Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 11:6-9 
Context11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, 1 sons of Eliab the Reubenite, 2 when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp 3 and swallowed them, their families, 4 their tents, and all the property they brought with them. 5 11:7 I am speaking to you 6 because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!
11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments 7 I am giving 8 you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 9 11:9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors 10 and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
1 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).
2 tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”
5 tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”
6 tn On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. 3.
7 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).
8 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
9 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
