The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
- KJV So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
- NKJV So the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.
- NASB “The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
- NLT The Lord alone guided them; they followed no foreign gods.
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
The LORD alone led Israel, with no foreign god beside Him. It matters because it affirms that God's care and guidance were His alone, leaving no room for idols.
Overview
This verse emphasizes God's exclusive role as Israel's guide and provider. The absence of any 'foreign god' underscores His sole sufficiency and the people's resulting obligation of undivided loyalty. This insistence on God alone as Savior anticipates the gospel's exclusive claim that salvation is found in no one but Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 78:52–53He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
- Isa 46:4Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.
- Isa 44:7–8Who then is like Me? Let him say so! Let him declare his case before Me, since I established an ancient people. Let him foretell the things to come, and what is to take place.
- Isa 43:11–12I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- Deut 1:31and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
- Ps 78:14He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
- Ps 136:16He led His people through the wilderness. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Isa 63:9–13In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
- Ps 27:11Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
- Deut 32:39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
- Neh 9:12You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
- Ps 80:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth
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 32:12 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.