Deuteronomy 2:25

2:25 This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth ¹  with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.” ² 

Deuteronomy 7:6

7:6 For you are a people holy ³  to the Lord your God. He ⁴  has chosen you to be his people, prized ⁵  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:2

14:2 For you are a people holy ⁶  to the Lord your God. He ⁷  has chosen you to be his people, prized ⁸  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ⁹  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ¹⁰  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:25

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹¹  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:49

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ¹²  as the eagle flies, ¹³  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Deuteronomy 28:64

28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 30:19

30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Deuteronomy 31:28

31:28 Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

Deuteronomy 32:22

32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,

and it burns to lowest Sheol; ¹⁴ 

it consumes the earth and its produce,

and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

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¹ tn Heb “under heaven” (so NIV, NRSV).

² tn Heb “from before you.”

³ tn That is, “set apart.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁵ tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

⁶ tn Or “set apart.”

⁷ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁸ tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

sn The Hebrew term translated “select” (and the whole verse) is reminiscent of the classic covenant text (Exod 19:4-6) which describes Israel’s entry into covenant relationship with the Lord. Israel must resist paganism and its trappings precisely because she is a holy people elected by the Lord from among the nations to be his instrument of world redemption (cf. Deut 7:6; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).

⁹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

¹¹ tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).

¹² tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

¹³ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

¹⁴ tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”

sn Sheol refers here not to hell and hell-fire – a much later concept – but to the innermost parts of the earth, as low down as one could get. The parallel with “the foundations of the mountains” makes this clear (cf. Pss 9:17; 16:10; 139:8; Isa 14:9, 15; Amos 9:2).