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Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Psalms 95:8 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
  • BSB do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
  • NKJV “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
  • NASB Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah in the wilderness,
  • NLT The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

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

Do not harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah and Massah. Persistent unbelief and rebellion hardens the heart against God.

Overview

The psalm recalls Israel's rebellion in the wilderness, where they quarreled and tested God at Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17). Their hardened hearts serve as a sober warning to every generation. Hebrews cites this to urge believers to respond in faith to Christ today, lest they fall through the same unbelief (Hebrews 3:8, 13).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Exod 17:7He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”
  • Heb 3:8–9don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
  • Num 20:13These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them.
  • Num 14:11Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
  • Num 14:22because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
  • Heb 3:15–19while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”
  • Deut 6:16You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
  • 1 Sam 6:6Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn’t they let the people go, and they departed?
  • Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
  • Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
  • Jude 1:5Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe.
  • Exod 17:2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
  • Heb 3:13but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
  • Acts 19:9But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
  • Exod 8:15But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
  • Dan 5:20But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
  • Deut 1:34–35Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,
  • Num 14:27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 95:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 95:8 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.