You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.
- KJV Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
- BSB So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines 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 reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- 2 Sam 7:14I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
- Job 5:17–18“Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
- Prov 3:12for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.
- Heb 12:5–11and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
- 1 Cor 11:32But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law;
- Ezek 18:28Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.
- Ps 89:32then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
- Deut 4:9Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children;
- Ezek 12:3“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.
- Deut 4:23Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves an engraved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you.
- Isa 1:3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t 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.