Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 32:28
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses speaks to Israel in his farewell address, explaining that God withholds full judgment to prevent enemy nations from claiming credit for Israel’s defeat.
The words — The phrase גּוֹי אֹבַד (goy ovad) translates literally as “a perishing nation,” while אֵין תְּבוּנָה (ein tevuah) states “there is no understanding.”
The thread — This diagnosis of spiritual blindness parallels Jeremiah 4:22’s description of Israel as foolish children without understanding, while Job 28:28 and Proverbs 1:7 define true understanding as fearing the Lord and turning from evil.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Israel’s current state stems from an internal lack of divine counsel, not external circumstance, and calls for a return to reverent obedience as the only path to restored wisdom.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Job 28:28 And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
- Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
- Isaiah 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
- Psalms 81:12 So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
- Isaiah 29:14 Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
- Jeremiah 8:9 The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?
- Matthew 13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.