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. 9
17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, 16 legal claim, 17 or assault 18 – matters of controversy in your villages 19 – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. 20
32:39 “See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, 31
“and there is no other god besides me.
I kill and give life,
I smash and I heal,
and none can resist 32 my power.
33:19 They will summon peoples to the mountain,
there they will sacrifice proper 33 sacrifices;
for they will enjoy 34 the abundance of the seas,
and the hidden treasures of the shores. 35
33:21 He has selected the best part for himself,
for the portion of the ruler 36 is set aside 37 there;
he came with the leaders 38 of the people,
he obeyed the righteous laws of the Lord
and his ordinances with Israel.
1 tn Heb “would be a prey.”
2 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.
3 sn Aroer. Now known as àAraáir on the northern edge of the Arnon river, Aroer marked the southern limit of Moab and, later, of the allotment of the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:9, 16).
4 tn Heb “the city in the wadi.” This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar or, more likely, to Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer…, that is, the city in the wadi.” See D. L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–11 (WBC), 49.
5 sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk River. See Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.
6 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.”
7 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “who is there of all flesh.”
9 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
10 tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”
12 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”
13 tn Heb “your brother.”
14 tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”
15 tn Heb “remain all night until the morning” (so KJV, ASV). This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Heb “between blood and blood.”
17 tn Heb “between claim and claim.”
18 tn Heb “between blow and blow.”
19 tn Heb “gates.”
20 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.
21 tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).
22 tn Heb “and this is the word pertaining to the one who kills who flees there and lives.”
23 tn Heb “who strikes his neighbor without knowledge.”
24 tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing. Cf. NAB “had previously borne no malice”; NRSV “had not been at enmity before.”
25 tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
26 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.
27 tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”
28 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”
29 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
30 tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”
31 tn Verses 39-42 appear to be a quotation of the
32 tn Heb “deliver from” (so NRSV, NLT).
33 tn Or “acceptable”; Heb “righteous” (so NASB).
34 tn Heb “suck.”
35 tn Heb “of the sand” (so NRSV, NLT); CEV “the sandy beach.”
36 tn The Hebrew term מְחֹקֵק (mÿkhoqeq; Poel participle of חָקַק, khaqaq, “to inscribe”) reflects the idea that the recorder of allotments (the “ruler”) is able to set aside for himself the largest and best. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 444-45.
37 tn Heb “covered in” (if from the root סָפַן, safan; cf. HALOT 764-65 s.v. ספן qal).
38 tn Heb “heads” (in the sense of chieftains).
39 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).
40 tn The Hebrew text includes “with your eyes,” but this is redundant in English and is left untranslated.