Deuteronomy 29:4
in Deuteronomy 29Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but Jehovah hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
KJV
Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
⋯
This verse in Deuteronomy 29
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe Lord hath not given you a heart, etc. - Some critics read this verse interrogatively: And hath not God given you a heart, etc.? because they suppose that God could not reprehend them for the non-performance of a duty, when he had neither given them a mind to perceive the obligation of it, nor strength to perform it, had that obligation been known.
This site's exposition
the Lord hath not given you an heart
Moses says the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day, which sets the failure of forty years inside God's own giving as well as in the people. Adam Clarke reports that some read the verse as a question, and hath not God given you a heart, on the ground that God would not charge a duty on men he had not equipped for it, while Keil and Delitzsch take it as a statement of what was withheld. Paul reaches for the same three organs at Romans 11:8 for Israel's hardening in his own day, where he joins this language to Isaiah 29:10.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive,....
Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts. (3.) God's readiness to do us good in other things is a plain evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would not.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ability to understand the things of God is the gift of God (compare 1Co 2:13-14); yet man is not guiltless if he lacks that ability. The people had it not because they had not felt their want of it, nor asked for it. Compare 2Co 3:14-15.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נָתַן֩ | natan | he has given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| יְהוָ֨ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לָכֶ֥ם | lakhem | to <the> you | ||
| לֵב֙ | lev | a heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
| לָדַ֔עַת | ladaat | to know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| וְעֵינַ֥יִם | veeinayim | and eyes | H5869 → | 887 times |
| לִרְא֖וֹת | lirot | to see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וְאָזְנַ֣יִם | veazenayim | and ears | H241 → | 187 times |
| לִשְׁמֹ֑עַ | lishmoa' | to hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| עַ֖ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הַיּ֥וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
נָתַן֩he has given
natanH5414 →2011 times
יְהוָ֨הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לָכֶ֥םto <the> you
lakhem
לֵב֙a heart
levH3820 →595 times
לָדַ֔עַתto know
ladaatH3045 →945 times
וְעֵינַ֥יִםand eyes
veeinayimH5869 →887 times
לִרְא֖וֹתto see
lirotH7200 →1300 times
וְאָזְנַ֣יִםand ears
veazenayimH241 →187 times
לִשְׁמֹ֑עַto hear
lishmoa'H8085 →1159 times
עַ֖דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
הַיּ֥וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:18They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
it leads to
- Matthew 13:15
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Ephesians 2:12
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Romans 1:21–23
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- John 12:40
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
- Matthew 13:15
Through
Proverbs 20:12Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
it leads to
- Matthew 13:13–16
This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- Psalms 94:9
He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
- Matthew 13:13–16
Through
John 8:43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
it leads to
- John 5:43
I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- John 12:39–40
For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:
- John 5:43
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.