Deuteronomy 8:4
Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Vestimentum tuum, quo operiebaris, nequaquam vetustate defecit, et pes tuus non est subtritus, en quadragesimus annus est :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- τὰ ἱμάτιά σου οὐκ ἐπαλαιώθη ἀπὸ σοῦ, τὰ ὑποδήματά σου οὐ κατετρίβη ἀπὸ σοῦ, οἱ πόδες σου οὐκ ἐτυλώθησαν ἰδοὺ τεσσεράκοντα ἔτη.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- שִׂמְלָ֨תְךָ֜ לֹ֤א בָֽלְתָה֙ מֵֽעָלֶ֔יךָ וְרַגְלְךָ֖ לֹ֣א בָצֵ֑קָה זֶ֖ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Worn, for want of shoes, chap. xxix. 5. (Chaldean) This miracle of the Hebrews, being so well provided with raiment in a desert country, is mentioned, 2 Esdras ix. 21. Cosmas (B. v.) allows only that merchants constantly supplied them, and Abenezra thinks that they had brought plenty for change out of Egypt. (Calmet)
But the Scripture seems to acknowledge something more wonderful; namely, the good condition of the people's feet, and of their garments, after they had been worn for such a length of time. As their numbers had not increased, the children might be supplied with the clothes of the deceased; so that there is no need of making the miracle still greater, by asserting, as some have done, that the garments grew larger with the bodies of those who wore them. (Haydock)
The miracle was in favour both of good and bad, like manna, &c. (Tirinus)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose Exposition of the Christian Faith, Chapter II. The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works, namely, His benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to one's own interest to believe in the goodness of Him Who is one's Lord and Judge. The Father's testimony to the Son. No small number of the Jewish people bear witness to the Son; the Arians therefore are plainly worse than the Jews. The words of the Bride, declaring the same goodness of Christ
23. Is He not good, Who in the wilderness fed with bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest any famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment of rest? so that, for the space of forty years, their raiment grew not old, nor were their shoes worn, a figure to the faithful of the Resurrection that was to come, showing that neither the glory of great deeds, nor the beauty of the power wherewith He hath clothed us, nor the stream of human life is made for nought?