Deuteronomy 32:29
in Deuteronomy 32If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!
KJV
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThat they would consider their latter end! - אחריתם archaritham, properly, their latter times - the glorious days of the Messiah, who, according to the flesh, should spring up among them. Should they carefully consider this subject, and receive the promised Savior, they would consequently act as persons under infinite obligations to God; his strength would be their shield, and then: -
This site's exposition
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel
on Deuteronomy 32:28-30
The words “their Rock had sold them” use the verb Judges 2:14 and 3:8 use for what God does with Israel when it turns. The defeat is put as a transaction.
This site's exposition
they would comprehend their fate
Adam Clarke reads their fate, literally their latter end, as the days of the Messiah who would rise among them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it as the judgments that would close their national history. The wish echoes God's own at 5:29.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"It is a nation without counsel and without prudence: would that they were wise and understood and foresaw their last things." He touches upon the three parts of intelligence, namely memory of things past, understanding of things present, and circumspection regarding things future. Whoever does …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
O that they were wise,....
A promise of the destruction of their enemies and oppressors at last, and the glorious deliverance of a remnant of Israel,
8 , You fools, when will you be wise? God delights not to see sinners ruin themselves, but desires they will help themselves; and, if they will, he is ready to help them. It is a great piece of wisdom, and will contribute much to the return of sinners to God, seriously to consider the latter end, or the future state.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Oh, . . . that they would consider their latter end--The terrible judgments, which, in the event of their continued and incorrigible disobedience, would impart so awful a character to the close of their national history.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 304: “Memento Mori” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1860)
proposed
MAN IS UNWILLING to consider the subject of death. The shroud, the mattock and the grave, he labors to keep continually out of sight. He would live here always if he could; and since he cannot, he at least will put away every emblem of death as far as possible from his sight. Perhaps there is no subject so important, which is so little thought of. Our common proverb that we use is just the expression of our thoughts, “We must live.” But if we were wiser we should alter it and say, “We must die.”
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 304: “Memento Mori” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1860)
proposed
MAN IS UNWILLING to consider the subject of death. The shroud, the mattock and the grave, he labors to keep continually out of sight. He would live here always if he could; and since he cannot, he at least will put away every emblem of death as far as possible from his sight. Perhaps there is no subject so important, which is so little thought of. Our common proverb that we use is just the expression of our thoughts, “We must live.” But if we were wiser we should alter it and say, “We must die.” Necessity for life there is not; lift is a prolonged miracle. Necessity for death there certainly is, it is the end of all things. Oh that the living would lay it to heart. Some years ago, a celebrated author—Drelincourt, wrote a work on Death, a valuable work in itself, but it commanded no sale whatever. There were no men who would trouble themselves with Death’s heads and cross-bones. And to show how foolish man is, a certain doctor went home and wrote a silly ghost-story, not one word of which was true, sent it to the bookseller, he stitched it up with his volume, and the whole edition sold. Any thing men will think of rather than death—any fiction, any lie. But this stern reality, this master truth, he puts away, and will not suffer it to enter his thoughts. The old Egyptians were wiser than we are. We are told that at every feast, there was always one extraordinary guest that sat at the head of the table. He ate not, he drank not, he spake not, he was closely veiled. It was a skeleton which they had placed there, to warn them that even in their feastings, they should remember there would be an end of life. We are so fond of living, so sad at the very thoughts of death, that such a memento mori; as that, would be quite unbearable in our days of feasting. Yet our text tells us that we should be wise, if we would consider our latter end.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ל֥וּ | lu | if | H3863 → | |
| חָכְמ֖וּ | chakhemu | they were wise | H2449 → | |
| יַשְׂכִּ֣ילוּ | yaskilu | they will comprehend | H7919 → | |
| זֹ֑את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| יָבִ֖ינוּ | yavinu | they will understand | H995 → | 170 times |
| לְאַחֲרִיתָֽם׃ | leacharitam | <to> end their | H319 → | 61 times |
ל֥וּif
luH3863 →
חָכְמ֖וּthey were wise
chakhemuH2449 →
יַשְׂכִּ֣ילוּthey will comprehend
yaskiluH7919 →
זֹ֑אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
יָבִ֖ינוּthey will understand
yavinuH995 →170 times
לְאַחֲרִיתָֽם׃<to> end their
leacharitamH319 →61 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
Psalms 81:13If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
it leads to
- Isaiah 48:18
If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 5:29
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
- Isaiah 48:18
Through
Deuteronomy 5:29If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
it leads to
- Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 23:37
Through
Hosea 14:9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in…
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:29
The way of the LORD is a refuge to the upright, but destruction awaits those who do evil.
- Psalms 107:43
Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the LORD.
- Proverbs 10:29
Through
Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
it leads to
- Job 27:8
For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Jeremiah 17:11
Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will…
- 1 Timothy 6:7
For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.
- Job 27:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 304: “Memento Mori” (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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.