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Deuteronomy 4:36

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Deuteronomy 4:36 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
Deuteronomy 4:36 — American Standard Version

Context — Deuteronomy 4

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
33Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of [another] nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides him.
36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
38to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day.
39Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else.
← Deuteronomy 4:35Deuteronomy 4:37 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Unwilling, as it might seem, to close his discourse with words of terror, Moses makes a last appeal to them in these verses in a different strain. Deuteronomy 4:34 Temptations - Compare Deuteronomy 7:18-19; Deuteronomy 29:2-3; not, “i. e.” the tribulations and persecutions undergone by the Israelites, out the plagues miraculously inflicted on the Egyptians. Deuteronomy 4:37 He chose their seed after them - literally, “his seed after him.” Speaking of the love of God to their fathers in general, Moses has more especially in mind that one of them who was called “the Friend of God” James 2:23. Brought thee out in his sight - literally, “by His face:” “i. e.” by the might of His personal…”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“4:36 great fire: God revealed the covenant law at Mount Sinai with a magnificent and terrifying display of power and glory comparable to the eruption of a great volcano (see study note on 1:33; see Exod 3:1-4; 24:16-18).”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“Deu 4:33; Exo 19:9, Exo 19:19, Exo 20:18-22, Exo 24:16; Neh 9:13; Heb 12:18, Heb 12:25 Deuteronomy 4:37”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“But the Lord had spoken to Israel chiefly down from heaven (cf. Exo 20:19 \[22\]), and that out of the great fire, in which He had come down upon Sinai, to chastise it. יסּר does not mean "to instruct the people with regard to His truth and sovereignty," as Schultz thinks, but "to take them under holy discipline" (Knobel), to inspire them with a salutary fear of the holiness of His ways and of His judgments by the awful phenomena which accompanied His descent, and shadowed forth the sublime and holy majesty of His nature. Deuteronomy 4:37”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification