Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 5:29
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Moses, who is about to send the people back to their tents (v. 30). The people have just asked to hear God's voice again (v. 27); God affirms their words but immediately frames the real issue as a heart condition, not a hearing problem.
The words — לִבָּבָם (le-va·va·m, "their heart") names the organ of volition in Hebrew thought; it is not emotion but the seat of deliberate choice. The verb לְיִרְאָה (le-yir·'ah, "to fear") pairs with לִשְׁמֹר (li-sh·mo·r, "to keep"), binding reverence to sustained action.
The thread — Isaiah 48:18 repeats the same "if only" structure: obedience would have produced peace and righteousness like a river. Ezekiel 33:31 records the opposite pattern — people hear the words but do not put them into practice — confirming that the gap Deuteronomy 5:29 laments is a recurring one.
Why it lands — The verse is God's own unfulfilled wish, not a command, which makes the reader's responsibility sharper: the obstacle is not lack of information but the heart's refusal to align fear of God with consistent obedience.
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
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
Cross-references
- Isaiah 48:18 If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
- Deuteronomy 11:1 You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
- Ezekiel 33:31 So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.
- Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Luke 19:42 and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
- Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Deuteronomy 32:29 If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
- Psalms 81:13 If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
- Psalms 119:1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.