Deuteronomy 4:37

4:37 Moreover, because he loved 1  your ancestors, he chose their 2  descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power

Deuteronomy 10:15

10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he 3  show his loving favor, 4  and he chose you, their descendants, 5  from all peoples – as is apparent today.

1 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.

2 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.

3 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

4 tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

5 tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.