Hebrews 3 · Verse 9

Hebrews 3:9

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Hebrews 3:9, King James Version

Hebrews 3:9 in other translations

BSBwhere your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
WEBwhere your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years.
ASVWhere your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years.
YLTin which tempt Me did your fathers, they did prove Me, and saw My works forty years;
DARBYwhere your fathers tempted me, by proving me, and saw my works forty years.
BBEWhen your fathers put me to the test, and saw my works for forty years.
WebsterWhen your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

What does Hebrews 3:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hebrews 3:7-11

7-11. Exhortation from Psa 95:7-11, not through unbelief to lose participation in the spiritual house. Seeing that we are the house of God if we hold fast our confidence ... (He 3:6). Jesus is "faithful," be not ye unfaithful (He 3:2, 12). The sentence beginning with "wherefore," interrupted by the parenthesis confirming the argument from Psa 95:7-11, is completed at He 3:12, "Take heed," &c. Holy Ghost saith--by…

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Barnes' Notes
Verse 9. Proved me. "As if they would have made an experiment how much it was possible for me to bear." Doddridge. The meaning is, they put my patience to a thorough trial.

And saw my works. That is, my miracles, or my interpositions in their behalf. They saw the wonders at the Red Sea, the descent on Mount Sinai, the supply of manna, etc.; and yet, while seeing those works, they rebelled. Even while sinners look on the doings of God, and are surrounded by the proofs of his power and goodness, they rebel, and provoke him to anger. Men sin when God is filling their houses with plenty; when he opens his hand daily to supply their wants; when they behold the manifestations of his goodness on the sea and on the land; and even in the midst of all the blessings of redemption they provoke him to wrath.

Forty years. The whole time during which they were passing from Egypt to the promised land. This may mean, either that they saw his works forty years, or that they tempted him forty years. The sense is not materially affected, whichever interpretation is preferred.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 When your fathers tempted me - It would be better to translate οὑ where than when, as the Vulgate has done in its ubi; and this translation has been followed by Wiclif, Coverdale, Tindal, and our first translators in general. In my old MS. Bible the 7th, 8th, and 9th verses stand thus: - Wherefore as the Holy Gost seith, to-day gif yhe han herde his voyce: nye yhe herden ghour hertis as in wrath-thinge, after the day of temptacioun in desert. Where ghoure fadris temptiden me: provyden and saiden my werkis. Wherefore fourtye yeere I was offendid or wrothe to this generatoun. In behalf of this translation, Dr. Macknight very properly argues: "The word When implies that, at the time of the bitter provocation, the Israelites had seen God's works forty years; contrary to the history, which shows that the bitter provocation happened, in the beginning of the third year after the Exodus: whereas the translation where, as well as the matter of fact, represents God as saying, by David, that the Israelites tempted God in the wilderness during forty years, notwithstanding all that time they had seen God's miracles."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hebrews 3:7-13

Days of temptation are often days of provocation. But to provoke God, when he is letting us see that we entirely depend and live upon him, is a provocation indeed. The hardening of the heart is the spring of all other sins. The sins of others, especially of our relations, should be warnings to us. All sin, especially sin committed by God's professing, privileged people, not only provokes God, but it grieves him. God…

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Hebrews 3:9 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

οὗhouwhereG3757
ἐπείρασανepeirasantriedG3985
μεmemeG3165
οἱhoitheG3588
πατέρεςpateresfathersG3962
ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771
δοκιμασίᾳdokimasiatesting
μεmemeG3165
καὶkaiandG2532
εἶδονeidonsawG1492
τὰtatheG3588
ἔργαergaworksG2041
μουmouof MineG3165

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hebrews 3:9

  • Acts 7:36

    He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

  • Deuteronomy 4:9

    Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

  • Deuteronomy 8:4

    Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

  • Exodus 19:4

    Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

  • Deuteronomy 4:3

    Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal–peor: for all the men that followed Baal–peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

  • Deuteronomy 8:2

    And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

  • Amos 2:10

    Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

  • Acts 13:8

    But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

  • Luke 7:22

    Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

  • Exodus 20:22

    And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

  • Deuteronomy 29:2

    And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

  • Joshua 24:7

    And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
and.
Ex 19:4; 20:22; De 4:3,9; 11:7; 29:2; Jos 23:3; 24:7; Lu 7:22
forty.
Nu 14:33; De 8:2,4; Jos 5:6; Am 2:10; Ac 7:36; 13:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Hebrews 3:8

    Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

  • Hebrews 3:9

    When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

  • Hebrews 3:10

    Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

Read all of Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Donde me tentaron vuestros padres; me probaron, y vieron mis obras cuarenta años.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		où vos pères m’ont tenté en m’éprouvant, et ont vu mes œuvres durant 40 ans.
German
Elberfelder 1871		wo eure Väter mich versuchten, indem sie mich prüften, und sie sahen doch meine Werke vierzig Jahre.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		ubi tentaverunt me patres vestri: probaverunt, et viderunt opera mea