Deuteronomy 11:2-3

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ¹  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ²  of the Lord your God, which revealed ³  his greatness, strength, and power. ⁴  11:3 They did not see ⁵  the awesome deeds he performed ⁶  in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land,

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¹ tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

³ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

⁴ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

⁵ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.

⁶ tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.