Deuteronomy 4:34

4:34 Or has God ¹  ever before tried to deliver ²  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ³  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ⁴  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Deuteronomy 5:22

The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response

5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. ⁵  Then he inscribed the words ⁶  on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 5:24

5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ⁷  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ⁸  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

Deuteronomy 11:6

11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, ⁹  sons of Eliab the Reubenite, ¹⁰  when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp ¹¹  and swallowed them, their families, ¹²  their tents, and all the property they brought with them. ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 13:16

13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹⁴  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ¹⁵  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Deuteronomy 23:14

23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat ¹⁶  your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent ¹⁷  among you and turn away from you.

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¹ tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).

² tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”

³ tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).

⁴ tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

⁸ tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

⁹ sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1-3, 31-35).

¹⁰ tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”

¹¹ tn Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.

¹² tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”

¹³ tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “street.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

¹⁶ tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE 3:528-30.