The Meaning of Deuteronomy 11:21 Explained

Deuteronomy 11:21

KJV: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

YLT: so that your days are multiplied, and the days of your sons, on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to your fathers to give to them, as the days of the heavens on the earth.

Darby: that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens which are above the earth.

ASV: that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

That your days  may be multiplied,  and the days  of your children,  in the land  which the LORD  sware  unto your fathers  to give  them, as the days  of heaven  upon the earth. 

What does Deuteronomy 11:21 Mean?

Context Summary

Deuteronomy 11:18-32 - The Blessing And The Curse
Never in this world do we reach a position from which it is impossible to fall away. The dew and the rain of God's blessing are contingent on obedience; and one of the strongest incentives to obedience is devout meditation on the Word of God. It is through the letter that we arrive at the spirit; and through the written words at the Eternal Word. We must store up the sacred words of God as a farmer stores up his grain, keeping them before us, making them the familiar topics of home-talk, and exercising ourselves in them. Let us specially ponder Deuteronomy 11:22-25, appropriating them in a spiritual sense, and claiming their equivalents in the inner life.
All along our lives are Ebals and Gerizims, with their "Come, ye blessed" and "Depart, ye cursed." Always we are arriving at the crossways, on the one of which lies the smile, and on the other the frown, of God. Let us be attracted by the one and dissuaded from the other, till we climb the spiral staircase into the land where there is no cooling love or faltering faith. [source]

Chapter Summary: Deuteronomy 11

1  Another exhortation to obedience
2  by their own experience of God's great works
8  by promise of God's great blessings
16  and by threatenings
18  A careful study is required in God's words
26  The blessing and curse set before them

What do the individual words in Deuteronomy 11:21 mean?

that may be multiplied your days and the days of your children in the land of which swore Yahweh to your fathers to give them like the days of the heavens above the earth -
לְמַ֨עַן יִרְבּ֤וּ יְמֵיכֶם֙ וִימֵ֣י בְנֵיכֶ֔ם עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהוָ֛ה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם לָתֵ֣ת לָהֶ֑ם כִּימֵ֥י הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם עַל־ הָאָֽרֶץ ס

לְמַ֨עַן  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: לְמַעַן 
Sense: purpose, intent prep.
יִרְבּ֤וּ  may  be  multiplied 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: הַרְבָּה 
Sense: be or become great, be or become many, be or become much, be or become numerous.
יְמֵיכֶם֙  your  days 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
וִימֵ֣י  and  the  days 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
בְנֵיכֶ֔ם  of  your  children 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה  the  land 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֲדָמָה 
Sense: ground, land.
אֲשֶׁ֨ר  of  which 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
נִשְׁבַּ֧ע  swore 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: שָׁבַע  
Sense: to swear, adjure.
יְהוָ֛ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם  to  your  fathers 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
לָתֵ֣ת  to  give 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
כִּימֵ֥י  like  the  days 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם  of  the  heavens 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַיִם  
Sense: heaven, heavens, sky.
עַל־  above 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
הָאָֽרֶץ  the  earth 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation