Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words.
- KJV Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
- NKJV Yes, He loves the people; All His saints are in Your hand; They sit down at Your feet; Everyone receives Your words.
- NASB “Indeed, He loves the people; All Your holy ones are in Your hand, And they followed in Your steps; Everyone takes of Your words.
- NLT Indeed, he loves his people; all his holy ones are in his hands. They follow in his steps and accept his teaching.
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 loves His people and holds His saints securely in His hand, and they sit at His feet to receive His words. God's love and Israel's discipleship frame the blessing.
Overview
This verse affirms God's covenant love for Israel and His protective hold over His own, an early picture of the security believers have in God's hand (John 10:28-29). Sitting at His feet to receive His words pictures the posture of the disciple, later seen in Mary at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:39). The Hebrew of this verse is difficult and translations vary, but its message of God's love and the people's reception of His word is clear.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Luke 10:39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message.
- Mal 1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
- Deut 7:6–8For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
- 1 Pet 1:5who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Luke 8:35So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
- Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Col 3:3–4For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
- Acts 22:3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as any of you here today.
- Eph 2:4–5But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Ps 31:15My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
- Ps 50:5“Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
- Ps 147:19–20He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
- Jer 32:40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
- John 17:11–15I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one.
- Jer 31:3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- Rom 9:11–13Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
- Hos 11:1When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
- 1 Sam 2:9He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.
- Ps 47:4He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah
- John 10:28–29I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
- Luke 2:46Finally, after three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
- Exod 19:5–6Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Prov 2:1My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- Deut 14:2for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
- 1 Jn 4:19We love because He first loved us.
- 1 Th 1:6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 33:3 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.