2:20 (That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaites. 2 The Rephaites lived there originally; the Ammonites call them Zamzummites. 3
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 16 as he promised 17 your ancestors.
12:29 When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land. 22
16:9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them 24 from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain.
19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he 34 is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 44 all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.
1 tn Heb “from the middle of.” Although many recent English versions leave this expression untranslated, the point seems to be that these soldiers did not die in battle but “within the camp.”
2 sn Rephaites. See note on this word in Deut 2:11.
3 sn Zamzummites. Just as the Moabites called Rephaites by the name Emites, the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (or Zazites; Gen 14:5).
4 sn Avvites. Otherwise unknown, these people were probably also Anakite (or Rephaite) giants who lived in the lower Mediterranean coastal plain until they were expelled by the Caphtorites.
5 sn Caphtorites. These peoples are familiar from both the OT (Gen 10:14; 1 Chr 1:12; Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7) and ancient Near Eastern texts (Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:37-38; ANET 138). They originated in Crete (OT “Caphtor”) and are identified as the ancestors of the Philistines (Gen 10:14; Jer 47:4).
6 tn Heb “Caphtor”; the modern name of the island of Crete is used in the translation for clarity (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT).
7 tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.
8 tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.
sn Divine judgment refers to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in his omniscience, he knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant.
9 tn Heb “command”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “charge Joshua.”
10 sn This is the first occurrence of the word בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”) in the Book of Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. See M. Weinfeld, TDOT 2:255.
11 tn Heb “the ten words.”
12 tn The concept of love here is not primarily that of emotional affection but of commitment or devotion. This verse suggests that God chose Israel to be his special people because he loved the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and had promised to bless their descendants. See as well Deut 7:7-9.
13 tc The LXX, Smr, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read a third person masculine plural suffix for the MT’s 3rd person masculine singular, “his descendants.” Cf. Deut 10:15. Quite likely the MT should be emended in this instance.
14 tn Heb “to your son.”
15 tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The
16 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
17 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
18 tn Heb “you will destroy their name from under heaven” (cf. KJV); NRSV “blot out their name from under heaven.”
19 tn Heb “leave me alone.”
20 tn Heb “from under heaven.”
21 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
22 tn Heb “dwell in their land” (so NASB). In the Hebrew text vv. 29-30 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides it into two.
23 tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”
24 tn Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.
25 tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.
26 tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).
28 tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”
29 tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).
30 tc Smr and some Greek texts add “before the
31 tn Heb “the name of the
32 tn Heb “these abhorrent things.” The repetition is emphatic. For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the same term used earlier in the verse has been translated “detestable” here.
33 tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.
34 tn Heb “the
35 tn Heb “fathers.”
36 tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.
37 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”
sn The Hebrew verb refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. See also the note on the phrase “the divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
38 sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
39 sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
40 sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
41 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
42 sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
43 tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).
sn Jebusite. These people inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
44 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
45 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
46 tn Heb “plaster” (so KJV, ASV; likewise in v. 4). In the translation “cover” has been used for stylistic reasons.
47 tc Smr reads “Mount Gerizim” for the MT reading “Mount Ebal” to justify the location of the Samaritan temple there in the postexilic period. This reading is patently self-serving and does not reflect the original. In the NT when the Samaritan woman of Sychar referred to “this mountain” as the place of worship for her community she obviously had Gerizim in mind (cf. John 4:20).
48 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
49 tn Heb “in order to serve.”
50 tn Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
51 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה (shÿmittah), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1.
52 tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] ([khag] hassukot, “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13.
sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15.
53 tn Heb “before all Israel.”