Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn’t listen to Yahweh your God’s voice.
- KJV And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
- BSB You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
- NKJV You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
- NASB Then you will be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey 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
A nation once as numerous as the stars will be reduced to a tiny remnant for disobedience. Sin reverses God's promised blessing of multiplication.
Overview
God had promised Abraham descendants like the stars (Genesis 15:5), yet disobedience would shrink the nation drastically. The cause is plainly named: 'because you didn't listen to Yahweh your God's voice.' Even so, God preserves a remnant, a thread of hope that runs through Scripture and finds its fulfillment in Christ, through whom Abraham's true offspring are multiplied.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Neh 9:23You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
- Deut 4:27Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you away.
- Deut 10:22Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- 2 Kgs 24:14He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained, except the poorest people of the land.
- Jer 42:2and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, even for all this remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do see us;
- Rom 9:27–29Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
- Isa 24:6Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
- Neh 7:4Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built.
- Mark 13:20Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.
- Isa 1:9Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah.
- Jer 52:28–30This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;
- 2 Kgs 13:7For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.
- Lev 26:22I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate.
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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 28:62 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.