What Does Deuteronomy 31:20 Mean?
For when I bring them into the ground which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they eat and are filled and grow fat, then they will turn their faces toward other gods and serve them, and spurn me, and break my covenant.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.THE KEY
The turning happens at the peak of provision: fullness can become the very moment allegiance turns toward its substitutes.
THE MEANING
When your needs are met and life grows full, the possibility of turning toward substitutes remains; abundance does not guarantee continued trust in the one who brought you here. The rupture is concrete: rival gods receive service, the LORD is provoked, and the covenant is broken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that receiving abundance guarantees fidelity: a life can be full and still turn toward substitutes, serving them and rupturing its bond with the giver.
THE ROOT
וּפָנָה
u-fanah
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
to turn toward or away; to direct oneself
“turn their faces toward other gods” in this verse is u-fanah. The Hebrew verb shares its root with the word for “face,” so this turn carries the sense of directing one’s presence toward something. The verse’s shift is an orientation of allegiance, not only a change of opinion.
ALSO GROWS
panim: face; presence
פָּנִים
The shared root ties turning to where one directs one’s face or presence.
pniyah: turning; appeal
פְּנִיָּה
This related word keeps the sense of directing oneself toward someone or something.
וְעָבְדוּם
ve-ʿavadum
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work, labor, or serve
“serve them” in this verse is ve-ʿavadum. The same root names service, work, and the servant. The turn becomes an enacted allegiance: life’s service is redirected toward the other gods.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant
עֶבֶד
The servant is one who belongs to a life of service under this root.
ʿavodah: work; service
עֲבֹדָה
This word makes clear that serving is an activity shaping how life is spent.
וְשָׂבַע
ve-savaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׂבע
ś-b-ʿ
to be satisfied or sated
“eat and are filled” in this verse is ve-savaʿ. This is the language of reaching enough, not merely eating. The verse places satiety between receiving provision and turning away, making fullness the hinge in the sequence.
ALSO GROWS
śāvēaʿ: satisfied; sated
שָׂבֵעַ
This adjective describes the state reached when hunger is met.
śōvaʿ: satiety; abundance
שֹׂבַע
This noun carries the condition of having enough that frames the turning in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When fullness is mistaken for self-sufficiency, attention can turn from the source of life.
Lest I be filled, and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be emptied, and steal, and seize the name of my God.According to their pasture, so they were filled; they filled themselves, and their heart rose up; therefore they have forgotten me.Because you say, "I am rich, and have been enriched, and I need nothing." You have not seen that you are worn down, pitiable, emptied, blind, and bare.THE THREAD
Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built good houses, and settled in them;“Art full” uses the same Hebrew root שׂבע (ś-b-ʿ, be satisfied) as “filled themselves” here. The next warning in Deuteronomy 8:14 connects this fullness with forgetting the LORD, exposing the same sequence.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us