For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!
Parallel translations
- WEB “Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.
- KJV Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
- BSB For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
- NKJV Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; They lacked nothing; Their clothes did not wear out And their feet did not swell.
- NASB “Indeed, for forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not lacking; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell up.
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
For forty years God sustained them so they lacked nothing, their clothes and feet unworn. It matters because it testifies to God's complete, faithful provision.
Overview
Through four decades of wandering, God so cared for Israel that even their clothing and bodies did not give out. His provision was thorough and reliable despite their unworthiness. Such faithful sustaining of his people prefigures Christ's promise to supply every need of those who seek God's kingdom (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 2:7For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years, Yahweh your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
- Deut 8:4Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.
- Deut 29:5I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your shoes have not grown old on your feet.
- Ps 34:10The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
- Deut 8:2You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
- Exod 16:35The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.
- Amos 5:25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
- Acts 13:18For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
- Num 14:33–34Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 9:21 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
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