“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 12:32 Mean?
Moses establishes the principle of Scriptural sufficiency and integrity: what thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
What thing soever I command you — the scope is comprehensive. Everything God commands — not just the parts that are convenient or culturally acceptable. Soever eliminates selectivity: the command covers the full range of divine instruction.
Observe to do it — observe (shamar — to guard, to keep) and do (asah — to accomplish, to carry out). The guarding and the doing are joined: protect the command by performing it. Observation without action is insufficient. The command is not for contemplation. It is for obedience.
Thou shalt not add thereto — nothing is to be added to God's commands. The temptation to add is the temptation to improve — to supplement God's word with human wisdom, to add requirements God did not make, to create traditions that carry the weight of divine command. The prohibition against adding protects God's word from human embellishment.
Nor diminish from it — nothing is to be removed. The temptation to diminish is the temptation to soften — to remove the uncomfortable parts, to ignore the demanding sections, to edit God's word to fit human preferences. The prohibition against diminishing protects God's word from human editing.
The double prohibition (do not add, do not subtract) establishes the completeness of divine revelation: what God commanded is sufficient. It needs no supplement and permits no reduction. The word of God is complete as given.
The principle is echoed in Proverbs 30:6 (add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee), Revelation 22:18-19 (if any man shall add... if any man shall take away), and Jesus's rebuke of the Pharisees for adding human tradition to divine command (Mark 7:7-8). The temptation to modify God's word — in either direction — persists across every generation.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'thou shalt not add' protect against — and where do you see human additions to God's word?
- 2.What does 'nor diminish from it' protect against — and where do you see selective editing of God's commands?
- 3.How do the Pharisees (adding) and modern liberalism (diminishing) represent opposite violations of the same principle?
- 4.Where are you personally adding to or subtracting from what God has actually said — and what would faithful observation look like?
Devotional
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it. Everything. Not the parts you agree with. Not the parts that fit your lifestyle. Everything God commands — observed and done. The selectivity we bring to God's word — keeping what is comfortable, ignoring what is inconvenient — is exactly what this verse prohibits. Soever means soever. All of it.
Thou shalt not add thereto. Do not add to God's word. Do not supplement his commands with your own requirements. Do not create traditions and treat them as if God spoke them. Do not add burdens God did not impose. The Pharisees violated this — adding hundreds of rules to the law and treating their additions as divine command. Jesus rebuked them for it: teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Mark 7:7).
Nor diminish from it. Do not subtract from God's word. Do not remove the parts that make you uncomfortable. Do not edit out the demands that feel too costly, the warnings that feel too harsh, the standards that feel too high. The temptation to diminish is the temptation to create a god who demands less — a comfortable god made by selective reading.
The double prohibition protects the integrity of God's word in both directions. Adding produces legalism — human rules with divine authority. Diminishing produces liberalism — divine commands with human expiration dates. Both are violations. Both distort what God actually said. The word stands as given — complete, sufficient, uneditable.
What are you adding to God's word? Rules he did not make? Standards he did not set? Burdens he did not impose? And what are you subtracting? Commands you find inconvenient? Standards you have decided are outdated? Warnings you have chosen to ignore? The verse says: neither. Observe to do what God commanded. All of it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it,.... In the manner it is commanded and directed to; the laws of God,…
There is not any one particular precept (as I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcated as…
(Deu 13:1 in Heb.) is remarkable here; and would seem more in place at the beginning of the section before 29. The text…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture