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.

Deuteronomy 11:9

11:9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors ⁶  and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 23:3

23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite ⁷  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever ⁸  do so, ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 28:59

28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses.

Deuteronomy 30:2

30:2 Then if you and your descendants ¹⁰  turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being ¹¹  just as ¹²  I am commanding you today,

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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.

⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 21).

⁷ sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).

⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.

⁹ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹⁰ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

¹¹ tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

¹² tn Heb “according to all.”