5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: 1 “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 2 I am giving 3 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 4 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 5
9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. 7
11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments 13 I am giving 14 you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 15
28:1 “If you indeed 30 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 31 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.
28:15 “But if you ignore 32 the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 33
1 tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”
2 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
3 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
4 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
5 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
6 tn Heb “if forgetting, you forget.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis; the translation indicates this with the words “at all” (cf. KJV).
7 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.
11 tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.
12 tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
13 tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
14 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
15 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
16 tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”
17 tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהַב (’ahav) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).
18 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
19 tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.
20 tn Heb “the commandments of the
21 tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
22 tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).
23 tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
24 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”
25 sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.
26 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX
27 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
28 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
29 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
30 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
31 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
32 tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”
33 tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”
34 tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
35 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).
36 tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”