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The NET Bible®

Deuteronomy 11:10

For the land where you are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Canaan;   Egypt;   Irrigation;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Irrigation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Agriculture or Husbandry;   Egypt;   Gardens;   Herbs, &C;   Holy Land;   Rain;   Seed;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Goshen;   Nile;   River;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Farming;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Know, Knowledge;   Land (of Israel);   Easton Bible Dictionary - Herb;   Irrigation;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Egypt;   Nile;   Rain;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Garden;   Grass;   Nile River;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;   Foot;   Garden;   Herb;   Irrigation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Agriculture;   Herb;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Rain;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Garden;   Nile;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Foot;   Husbandry;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Foot;   Garden;   Herb;   Irrigation;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Agriculture;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aqueducts in Palestine;   Debarim Rabbah;   Egypt;   Nile;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came out, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For the lande whyther thou goest to possesse it, is not as the lande of Egypt that ye came out of, where thou sowedst thy seede, and wateredst it with thy feete, as a garden of hearbes.
Easy-to-Read Version
The land that you will get is not like the land of Egypt that you came from. In Egypt you planted your seeds and used your feet to pump water from the canals to water your fields like a vegetable garden.
Revised Standard Version
For the land which you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your feet, like a garden of vegetables;
World English Bible
For the land, where you go in to possess it, isn't as the land of Egypt, from whence you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
King James Version (1611)
For the land whither thou goest in to possesse it, is not as the lande of Egypt from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbes:
King James Version
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the londe whither thou commest in, to possesse it, is not as the londe of Egipte, whence ye came out, where thou sowedest thy sede, and waterdest it at thy fote as a garden of herbes:
THE MESSAGE
The land you are entering to take up ownership isn't like Egypt, the land you left, where you had to plant your own seed and water it yourselves as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are about to cross the river and take for your own is a land of mountains and valleys; it drinks water that rains from the sky. It's a land that God , your God, personally tends—he's the gardener—he alone keeps his eye on it all year long.
American Standard Version
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;
Bible in Basic English
For the land where you are going is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you put in your seeds, watering them with your foot, like a planted garden:
Update Bible Version
For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
Webster's Bible Translation
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, [is] not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou didst sow thy seed, and water [it] with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
New King James Version
For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;
Contemporary English Version
It's better land than you had in Egypt, where you had to struggle just to water your crops.
Complete Jewish Bible
(vi) "For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn't like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden.
Darby Translation
For the land, whither thou enterest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;
Geneva Bible (1587)
For the land whither thou goest to possesse it, is not as the lande of Egypt, from whence ye came, where thou sowedst thy seede, and wateredst it with thy feete as a garden of herbes:
George Lamsa Translation
For the land into which you are entering to possess it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came out, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your feet, like a vegetable garden;
Good News Translation
The land that you are about to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, where you lived before. There, when you planted grain, you had to work hard to irrigate the fields;
Amplified Bible
"For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a garden of vegetables.
Hebrew Names Version
For the land, where you go in to possess it, isn't as the land of Mitzrayim, from whence you came out, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou didst sow thy seed, and didst water it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs;
New Living Translation
For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden.
New Life Bible
For the land you are going in to take is not like the land you came from in Egypt. There you planted your seed and watered it using your feet, like a vegetable garden.
New Revised Standard
For the land that you are about to enter to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sow your seed and irrigate by foot like a vegetable garden.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For the land into which thou goest to inherit it, is not as the land of Egypt, whence ye came out, whensoever they sow the seed, and water it with their feet, as a garden of herbs:
English Revised Version
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
Berean Standard Bible
For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For the land which thou art entering to, possess, not like the land of Egypt, it is, from whence ye came out, - where thou didst sow thy seed, and then water it with thy foot, like a garden of herbs;
Douay-Rheims Bible
For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens.
Lexham English Bible
For the fact is that the land that you are about to go into to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come out of, where you sow your seed and you give water by your foot, as in a vegetable garden.
Literal Translation
For the land to which you are going, to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs.
English Standard Version
For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables.
New American Standard Bible
"For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it by your foot like a vegetable garden.
New Century Version
The land you are going to take is not like Egypt, where you were. There you had to plant your seed and water it, like a vegetable garden, by using your feet.
Christian Standard Bible®
For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the lond, to which thou schalt entre to welde, is not as the lond of Egipt, `out of which thou yedist, where whanne the seed is cast in the maner of gardyns, moist waters ben led;
Young's Literal Translation
`For the land whither thou art going in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt whence ye have come out, where thou sowest thy seed, and hast watered with thy foot, as a garden of the green herb;

