where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
Parallel translations
- WEB where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years.
- KJV When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
- NKJV Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.
- NASB Where your fathers put Me to the test, And saw My works for forty years.
- NLT There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
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
In the wilderness Israel tested God for forty years even while seeing His mighty works. Persistent unbelief in the face of God's deeds provoked Him.
Overview
The quotation recalls how the exodus generation repeatedly put God to the test despite witnessing His acts of deliverance and provision. Their unbelief was inexcusable, given the evidence before them. This serves as a warning that exposure to God's works does not guarantee faith; the heart must respond.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Acts 7:36He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
- Deut 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- Deut 8:4Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
- Deut 4:3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
- Exod 19:4‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
- Acts 13:8But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
- Deut 8:2Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
- Exod 20:22Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.
- Luke 7:22So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- Deut 29:2Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.
- Josh 23:3“and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.
- Amos 2:10And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
- Num 14:33Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.
- Josh 24:7So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
- Deut 11:7For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.
- Josh 5:6For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 3:9 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.