Deuteronomy 4:32

The Uniqueness of Israel’s God

4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind ¹  on the earth, and ask ²  from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it.

Deuteronomy 28:13

28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ³  commandments which I am urging ⁴  you today to be careful to do.

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¹ tn The Hebrew term אָדָם (’adam) may refer either to Adam or, more likely, to “man” in the sense of the human race (“mankind,” “humankind”). The idea here seems more universal in scope than reference to Adam alone would suggest.

² tn The verb is not present in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification. The challenge has both temporal and geographical dimensions. The people are challenged to (1) inquire about the entire scope of past history and (2) conduct their investigation on a worldwide scale.

³ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

⁴ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”