4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, 8 lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.
6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,
10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, 14 to obey all his commandments, 15 to love him, to serve him 16 with all your mind and being, 17
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,” 31 you may do so as you wish. 32
16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants 42 for each tribe in all your villages 43 that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 44
17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, 45 legal claim, 46 or assault 47 – matters of controversy in your villages 48 – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. 49
19:14 You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, 50 which will have been defined 51 in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 52
20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry 53 and troops 54 who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 61 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 62
28:1 “If you indeed 64 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 65 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.
33:8 Of Levi he said:
Your Thummim and Urim 79 belong to your godly one, 80
whose authority you challenged at Massah, 81
and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah. 82
33:9 He said to his father and mother, “I have not seen him,” 83
and he did not acknowledge his own brothers
or know his own children,
for they kept your word,
and guarded your covenant.
1 tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
2 tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.
3 tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).
4 tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”
5 tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”
6 tn Heb “would be a prey.”
7 sn Do not know good from bad. This is a figure of speech called a merism (suggesting a whole by referring to its extreme opposites). Other examples are the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9), the boy who knows enough “to reject the wrong and choose the right” (Isa 7:16; 8:4), and those who “cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). A young child is characterized by lack of knowledge.
8 tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”
9 tn Heb “by a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” the hand and arm symbolizing divine activity and strength. Cf. NLT “with amazing power and mighty deeds.”
10 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NRSV).
11 tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.
12 tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”
13 tn Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).
sn The Hebrew word translated stubborn means “stiff-necked.” The image is that of a draft animal that is unsubmissive to the rein or yoke and refuses to bend its neck to draw the load. This is an apt description of OT Israel (Exod 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut 9:13).
14 tn Heb “the
15 tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”
16 tn Heb “the
17 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
18 tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.
20 tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.
21 tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
22 tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”
23 tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהַב (’ahav) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).
24 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
25 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.
26 tn Heb “the rain of your land.” In this case the genitive (modifying term) indicates the recipient of the rain.
27 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.
28 tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”
29 tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.
30 tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”
31 tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”
32 tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”
33 tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.
34 tn Heb “the
35 tn Heb “all your heart and soul” (so NRSV, CEV, NLT); or “heart and being” (NCV “your whole being”). See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
36 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “by all means.”
37 tc Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.” The LXX and Orig add, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.
38 sn When the bondslave’s ear was drilled through to the door, the door in question was that of the master’s house. In effect, the bondslave is declaring his undying and lifelong loyalty to his creditor. The scar (or even hole) in the earlobe would testify to the community that the slave had surrendered independence and personal rights. This may be what Paul had in mind when he said “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
39 tn Heb “the
40 tn Heb “the
41 tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”
42 tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.
43 tn Heb “gates.”
44 tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”
45 tn Heb “between blood and blood.”
46 tn Heb “between claim and claim.”
47 tn Heb “between blow and blow.”
48 tn Heb “gates.”
49 tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.
50 tn Heb “border.” Cf. NRSV “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker.”
51 tn Heb “which they set off from the beginning.”
52 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.” This phrase has been left untranslated to avoid redundancy.
53 tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
54 tn Heb “people.”
55 tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”
56 tn Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”
57 tn Heb “go unto,” a common Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations.
58 tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.
59 tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
60 tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.
61 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
62 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
63 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
64 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
65 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
66 tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”
67 tn Heb “lack of everything.”
68 tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the
69 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”
70 tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”
71 tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”
72 tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”
73 tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
74 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).
75 tn Heb “the
76 tn Heb “the
77 tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).
78 tn Heb “to the
79 sn Thummim and Urim. These terms, whose meaning is uncertain, refer to sacred stones carried in a pouch on the breastplate of the high priest and examined on occasion as a means of ascertaining God’s will or direction. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6. See also C. Van Dam, NIDOTTE 1:329-31.
80 tn Heb “godly man.” The reference is probably to Moses as representative of the whole tribe of Levi.
81 sn Massah means “testing” in Hebrew; the name is a wordplay on what took place there. Cf. Exod 17:7; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-9.
82 sn Meribah means “contention, argument” in Hebrew; this is another wordplay on the incident that took place there. Cf. Num 20:13, 24; Ps 106:32.
83 sn This statement no doubt alludes to the Levites’ destruction of their own fellow tribesmen following the golden calf incident (Exod 32:25-29).