Deuteronomy 18:21

Amplified Bible

"If you say in your heart, 'How will we know and recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’

Hebrew Names Version
If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

King James Version
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

Lexham English Bible
And if you say to yourself, ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?'

English Standard Version
And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?'—

New Century Version
You might be thinking, "How can we know if a message is not from the Lord ?"

New English Translation
Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord ?'—

New American Standard Bible
"And if you say in your heart, 'How will we recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if thou thinke in thine heart, Howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lorde hath not spoken?

Legacy Standard Bible
Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?'

Contemporary English Version
Moses said to Israel: You may be asking yourselves, "How can we tell if a prophet's message really comes from the Lord ?"

Complete Jewish Bible
You may be wondering, ‘How are we to know if a word has not been spoken by Adonai ?'

Darby Translation
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah hath not spoken?

Easy-to-Read Version
You might be thinking, ‘How can we know if something a prophet says is not from the Lord ?'

George Lamsa Translation
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

Good News Translation
"You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord .

Literal Translation
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah has not spoken?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf thou saye in thine hert: How can I knowe what worde the LORDE hath not spoken?

American Standard Version
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken?

Bible in Basic English
And if you say in your hearts, How are we to be certain that the word does not come from the Lord?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if thou say in thine heart: howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lorde hath not spoken?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?'

King James Version (1611)
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall wee know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?

English Revised Version
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

Berean Standard Bible
You may ask in your heart, "How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
That if thou answerist bi pryuy thouyt, Hou may Y vndirstonde the word, which the Lord spak not? thou schalt haue this signe,

Young's Literal Translation
`And when thou sayest in thy heart, How do we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? --

Update Bible Version
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?

Webster's Bible Translation
And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

World English Bible
If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?

New King James Version
And if you say in your heart, "How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'--

New Living Translation
"But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord ?'

New Life Bible
You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know which words the Lord has not spoken?'

New Revised Standard
You may say to yourself, "How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when thou shalt say in thy heart, - In what manner shall we know the word which Yahweh hath not spoken!?,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word that the Lord hath not spoken?

Revised Standard Version
And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' --

THE MESSAGE
You may be wondering among yourselves, "How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?" Here's how: If what the prophet spoke in God 's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Contextual Overview

¹⁵"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from among you, from your countrymen (brothers, brethren). You shall listen to him. ¹⁶"This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb (Mount Sinai) on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear the voice of the LORD my God again, nor see this great fire anymore, so that I will not die.' ¹⁷"The LORD said to me, 'They have spoken well. ¹⁸'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹'It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him [and there will be consequences]. ²⁰'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.' ²¹"If you say in your heart, 'How will we know and recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?'²²"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Thessalonians 5:24, 1 John 4:1-3, Revelation 2:2

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:17 - thou shalt Jeremiah 13:22 - if

Cross-References

Genesis 11:5
Now the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

Genesis 11:7
"Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

Genesis 18:1
Now the LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth trees of Mamre [in Hebron], while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

Genesis 18:24
"Suppose there are fifty righteous [people] within the city; will You really sweep it away and not spare it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

Exodus 3:8
"So I have come down to rescue them from the hand (power) of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a land [that is] good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]—to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Exodus 33:5
For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people! If I should come among you for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, [penitently] take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.'"

Deuteronomy 8:2
"And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 13:3
you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and mind and all your soul [your entire being].

Joshua 22:22
"The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion, or if in an unfaithful act against the LORD, do not save us this day!

Job 34:22
"There is no darkness nor deep shadow Where the evildoers may hide themselves.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if thou say in thine heart, &c] Such a thought arises in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it,

how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? What marks, signs, and criterions are those by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And if thou say in thine heart, How ... - The passage evidently assumes such an occasion for consulting the prophet as was usual among the pagan, e. g., an impending battle or other such crisis (compare 1 Kings 22:11), in which his veracity would soon be put to the test. Failure of a prediction is set forth as a sure note of its being “presumptuous.” But from Deuteronomy 13:2 ff we see that the fulfillment of a prediction would not decisively accredit him who uttered it: for the prophet or dreamer of dreams who endeavoured on the strength of miracles to seduce to idolatry was to be rejected and punished. Nothing therefore contrary to the revealed truth of God was to be accepted under any circumstances.