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Deuteronomy 33:3

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.
Deuteronomy 33:3 · King James Version
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.
  • BSB Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your 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 10:39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
  • Mal 1:2I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
  • Deut 7:6–8For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
  • 1 Pet 1:5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
  • Luke 8:35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
  • Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
  • Col 3:3–4For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
  • Acts 22:3I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
  • Eph 2:4–5But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
  • Ps 31:15My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
  • Ps 50:5Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
  • Ps 147:19–20He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
  • Jer 32:40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
  • John 17:11–15And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
  • Jer 31:3The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
  • Rom 9:11–13(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
  • Hos 11:1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
  • 1 Sam 2:9He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
  • Ps 47:4He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
  • John 10:28–29And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
  • Luke 2:46And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
  • Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
  • Prov 2:1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
  • Deut 14:2For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
  • 1 Jn 4:19We love him, because he first loved us.
  • 1 Th 1:6And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Deuteronomy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Deuteronomy 33:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on DeuteronomyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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.