Deuteronomy 8:16 (DRB)

Passage

And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 8:14 Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

Deuteronomy 8:15 And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock,

Deuteronomy 8:16 And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

Deuteronomy 8:17 Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mercy", "thee", "wilderness", "manna", "fathers", "knew", "after", and "afflicted". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mercy" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "And was thy leader in the great..." into verse 17's "Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart...", so "mercy" and "thee" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mercy" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.