Deuteronomy 11:10

11:10 For the land where you are headed 1  is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand 2  like a vegetable garden.

Deuteronomy 15:11

15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open 3  your hand to your fellow Israelites 4  who are needy and poor in your land.

Deuteronomy 23:25

23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, 5  but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.

Deuteronomy 32:41

32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,

and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; 6 

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me! 7 

1 tn Heb “you are going there to possess it”; NASB “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; NRSV “that you are crossing over to occupy.”

2 tn Heb “with your foot” (so NASB, NLT). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.

3 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

4 tn Heb “your brother.”

5 sn For the continuation of these practices into NT times see Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.

6 tn Heb “judgment.” This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.

7 tn The Hebrew term שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see note on the word “rejecting” in Deut 5:9; also see Deut 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).