Deuteronomy 18:21

The NET Bible®

Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord ?'—

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’

Hebrew Names Version
If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

King James Version
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

Lexham English Bible
And if you say to yourself, ‘How can we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken to him?'

English Standard Version
And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?'—

New Century Version
You might be thinking, "How can we know if a message is not from the Lord ?"

Amplified Bible
"If you say in your heart, 'How will we know and recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

New American Standard Bible
"And if you say in your heart, 'How will we recognize the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if thou thinke in thine heart, Howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lorde hath not spoken?

Legacy Standard Bible
Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?'

Contemporary English Version
Moses said to Israel: You may be asking yourselves, "How can we tell if a prophet's message really comes from the Lord ?"

Complete Jewish Bible
You may be wondering, ‘How are we to know if a word has not been spoken by Adonai ?'

Darby Translation
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah hath not spoken?

Easy-to-Read Version
You might be thinking, ‘How can we know if something a prophet says is not from the Lord ?'

George Lamsa Translation
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

Good News Translation
"You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord .

Literal Translation
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah has not spoken?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf thou saye in thine hert: How can I knowe what worde the LORDE hath not spoken?

American Standard Version
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken?

Bible in Basic English
And if you say in your hearts, How are we to be certain that the word does not come from the Lord?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if thou say in thine heart: howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lorde hath not spoken?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?'

King James Version (1611)
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall wee know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?

English Revised Version
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

Berean Standard Bible
You may ask in your heart, "How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
That if thou answerist bi pryuy thouyt, Hou may Y vndirstonde the word, which the Lord spak not? thou schalt haue this signe,

Young's Literal Translation
`And when thou sayest in thy heart, How do we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? --

Update Bible Version
And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?

Webster's Bible Translation
And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

World English Bible
If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?

New King James Version
And if you say in your heart, "How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'--

New Living Translation
"But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord ?'

New Life Bible
You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know which words the Lord has not spoken?'

New Revised Standard
You may say to yourself, "How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, when thou shalt say in thy heart, - In what manner shall we know the word which Yahweh hath not spoken!?,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word that the Lord hath not spoken?

Revised Standard Version
And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' --

THE MESSAGE
You may be wondering among yourselves, "How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?" Here's how: If what the prophet spoke in God 's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him. ¹⁶ This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: "Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die." ¹⁷ The Lord then said to me, "What they have said is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. ¹⁹ I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name. ²⁰ "But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. ²¹ Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord ?'— ²² whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Thessalonians 5:24, 1 John 4:1-3, Revelation 2:2

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:17 - thou shalt Jeremiah 13:22 - if

Cross-References

Genesis 11:5
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.

Genesis 11:7
Come, let's go down and confuse their language so they won't be able to understand each other."

Genesis 18:1
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 18:24
What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it?

Exodus 3:8
I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Exodus 33:5
For the Lord had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, that I may know what I should do to you.'"

Deuteronomy 8:2
Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 13:3
You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being.

Joshua 22:22
"El, God, the Lord ! El, God, the Lord ! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord , don't spare us today!

Job 34:22
There is no darkness, and no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if thou say in thine heart, &c] Such a thought arises in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it,

how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? What marks, signs, and criterions are those by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And if thou say in thine heart, How ... - The passage evidently assumes such an occasion for consulting the prophet as was usual among the pagan, e. g., an impending battle or other such crisis (compare 1 Kings 22:11), in which his veracity would soon be put to the test. Failure of a prediction is set forth as a sure note of its being “presumptuous.” But from Deuteronomy 13:2 ff we see that the fulfillment of a prediction would not decisively accredit him who uttered it: for the prophet or dreamer of dreams who endeavoured on the strength of miracles to seduce to idolatry was to be rejected and punished. Nothing therefore contrary to the revealed truth of God was to be accepted under any circumstances.