Deuteronomy 4:24

4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. 1 

Deuteronomy 32:16

32:16 They made him jealous with other gods, 2 

they enraged him with abhorrent idols. 3 

1 tn The juxtaposition of the Hebrew terms אֵשׁ (’esh, “fire”) and קַנָּא (qanna’, “jealous”) is interesting in light of Deut 6:15 where the Lord is seen as a jealous God whose anger bursts into a destructive fire. For God to be “jealous” means that his holiness and uniqueness cannot tolerate pretended or imaginary rivals. It is not petty envy but response to an act of insubordination that must be severely judged (see H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:937-40).

2 tc Heb “with strange (things).” The Vulgate actually supplies diis (“gods”).

3 tn Heb “abhorrent (things)” (cf. NRSV). A number of English versions understand this as referring to “idols” (NAB, NIV, NCV, CEV), while NLT supplies “acts.”