Deuteronomy 4:32

32 "Yes, ask, please, about former days that {preceded you} from the day that God created humankind on the earth; [ask even] from [one] end of the heaven up to the [other] end of heaven {whether anything ever happened} like this great thing or {whether anything like it was ever heard}.

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 {In your distress} when all these things have found you in the {latter days}, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.

31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he {will not abandon you}, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

32 "Yes, ask, please, about former days that {preceded you} from the day that God created humankind on the earth; [ask even] from [one] end of the heaven up to the [other] end of heaven {whether anything ever happened} like this great thing or {whether anything like it was ever heard}.

33 Has a people [ever] heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, [just] as you heard [it], and lived?

34 Or has a god [ever] attempted to go to take for himself a nation from the midst of a nation, [using] trials and signs and wonders and war, with an outstretched arm and with great and awesome deeds, like all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "that [they] were to the face of you"
• [b]. Literally "was it [ever]"
• [c]. Literally "was it [ever] heard as it"