Hebrews 11:38

Literal Standard Version

of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

King James Version (1611)
Of whome the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dennes and caues of the earth.

King James Version
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

English Standard Version
of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

New American Standard Bible
(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.

New Century Version
The world was not good enough for them! They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Legacy Standard Bible
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Berean Standard Bible
The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

Contemporary English Version
The world did not deserve these good people, who had to wander in deserts and on mountains and had to live in caves and holes in the ground.

Complete Jewish Bible
wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground! The world was not worthy of them!

Darby Translation
(of whom the world was not worthy,) wandering in deserts and mountains, and [in] dens and caverns of the earth.

Easy-to-Read Version
The world was not good enough for these great people. They had to wander in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Whom the world was not worthie of: they wandered in wildernesses and mountaines, and dennes, and caues of the earth.

George Lamsa Translation
Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered as though lost in the desert, and in mountains, and in dens and in caves of the earth.

Good News Translation
The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.

Lexham English Bible
of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about on deserts and mountains and in caves and in holes in the ground.

Literal Translation
of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth.

Amplified Bible
(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.

American Standard Version
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.

Bible in Basic English
Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

Hebrew Names Version
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the eretz.

International Standard Version
The world wasn't worthy of them. They wandered in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.1 Kings 18:4; 19:9;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
Men, of whom the world was not worthy, became as wanderers in the desert, and in mountains, and in dens, and in caverns of the earth.

Murdock Translation
persons of whom the world was not worthy, and yet they were as wanderers in the desert, and in mountains, and in caves, and in caverns of the earth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Of who the worlde was not worthie: They wandred in wildernesse, and in mountaynes, and in dennes, and caues of the earth.

English Revised Version
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.

World English Bible
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
(Of whom the world was not worthy) they wandered in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth.

Weymouth's New Testament
(They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
to whiche the world was not worthi. Thei erriden in wildernessis, in mounteynes and dennes, and caues of the erthe.

Update Bible Version
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and [in] mountains, and [in] dens and caves of the earth.

New English Translation
(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

New King James Version
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

New Living Translation
They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

New Life Bible
They walked around in deserts and in mountains. They looked for caves and holes in the earth to live in. They were too good for this world.

New Revised Standard
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Of whom the world, was not worthy - upon deserts, wandering, and mountains, and in caves, - and in the caverns of the earth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Of whom the world was not worthy: wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth.

Revised Standard Version
of whom the world was not worthy--wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
which ye worlde was not worthy of: they wadred in wildernes in moutaynes in dennes and caves of the erth.

Young's Literal Translation
of whom the world was not worthy; in deserts wandering, and [in] mountains, and [in] caves, and [in] the holes of the earth;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
which (men) the worlde was not worthy of: they wandred aboute in wyldernesses, vpon mountaynes, in dennes and caues of the earth.

Mace New Testament (1729)
(of whom the world was not worthy) they wandred in desarts, and in mountains, having no retreat but the dens and caves of the earth.

Simplified Cowboy Version
These folks were too good for this world even though they had to live in holes in the mountains and deserts.

Contextual Overview

³²And what yet will I say? For the time will fail me recounting about Gideon, also Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, also David, and Samuel, and the prophets, ³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the mouth of the sword, were made powerful out of weakness, became strong in battle, caused armies of the foreigners to give way; ³⁵women received their dead by a resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting the redemption, that they might receive a better resurrection, ³⁶and others received trial of mockings and scourgings, and yet of bonds and imprisonment; ³⁷they were stoned, they were sawn apart, they were tried; they died in the killing of the sword; they went around in sheepskins, in goatskins—being destitute, afflicted, injuriously treated, ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth;³⁹and all these, having been testified to through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰God, having provided something better for us, that apart from us they might not be made perfect.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

whom: 1 Kings 14:12, 1 Kings 14:13, 2 Kings 23:25-29, Isaiah 57:1

wandered: 1 Samuel 22:1, 1 Samuel 23:15, 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 23:23, 1 Samuel 24:1-3, 1 Samuel 26:1, 1 Kings 17:3, 1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:13, 1 Kings 19:9, Psalms 142:1, *title Psalms 142:2-7

Reciprocal: Judges 6:2 - dens 1 Samuel 13:6 - in caves 2 Samuel 15:20 - go up and down Job 15:23 - wandereth Job 24:8 - embrace Job 30:3 - fleeing into Psalms 56:8 - tellest Psalms 107:4 - wandered Proverbs 28:12 - but Isaiah 2:19 - And they Jeremiah 41:9 - because of Gedaliah Ezekiel 34:6 - wandered Revelation 6:15 - hid

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Of whom the world was not worthy,.... These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty of; and to show the great worth and inestimable value of the people of God, which exceeds that of the whole world; and to intimate the removal of them out of the world, or from dwelling among the men of it, is by way of punishment to it:

they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; as Elijah did; 1 Kings 18:4, and many in the times of the Maccabees;

"And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.'' (2 Maccabees 10:6)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of whom the world was not worthy - The world was so wicked that it had no claim that such holy men should live in it. These poor, despised, and persecuted people, living as outcasts and wanderers, were of a character far elevated above the world. This is a most beautiful expression. It is at once a statement of their eminent holiness, and of the wickedness of the rest of mankind.

They wandered in deserts ... - On the Scripture meaning of the word “desert” or wilderness, see the notes on Matthew 3:1. This is a description of persons driven away from their homes, and wandering about from place to place to procure a scanty subsistence; compare 1 Macc. 1:53; 2 Macc. 5:27; 6:7. The instances mentioned in the Books of Maccabees are so much in point, that there is no impropriety in supposing that Paul referred to some such cases, if not these very cases. As there is no doubt about their historic truth, there was no impropriety in referring to them, though they are not mentioned in the canonical books of Scripture. One of those cases may be referred to as strikingly illustrating what is here said. “But Judas Maccabeus with nine others or thereabout, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually lest they should be partakers of the pollution;” 2 Macc. 5:27.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy — Yet they were obliged to wander by day in deserts and mountains, driven from the society of men, and often obliged to hide by night in dens and caves of the earth, to conceal themselves from the brutal rage of men. Perhaps he refers here principally to the case of Elijah, and the hundred prophets hidden in caves by Obadiah, and fed with bread and water. See 1 Kings 18:4. David was often obliged thus to hide himself from Saul; 1 Samuel 24:3, &c.