Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.
- BSB So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
- NKJV You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.
- NASB So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
- NLT Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.
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
Israel must consider that God disciplines them as a father disciplines his son. God's hardships are fatherly correction, not rejection.
Overview
The wilderness trials are reframed as loving fatherly discipline meant for Israel's good. Discipline is a mark of God's care and relationship, not his hostility. Hebrews 12 draws on this truth to comfort believers, showing that God's discipline proves they are his beloved children in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- 2 Sam 7:14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
- Job 5:17–18Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
- Prov 3:12For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
- Heb 12:5–11And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
- 1 Cor 11:32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
- Ezek 18:28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
- Ps 89:32Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
- Deut 4:9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
- Ezek 12:3Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.
- Deut 4:23Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
- Isa 1:3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:5 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.