Lectionary Calendar
Friday, April 10th, 2026
Friday in Easter Week
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Deuteronomy 6:16

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Obedience;   Presumption;   Quotations and Allusions;   Scofield Reference Index - Test-Tempt;   Thompson Chain Reference - Presumption;   Prudence-Rashness;   The Topic Concordance - Temptation;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Frontlets;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Temptation;   Testing;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Massah;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Deuteronomy, the Book of;   Frontlets;   Jesus Christ;   Matthew, the Gospel According to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Massah;   Temptation;   Temptation of Jesus;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;   Massah and Meribah;   Temptation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Hunger;   Old Testament (I. Christ as Fulfilment of);   Phylacteries ;   Septuagint;   Temptation;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Massah ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Meribali;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Deuteronomy;   Massah and Meribah;   Pentateuch;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Commandments, the 613;   Midrashim, Smaller;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
King James Version
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Lexham English Bible
You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
English Standard Version
"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
New Century Version
Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.
New English Translation
You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.
Amplified Bible
"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
New American Standard Bible
"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Ye shal not tempt the Lord your God, as ye did tempt him in Massah:
Legacy Standard Bible
"You shall not put Yahweh your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
Contemporary English Version
so don't try to make him prove that he can help you, as you did at Massah.
Complete Jewish Bible
Do not put Adonai your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing].
Darby Translation
Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Easy-to-Read Version
"You must not test the Lord your God like you tested him at Massah.
George Lamsa Translation
You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him with temptations.
Good News Translation
"Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you did at Massah.
Christian Standard Bible®
Do not test the Lord your God as you tested him at Massah.
Literal Translation
You shall not test Jehovah your God as you tested Him in Massah.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye shal not tempte ye LORDE youre God, as ye tempted him at Massa:
American Standard Version
Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Bible in Basic English
Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did in Massah.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye shall not tempt the Lorde your God, as ye dyd in the place of temptation.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Ye shall not try the LORD your God, as ye tried Him in Massah.
King James Version (1611)
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as yee tempted him in Massah.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as ye tempted him in the temptation.
English Revised Version
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Berean Standard Bible
Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt not tempte thi Lord God, as thou temptidist in the place of temptyng.
Young's Literal Translation
`Ye do not try Jehovah your God as ye tried in Massah;
Update Bible Version
You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
Webster's Bible Translation
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted [him] in Massah.
World English Bible
You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.
New King James Version
"You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.
New Living Translation
You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah.
New Life Bible
"Do not test the Lord your God, as you put Him to the test at Massah.
New Revised Standard
Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Ye shall not put Yahweh your God to the proof, - as ye put him to the proof in Massah that is, "The place of proving" .
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.
Revised Standard Version
"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

Contextual Overview

4 Attention, Israel! God , our God! God the one and only! 5 Love God , your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! 6Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. 10When God , your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you're going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn't build, well-furnished houses you didn't buy, come upon wells you didn't dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn't plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content, make sure you don't forget how you got there— God brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 13Deeply respect God , your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only. Don't fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors, because God , your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don't provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth. Don't push God , your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place. Carefully keep the commands of God , your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you. Do what is right; do what is good in God 's sight so you'll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors, throwing out your enemies left and right—exactly as God said.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

tempt: Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12

tempted him: Exodus 17:2, Exodus 17:7, Numbers 20:3, Numbers 20:4, Numbers 20:13, Numbers 21:4, Numbers 21:5, Psalms 95:8, Psalms 95:9, 1 Corinthians 10:9, Hebrews 3:8, Hebrews 3:9

Reciprocal: Psalms 78:41 - Yea Isaiah 7:12 - tempt Mark 8:11 - tempting

Cross-References

2 Kings 9:30
When Jezebel heard that Jehu had arrived in Jezreel, she made herself up—put on eyeshadow and arranged her hair—and posed seductively at the window. When Jehu came through the city gate, she called down, "So, how are things, ‘Zimri,' you dashing king-killer?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God,.... By striving with him or against him, by murmuring at or complaining of his providential dealings with them, or by requiring a sign of him, or miracles to be done by him; this is another passage used by Christ to repel the temptations of Satan, Matthew 4:7,

as tempted him in Massah; a place so called from the Israelites tempting the Lord there, Exodus 17:7, the Targum of Jonathan adds, with ten temptations; see Numbers 14:21.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Israelites were at the point of quitting a normal, life for a fixed and settled abode in the midst of other nations; they were exchanging a condition of comparative poverty for great and goodly cities, houses and vineyards. There was therefore before them a double danger;

(1) a God-forgetting worldliness, and

(2) a false tolerance of the idolatries practiced by those about to become their neighbors.

The former error Moses strives to guard against in the verses before us; the latter in Deuteronomy 7:1-11.

Deuteronomy 6:13

The command “to swear by His Name” is not inconsistent with the Lord’s injunction Matthew 5:34, “Swear not at all.” Moses refers to legal swearing, our Lord to swearing in common conversation. It is not the purpose of Moses to encourage the practice of taking oaths, but to forbid that, when taken, they should be taken in any other name than that of Israel’s God. The oath involves an invocation of Deity, and so a solemn recognition of Him whose Name is made use of in it. Hence, it comes especially within the scope of the commandment Moses is enforcing.

Deuteronomy 6:25

It shall be our righteousness - i. e., God will esteem us as righteous and deal with us accordingly. From the very beginning made Moses the whole righteousness of the Law to depend entirely on a right state of the heart, in one word, upon faith.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 6:16. Ye shall not tempt the Lord — Ye shall not provoke him by entertaining doubts of his mercy, goodness, providence, and truth.

As ye tempted him in Massah. — How did they tempt him in Massah? They said, Is the Lord among us or not? Exodus 17:1-7. After such proofs as they had of his presence and his kindness, this was exceedingly provoking. Doubting God's kindness where there are so many evidences of it, is highly insulting to God Almighty.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile