Psalms 95:10
in Psalms 95For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways:
KJV
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
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This verse in Psalms 95
Commentary
15 notes on this verseForty years long was I grieved with this generation. The impression upon the divine mind is most vivid; he sees them before him now, and calls them "this generation." He does not leave his prophets to upbraid the sin, but himself utters the complaint and declares that he was grieved, nauseated, and disgusted.
This site's exposition
do not harden your hearts
on Psalms 95:8-11
Israel quarreled and tested the LORD at Meribah and Massah, two names Exodus 17:7 gives to one place. Forty years of anger followed, and an oath barring that generation from His rest. Hebrews 3:7 to 11 quotes it, and Hebrews 4:9 says a Sabbath rest remains.
This site's exposition
For forty years I was angry
Forty years is the length of the whole wilderness wandering, a generation's lifetime. God's charge puts the fault in the heart before the feet: their hearts went astray and they did not know His ways. Moses asked to know those ways at Exodus 33:13.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
John ChrysostomDISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 6:2.7 · Written before 407.
proposed
Did not the prophet, speaking in behalf of God, say to you, "Forty years I was offended with that generation, and I said, 'These always err in heart.' " How was it, then, that at that time God did not turn away from you? How is it that after you killed your children, after your idolatries, after your many acts of arrogance, after your unspeakable ingratitude, that God even allowed the great Moses to be a prophet among you and that he worked wondrous and marvelous signs himself? What happened in the case of no human being did happen to you. A cloud was stretched over you in place of a roof; a pillar instead of a lamp served to guide you; your enemies retreated of their own accord; cities were captured almost at the first battle shout. You had no need of weapons, no need of an army in array, no need to do battle. You had only to sound your trumpets, and the walls came tumbling down of their own accord. And you had a strange and marvelous food that the prophet spoke of when he exclaimed, "God gave them the bread of heaven. The people ate the bread of angels; he sent them provisions in abundance."
"Forty years long was I very near unto this generation, and said, It is a people that do always err in their hearts; for they have not known My ways" [Psalm 95:10]. The forty years have the same meaning as the word "always." For that number forty indicates the fullness of ages, as if the ages were perfected in this number. Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days He was tempted in the desert, [Matthew 4:1-11] and forty days He was with His disciples after His resurrection. [Acts 1:3] On the first forty days He showed us temptation, on the latter forty days consolation: since beyond doubt when we are tempted we are consoled. For His body, that is, the Church, must needs suffer temptations in this world: but that Comforter, who said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," [Matthew 28:20] is not wanting. For this was I with them forty years, to show such a race of men, which always provokes Me, even unto the end of the world: because by those forty years He meant to signify the whole of this world's duration.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Do err - Their hearts are insincere and bent to backsliding. Not known - After all my teaching and discoveries of myself to them; they did not know, nor consider, those great things which I had wrought for them.
26, 32 . [2.] The aggravation of this sin was that they saw God's work; they saw what he had done for them in bringing them out of Egypt, nay, what he was now doing for them every day, this day, in the bread he rained from heaven for them and the water out of the rock that followed them, than which they could not have more unquestionable evidences of God's presence with them.
Note, Sins are errors, practical errors, errors in heart; such there are, and as fatal as errors in the head. When the corrupt affections pervert the judgment, and so lead the soul out of the ways of duty and obedience, there is an error of the heart. [4.] God's resentment of their sin: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the L ORD our maker.
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Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,....
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
err in their heart--Their wanderings in the desert were but types of their innate ignorance and perverseness. that they should not--literally, "if they," &c., part of the form of swearing (compare Nu 14:30;
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A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
warning against neglect; and this is sustained by citing the melancholy fate of their rebellious ancestors, whose provoking insolence is described by quoting the language of God's complaint (Nu 14:11) of their conduct at Meribah and Massah, names given (Ex 17:7) to commemorate their strife and contention with Him (Ps 78:18, 41).
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Forty years long was I grieved with this generation. The impression upon the divine mind is most vivid; he sees them before him now, and calls them "this generation." He does not leave his prophets to upbraid the sin, but himself utters the complaint and declares that he was grieved, nauseated, and disgusted. It is no small thing which can grieve our long suffering God to the extent which the Hebrew word here indicates, and if we reflect a moment we shall see the abundant provocation given; for no one who values his veracity can endure to be suspected, mistrusted, and belied, when there is no ground for it, but on the contrary the most overwhelming reason for confidence. To such base treatment was the tender Shepherd of Israel exposed, not for a day or a month, but for forty years at a stretch, and that not by here and there an unbeliever, but by a whole nation, in which only two men were found so thoroughly believing as to be exempted from the doom which at last was pronounced upon all the rest. Which shall we most wonder at, the cruel insolence of man, or the tender patience of the Lord? Which shall leave the deepest impression on our minds, the sin or the punishment? unbelief, or the barring of the gates of Jehovah's rest against the unbelievers? And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Their heart was obstinately and constantly at fault; it was not their head which erred, but their very heart was perverse: love, which appealed to their affections, could not convert them. The heart is the main spring of the man, and if it be not in order, the entire nature is thrown out of gear. If sin were only skin deep, it might be a slight matter; but since it has defiled the soul, the case is bad indeed.
