1
tn Heb “words.”
2tn Heb “to all Israel.”
3tn Heb “on the other side of the Jordan.” This would appear to favor authorship by one living on the west side of the Jordan, that is, in Canaan, whereas the biblical tradition locates Moses on the east side (cf. v. 5). However the Heb. phrase /D}r+Yh^ rb#u@B= is a frozen form meaning Transjordan, a name appropriate from any geographical vantage point. To this day, one standing east of the Jordan can describe himself as being in Transjordan.
4tn Heb lom may also mean “in front of” or “near.”
5sn This place is otherwise unattested and its location is unknown. Perhaps it is Kh. Sufah, 6 km SSE of Madaba, Jordan.
6tn Heb /yB@ may suggest “in the area of” or the like.
7sn Paran is the well-known desert area between Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea (cf. Num 10:12; 12:16).
8sn Tophel. Possibly et£-Tafîleh, 25 km SE of the Dead Sea, or Da‚bîlu, another name for Paran. H. Cazelles, “Tophel (Deut. 1:1),” VT 9 (1959): 412-15.
9sn Laban. Perhaps Libnah (Num 33:20).
10sn Hazeroth. Likely àAin Khadra. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 1979, 199-200.
11sn Di Zahab. Perhaps Mina al-Dhahab on the east Sinai coast.
12sn Eleven day journey. About 140 miles.
13sn Horeb. The same as Sinai. Horeb occurs 9x in Deut and Sinai only once (33:2). Sinai occurs 13x in Exod and Horeb only 3x.
14sn Kadesh Barnea. Possibly àAin Qudeis, about 80 km SW of Beersheba, but more likely àAin Qudeirat, 8 km NW of ‘Ain Qudeis. R. Cohen, BAR 7/3 (1981): 2-33.
15sn Mt. Seir. This is synonymous with Edom. “By way of Mt. Seir” refers to the route from Horeb that ended up in Edom.
16tn Heb “in” or “on.” Here there is a contrast between the ordinary time of 11 days (v. 2) and the actual time of 40 years, so “not until” brings out that vast disparity.
17sn The eleventh month is Shebat in the Hebrew calendar, January/February in the modern (Gregorian) calendar.
18sn The fortieth year would be 1406 B.C. according to the “early” date of the exodus. E. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests. A History of Old Testament Israel, 66-75.
19tn Heb “when he struck (or smote).”
20sn See 2:26-3:22.
21tn Heb “who lived.”
22sn Heshbon is probably modern Tell Hesba„n, about 12 km SSW of Amman.
23tn Heb “who lived.”
24sn Ashtaroth is probably Tell àAshtarah, about 35 km due east of the Sea of Galilee.
25sn Edrei. Probably Deráa, 95 km S of Damascus (see Num 21:33; Josh 12:4; 13:12, 31).
26tn Heb hr`ot; the noun comes from the verb hry, “to teach,” and here it means not the Pentateuch as a whole but the book of Deuteronomy.
27tn Heb “saying.”
28tn Heb “lived,” “dwelt.”
29tn Heb “turn.”
30tn Heb “go.”
31tn Heb “its dwelling places.”
32sn The Shephelah is the geographical region between the Mediterranean coastal plain and the Judean hill country. Its meaning is “lowlands” or “steppes.”
33sn The term Negeb means, literally, “desert” or “south.” It refers to the area south of Beersheba and generally west of the Arabah Valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
34tn Heb “the land.”
35tn Heb “the LORD.”
36tn Heb “seed.”
37tn Heb “to carry.”
38tn Heb “multiplied you.”
39tn Heb “heavens.”
40tn Heb “may he bless you.”
41tn Heb “your burden.”
42tn Heb <yn]bon+ (from /yb) is a niphal form with the idea of skill or intelligence. T. Fretheim, NIDOTTE 1:652-53.
43tn Heb “took.”
44tn Heb “brothers.”
45sn The Hebrew word translated fairly (qd#x#) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment is one that adheres strictly to that norm or standard. D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750.
46tn Heb “man.”
47tn Heb “his brother.”
48tn Heb “his stranger” or “sojourner.” The Hebrew word rg} commonly means “foreigner.”
49tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse.
50tn Heb “and I will hear it.”
51tn Heb “and we came.”
52tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
53tn Heb “given to.”
54tn Heb “the thing was good in my eyes.”
55sn Wadi Eshcol is a verdant valley near Hebron, still famous for its viticulture (cf. Num 13:22-23). The name means “trestle,” that is, the frame on which grape vines grow.
56tn Heb “in your tents,” that is, privately.
57tn Heb “where are we going up?”
58tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”
59tn Heb “greater.”
60tn Heb “we have seen.”
61sn Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).
62tn Heb “do not tremble and do not be afraid.”
63tn Heb “according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”
64tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
65tn Heb “the sound of your words.”
66tn Heb “a man among these men.”
67tn Heb “your.”
68sn Caleb had, with Joshua, brought back to Israel a minority report from Canaan urging a conquest of the land, for he was confident of Yahweh’s power (Num 13:6, 8, 16, 30; 14:30, 38).