Contextual Overview

8 Now pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land where you are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden. 11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 12 a land the Lord your God looks after. He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year. 13 Now, if you pay close attention to my commandments that I am giving you today and love the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, 14 then he promises, "I will send rain for your land in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 I will provide pasture for your livestock and you will eat your fill." 16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! 17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wateredst it with thy foot: Rain seldom falls in Egypt; the land being chiefly watered by the inundations of the Nile. In order to water the grounds where the inundations do not extend, water is collected in ponds, and directed in streamlets to the different parts of the field where irrigation is necessary. It is no unusual thing in the East to see a man, with a small mattock, making a little trench for the water to run into; and, as he opens the passage, the water following, he uses his foot to raise up the mould against the side of this little channel, to prevent the water from being shed unnecessarily, before it reaches the place of its destination. Hence he may justly be said to water the ground with his foot. Zechariah 14:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 30:30 - since my coming Genesis 41:1 - the river Deuteronomy 8:7 - General 1 Kings 21:2 - a garden of herbs Psalms 68:9 - didst Isaiah 19:10 - make Isaiah 23:3 - the harvest

Cross-References

Genesis 11:17
And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 11:21
And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 11:22
When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
Genesis 11:27
This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the land whither thou goest in to possess it,.... The land of Canaan they were about to take possession of:

[is] not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out; either the whole land of Egypt, or that part of it, Rameses, in which Israel dwelt, and which was the best of it, as Jarchi observes, and yet Canaan exceeded that; though the design of this passage is not so much to set forth the superior excellency and fertility of the land of Canaan to that of Egypt, which was certainly a very fruitful country; see

Genesis 13:10 but to observe some things in which they differed, whereby they both became fruitful, and in which Canaan had the advantage:

where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; as a gardener when he has sowed his seed, or planted his plants, waters them that they may grow, by carrying his water pot from bed to bed, which requires much labour and toil. In Egypt rain seldom fell, especially in some places it was very rare, though that there was none at all is a vulgar mistake; Genesis 13:10- : e. To supply the want of it the river Nile overflowed once a year, which not only moistened the earth, but left mud or slime upon it, which made it fruitful; but this was not sufficient, for what through the river not overflowing enough sometimes, and so as to reach some places, and through the heat of the sun hardening the earth again, it was found necessary to cut canals from it, and by water from thence to water it, as a gardener waters his seed and plants; and it is to this watering that respect is here had, not to the overflowing of the Nile, for that was before the seed was sown; but to the watering of it out of the canals, which was done after it was sown; the former was without any trouble of theirs, the latter with much labour; the manner in which it is done is expressed by the phrase "with thy foot", which the Targum explains "by thyself", by their own labour and industry. Jarchi is more particular; "the land of Egypt had need to "have water brought from the Nile with thy foot; he seems to have understood the phrase to signify carrying water on foot from the Nile to the place where it was wanted; but the custom still in use in Egypt, when they water their fields, plantations, or gardens, will give us a clear understanding of this phrase; as a late traveller informs us f, the water is drawn out of the river (Nile) by instruments, and lodged in capacious cisterns; when plants require to be refreshed, they strike out the plugs that are fixed in the bottoms of the cisterns, and then the water gushing out, is conducted from one rill to another by the gardener, who is always ready as occasion requires to stop and divert the torrent by turning the earth against it "with his foot", and opening at the same time with his mattock a new trench to receive it: and to the same purpose another learned person g has observed, that at other times (than the flowing of the Nile) they are obliged to have recourse to art, and to raise the water out of the river and some deep pits by the help of machines, which water is afterwards directed in its course by channels cut in the ground, which convey the water to those places where it is wanted; and when one part of the ground is sufficiently watered, they then stop that channel, by thrusting some earth into the entrance of it "with their foot", and then also "with their foot" open a passage into the next channel, and so on: and Philo the Jew h speaks of a machine with which they used to water fields, and was worked with the feet by going up the several steps within, which gave motion to it.