Forty years long - They did nothing but murmur, disbelieve, and rebel, from the time they began their journey at the Red Sea till they passed over Jordan, a period of forty years. During all this time God was grieved by that generation; yet he seldom showed forth that judgment which they most righteously had deserved. It is a people that do err in their heart - Or, according to the Chaldee, These are a people whose idols are in their hearts. At any rate they had not God there. They have not known my ways - The verb ידע yada, to know, is used here, as in many other parts of Scripture, to express approbation. They knew God’s ways well enough; but they did not like them; and would not walk in them. “These wretched men,” says the old Psalter, “were gifnen to the lufe of this lyfe: knewe noght my ways of mekenes, and charlte: for thi in my wreth I sware to thaim; that es, I sett stabely that if that sall entre in till my rest;” that is, they shall not enter into my rest. This ungrateful people did not approve of God’s ways - they did not enter into his designs - they did not conform to his commands - they paid no attention to his miracles - and did not acknowledge the benefits which they received from his hands; therefore God determined that they should not enter into the rest which he had promised to them on condition that, if they were obedient, they should inherit the promised land. So none of those who came out of Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, entered into Canaan; all the rest died in the wilderness, wherein, because of their disobedience, God caused them to wander forty years. It is well known that the land of Canaan was a type of heaven, where, after all his toils, the good and faithful servant is to enter into the joy of his Lord. […]
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Forty years long - All the time that they were in the wilderness. During this long period their conduct was such as to try my patience and forbearance. Was I grieved - The word used here - קוט qûṭ - means properly to loathe, to nauseate, to be disgusted with. It is translated “loathe” in Eze 6:9; Eze 20:43; Eze 36:31; and grieved in Psa 119:158; Psa 139:21. It is here expressive of the strong abhorrence which God had of their conduct. Compare Rev 3:16. With this generation - With the entire generation that came out of Egypt. They were all cut off in the wilderness, except Caleb and Joshua. And said, It is a people - It is a characteristic of the entire people, that they are disposed to wander from God. That do err in their heart - In the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb 3:10 where this is quoted, it is, “They do always err in their heart.” The sense is substantially the same. See the notes at that place. And they have not known my ways - See the notes at Heb 3:10.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Forty years I quarreled with them and contended with them. [אקוט is] an expression of (Job: 1): “My soul quarrels (נקטה) with my life.” I strove with them for forty years to kill them in the desert, because I said, “They are of erring heart.”
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My resting place [In]to the land of Israel and Jerusalem, which I called “resting place,” as it says (below:14): “This is my resting place forever.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְבָּ֘עִ֤ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | |
| שָׁנָ֨ה׀ | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| אָ֘ק֤וּט | ʾakut | I loathed | H6962 → | 6 times |
| בְּד֗וֹר | bedor | <in> a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| וָאֹמַ֗ר | vaomar | and I said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| עַ֤ם | ʾam | [are] a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| תֹּעֵ֣י | toei | [who] go astray of | H8582 → | 50 times |
| לֵבָ֣ב | levav | heart | H3824 → | 252 times |
| הֵ֑ם | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| וְ֝הֵ֗ם | vehem | and they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדְע֥וּ | yadeu | they know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| דְרָכָֽי׃ | derakhai | ways my | H1870 → | 707 times |
אַרְבָּ֘עִ֤יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →
שָׁנָ֨ה׀year[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
אָ֘ק֤וּטI loathed
ʾakutH6962 →6 times
בְּד֗וֹר<in> a generation
bedorH1755 →167 times
וָאֹמַ֗רand I said
vaomarH559 →5305 times
עַ֤ם[are] a people
ʾamH5971 →1873 times
תֹּעֵ֣י[who] go astray of
toeiH8582 →50 times
לֵבָ֣בheart
levavH3824 →252 times
הֵ֑םthey
hemH1992 →553 times
וְ֝הֵ֗םand they
vehemH1992 →553 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָדְע֥וּthey know
yadeuH3045 →945 times
דְרָכָֽי׃ways my
derakhaiH1870 →707 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
Hebrews 3:17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
it leads to
- Numbers 14:29
Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
- Numbers 14:22
not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Numbers 14:32–33
As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.
- Jude 1:5
Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.
- Numbers 26:64–65
Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
- Numbers 14:29
Through
Isaiah 63:17Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Ezekiel 14:7–9
For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the…
- Isaiah 6:10
Through
Acts 13:18He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.
it leads to
- Acts 7:36
He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
- Acts 7:36
Where this verse is studied
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About Psalms
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 95; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 6:2.7; 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.