Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
- KJV Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
- BSB Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
- NKJV “Rememberthe days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you:
- NASB “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.
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
Moses calls the people to remember the days of old and learn from previous generations through their fathers and elders. It matters because faithful memory of God's past dealings shapes present obedience.
Overview
Recalling history and consulting elders were means of preserving the knowledge of God's acts. Israel's identity and obligations rest on what God has done, which must be deliberately remembered and taught. This emphasis on remembering God's mighty works continues in the church, which proclaims and remembers the saving work of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 78:3–4Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
- Ps 44:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm. We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the days of old.
- Job 8:8–10“Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
- Ps 77:5–6I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
- Isa 46:9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
- Deut 4:32For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?
- Exod 13:14It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
- Isa 63:11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?”
- Judg 6:13Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
- Ps 77:11–12I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.
- Ps 119:52I remember your ordinances of old, Yahweh, and have comforted myself.
- Ps 77:8Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations?
- Ps 10:6He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 32:7 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.