Deuteronomy 32:10
New International Version
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,

New Living Translation
He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.

English Standard Version
“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Berean Standard Bible
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

King James Bible
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

New King James Version
“He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

New American Standard Bible
“He found him in a desert land, And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

NASB 1995
“He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

NASB 1977
“He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

Legacy Standard Bible
He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him; He cared for him; He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

Amplified Bible
“He found him in a desert land, In the howling wasteland of a wilderness; He kept circling him, He took care of him, He protected him as the apple of His eye.

Christian Standard Bible
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; he surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of his eye.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of His eye.

American Standard Version
He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He found him in the land of wilderness and in the wilderness of the deserts He brought him out, and he cherished him and he protected him as the pupil of the eye.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
He maintained him in the wilderness, in burning thirst and a dry land: he led him about and instructed him, and kept him as the apple of an eye.

Contemporary English Version
Israel, the LORD discovered you in a barren desert filled with howling winds. God became your fortress, protecting you as though you were his own eyes.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

English Revised Version
He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness; He compassed him about, he cared for him, He kept him as the apple of his eye:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He found his people in a desert land, in a barren place where animals howl. He guarded them, took care of them, and protected them because they were helpless.

Good News Translation
"He found them wandering through the desert, a desolate, wind-swept wilderness. He protected them and cared for them, as he would protect himself.

International Standard Version
The LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye.

JPS Tanakh 1917
He found him in a desert land, And in the waste, a howling wilderness; He compassed him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Literal Standard Version
He finds him in a land—a desert, | And in a void—a howling wilderness, | He turns him around—He causes him to understand—He keeps him as the apple of His eye.

Majority Standard Bible
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

New American Bible
He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them, cared for them, guarded them as the apple of his eye.

NET Bible
The LORD found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye.

New Revised Standard Version
He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye.

New Heart English Bible
He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

Webster's Bible Translation
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

World English Bible
He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

Young's Literal Translation
He findeth him in a land -- a desert, And in a void -- a howling wilderness, He turneth him round -- He causeth him to understand -- He keepeth him as the apple of His eye.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Song of Moses
9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. 10He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye. 11As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 1:19
And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

Deuteronomy 1:31
and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place."

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings

Psalm 107:4
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.

Psalm 107:40
He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

Isaiah 63:9
In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.


Treasury of Scripture

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

found

Deuteronomy 8:15,16
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; …

Nehemiah 9:19-21
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go…

Psalm 107:4,5
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in…

led him.

Deuteronomy 4:36
Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

Nehemiah 9:20
Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

Psalm 32:7-10
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah…

he kept

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

Zechariah 2:8
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Jump to Previous
Apple Arms Barren Cared Caring Causeth Compassed Desert Encircled Eye Howling Instructed Keepeth Kept Led Preserved Pupil Putting Round Sand Shielded Surrounded Turneth Understand Unpeopled Void Waste Watched Wilderness
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Apple Arms Barren Cared Caring Causeth Compassed Desert Encircled Eye Howling Instructed Keepeth Kept Led Preserved Pupil Putting Round Sand Shielded Surrounded Turneth Understand Unpeopled Void Waste Watched Wilderness
Deuteronomy 32
1. Moses' song, which sets forth God's mercy and vengeance
46. He exhorts them to set their hearts upon it
48. God sends him up to mount Nebo to see the land, and to die














(10) The whole of this verse is in the pictorial present in the Hebrew--

"He findeth him in a desert land,

In a waste howling wilderness;

He compasseth him about, He instructeth him,

He guardeth him as the apple of his eye."

He found him.--This beautiful expression is common to the Old and New Testaments as a description of God's first revelation of Himself to man. In the case of Hagar it is written (Genesis 16:7), "the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness." Concerning Jacob, that "He found him in Bethel," when Jacob said "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not" (Hosea 12:4; Genesis 28:16). A series of similar passages is closed by the three examples of the lost sheep, the lost money, and the son that had been lost, and was found (Luke 15). . . .

Verse 10. - God's fatherly care of Israel. In the desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; literally, in the land of the desert, in the waste (the formless waste; the word used is that rendered, Genesis 1:2, "without form"), the howling of the wilderness. "Israel is figuratively represented as a man without food or water, and surrounded by howling, ferocious beasts, and who must needs have perished had not God found him and rescued him" (Herxheimer). The apple of his eye; literally, the mannikin (אִישׁון) of his eye, the pupil; so called because in it, as in a mirror, a person sees his own image reflected in miniature (Gesenius), or because, being the tenderest part of the eye, it is guarded as one would a babe (cf. Psalm 17:8; Proverbs 7:2; Zechariah 2:12). By Delitzsch and others this explanation of the word is rejected as not philologically justified, there being no evidence that the termination ון had a diminutive force; and as not in keeping with the earnestness of the passages in which this word occurs. They prefer the explanation man image to mannikin. Anyhow, the use of the word here must be taken as indicating that Israel is ever in the eye of the Lord, the object of his constant and tenderest care.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He found him
יִמְצָאֵ֙הוּ֙ (yim·ṣā·’ê·hū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

in a desolate
מִדְבָּ֔ר (miḏ·bār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

land,
בְּאֶ֣רֶץ (bə·’e·reṣ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

in a barren,
וּבְתֹ֖הוּ (ū·ḇə·ṯō·hū)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8414: A desolation, desert, a worthless thing, in vain

howling
יְלֵ֣ל (yə·lêl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3214: A howling

wilderness;
יְשִׁמֹ֑ן (yə·ši·mōn)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3452: Waste, wilderness

He surrounded him,
יְסֹֽבְבֶ֙נְהוּ֙ (yə·sō·ḇə·ḇen·hū)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5437: To turn about, go around, surround

He instructed him,
יְב֣וֹנְנֵ֔הוּ (yə·ḇō·wn·nê·hū)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 995: To separate mentally, understand

He guarded him
יִצְּרֶ֖נְהוּ (yiṣ·ṣə·ren·hū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5341: To watch, guard, keep

as the apple
כְּאִישׁ֥וֹן (kə·’î·šō·wn)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 380: The little man of the eye, the pupil, ball, the middle

of His eye.
עֵינֽוֹ׃ (‘ê·nōw)
Noun - common singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 32:9
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