“But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?”
The full verse · Hebrews 3:17 · KJV
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Asked by
Author of Hebrews: the unnamed writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who shows that God has spoken through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), explaining Psalm 95:10, "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation"
Asked to
Hebrews: the first readers of the letter, "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1), warned not to harden their hearts (Hebrews 3:15)
The Scene
Continuing his explanation of Psalm 95 (Hebrews 3:7-11), the writer has asked who provoked God after hearing His voice (Hebrews 3:16), and now asks with whom God was grieved.
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionThe writer takes the psalm's words "I was grieved with that generation" (Hebrews 3:10) and asks his readers to name who that was. The first question asks who; the second gives the answer they already know: those who sinned and died in the desert. Barnes explains "grieved" as "angry" and says they "had sinned in various ways - by rebellion, murmuring, unbelief." He draws the writer's purpose plainly: "we have the same reason to apprehend that he will be angry with us if we sin." Gill adds that they sinned not only one by one but together, "as a body of men."
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe second question carries its own answer: yes, it was "them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness" (Hebrews 3:17). Barnes ties the phrase to Numbers 14:29, where God said, "Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness," and explains, "That is, they all died." The writer then asks one more question (Hebrews 3:18) and concludes, "they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19).
Historical Context
The world behind the words"Forty years" was the length of Israel's wandering, set by God after the spies' forty days in Canaan: "each day for a year" (Numbers 14:34). In the psalm, "forty years" goes with God's grief (Psalm 95:10). In Hebrews 3:9-10 the KJV places the forty years with "saw my works," and in Hebrews 3:17 with "grieved." Both are true: for forty years they saw God's works, and for forty years He was grieved with them. Numbers 14:29 limits the sentence to those "from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows a God who is not indifferent to sin. He was grieved, and that grief lasted forty years. Gill writes that "every sin is grieving to God, because it is contrary to his nature." Yet the same forty years show His patience. He kept providing for a people who kept provoking Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-4), and He promised to bring their children into the land (Numbers 14:31).
The writer uses this history as a mirror for believers. They too have heard God's voice and been made "partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). The warning is meant to keep them holding on.
Look Closer
With whom does the writer say God was grieved for forty years?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, You were patient with Israel for forty years; what do You want me to see about Your patience with me, and about where I need to turn back?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- What does it tell you about God that He was "grieved forty years" with His people (Hebrews 3:17)?
- When has a story from Scripture worked like a mirror for you or your community?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Sin is not a small thing to God. It grieves Him. The writer wants you to take that seriously, not to live afraid, but to keep your heart soft toward His voice "To day" (Hebrews 3:15).
Notice too how long God bore with His people. Forty years of grief did not end His care; He still promised to bring their children in (Numbers 14:31). If you sense that you have resisted God, the same letter calls you to hear His voice today rather than wait. And because whole communities can drift together, as Israel did, you can help one another by daily encouragement (Hebrews 3:13). Scripture's own application: Hebrews 4:1
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Keep questioning
“For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.”
“And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?”
“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?”
“How long will this people provoke me?”