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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 95:8

Meribah and Massah, or "the provocation" and "the day of temptation"

Hebrew: "Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness": two place names from Exodus 17:7. The Greek translated them as nouns, "as in the provocation (parapikrasmos), as in the day of the testing (peirasmos)," and Hebrews 3:8 quotes the Greek. The Vulgate ("sicut in irritatione, secundum diem tentationis") and the KJV follow the Greek.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

    The psalm as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

  2. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Greek New Testament (library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the psalm (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ, κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ, ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,

    Do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of testing in the wilderness.

    Hebrews 3:8. KJV: "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:"

  3. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

    Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    sicut in irritatione, secundum diem tentationis in deserto, ubi tentaverunt me patres vestri: probaverunt me, et viderunt opera mea.

    Latin numbering: Psalm 94:9. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew. Vulgate 94:9.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    אַל־תַּקְשׁ֣וּ לְ֭בַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָ֑ה כְּי֥וֹם מַ֝סָּ֗ה בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

    Do not harden your heart as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness

    Hebrew numbering: Psalm 95:8.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

  6. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Aujourd’hui, si vous entendez sa voix, n’endurcissez pas vos cœurs, comme au jour de la colère et de la tentation dans le désert.

    Greek numbering: Psalm 94:8. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check). Giguet's 94:8.

What changed, and why

Meribah means "quarrel" and Massah "testing"; Exodus 17:7 explains both names. Translating the names turned a specific memory into a general warning, which suits Hebrews' use: "To day" is any day on which God's voice is heard. The Hebrew points the reader to the particular story of the water from the rock (Exodus 17; Numbers 20).

Verse numbering differs: Giguet's 94:8 contains both "Today if you will hear his voice" and the warning; the Vulgate divides them into 94:8–9. The Greek New Testament is shown from the library's edition (D check).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Greek translates Meribah and Massah as nouns.
  • Independently documentedHebrews 3:8 quotes the Greek.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Psalm 95: Today, If You Hear His Voice →"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." He is a great King above all gods; the depths and the mountains, the sea and the dry land are his. "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." Then God speaks: "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation… Forty years long was I grieved with this generation… Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest."