When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Parallel translations
- WEB when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
- BSB when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel.
- NKJV when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
- NASB when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel so that they hear it.
- NLT you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God at the place he chooses.
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
When all Israel gathers before the LORD at the chosen place, the law is to be read aloud in their hearing. It matters because faith comes through hearing God's word proclaimed to the gathered people.
Overview
The public reading was to occur at the central sanctuary God would choose, uniting the nation around His revealed will. Hearing the law together, rather than each person privately, reinforced their shared identity as God's covenant people. This corporate hearing of Scripture anticipates the gathered worship of the church, where faith is nurtured by the proclaimed word that points to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Kgs 23:2And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
- Josh 8:34–35And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.
- Deut 16:16–17Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
- Exod 34:24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
- Exod 23:16–17And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
- Neh 8:1–8And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
- Deut 12:5But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:
- Neh 9:3And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
- Neh 8:13And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.
- Ps 84:7They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
- Luke 4:16–17And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
- Acts 13:15And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.
- Acts 15:21For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
- Neh 8:18Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
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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 31:11 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.