3:10a

Therefore: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Therefore introduces the result of the people rebelling and testing God in 3:8–9. It implies that God was angry because they tested him and did not believe in him. Some ways to translate the connection in English are:

So
-or-
As a result

I was angry with that generation: This clause explains why God was angry with the people who rebelled against him. He was angry because they did not believe him and disobeyed him. This is the way in which they “tested” him (3:9).

For more information about the way the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord, see Deuteronomy 1:19–40 and Numbers 13–14.

that generation: The phrase that generation refers to the Israelites who lived at the time when God rescued them from Egypt and led them through the desert. Consider how you refer to a group of ancestors who lived at a specific time more than a thousand years before you. In some languages a general reference back to them will be sufficient. For example:

those people/ancestors

Refer to them in a natural way in your language.

and I said: This phrase introduces what the Lord said about the people. He did not speak directly to them. Hebrews does not make explicit to whom he spoke. He probably spoke to Moses, since in Numbers 14:22 God said to Moses, “They have already tested me many times.”

Some other ways to introduce God’s decision are:

I thought
-or-
I said ⌊about them⌋

3:10b–c

Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways: The two clauses in 3:10b and 3:10c are parallel. They have a similar meaning, and they are closely connected. Together they indicate that the people refused to obey God. In 3:10b the emphasis is that the people were not loyal to God. In 3:10c the emphasis is that they refused to know and follow God’s ways.

Some ways to translate these clauses are:

10b They are always disloyal 10c and refuse to obey my commands. (Good News Translation)
-or-

10b They continually go astray to someone/something else. 10c They refuse to follow my commands.
-or-

10b these people have determined that they will separate from me. 10c They do not want to follow the word I speak about how they should live.

Their hearts are always going astray: This clause is figurative. It indicates that the people were not loyal to God. They did not do what he told them to do. For ways to translate this clause, see the examples for 3:10b in the preceding note.

hearts: For more information on the use of hearts as an idiom, see the note on 3:8a.

and they have not known My ways: The clause and they have not known My ways indicates that the people did not want to understand the way that God wanted them to live. It implies that they did not choose to obey him. The people of Israel did not understand what God wanted because they refused to obey his commands. That is why he was angry with them.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

They refuse to do what I tell them. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
they will not hear/listen-to the way I teach them to live
-or-
and they have no desire to know who I am and how I want them to live

For more information on what the people of Israel did, see Deuteronomy 1:32–33.

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