Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 32:31
For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel in his final song, contrasting the God of Israel with the deities of the surrounding nations.
The words — The text states that Israel’s צוּר (tzur, "rock") differs fundamentally from the צוּרָם (tzuram, "rock") of their adversaries. It adds that even their אֹיְבֵינוּ (oyveinu, "enemies") acknowledge this distinction through פְּלִילִים (pelilim, "assessments" or concessions).
The thread — The declaration mirrors 1 Samuel 2:2's assertion that no rock exists like God, while its critique of foreign deities directly precedes the description of their Sodom-and-Gomorrah origins in Deuteronomy 32:32.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to recognize that Israel's survival depends exclusively on Yahweh's power, not on human strategy or allied gods.
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 their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
Cross-references
- Exodus 14:25 He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”
- 1 Samuel 4:8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
- 1 Samuel 2:2 There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
- Jeremiah 40:3 and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you.
- Daniel 2:47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”
- Numbers 23:8 How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?
- Numbers 23:23 For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’
- Ezra 1:3 Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
- Ezra 6:9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail.
- Ezra 7:20 And if anything else is needed for the house of your God that you may have occasion to supply, you may pay for it from the royal treasury.