Write this whole body of instruction on them when you cross the river to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you—a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
- KJV And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.
- BSB Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
- NKJV You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.
- NASB and write on them all the words of this Law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.
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
On the stones Israel is to write all the words of this law upon entering the good land God promised. God's word is to be set down plainly and publicly in the place of inheritance.
Overview
The inscribed law would stand as a lasting witness in the very land flowing with milk and honey that God had sworn to give. Writing the law publicly bound the nation's possession of the land to obedience to God's covenant. It testifies that the gift of inheritance is inseparable from life under God's word, a word that finds its fulfillment in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Josh 8:32He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
- Deut 26:9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Josh 5:6For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice. Yahweh swore to them that he wouldn’t let them see the land which Yahweh swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- 2 Cor 3:2–3You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
- Num 13:27They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
- Num 14:8If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
- Heb 10:16“This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says,
- Jer 31:31–33“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
- Lev 20:24But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
- Jer 11:5that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then answered I, and said, “Amen, Yahweh.”
- Heb 8:6–10But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law.
- Deut 6:8You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
- Jer 32:22and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
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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 27:3 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
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