then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
Parallel translations
- WEB then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
- KJV Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
- BSB then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- NKJV when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
- NLT Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.
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 danger is that a proud heart will forget the LORD who brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Pride breeds forgetfulness of grace.
Overview
Moses names the root sin: a heart lifted up in pride that forgets its Redeemer. To forget the exodus is to forget that all they have is grace. This warning against pride and ingratitude applies to all God's people, who must continually remember their deliverance, ultimately the redemption accomplished by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 106:21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
- 1 Cor 4:7–8For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
- 2 Chr 26:16But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
- Deut 8:11Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today;
- 2 Chr 32:25But Hezekiah didn’t reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath on him, and on Judah and Jerusalem.
- Jer 2:6They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’
- Jer 2:31Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’
- Deut 17:20that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the middle of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 8:14 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.