Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.
- BSB You must be blameless before the LORD your 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 ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- Gen 17:1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
- Gen 6:9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
- Ps 37:37Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
- Phil 3:12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
- Job 1:8And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
- Phil 3:15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
- Rev 3:2Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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.