Revised Standard Version‘s literal “harden your hearts” suggests a cruel or unfeeling attitude, since in modern English the heart is associated with the emotions. For Hebrew thought, and generally in the New Testament, the heart was the center of the whole personality, including the intellect and will. Therefore “to harden one’s heart” is to refuse to listen to or understand what someone is saying. This is the basis for stubborn in Good News Translation; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Barclay, and Translator’s New Testament. Do not be stubborn is often rendered idiomatically; for example, “do not stop up your ears,” “do not shout ‘No’ to what is said,” or “do not close the door of your mind.”

Good News Translation fourth edition makes it clear from this verse that it is not the present generation of Israelites who rebelled against God, but your ancestors, as verse 9 implies. Earlier editions of Good News Bible had simply you. The psalmist assumes in verse 8 that the people of Israel are one group of people, disregarding the birth and death of individuals from generation to generation, and so he addresses them as “you.” However, since his message, like that of Hebrews, is that the present generation should behave differently from its ancestors, Good News Bible fourth edition brings out the meaning more clearly.

As your ancestors were may be rendered as “that is what your ancestors did.”

The rest of this verse can scarcely be understood, however clear the translation, without references and notes. The Hebrew of Psalm 95.8 refers to Meribah and Massah, which footnotes in New English Bible translate as “Dispute” and “Challenge,” and in Jerusalem Bible “dispute” and “temptation.” The Septuagint replaced the names Meribah and Massah by common nouns having a similar meaning. Good News Translation replaces these nouns by verbal expressions. The reference is to Exodus 17.7, where, during the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Israelites grumbled about Moses’ leadership and provoked or tested God by asking “Is the LORD with us or not?”

They rebelled against God may be rendered as “they refused to do what God had told them to do,” “they refused to be led by God,” or “they refused to listen to God.”

That day … when they put him to the test is literally “on the day of testing in the wilderness.” In the light of this verse and also Exodus 17.1-7, it is clear that “testing,” not “tempting” (see King James Version), is intended. In some languages it may be better to employ a phrase such as “that time” or “on that occasion,” rather than merely that day, since a reference to day might imply merely one particular occasion of 24 hours.

Desert is rough scrubland on which little or nothing will grow, rather than an expanse of sand.

They put him to the test may be rendered as “they decided to see what God would do.” In some instances the concept of “putting to the test” is expressed idiomatically: “they pushed God hard” or even “they tried to make God fall.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .