4:15 Be very careful, 4 then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire.
6:20 When your children 10 ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?”
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 11 as he promised 12 your ancestors.
8:11 Be sure you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today.
13:12 Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that
16:21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole 28 near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself.
19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he 30 is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities 31 in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.
22:1 When you see 41 your neighbor’s 42 ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; 43 you must return it without fail 44 to your neighbor.
22:8 If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail 45 around your roof to avoid being culpable 46 in the event someone should fall from it.
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 48 all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.
24:10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security. 49
26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 52 26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.
32:7 Remember the ancient days;
bear in mind 65 the years of past generations. 66
Ask your father and he will inform you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
33:27 The everlasting God is a refuge,
and underneath you are his eternal arms; 70
he has driven out enemies before you,
and has said, “Destroy!”
1 tn The Hebrew participle has an imminent future sense here, although many English versions treat it as a present tense (“is giving us,” NAB, NIV, NRSV) or a predictive future (“will give us,” NCV).
2 sn This is the first occurrence of the word בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”) in the Book of Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. See M. Weinfeld, TDOT 2:255.
3 tn Heb “the ten words.”
4 tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”
5 tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.
6 tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.
7 sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.
8 tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.
9 tn Heb “the
10 tn Heb “your son.”
11 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
12 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
13 tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.
14 tn Heb “so you will perish.”
15 tn Heb “listen to the voice of the
16 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
17 tn Heb “the
18 tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.
19 tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.
20 tn Heb “the
21 tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.
22 tn Or “land” (so NIV, NCV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “land” or “earth.”
23 tc Theodotian adds “in Israel,” perhaps to broaden the matter beyond the local village.
24 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
25 tc The LXX and Smr add “and good” to bring the phrase in line with a familiar cliché (cf. Deut 6:18; Josh 9:25; 2 Kgs 10:3; 2 Chr 14:1; etc.). This is an unnecessary and improper attempt to force a text into a preconceived mold.
26 tn Heb “in the eyes of the
27 tn The rules that governed the Passover meal are found in Exod 12:1-51, and Deut 16:1-8. The word translated “cook” (בָּשַׁל, bashal) here is translated “boil” in other places (e.g. Exod 23:19, 1 Sam 2:13-15). This would seem to contradict Exod 12:9 where the Israelites are told not to eat the Passover sacrifice raw or boiled. However, 2 Chr 35:13 recounts the celebration of a Passover feast during the reign of Josiah, and explains that the people “cooked (בָּשַׁל, bashal) the Passover sacrifices over the open fire.” The use of בָּשַׁל (bashal) with “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) suggests that the word could be used to speak of boiling or roasting.
28 tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.”
sn Sacred Asherah pole. This refers to a tree (or wooden pole) dedicated to the worship of Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. See also Deut 7:5.
29 tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).
30 tn Heb “the
31 sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
32 sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).
33 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”
sn The Hebrew verb refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. See also the note on the phrase “the divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
34 sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
35 sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
36 sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
37 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
38 sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
39 tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).
sn Jebusite. These people inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
40 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
41 tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
42 tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”
43 tn Heb “hide yourself.”
44 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
45 tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”
46 tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
47 tn Heb “gates.”
48 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
49 tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
50 tn Heb “knock down after you.”
51 tn Heb “glean after you.”
52 tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”
53 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
54 tn Heb “in order to serve.”
55 tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”
56 tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.
57 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”
58 tc The LXX reads “that he is the
59 tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”
60 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”
61 tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).
62 tn Heb “according to all.”
63 tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
64 tn Heb “heart.”
65 tc The Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read 2nd person masculine singular whereas the MT has 2nd person masculine plural. The former is preferred, the latter perhaps being a misreading (בִּינוּ [binu] for בִּינָה [binah]). Both the preceding (“remember”) and following (“ask”) imperatives are singular forms in the Hebrew text.
66 tn Heb “generation and generation.” The repetition of the singular noun here singles out each of the successive past generations. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3b.
67 tn In the Hebrew text the forms translated “you will die…and join” are imperatives, but the actions in view cannot really be commanded. The imperative is used here in a rhetorical, emphatic manner to indicate the certainty of Moses’ death on the mountain. On the rhetorical use of the imperative see IBHS 572 §34.4c.
68 tn Heb “be gathered to your people.” The same phrase occurs again later in this verse.
69 sn Mount Hor. See note on the name “Moserah” in Deut 10:6.
70 tn Heb “and from under, arms of perpetuity.” The words “you” and “his” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Some have perceived this line to be problematic and have offered alternative translations that differ significantly from the present translation: “He spread out the primeval tent; he extended the ancient canopy” (NAB); “He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old” (NRSV). These are based on alternate meanings or conjectural emendations rather than textual variants in the