e See also Vansleb's Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 213. who speaks of large rains in Egypt. f Shaw's Travels, p. 408. g Clayton's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 478. h De Confusione Ling p. 325.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Another motive for fidelity is added, namely, the entire dependence of the promised land upon God for its fertility. It was “a land flowing with milk and honey;” yet this its richness was not, as was that of Egypt, the reward of truman skill and labor, but was, on the contrary, the gift of God simply and entirely; the effect of “the former and the latter rains” sent by Him. The spiritual significance of these and many other such peculiarities of the promised land must not be overlooked.

Egypt and Canaan are distinguished in this and the following verses, by certain of their most remarkable physical traits. Canaan as a mountainous country (compare Deuteronomy 3:25 note) was well watered, but by the rains of heaven, on which it absolutely depended for its crops. Artificial irrigation could do nothing to remedy this dependence. Hence, it was a land on which, so long as God’s people were faithful and consequently prosperous, “the eyes of God” would always be: i. e., He would supply at each successive season (compare Deuteronomy 11:14-15) the useful conditions of productiveness. But Egypt, fit emblem here as elsewhere of the world of nature in distinction from the world of grace, though of course deriving its all ultimately from the Giver of all good things, yet directly and immediately owed its riches and plenty to human ingenuity and capital. It enjoyed no rain worth speaking of, but drew its water supply from the annum overflowing of the Nile. This only lasts about a hundred days; but is rendered available for agricultural purposes throughout the year by an elaborate and costly system of tanks, canals, forcing machines, etc. To these mechanical appliances allusion is made in Deuteronomy 11:10. The inhabitants of Egypt probably watered “with the foot” in two ways, namely, by means of tread-wheels working sets of pumps, and by means of artificial channels connected with reservoirs, and opened, turned, or closed by the feet. Both methods are still in use in Egypt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 11:10. Wateredst it with thy foot — Rain scarcely ever falls in Egypt, and God supplies the lack of it by the inundations of the Nile. In order to water the grounds where the inundations do not extend, water is collected in ponds, and directed in streamlets to different parts of the field where irrigation is necessary. It is no unusual thing in the East to see a man, with a small mattock, making a little trench for the water to run by, and as he opens the passage, the water following, he uses his foot to raise up the mould against the side of this little channel, to prevent the water from being shed unnecessarily before it reaches the place of its destination. Thus he may be said to water the ground with his foot. See several useful observations on this subject in Mr. Harmer, vol. i., pp. 23-26, and vol. iii., p. 141. "For watering land an instrument called janta is often used in the north of Bengal: It consists of a wooden trough, about fifteen feet long, six inches wide, and ten inches deep, which is placed on a horizontal beam lying on bamboos fixed in the bank of a pond or river in the form of a gallows. One end of the trough rests upon the bank, where a gutter is prepared to carry off the water, and the other is dipped into the water by a man standing on a stage near that end, and plunging it in with his foot. A long bamboo, with a large weight of earth at the farther end of it, is fastened to that end of the janta near the river, and passing over the gallows, poises up the janta full of water, and causes it to empty itself into the gutter." This, Mr. Ward supposes, illustrates this passage. See Hindoo Customs, c., vol. iii., p. 104. But after all, the expression, wateredst it with thy foot, may mean no more than doing it by labour for, as in the land of Egypt there is scarcely any rain, the watering of gardens, c., must have been all artificial. But in Judea it was different, as there they had their proper seasons of rain. The compound word ברגל beregel, with, under, or by the foot, is used to signify any thing under the power, authority, &c., of a person and this very meaning it has in the sixth verse, all the substance that was in their possession, is, literally, all the substance that was under their feet, ברגליהם beragleyhem, that is, in their power, possession, or what they had acquired by their labour.


 
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