And then I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
Parallel translations
- WEB It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.”
- KJV Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.
- NKJV Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”
- NASB And just as I plan to do to them, I will do to you.’ ”
- NLT And I will do to you what I had planned to do to 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 warns that if Israel disobeys, He will do to them what He purposed to do to the Canaanites. Persistent unfaithfulness would bring the same judgment of being driven from the land.
Overview
This sobering verse ties Israel's tenure in the land to covenant faithfulness, and it was fulfilled in the exiles of Israel and Judah. God shows no partiality; the privilege of being His people did not exempt them from judgment for the same sins He judged in others. It underscores that grace received calls for obedience, and warns against presuming on covenant standing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Deut 28:63Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
- Deut 29:28The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’
- Josh 23:15–16But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
- Lev 20:23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
- Lev 18:28So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.
- Luke 21:23–24How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
- Ezek 33:24–29“Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’
- 2 Chr 36:17–20So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
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
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 33:56 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.