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Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways;’
Hebrews 3:10 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
  • BSB Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’
  • NKJV Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’
  • NASB “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’;
  • NLT So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’

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 was displeased with that generation, whose hearts continually went astray and who did not know His ways. Chronic waywardness drew God's displeasure.

Overview

Psalm 95 records God's grief and anger over a generation whose hearts persistently wandered. Their failure was not mere ignorance but a settled refusal to learn and walk in God's ways. The passage warns the readers that a straying heart, left unchecked, leads to God's righteous displeasure.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Ps 95:10Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”
  • 2 Th 2:10–12and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
  • Eph 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
  • Jer 4:22“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
  • Ps 78:8and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
  • Ps 67:2That your way may be known on earth, and your salvation among all nations,
  • Isa 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
  • Hos 4:12My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.
  • Heb 3:12Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
  • Isa 28:7They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
  • Mark 3:5When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.
  • Judg 10:16They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
  • John 8:45But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.
  • Ps 147:20He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his ordinances. Praise Yah!
  • Gen 6:6Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
  • Ps 78:40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
  • John 3:19–20This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
  • Rom 3:7For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
  • Rom 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hebrews videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hebrews 3:10YouTube · 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 HebrewsMatthew 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

Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.

How Hebrews 3:10 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.