Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
- BSB not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
- NKJV not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
- NASB nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to the people who understand you;
- NLT No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen!
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
Even foreign nations would have listened, God says, more readily than Israel. Israel's resistance is especially culpable.
Overview
God notes that pagan peoples might have heeded the message, intensifying Israel's guilt. Those with the most privilege prove the most resistant. This anticipates Jesus' words that pagan cities would have repented at signs Israel rejected (Matthew 11:21). It warns that nearness to God's truth brings greater accountability, not automatic acceptance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Matt 11:20–24Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
- Rom 9:30–33What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
- Luke 11:30–32For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
- Matt 12:41–42The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
- Jonah 3:5–10So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
- Acts 27:28And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Original language
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