You shall not do after all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;
Parallel translations
- KJV Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
- BSB You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes.
- NKJV “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—
- NASB “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes;
- NLT “Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel must not continue doing whatever seems right to each individual, as in the wilderness. Worship is to be ordered by God, not by personal preference.
Overview
Moses contrasts the coming settled life under God's law with the more provisional, individualistic practices of the wilderness wanderings. The phrase everyone doing what is right in his own eyes describes spiritual anarchy, the very condition lamented later in Judges. The remedy is submission to God's revealed will, ultimately fulfilled in Christ who perfectly did the Father's will rather than his own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Judg 21:25In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
- Judg 17:6In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
- Prov 21:2Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts.
- Num 15:39and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;
- Acts 7:42But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Amos 5:25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 12:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.