Deuteronomy 32:21
in Deuteronomy 32They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; They have provoked me to anger with their vanities: And I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
KJV
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThey have moved me to jealousy - This verse contains a very pointed promise of the calling of the Gentiles, in consequence of the rejection of the Jews, threatened Deu 32:19; and to this great event it is applied by St. Paul, Rom 10:19.
This site's exposition
When the LORD saw this, He rejected them
on Deuteronomy 32:19-21
Verse 21 is an exchange, a no-god answered by “those who are not a people”, with the same two verbs on both sides. Paul quotes the second half at Romans 10:19 of the Gentiles hearing what Israel did not.
This site's exposition
they have enraged Me with their worthless idols
Worthless idols translates a Hebrew word for breath or vapour, the word Ecclesiastes uses for vanity. Matthew Henry sees a first fulfilment in the days of the judges, when Israel was oppressed by the Canaanites it had once defeated. God answers breath with a people of no account.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
But God can make the weakest instrument a scourge to the strongest sinner; and those that by sin insult their might Creator are justly insulted by the meanest of their fellow-creatures. This was remarkably fulfilled in the days of the judges, when they were sometimes oppressed by the very Canaanites themselves, whom they had subdued, Judg. iv.
I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people - With the Heathen nations, who are none of my people, who scarce deserve the name of a people, as being without the knowledge and fear of God, which is the foundation of all true policy and government, and many of them destitute of all government, laws and order.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God,....
A promise of the destruction of their enemies and oppressors at last, and the glorious deliverance of a remnant of Israel,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
those which are not a people--that is, not favored with such great and peculiar privileges as the Israelites (or, rather poor, despised heathens). The language points to the future calling of the Gentiles.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵ֚ם | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| קִנְא֣וּנִי | kinuni | they have made jealous me | H7065 → | 34 times |
| בְלֹא־ | velo'- | by not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֵ֔ל | ʾel | a god | H410 → | 241 times |
| כִּעֲס֖וּנִי | kiasuni | they have provoked to anger me | H3707 → | 54 times |
| בְּהַבְלֵיהֶ֑ם | behavleihem | by vanities their | H1892 → | |
| וַאֲנִי֙ | vaani | and I | H589 → | 874 times |
| אַקְנִיאֵ֣ם | ʾakniem | I will make jealous them | H7065 → | 34 times |
| בְּלֹא־ | belo'- | by not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עָ֔ם | ʾam | a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בְּג֥וֹי | begoy | by a nation | H1471 → | 561 times |
| נָבָ֖ל | naval | foolish | H5036 → | |
| אַכְעִיסֵֽם׃ | ʾakhisem | I will provoke to anger them | H3707 → | 54 times |
הֵ֚םthey
hemH1992 →553 times
קִנְא֣וּנִיthey have made jealous me
kinuniH7065 →34 times
בְלֹא־by not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
אֵ֔לa god
ʾelH410 →241 times
כִּעֲס֖וּנִיthey have provoked to anger me
kiasuniH3707 →54 times
בְּהַבְלֵיהֶ֑םby vanities their
behavleihemH1892 →
וַאֲנִי֙and I
vaaniH589 →874 times
אַקְנִיאֵ֣םI will make jealous them
ʾakniemH7065 →34 times
בְּלֹא־by not
belo'-H3808 →5168 times
עָ֔םa people
ʾamH5971 →1873 times
בְּג֥וֹיby a nation
begoyH1471 →561 times
נָבָ֖לfoolish
navalH5036 →
אַכְעִיסֵֽם׃I will provoke to anger them
ʾakhisemH3707 →54 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
Romans 9:25As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 2:23
And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they…
- Ezekiel 16:8
Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a…
- John 16:27
For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.
- 1 Peter 2:10
Through
Romans 10:19I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”
it leads to
- Romans 11:11
I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
- Romans 11:14
in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
- Titus 3:3
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Romans 11:11
Through
1 Kings 16:26For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sins, which he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 16:19
because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD and following the example of Jeroboam and the sin he had committed and had caused Israel to commit.
- 1 Kings 16:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
On this verse
On this chapter
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.