When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Parallel translations
- WEB where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years.
- BSB where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
- 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 brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
- 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;
- Deut 8:4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
- Deut 4:3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
- Exod 19:4Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
- Acts 13:8But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
- Deut 8:2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
- Exod 20:22And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
- Luke 7:22Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
- Deut 29:2And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
- Josh 23:3And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
- Amos 2:10Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
- Num 14:33And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
- Josh 24:7And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
- Deut 11:7But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.
- Josh 5:6For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
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