Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 29:1-15 
Context29:1 (28:69) 1 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. 2
29:2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did 3 in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land. 29:3 Your eyes have seen the great judgments, 4 those signs and mighty wonders. 29:4 But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears! 5 29:5 I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out 6 nor have your sandals 7 deteriorated. 29:6 You have eaten no bread and drunk no wine or beer – all so that you might know that I 8 am the Lord your God! 29:7 When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them. 29:8 Then we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
29:9 “Therefore, keep the terms 9 of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do. 29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, 10 your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the 11 foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. 12 29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, 13 just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors 14 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. 15
1 sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
2 sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
3 tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation.
4 tn Heb “testings.” This is a reference to the plagues; see note at 4:34.
5 tn Heb “a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear” (NASB similar); NAB, NRSV “a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.”
6 tn The Hebrew text includes “on you.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn The Hebrew text includes “from on your feet.”
8 tc The LXX reads “that he is the
9 tn Heb “words.”
10 tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”
11 tn Heb “your.”
12 tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”
13 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.
14 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).
15 tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
