📜WEB · Deuteronomy 6:10
What does Deuteronomy 6:10 mean?
"It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build,"
— Deuteronomy 6:10 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.
It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build,
and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;
then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.
Explanation
Deuteronomy 6:10 begins a sentence that continues into the following verses, describing what will happen once the people of Israel enter the Promised Land. In plain language, Moses is telling the Israelites that God is about to fulfill a promise made generations earlier — the land of Canaan will become theirs, complete with large, well-built cities that they themselves did not construct. The verse sets up a larger point about receiving blessings that come purely as gifts rather than as the fruit of one's own labor.
This passage comes from Moses's farewell address to Israel, delivered on the plains of Moab just before the people crossed into Canaan under Joshua's leadership. The generation Moses addressed was largely the children of those who had left Egypt; the original generation had died in the wilderness due to unbelief (Numbers 14). Moses reminds this new generation that the land they are about to possess was promised long ago to their ancestors — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — a covenant promise going back to Genesis 12, 15, 17, 26, and 28. The mention of "great and goodly cities" reflects the fact that Canaan already contained developed urban centers, built by the Canaanite peoples, which Israel would inherit rather than build from scratch.
Theologically, this verse emphasizes God's faithfulness to his covenant promises across generations. What Abraham was told centuries earlier is now coming to fruition for his descendants. It also introduces a theme of unearned grace: the cities, houses, wells, vineyards, and olive groves the Israelites are
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