Deuteronomy 4:32

32 Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west - as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine - has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Deuteronomy 4:32 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:32

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,
&c.] Inquire into and consult the annals of former times, of ages past:

since the day that God created man upon the earth;
trace them quite up to the creation of the world, and men in it:

and [ask] from the one side of heaven to the other;
traverse the whole globe, and examine the records of every nation in it in both hemispheres:

whether there hath been any such [thing] as this great thing is, or
hath been heard like it?
whether they can give any account of anything seen, heard, or done like what follows; suggesting that they cannot furnish out an instance to be mentioned with it.

Deuteronomy 4:32 In-Context

30 When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says.
31 God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you, he won't bring you to ruin, he won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.
32 Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west - as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine - has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
33 Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story?
34 Or has a god ever tried to select for himself a nation from within a nation using trials, miracles, and war, putting his strong hand in, reaching his long arm out, a spectacle awesome and staggering, the way God, your God, did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched?
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.