Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 6:3 
Context6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number 1 – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, 2 said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 26:5
Context26:5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering 3 Aramean 4 was my ancestor, 5 and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, 6 but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people.
1 tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).
3 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
4 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
5 tn Heb “father.”
6 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