69tn Heb “I will give to him.”
70tn Heb “the one who stands before you.”
71tn Heb “it.”
72tn Heb “would be a prey.”
73sn know good from bad. This is a figure of speech called a merism, that is, one that suggests a whole by referring to its extreme opposites. Other examples are the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9), the boy who knows enough “to reject the wrong and choose the right” (Isa 7:16; 8:4), and those who “cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jon 4:11). The very definition of a young child is his or her lack of knowledge.
74sn Reed Sea. “Reed” better translates Heb. [Ws, usually rendered “red.” The name Red Sea is based on the LXX which referred to it as erythra thalassa, “red sea.” The sea in view here is not the one crossed in the exodus but its eastern arm now known as the Gulf of Eilat or Gulf of Aqaba.
75tn Heb “the LORD our God.”
76tn Heb “I will not be.”
77tn Heb “before.”
78tn Heb “the mouth of the LORD.”
79tn Heb “in that hill country.”
80tn Heb “in.”
81sn Hormah is probably Kh. el-Meshash, nine km W of Arad and twelve km SE of Beersheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb <rj, “to ban, exterminate.” See Num 21:3.
82tn Heb “the LORD.”
83tn Heb “did not hear your voice.”
84tn Heb “and turn ear to you.”
85tn Heb “many days.”
86sn the full time refers to the rest of the forty-year period in the desert before Israel arrived in Moab.
1tn Heb “many days.”
2tn Heb “and” or “then.”
3tn Heb “command.”
4sn Esauites (Heb “sons of Esau”). This is the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Heb yn]omd+a^; Gen 25:25).
5tn Heb “treading of the sole of the foot.”
6tn Heb adds “with silver.”
7tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
8tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
9tn Heb “he has.”
10tn Heb “known.”
11tn Heb “the LORD your God has.”
12sn Elath was (and is, by name Eilat) a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. G. Pratico, BASOR 259 (1985) 1-32.
13sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elath (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 24 km SSW from Tell el-Kheleifah.
14sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous to the whole land of Moab.
15sn descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain as God’s judgment, Lot sired two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these offspring of Lot in and around Ar are the Moabites.
16sn Emites. These giant people, like the Anakites (Deut 1:28), were also known as Rephaites (v. 11). They elsewhere appear in the narrative of the invasion of the kings of the East where they are said to have lived around Shaveh Kiriathaim, perhaps 15 to 18 km east of the north end of the Dead Sea (Gen 14:5).
17sn Rephaites. The earliest reference to this infamous giant race is, again, in the story of the invasion of the eastern kings (Gen 14:5). They lived around Ashteroth Karnaim, probably modern Tell ‘Ashtarah (cf. Deut 1:4), in the Bashan plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Og, king of Bashan, was a Rephaite (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). Other texts speak of them or their kinfolk in both Transjordan (Deut 2:20; 3:13) and Canaan (Josh 11:21-22; 14:12, 15; 15:13-14; Judg 1:20; 1 Sam 17:4; 1 Chron 20:4-8). They also appear in extra-biblical literature, especially in connection with the city state of Ugarit. C. L’Heureux, HThR 67 (1974): 265-74.
18sn 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).
19tn Heb “the LORD.”
20sn Wadi Zered. Now known as Wadi el-esa, this valley marked the boundary between Moab to the north and Edom to the south.
21tn Heb “we crossed the Wadi Zered.”
22tn Heb “the days.”
23sn Ar. See note on Deut 2:9.
24sn Lot’s descendants. See note on Deut 2:9.
25sn Rephaites. See note on Deut 2:11.
26tn Heb “formerly.”
27sn Zamzummites. Just as the Moabites called Rephaites by the name Emites, the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (or Zazites; Gen 14:5).
28tn Heb “them.”
29tn Heb “them.”
30tn Heb “and they dispossessed.”
31sn Avvites. Otherwise unknown, these were probably also Anakite (or Rephaite) giants who lived in the lower Mediterranean coastal plain until they were expelled by the Caphtorites.
32sn Caphtorites. These peoples are familiar from both the OT (Gen 10:14; 1 Chron 1:12; Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7) and ancient Near Eastern texts (Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:37-38; Pritchard, ANET, 138; Gadd, CAH 1/2:428-30). They originated in Crete (OT Caphtor) and are identified as the ancestors of the Philistines (Gen 10:14; Jer 47:4).
33tn Heb “and settled in their place.”
34sn Sihon . . . of Heshbon. A prominent site (now Tell Hesbn; see note on Deut 1:4), Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30).
35tn Heb “under heaven.”
36tn Heb “from before you.”
37sn Kedemoth. This is likely ‘Aleiyân, about 13 km north of the Arnon and between Dibon and Mattanah.
38tn Heb Er#D#B^ Er#D#B^, “in the way in the way.” The repetition lays great stress on the idea of resolute determination to stick to the path. Waltke and O’Connor, BHS, 116.
39tn Heb “silver.”
40tn Heb “hardened his spirit.”
41tn Heb “make his heart obstinate.”
42tn Heb “people.”
