Deuteronomy 8:2
8:2 Remember the whole way by which he 1 has brought you these forty years through the desert 2 so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.
Deuteronomy 8:15-16
8:15 and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents 3 and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow 4 from a flint rock and
8:16 fed you in the desert with manna (which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you 5 and eventually bring good to you.
1 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
3 tn Heb “flaming serpents”; KJV, NASB “fiery serpents”; NAB “saraph serpents.” This figure of speech (metonymy) probably describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (שָׂרָף, saraf).
4 tn Heb “the one who brought out for you water.” In the Hebrew text this continues the preceding sentence, but the translation begins a new sentence here for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Heb “in order to humble you and in order to test you.” See 8:2.