Deuteronomy 8:5
in Deuteronomy 8So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee.
KJV
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 8
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAs a man chastiseth his son - That is, unwillingly, being constrained by necessity; moderately, in judgment remembering mercy; and for thy reformation not thy destruction.
This site's exposition
Thy raiment waxed not old
on Deuteronomy 8:4-5
Deuteronomy 29:5 says this again and Nehemiah 9:21 repeats it centuries later, so the claim stayed in Israel's memory rather than being made once. Readers divide over what it describes. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take it as a work done on the clothes themselves, and Adam Clarke reads provision so ample that nobody went ragged among a people who carried weavers and embroiderers with them. Verse 5 then names the whole forty years as a father's discipline of a son, the figure Hebrews 12:7 takes up for the church.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart,....
During these years of their education they had been kept under a strict discipline, and not without need. As a man chasteneth his son, for his good, and because he loves him, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. God is a loving tender Father to all his children, yet when there is occasion they shall feel the smart of the rod.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
OUR aptness to forget God's mercies, is, alas, too conspicuous. It has been said that the annals of a prosperous and peaceful country are singularly uninteresting. Does this arise from the fact that we do not make memoranda of our mercies, or at least if we do, they are far more readily blotted out than the record of our sorrows? We trace our joys in the sand, but we write our afflictions on marble. We forget the streams of mercy, never ceasing, which flow so continually parallel with our pathway.
OUR aptness to forget God's mercies, is, alas, too conspicuous. It has been said that the annals of a prosperous and peaceful country are singularly uninteresting. Does this arise from the fact that we do not make memoranda of our mercies, or at least if we do, they are far more readily blotted out than the record of our sorrows? We trace our joys in the sand, but we write our afflictions on marble. We forget the streams of mercy, never ceasing, which flow so continually parallel with our pathway. If we thus, ungratefully forget, it should cause us serious reflections when we see that God does not forget. Here in this Book He brings to His people's memories all the mercies they have received, because they were always present before His own mind. The child may forget the kindness of its mother, but the mother does not forget what she bore, and what she has sacrificed for her child. The friend may forget what he has received, but it is not likely that the benefactor will forget what he has bestowed. If God's memory, therefore, records all that He has given me, let me be ashamed to let my memory suffer these things to slip. What God counts worthy of His Divine recollection let me record on the pages of my memory, and often let me peruse the record. We are also far too slow to draw the inference of obligation from benefits received. We receive the blessing, but we do not always feel that a proportionate debt is due in return to God, the bounteous Giver of every good gift. Yet Divine Grace has its obligations as well as laws—obligations which honorable minds reckon to be among the first to be discharged. If I do not do what I ought because I fear the Law, at any rate let me prove that I am not so base as to be ungrateful to undeserved mercy and love.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיָדַעְתָּ֖ | veyada'ta | and you will know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| לְבָבֶ֑ךָ | levavekha | heart your | H3824 → | 252 times |
| כִּ֗י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יְיַסֵּ֥ר | yeyaser | he disciplines | H3256 → | 43 times |
| אִישׁ֙ | ʾish | everyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנ֔וֹ | beno | child his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| מְיַסְּרֶֽךָּ׃ | meyasereka | [is] disciplining you | H3256 → | 43 times |
וְיָדַעְתָּ֖and you will know
veyada'taH3045 →945 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
לְבָבֶ֑ךָheart your
levavekhaH3824 →252 times
כִּ֗יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
יְיַסֵּ֥רhe disciplines
yeyaserH3256 →43 times
אִישׁ֙everyone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנ֔וֹchild his
benoH1121 →4930 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
מְיַסְּרֶֽךָּ׃[is] disciplining you
meyaserekaH3256 →43 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
Revelation 3:19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 11:32
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 3:11–12
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- Hebrews 12:5–11
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- Job 5:17
Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
- Revelation 2:5
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from…
- 1 Corinthians 11:32
Through
Proverbs 3:12for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.
it leads to
- Revelation 3:19
Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 29:17
Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.
- Revelation 3:19
Through
2 Samuel 7:14I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
it leads to
- Hebrews 1:5
For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”?
- Hebrews 1:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 939: “The Pilgrim's Grateful Recollections” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.