Deuteronomy 11:1

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments ¹  at all times.

Deuteronomy 10:15

10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he ²  show his loving favor, ³  and he chose you, their descendants, ⁴  from all peoples – as is apparent today.

Deuteronomy 7:9

7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, ⁵  the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully ⁶  with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

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¹ tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow – חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).

² tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

³ tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.

⁵ tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”

⁶ tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).