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Sunday, August 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Updated Bible Version

Judges 3:4

And they were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel;   Philistines;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Canaanites, the;   Lebanon;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Abishua;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Command, Commandment;   War, Holy War;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Judges, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Judah;   Levi;   Quarry;   Temptation;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Mesopotamia;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Hornet;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands he had given their fathers through Moses.
Hebrew Names Version
They were [left], to prove Yisra'el by them, to know whether they would listen to the mitzvot of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by Moshe.
King James Version
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord , which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Lexham English Bible
They were left for testing Israel, to know whether they would keep the commands of Yahweh that he commanded their ancestors through the hand of Moses.
English Standard Version
They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord , which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
New Century Version
Those nations were in the land to test the Israelites—to see if they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors by Moses.
New English Translation
They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.
Amplified Bible
They were [allowed to remain] for the testing of Israel, to determine whether Israel would listen to and obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers (ancestors) through Moses.
New American Standard Bible
They were left to test Israel by them, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And these remayned to proue Israel by them, to wit, whether they would obey the commandements of the Lorde, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Legacy Standard Bible
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Contemporary English Version
Moses had told the Israelites what the Lord had commanded them to do, and now the Lord was using these nations to find out if Israel would obey.
Complete Jewish Bible
They stayed there to test whether Isra'el would pay attention to the mitzvot of Adonai , which, through Moshe, he had ordered their ancestors to obey.
Darby Translation
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Easy-to-Read Version
He left those nations in the land to test the Israelites. He wanted to see if the Israelites would obey the Lord 's commands that he had given to their ancestors through Moses.
George Lamsa Translation
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Good News Translation
They were to be a test for Israel, to find out whether or not the Israelites would obey the commands that the Lord had given their ancestors through Moses.
Literal Translation
And they existed to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commands of Jehovah, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The same remayned, that Israel mighte be proued by them, that it mighte be knowne whether they wolde herken to the commaundementes of the LORDE, which he commaunded their fathers by Moses.
American Standard Version
And they were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
Bible in Basic English
For the purpose of testing Israel by them, to see if they would give ear to the orders of the Lord, which he had given to their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Those remayned to proue Israel by, and to wyt whether they would hearken vnto the commaundementes of the Lorde, which he commaunded their fathers by the hande of Moyses.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they were there, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
King James Version (1611)
And they were to prooue Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken vnto the Commandements of the Lord, which hee commaunded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And this was done in order to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commands of the Lord, which he charged their fathers by the hand of Moses.
English Revised Version
And they were for to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Berean Standard Bible
These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he lefte hem, that in hem he schulde asaie Israel, whethir thei wolden here the `heestis of the Lord, whiche he comaundide to her fadris bi the hond of Moises, ethir nai.
Young's Literal Translation
and they are to prove Israel by them, to know whether they obey the commands of Jehovah that He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
World English Bible
They were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
New King James Version
And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
New Living Translation
These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.
New Life Bible
They were left to test Israel, to find out if Israel would obey the Laws the Lord gave their fathers through Moses.
New Revised Standard
They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord , which he commanded their ancestors by Moses.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then these were left , that, by them, he might put Israel to the proof, - to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of Yahweh which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he left them, that he might try Israel by them, whether they would hear the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers, by the hand of Moses, or not.
Revised Standard Version
They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

Contextual Overview

1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to prove Israel by them, even as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; 2 only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as formerly knew nothing thereof: 3 [namely], the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. 4 And they were [left], to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. 5 And the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: 6 and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. 7 And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

to prove: Judges 3:1, Judges 2:22, Exodus 15:25, Deuteronomy 33:8, 1 Corinthians 11:19, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
And Yahweh God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.
Deuteronomy 29:19
and it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.
2 Kings 1:4
Now therefore thus says Yahweh, You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.
2 Kings 1:6
And they said to him, A man came up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus says Yahweh, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.
2 Kings 1:16
And he said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.
2 Kings 8:10
And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You shall surely recover; nevertheless Yahweh has shown me that he shall surely die.
Psalms 10:11
He says in his heart, God has forgotten; He hides his face; he will never see it.
2 Corinthians 2:11
that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
1 Timothy 2:14
and Adam wasn't beguiled, but the woman being beguiled has fallen into transgression:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they were to prove Israel by them,.... They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God:

to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord,

which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses; even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses, moral, civil, and ceremonial, and particularly those that concerned the destruction of the Canaanites, their altars, and their idols, Deuteronomy 7:1.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 3:4. To know whether they would hearken — This would be the consequence of the Canaanites being left among them: if they should be faithful to God, their enemies would not be able to enslave them; should they be rebellious, the Lord would abandon them to their foes.


 
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