I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
Parallel translations
- WEB I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
- KJV I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
- NKJV I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.
- NASB I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.
- NLT I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.
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 personally knew and cared for Israel in the harsh wilderness. It recalls his faithful, intimate provision in their time of need.
Overview
To "know" here means to acknowledge, care for, and enter into covenant relationship. God sustained Israel in a land of drought where they could not survive on their own. This reminder of grace heightens the guilt of a people who would forget the God who kept them alive.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 32:10He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Deut 8:15He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.
- Deut 2:7Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
- Gal 4:9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Ps 142:3Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
- Ps 63:1A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
- Nah 1:7The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.
- Exod 2:25God saw the Israelites and took notice.
- Jer 2:6They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
- Jer 2:2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
- Ps 31:7I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion, for You have seen my affliction; You have known the anguish of my soul.
- 1 Cor 8:3But the one who loves God is known by God.
- Ps 1:6For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 13:5 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.