Deuteronomy 1:3

1:3 However, it was not until ¹  the first day of the eleventh month ²  of the fortieth year ³  that Moses addressed the Israelites just as ⁴  the Lord had instructed him to do.

Deuteronomy 10:1

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 10:3

10:3 So I made an ark of acacia ⁶  wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

Deuteronomy 10:10

10:10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, forty days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you.

Deuteronomy 16:4

16:4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land ⁷  for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 17:7

17:7 The witnesses ⁹  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ¹⁰  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 26:10

26:10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Heb “in” or “on.” Here there is a contrast between the ordinary time of eleven days (v. 2) and the actual time of forty years, so “not until” brings out that vast disparity.

² sn The eleventh month is Shebat in the Hebrew calendar, January/February in the modern (Gregorian) calendar.

³ sn The fortieth year would be 1406 b.c. according to the “early” date of the exodus. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 66-75.

⁴ tn Heb “according to all which.”

⁵ tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”

⁸ tn Heb “remain all night until the morning” (so KJV, ASV). This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

¹⁰ tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.