Deuteronomy 5:29 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Deuteronomy 5:29
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
the masculine demonstrative pronoun · demonstrative particle
an
מִֽיmi-
H4310
who? (occasionally · interrogative pronoun
heart
לְבָבָ֨םle.va.Vam
H3824
the heart (as the most interior organ) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
them
יִתֵּ֡ןyi.Ten
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fear
לְיִרְאָ֥הle.yir.'Ah
H3372
to fear · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
keep
וְלִשְׁמֹ֥רve.lish.Mor
H8104
properly · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
commandments
מִצְוֹתַ֖יmitz.vo.Tai
H4687
a command · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
always
הַיָּמִ֑יםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
well
יִיטַ֥בyi.Tav
H3190
to be (causative) make well · verb, qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
children
וְלִבְנֵיהֶ֖םve.liv.nei.Hem
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
ever
לְעֹלָֽםle.'o.Lam
H5769
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
Ezekiel 33:31-32 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for…
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy child…
Luke 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine ey…
Deuteronomy 4:40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy chi…
Deuteronomy 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee…
Deuteronomy 32:29-30 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 5:23–end
Here, I. Moses reminds them of the agreement of both the parties that were now treating, in the mediation of Moses.
1. Here is the consternation that the people were put into by that extreme terror with which the law was given. They owned that they could not bear it any more: "This great fire will consume us; this dreadful voice will be fatal to us; we shall certainly die if we hear it any more," Deu 5:25. They wondered that they were not already struck dead with it, and took it for an extraordinary instance of the divine power and goodness, not only that they were thus spoken to, but that they were enabled to bear it. For who ever heard the voice of the living God, as we have, and lived? Go…
Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me--God can bestow such a heart, and has promised to give it, wherever it is asked (Jer 32:40). But the wish which is here expressed on the part of God for the piety and steadfast obedience of the Israelites did not relate to them as individuals, so much as a nation, whose religious character and progress would have a mighty influence on the world at large.
Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 6
John Gill on Deuteronomy 5:29
O that there were such an heart in them,.... Not that there is properly speaking such volitions and wishes in God; but, as Aben Ezra observes, the Scripture speaks after the language of the children of men; and may be considered as upbraiding them with want of such an heart, and with weakness to do what they had promised; and, at most, as approving of those things they spoke of as grateful to him, and profitable to them: the words may be rendered, "who will give (l) that they had such an heart"; not to me, but to them, as Aben Ezra notes; they cannot give it to themselves, nor can any creature give it to them; none but God can, and therefore they ought to have prayed to him to give them an h…
What does it mean what Moses says the Lord told him about the Hebrew people with these words: Who will make his heart so be that they fear me and keep my commandments !? Does the Lord intend to say that we must understand here that this favor is granted by his grace, namely, that the justice of God be in men by faith, not as their own as if it came from the law? (Cf Philip 3,9) This idea it is indicated by the text of the prophet, when the Lord says: I will take away the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 11,19; 36,26). And this is said according to the meaning of the word meat and that does not have the word stone, because this word is used in a metaphorical sense. The prophet says this in another place: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant I made with his parents the day I took his hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Because this will be the covenant I made with them: After those days I will put my laws in his heart and write them on his mind, and I will no longer remember his iniquities or his sins (Jr 38 (31), 31.32.33.34). Here distinguishes the new alliance from the old one, because in the old one the law was given on stone tablets; in the new, however, it occurred in hearts, which is done by grace. That is why the Apostle also says: Not on tablets of stone, but on the tables of flesh of the heart. And in another place he says: He made us qualified ministers for the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit (2Co 3,3.6).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Blessing · CONTINGENT UPON OBEDIENCE — CONTINGENT UPON OBEDIENCE
Obedience · ENJOINED — ENJOINED
Penitent · PROMISES TO — PROMISES TO
Theocracy · Establishe — Establishe
Will · .Freedom of, recognized by God — .Freedom of, recognized by God
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Deuteronomy 5:22-31
Deuteronomy 5:22-31
22. These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
22. Verba haec loquutus est Jehova ad cunctam congregationem vestram in monte e medio ignis nubis et caliginis, voce magna, et non addidit: scripsitque illa in duabus tabulis lapideis, et dedit ills mihi.
23. And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;
23. Fuit autem quu…
Deu 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exo 20:18-20 (15-17). ואתּ (Deu 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה, as in Num 11:15 (cf. Ewald, 184, a.). Jehovah's reply to the words of the people (Deu 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, "Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me," i.e., would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the pe…
covet: This commandment differs from the others because it pertains to a desire rather than to an act. An evil desire is no less offensive to God than an evil deed (see Matt 5:27-28).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 5:24
ואת תדבר אלינו AND SPEAK THOU (את the feminine form of the pronoun) TO US — you weakened my strength as that of a woman, (cf. Rashi on Numbers 11:15), for I was distressed because of you (because of your words) and you weakened my hands, since I saw that you were not anxious to approach Him out of love. Indeed, was it not better for you to learn from the mouth of the Almighty God, and not to learn from me?!
