Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
Parallel translations
- KJV So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange 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 he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
- Isa 46:4Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
- Isa 44:7–8Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.
- Isa 43:11–12I myself am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior.
- Deut 1:31and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”
- Ps 78:14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
- Ps 136:16To him who led his people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- 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. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.
- Ps 27:11Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.
- Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- Neh 9:12Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
- Ps 80:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
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.