Deuteronomy 8:19 (DRB)

Passage

But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 8:17 Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

Deuteronomy 8:19 But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

Deuteronomy 8:20 As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "forget", "lord", "follow", "strange", "gods", "serve", and "adore". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "forget", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "But remember the Lord thy God that..." into verse 20's "As the nations which the Lord destroyed...", so "thou" and "forget" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "forget" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.