Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
Parallel translations
- WEB were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’”
- BSB if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
- NKJV Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, “Our hand is high; And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’
- NASB Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant, And the Lord has not performed all this.” ’
- NLT But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy, who might misunderstand and say, “Our own power has triumphed! The Lord had nothing to do with this!”’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God restrains judgment lest Israel's enemies boast that their own hand, not the LORD, accomplished it. It matters because God acts to guard His own glory and honor.
Overview
God withholds full destruction not because Israel deserves mercy but to prevent His name being dishonored among the nations. His concern for His glory ultimately works to His people's preservation. This zeal for His own name, which restrains judgment, is the same glory God displays in saving sinners through Christ, to the praise of His grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Num 14:15–16Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
- Exod 32:12Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
- Zech 1:14–15So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
- Ps 140:8Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
- Josh 7:9For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
- 1 Sam 12:22For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
- Ps 115:1–2Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
- Isa 37:10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Isa 37:12–23Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
- Isa 10:8–15For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
- Lam 1:9Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
- Dan 4:30–37The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
- Ezek 20:13–14But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- Isa 37:28–29But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
- Isa 47:7And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
- Isa 37:35For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
- Ezek 20:20–22And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
- Jer 19:4Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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