You must be blameless before the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.
- KJV Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
- NKJV You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
- NASB You are to be blameless before the Lord your God.
- NLT But you must be blameless before the Lord your God.
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 is to be wholly devoted and blameless before the LORD. God calls His people to undivided, sincere allegiance.
Overview
In contrast to the divided loyalties of occult practice, Israel was to be wholehearted and complete in their commitment to Yahweh. This integrity is not sinless perfection but undivided faithfulness. It anticipates the call to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48), a standard ultimately met for us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 5:48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- Gen 6:9This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
- Ps 37:37Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.
- Phil 3:12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
- Job 1:8Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
- Phil 3:15All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.
- Rev 3:2Wake up and strengthen what remains, which was about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:13 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.