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Deuteronomy 5:3

in Deuteronomy 5

He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

KJV

The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 5

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Eusebius of Caesarea

PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 1.6 · Written before 339.

See how distinctly he alludes to this [Mosaic] covenant when he says God did not give the same covenant to their fathers [Abraham and Noah]. For if he had said that absolutely no covenant was given to their fathers it would have been a false statement. For Holy Scripture testifies that a covenant of some kind was given both to Abraham and Noah. And so Moses adds that one "not the same" was given to their fathers. This points to that other greater and glorious covenant, by which all of these were shown forth as friends of God.

This site's exposition

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances

on Deuteronomy 5:1-3

Verse 3 presses the covenant onto the people standing before Moses, "with all of us who are alive here today" and not "with our fathers." Albert Barnes reads the fathers as the patriarchs, so what the verse denies is that the Horeb covenant was made with them.

This site's exposition

all of us who are alive here today

The fighting men of Horeb had died in the wilderness, as 2:14 records, yet Moses counts his hearers as parties to that covenant. John Wesley explains that it was made with the elders in person and with the younger in their parents, who covenanted for them.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Not with our fathers - Only: but with us, who are all alive - He saith not, that all who made the covenant at Sinai are now alive, but this covenant was made with all that are now alive; which is most true, for it was made with the elders in their persons, and with the rest in their parents, who covenanted for them.
The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

The “fathers” are, as in Deu 4:37, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. With them God did indeed make a covenant, but not the particular covenant now in question. The responsibilites of this later covenant, made at Sinai by the nation as a nation, attached in their day and generation to those whom Moses was addressing.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

It may mean "not with our fathers" at all, if the reference is to the peculiar establishment of the covenant of Sinai; a law was not given to them as to us, nor was the covenant ratified in the same public manner and by the same solemn sanctions.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers (only) but with us (also).

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • אֶת־with

    ʾet-H854 →929 times

  • אֲבֹתֵ֔ינוּancestors our

    ʾavoteinuH1 →1212 times

  • כָּרַ֥תhe made

    karatH3772 →288 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַבְּרִ֣יתthe covenant

    haberitH1285 →284 times

  • הַזֹּ֑את<the> this

    hazotH2063 →603 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אִתָּ֗נוּwith us

    ʾitanuH854 →929 times

  • אֲנַ֨חְנוּwe

    ʾanachnuH587 →120 times

  • אֵ֥לֶּהthese

    ʾelehH428 →746 times

  • פֹ֛הhere

    fohH6311 →82 times

  • הַיּ֖וֹםthis day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • כֻּלָּ֥נוּall of us

    kulanuH3605 →5413 times

  • חַיִּֽים׃alive

    chaiyimH2416 →498 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

12 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 31:32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.5 worksDeuteronomy 29:15but also with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God, as well as with those who are not here today.4 worksDeuteronomy 29:10–15All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,3 worksGenesis 17:21But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”2 worksPsalms 105:8–10He remembers His covenant forever, the word He ordained for a thousand generations—2 worksHebrews 8:8–9But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.2 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
Jeremiah 32:38–40They will be My people, and I will be their God.2 worksMatthew 13:17For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.2 worksGalatians 3:17–21What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.2 worksGenesis 17:7I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.2 worksDeuteronomy 11:7For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.2 worksEsther 9:27the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation.2 works

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Genesis 17:21

    But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

    it leads to

    • Genesis 21:2–3

      So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

    • Genesis 26:2–5

      The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you.

    • Romans 9:5–6

      Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.

    • Genesis 18:10

      Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the…

    • Galatians 3:29

      And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 5 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Eusebius of Caesarea, PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 1.6; Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel; 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.

Read on in Deuteronomy 5 →