Section 27 of 12011:1–17Deuteronomy

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King James VersionDeuteronomy 11:1–17

Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;

And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.

Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Deuteronomy 11:1–17

Eyewitness Memory and Rain-Dependent Land

This speech is for people who saw, not for children who did not

Love and charge-keeping are laid on those who knew the LORD's discipline, greatness, Egypt's signs, the Red Sea drowning of horses and chariots, wilderness dealings, and the earth swallowing Dathan and Abiram with households and tents. Their eyes saw. That memory is supposed to make them strong to keep the commands and to live long in a land of milk and honey.

This land drinks rain, not foot-watered gardens

Egypt could be irrigated like a garden of herbs. The land they enter is hills and valleys that drink rain from heaven, a land the LORD's eyes are on from year's beginning to end. Hearing, love, and whole-person service are joined to first and latter rain, grain, wine, oil, grass for cattle, and fullness.

A deceived heart is threatened with shut heavens

Turning to other gods will kindle wrath: no rain, no fruit, swift perishing from the good land. The ecology is covenant rhetoric for this people in this land. It does not disclose why a modern drought, disaster, or food crisis happened, and it must not be used to blame victims.

How this should shape us

Let eyewitness memory produce present loyalty without turning rain into a diagnostic tool. Meet drought and hunger with evidence and shared provision, not with a sermon that names the guilty from the weather.

Teach it back

Explain Deuteronomy 11:1–17 in your own words. Include its place in Moses' speeches or the final narrative, both movements, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.

Explain the section in your own words

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Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties

Where do careful interpreters disagree?

Best judgment: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Eyewitness Memory and Rain-Dependent Land.” 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? probable

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.

Deuteronomy 11:1–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy

Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.

Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 11:1–17

NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes

Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.

NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 11:1–17

Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority

Supports: Covenant rhetoric, treaty comparison, Torah authority, prophetic testing, and royal subordination within the guide's stated critical model.

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 11:1–17

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch

Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.

Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism

Deuteronomy: The First Torah

Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.

Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 11:1–17

Deuteronomy and Treaty Texts: A Critical Reexamination of Deuteronomy 13, 17, 27, and 28

Supports: Comparative Hittite and Neo-Assyrian evidence, Tell Tayinat implications, literary-dependence proposals, and explicit controversy limits.

Polk, Deuteronomy and Treaty Texts (2016), complete dissertation, introduction and chapters on treaty comparison with focused treatment of Deuteronomy 13, 17, 27, and 28; applied to Deuteronomy 11:1–17

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

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 11:1–17, 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 11:1–17

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 11:1–17

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 11:1–17

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 11:1–17

Open source ↗

open access doctoral dissertation

Deuteronomy and Treaty Texts: A Critical Reexamination of Deuteronomy 13, 17, 27, and 28

Andrew Polk

University of Chicago Knowledge Commons, 2016

Supports: Comparative Hittite and Neo-Assyrian evidence, Tell Tayinat implications, literary-dependence proposals, and explicit controversy limits.

Exact location: Polk, Deuteronomy and Treaty Texts (2016), complete dissertation, introduction and chapters on treaty comparison with focused treatment of Deuteronomy 13, 17, 27, and 28; applied to Deuteronomy 11:1–17

Open source ↗

Deuteronomy 11:1–17, King James Version

This speech is for people who saw, not for children who did not

This land drinks rain, not foot-watered gardens

A deceived heart is threatened with shut heavens

How this should shape us

Teach it back

Go deeper

Where do careful interpreters disagree?

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy

NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes

Deuteronomy Part 2: Covenant, Shema, Prophecy, and Authority

The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch

Deuteronomy: The First Torah

Deuteronomy and Treaty Texts: A Critical Reexamination of Deuteronomy 13, 17, 27, and 28