Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 1:8 
Context1:8 Look! I have already given the land to you. 1 Go, occupy the territory that I, 2 the Lord, promised 3 to give to your ancestors 4 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants.” 5
Deuteronomy 2:5
Context2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir 6 as an inheritance for Esau.
Deuteronomy 2:12
Context2:12 Previously the Horites 7 lived in Seir but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) 8
Deuteronomy 2:21-22
Context2:21 They are a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites 9 in advance of the Ammonites, 10 so they dispossessed them and settled down in their place. 2:22 This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day.
Deuteronomy 7:16
Context7:16 You must destroy 11 all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship 12 their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
Deuteronomy 11:4
Context11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea 13 overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he 14 annihilated them. 15
Deuteronomy 12:2
Context12:2 You must by all means destroy 16 all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. 17
Deuteronomy 13:13
Context13:13 some evil people 18 have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, 19 saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 20
Deuteronomy 18:18
Context18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.
Deuteronomy 29:25
Context29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 31:13
Context31:13 Then their children, who have not known this law, 21 will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Deuteronomy 31:19
Context31:19 Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!
Deuteronomy 32:8
Context32:8 When the Most High 22 gave the nations their inheritance,
when he divided up humankind, 23
he set the boundaries of the peoples,
according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 24
Deuteronomy 32:21
Context32:21 They have made me jealous 25 with false gods, 26
enraging me with their worthless gods; 27
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, 28
with a nation slow to learn 29 I will enrage them.
Deuteronomy 32:36
Context32:36 The Lord will judge his people,
and will change his plans concerning 30 his servants;
when he sees that their power has disappeared,
and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.
Deuteronomy 33:29
Context33:29 You have joy, Israel! Who is like you?
You are a people delivered by the Lord,
your protective shield
and your exalted sword.
May your enemies cringe before you;
may you trample on their backs.
1 tn Heb “I have placed before you the land.”
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Heb “swore” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This refers to God’s promise, made by solemn oath, to give the patriarchs the land.
4 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 11, 21, 35).
5 tn Heb “their seed after them.”
6 sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.
7 sn Horites. Most likely these are the same as the well-known people of ancient Near Eastern texts described as Hurrians. They were geographically widespread and probably non-Semitic. Genesis speaks of them as the indigenous peoples of Edom that Esau expelled (Gen 36:8-19, 31-43) and also as among those who confronted the kings of the east (Gen 14:6).
8 tn Most modern English versions, beginning with the ASV (1901), regard vv. 10-12 as parenthetical to the narrative.
9 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Rephaites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Ammonites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”
12 tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
13 tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.
14 tn Heb “the
15 tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.
16 tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”
17 sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.
18 tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”
19 tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”
20 tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.
21 tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).
22 tn The Hebrew term עֶליוֹן (’elyon) is an abbreviated form of the divine name El Elyon, frequently translated “God Most High” (so here NCV, CEV) or something similar. This full name (or epithet) occurs only in Gen 14, though the two elements are parallel in Ps 73:11; 107:11; etc. Here it is clear that Elyon has to do with the nations in general whereas in v. 9, by contrast, Yahweh relates specifically to Israel. See T. Fretheim, NIDOTTE 1:400-401. The title depicts God as the sovereign ruler of the world, who is enthroned high above his dominion.
23 tn Heb “the sons of man” (so NASB); or “the sons of Adam” (so KJV).
24 tc Heb “the sons of Israel.” The idea, perhaps, is that Israel was central to Yahweh’s purposes and all other nations were arranged and distributed according to how they related to Israel. See S. R. Driver, Deuteronomy (ICC), 355-56. For the MT יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּנֵי (bÿney yisra’el, “sons of Israel”) a Qumran fragment has “sons of God,” while the LXX reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ (angelwn qeou, “angels of God”), presupposing בְּנֵי אֵל (bÿney ’el) or בְּנֵי אֵלִים (beney ’elim). “Sons of God” is undoubtedly the original reading; the MT and LXX have each interpreted it differently. MT assumes that the expression “sons of God” refers to Israel (cf. Hos. 1:10), while LXX has assumed that the phrase refers to the angelic heavenly assembly (Pss 29:1; 89:6; cf. as well Ps 82). The phrase is also attested in Ugaritic, where it refers to the high god El’s divine assembly. According to the latter view, which is reflected in the translation, the Lord delegated jurisdiction over the nations to his angelic host (cf. Dan. 10:13-21), while reserving for himself Israel, over whom he rules directly. For a defense of the view taken here, see M. S. Heiser, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God,” BSac 158 (2001): 52-74.
25 sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.
26 tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”
27 tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).
28 tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
29 tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”
30 tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.
