And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.
- BSB So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
- NKJV “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
- NASB And you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.
- NLT “You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness.
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
Serving the LORD alone brings His blessing on Israel's food, water, and health. Faithful worship and God's provision go together.
Overview
God ties Israel's well-being to exclusive worship of Him: their basic sustenance and freedom from sickness flow from covenant loyalty. These promised blessings reflect the Edenic order where God provides abundantly for those who walk with Him. While such blessings were especially covenantal for Israel, they reveal God as the gracious giver of all good. Ultimately the fullness of healing and provision is found in Christ, who restores what sin has broken.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Deut 7:15And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
- Exod 15:26And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
- Josh 22:5But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Isa 33:24And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
- Ps 103:3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
- Deut 7:13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
- Deut 10:12And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
- Deut 6:13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
- 1 Sam 12:20And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
- Matt 4:10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
- Deut 11:13–14And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
- Deut 10:20Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
- 1 Sam 7:3And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
- Deut 13:4Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
- Josh 24:21And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
- Josh 24:24And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.
- Mal 3:10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
- Josh 24:14–15Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
- Isa 33:16He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
- Deut 28:1–14And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
- 1 Sam 12:24Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
- Jer 8:2And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 23:25 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
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