Bible Strands
Hebrews 3:9
where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The epistle writer addresses Jewish Christians tempted to abandon their faith, quoting God’s voice to warn against repeating the wilderness rebellion. God speaks directly to the community, recalling the forty-year period when the ancestors repeatedly examined His provision.
The words — The Greek ἐπειράσαν (epeirasan) means “tried” or “tested,” paired with δοκιμασία (dokimasia) for “testing,” emphasizing repeated provocation. The pronoun με (me) places God Himself as the direct object of the fathers’ examination.
The thread — This pattern of wilderness testing and forty-year duration appears in Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 4:9, and Acts 7:36, where God’s deliverance and the people’s failure to retain His works are consistently recorded.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to evaluate their own response to prolonged divine action, noting that repeated exposure to God’s works does not automatically produce faithfulness. It commands active vigilance against heart-hardening rather than passive observation.
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 Greek words
King James Version
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Cross-references
- Acts 7:36 He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- Exodus 19:4 ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
- Deuteronomy 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
- Exodus 20:22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.
- Numbers 14:33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.
- Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
- Deuteronomy 29:2 Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.
- Joshua 23:3 “and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.