Deuteronomy 18:21
in Deuteronomy 18You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken?
KJV
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
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This verse in Deuteronomy 18
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And if thou say in thine heart, How ... - The passage evidently assumes such an occasion for consulting the prophet as was usual among the pagan, e. g., an impending battle or other such crisis (compare 1Ki 22:11), in which his veracity would soon be put to the test.
This site's exposition
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name
on Deuteronomy 18:20-21
Two offences carry one penalty, a word spoken presumptuously in the LORD's name and one spoken in the name of other gods. Jeremiah 28 shows the statute working, Hananiah contradicting Jeremiah and dying that year.
This site's exposition
How can we recognize a message
The question expects a test the hearer can apply to a prophet's message within his own lifetime. Adam Clarke observes that the prophets foretold things shortly to come to pass. This gave the people the fullest proof that the LORD had sent them.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And if thou say in thine heart, &c. Such a thought arises in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it: how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? What marks, signs, and criterions are those by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?
Magistracy and ministry are two divine institutions of admirable use for the support and advancement of the kingdom of God among men. Laws concerning the former we had in the close of the foregoing chapter, directions are in this given concerning the latter. Land-marks are here set between the estates of the priests and those of the people.
Since it is so great a duty to hearken to the true prophets, and yet there is so much danger of being misled by false prophets, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? By what marks may we discover a cheat? Note, It highly concerns us to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we hear, that we may know what that word is which the Lord has not spoken.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכִ֥י | vekhi | and if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹאמַ֖ר | tomar | you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ | bilvavekha | in heart your | H3824 → | 252 times |
| אֵיכָה֙ | ʾeikhah | how? | H349 → | 82 times |
| נֵדַ֣ע | neda' | will we know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַדָּבָ֔ר | hadavar | the word | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| דִבְּר֖וֹ | dibero | he has spoken it | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְכִ֥יand if
vekhiH3588 →4482 times
תֹאמַ֖רyou will say
tomarH559 →5305 times
בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָin heart your
bilvavekhaH3824 →252 times
אֵיכָה֙how?
ʾeikhahH349 →82 times
נֵדַ֣עwill we know
neda'H3045 →945 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַדָּבָ֔רthe word
hadavarH1697 →1440 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
דִבְּר֖וֹhe has spoken it
diberoH1696 →1141 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
1 Thessalonians 5:24The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
- 1 Corinthians 1:9
God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
- 1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Through
Revelation 2:2I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- 2 Peter 2:1–3
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- 1 John 4:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this chapter
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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.