gleanings for the Poor: Justice, Not Charity
Gregg E. Gardner
TheTorah.com, 2018
Supports: Concrete poor-person access, restricted owner agency, release, wages, pledges, gleaning, and later Jewish interpretation.
Exact location: Gardner, 'Gleanings for the Poor,' complete sections on Deuteronomy 14, 15, 24, and 26, debt, tithes, harvest access, and rabbinic property-right development; applied to Deuteronomy 10:12–22
Open source ↗