Passage
I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:18 (WEB)
Nearby Context
Deuteronomy 31:16 Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Deuteronomy 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
Deuteronomy 31:18 I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:19 “Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:20 For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "surely", "hide", "face", "evil", "done", "turned", "other", and "gods". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "surely" and "hide", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Then my anger shall be kindled against..." into verse 19's "Now therefore write this song for yourselves...", so "surely" and "hide" 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 "surely" and "hide" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.