Bible Strands
Judges 2:22
In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD by walking in it as their fathers did.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel concerning the Canaanite nations He deliberately left in the land after Joshua’s death. He declares His intention to evaluate their obedience through this remaining political and military reality.
The words — נַסּ֥וֹת (na.Sot) translates literally as "to put to the test," while דֶּ֨רֶךְ (De.rekh) means "the way." Together they frame the divine inquiry into Israel’s fidelity to Yahweh’s path.
The thread — This testing pattern appears in Deuteronomy 8:2, 8:16, and 13:3, where God uses wilderness hardship and prophetic warnings to verify Israel’s loyalty.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states God will determine whether Israel keeps His way as their ancestors did, placing the outcome on observable obedience rather than presumption.
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
That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
Cross-references
- 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 8:16 He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
- Deuteronomy 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Proverbs 17:3 A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
- Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
- Judges 3:1 These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,
- 2 Chronicles 32:31 And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
- Job 23:10 Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
- Psalms 66:10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.