Deuteronomy 32:7

Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, contrasting their current foolishness with the Lord’s role as their Father and Creator, and instructs them to consult their ancestors to recall foundational history.

The words — The Hebrew imperative זְכֹר (ze.Khor) commands "remember," paired with יְמ֣וֹת עוֹלָ֔ם (ye.Mot o.Lam) for "days of antiquity" and the verb בִּ֖ינוּ (Bi.nu) meaning "consider." The text also uses שְׁאַ֤ל (she.'Al) for "ask" to direct the people toward their fathers and elders for testimony.

The thread — This appeal to ancestral memory and historical inquiry appears in Psalms 78:3 and Psalms 44:1, where the community recounts what they heard from their fathers, and in Job 8:8, which urges inquiry into past generations.

Why it lands — The text demands that readers actively investigate their spiritual origins by consulting recorded history and elder testimony rather than relying on personal assumption. It establishes historical continuity as the necessary foundation for understanding God’s covenant actions and responding with faithfulness.

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

זְכֹר֙ze.Khorremember יְמ֣וֹתye.Mot[the] days of עוֹלָ֔םo.Lamantiquity בִּ֖ינוּBi.nuconsider שְׁנ֣וֹתshe.Not[the] years of דּוֹר־dor-a generation וָד֑וֹרva./Dorand/ a generation שְׁאַ֤לshe.'Alask אָבִ֙יךָ֙'a.Vi./khafather/ your וְיַגֵּ֔דְךָve./ya.Ge.de./khaso/ he will tell/ you זְקֵנֶ֖יךָze.ke.Nei./chaold [people]/ your וְיֹ֥אמְרוּve./Yo.me.ruso/ they may sayלָֽךְ׃La/khto <the>/ you

King James Version

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

Cross-references

Psalms 78:3 that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
Job 8:8 Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers.
Psalms 44:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
Psalms 77:5 I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.
Isaiah 46:9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
Deuteronomy 4:32 Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?
Exodus 13:14 In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Isaiah 63:11 Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,
Judges 6:13 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
Psalms 77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.