Deuteronomy 4:31

4:31 (for he ¹  is a merciful God), he will not let you down ²  or destroy you, for he cannot ³  forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

Deuteronomy 4:37

4:37 Moreover, because he loved ⁴  your ancestors, he chose their ⁵  descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power

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¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

² tn Heb “he will not drop you,” i.e., “will not abandon you” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

³ tn Or “will not.” The translation understands the imperfect verbal form to have an added nuance of capability here.

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.