2:8 So we turned away from our relatives 6 the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, 7 from Elat 8 and Ezion Geber, 9 and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.
6:1 Now these are the commandments, 28 statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed 29 6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments 30 that I am giving 31 you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 37 I am giving 38 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 39 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 40 8:2 Remember the whole way by which he 41 has brought you these forty years through the desert 42 so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. 43 He did this to teach you 44 that humankind 45 cannot live by bread 46 alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. 47
9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. 49
11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments 51 I am giving 52 you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 53
12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” 58 you may do so as you wish. 59
32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up 77 its nest,
that hovers over its young,
so the Lord 78 spread out his wings and took him, 79
he lifted him up on his pinions.
32:21 They have made me jealous 80 with false gods, 81
enraging me with their worthless gods; 82
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, 83
with a nation slow to learn 84 I will enrage them.
32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy 85 both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
33:11 Bless, O Lord, his goods,
and be pleased with his efforts;
undercut the legs 86 of any who attack him,
and of those who hate him, so that they cannot stand.
1 tn Or “selected”; Heb “took.”
2 tn Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.
3 tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”
4 tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”
5 sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).
6 tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”
7 tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”
8 sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.
9 sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.
10 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Rephaites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Ammonites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”
13 tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”
14 tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”
15 tn Heb “into your hand.”
16 tn Heb “was left to him.” The final phrase “to him” is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.
17 tn Heb “commanding.”
18 tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).
19 tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”
20 tn Heb “wise and understanding.”
21 tn The words “I say this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 16 is subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.
22 tn Heb “the
23 tn Heb “commanded.”
24 tn Heb “the
25 tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
26 tn Heb “the
27 tn Heb “may prolong your days”; NAB “may have long life”; TEV “will continue to live.”
28 tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.
29 tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”
30 tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.
31 tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
32 tn Heb “upright.”
33 tn Heb “the
34 tn Heb “the
35 tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”
36 tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).
37 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
38 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
39 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
40 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
41 tn Heb “the
42 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
43 tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).
44 tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.
45 tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).
46 tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).
47 sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).
48 tn Heb “in order to humble you and in order to test you.” See 8:2.
49 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
50 sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
51 tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
52 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
53 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
54 tn The words “he promises” do not appear in the Hebrew text but are needed in the translation to facilitate the transition from the condition (v. 13) to the promise and make it clear that the Lord is speaking the words of vv. 14-15.
55 tn Heb “the rain of your land.” In this case the genitive (modifying term) indicates the recipient of the rain.
56 sn The autumn and the spring rains. The “former” (יוֹרֶה, yoreh) and “latter” (מַלְקוֹשׁ, malqosh) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.
57 tn Heb “like the days of the heavens upon the earth,” that is, forever.
58 tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”
59 tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”
60 tc Heb “in the eyes of the
61 tn Heb “the
62 tn Heb “the
63 tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”
64 tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).
65 tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).
66 tn Heb “the
67 tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”
68 tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”
69 tn Heb “the
70 tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”
71 tn Heb “his brother’s.”
72 tn Heb “melted.”
73 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”
74 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
75 tn Heb “the
76 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV “children.”
77 tn The prefixed verbal form is an imperfect, indicating habitual or typical behavior. The parallel verb (cf. “hovers” in the next line) is used in the same manner.
78 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
79 tn The form of the suffix on this and the following verb forms (cf. “lifted him up”) indicates that the verbs are preterites, not imperfects. As such they simply state the action factually. The use of the preterite here suggests that the preceding verb (cf. “spread out”) is preterite as well.
80 sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.
81 tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”
82 tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).
83 tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
84 tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”
85 tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.
86 tn Heb “smash the sinews [or “loins,” so many English versions].” This part of the body was considered to be center of one’s strength (cf. Job 40:16; Ps 69:24; Prov 31:17; Nah 2:2, 11). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 325.