So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
- BSB The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was 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 78:52–53But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
- Isa 46:4And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
- Isa 44:7–8And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
- Isa 43:11–12I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
- Deut 1:31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
- Ps 78:14In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
- Ps 136:16To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.
- Isa 63:9–13In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
- Ps 27:11Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
- Deut 32:39See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
- Neh 9:12Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
- Ps 80:1Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, 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.