Deuteronomy 1:21

1:21 Look, he ¹  has placed the land in front of you! ²  Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”

Deuteronomy 2:4

2:4 Instruct ³  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ⁴  the descendants of Esau, ⁵  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully.

Deuteronomy 5:5

5:5 (I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to reveal to you the message ⁶  of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said:

Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ⁷  and troops ⁸  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.

Deuteronomy 20:8

20:8 In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s ⁹  heart as fearful ¹⁰  as his own.”

Deuteronomy 21:21

21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out ¹¹  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ¹²  will hear about it and be afraid.

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¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition.

² tn Or “has given you the land” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).

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 “word” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); NRSV “words.”

⁷ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

⁸ tn Heb “people.”

⁹ tn Heb “his brother’s.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “melted.”

¹¹ tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (bi’artah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר, ba’ar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.

¹² tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannish’arim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.