Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 33:25
May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses speaks this as the blessing on Asher within his final address to the tribes of Israel on the plains of Moab, immediately before the closing doxology (v. 26).
The words — מִנְעָלֶי (min'alei, H4515) is a specific architectural term for door bolts, a word that carries the image of a gate that will not be forced open.
The thread — The promise that strength endures as long as days run connects to God's own role as the source of that strength: Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 40:29, and Psalm 138:3.
Why it lands — The verse pairs structural security with personal endurance, asking the reader to see that a life held together is not a static thing but one whose strength must match its duration.
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
Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
- Psalms 138:3 On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.
- Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
- Colossians 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully
- 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”
- Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Deuteronomy 8:9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.
- Deuteronomy 32:47 For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”