43sn Jahaz. Probably Kh. el-Medeiyineh. J. Dearman, BASOR 276 (1984): 55-57.
44tn Heb “all his people.”
45sn divine curse. This pertains to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in his omniscience, he knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant. The verb employed is <rj (usually in the hiphil) and the associated noun is <r#j@. J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77.
46tn Heb “every city of men.”
47tn Heb “take.”
48sn Aroer. Now ‘Ara’ir on the northern edge of the Arnon river, Aroer marked the southern limit of Moab and, later, of the allotment of the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:9, 16).
49sn city in the wadi. This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar (see note 92) or, more likely, Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer . . . , that is, the city in the wadi.” D. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1-11, 49.
50sn Wadi Jabbok. Now known as the river Zerqa, this is a major tributary of the Jordan that normally served as a boundary between Ammon and Gad (Deut 3:16).
1tn Heb “turned and went up.”
2sn Bashan. This plateau country, famous for its oaks (Isa 2:13) and cattle (Deut 32:14; Amos 4:1), was north of Gilead along the Yarmuk river.
3tn Heb “people.”
4sn Edrei. Modern Der’a (see Deut 1:4 and note).
5tn Heb “people.”
6tn Heb “we smote.”
7sn Argob. This is a subdistrict of Bashan, perhaps north of the Yarmuk. Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314.
8tn Heb yz]r`P= refers to rural areas, at the most unwalled villages.
9tn Heb <r}j&n^, lit., “we put them under <r#j@,” that is, the ban. See note on Deut 2:34.
10sn Mount Hermon. This is the famous peak at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Known today as Jebel es-Sheik, it is likely the mountain of Jesus’ transfiguration (Mark 9:2).
11sn Sidonians. These were Phoenician inhabitants of the city of Sidon (now in Lebanon), about 75 km north of Mount Carmel.
12sn Sirion. This name is attested in the Ugaritic texts as ryn. C. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 495.
13sn Senir. Probably this was actually one of the peaks of Hermon and not the main mountain (Song of Songs 4:8; 1 Chron 5:23). It is mentioned in a royal inscription of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (saniru; Pritchard, ANET, 280).
14sn Salecah. Today known as alkhad, in Jordan, ca. 50 km east of the Jordan in the Hauran Desert.
15sn Edrei. See note on 1:4.
16tn Heb hN}h!, “behold.”
17sn sarcophagus. Heb. cr#u#, usually translated “bed,” is likely a basaltic (volcanic) stone sarcophagus of suitable size to contain the coffin of the giant Rephaite king. Its iron-like color and texture caused it to be described as an iron container. A. Millard, BAR 6 (1990): 16-21, 44.
18sn Rabbath. This place name (usually occurring as Rabbah; 2 Sam 11:11; 12:27; Jer 49:3) refers to the ancient capital of the Ammonite kingdom, now the modern city of Amman, Jordan. The word means “great (one),” probably because of its political importance. The fact that the sarcophagus “still remain(ed)” there suggests this part of the verse is post-Mosaic, having been added as a matter of explanation for the existence of the artifact and also to verify the claim as to its size.
19tn Heb “cubit of man.” The cubit was 18-20 inches long so the sarcophagus could have been as long as 15 feet and as wide as 6 2/3 feet!
20sn Aroer. See note on Deut 2:36.
21sn Reubenites . . . Gadites. By the time of Moses’ address the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had already been granted permission to settle in the Transjordan provided they helped the other tribes subdue the occupants of Canaan (cf. Num 32:28-42).
22sn Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh split into clans with half opting to settle in Bashan and the other half in Canaan (cf. Num 32:39-42; Josh 17:1-13).
23sn Argob. See note on v. 4.
24sn Geshurites. Geshur was a city and its surrounding area somewhere NE of Bashan (cf. Josh 12:5 ; 13:11, 13). One of David’s wives was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur and mother of Absalom (cf. 2 Sam 13:37; 15:8; 1 Chron 3:2).
25sn Maacathites. This refers to the people of a territory SW of Mount Hermon on the Jordan river. The name likely has nothing to do with David’s wife from Geshur (see previous note).
26tn Heb “them.”
27sn Havroth-Jair. The Heb. rya!y` tW)j^ means “villages of Jair,” the latter being named after a son (descendant) of Manasseh who took the area in conquest.
28sn Machir. This was another descendant of Manasseh (cf. Num 32:41; 1 Chron 7:14-19). Eastern Manasseh was thus divided between the Jairites and the Machirites.
29tn Heb “as far as.”
30sn Chinnereth. Another name for the Sea of Galilee, so called because its shape is that of a harp (Heb. roNK!).
31sn Salt Sea. The Dead Sea (cf. Gen 14:3; Josh 3:16).
32tn The meaning of Heb. tDov=a^ is unclear. It is usually translated either “slopes” (NIV) or “watershed” (NEB).
33sn Pisgah. This appears to be a small range of mountains, the most prominent peak of which is Mount Nebo (Num 21:20; 23:14; Deut 3:27; cf. 34:1).
34tn Heb “commanded.”
35tn Heb “to possess it.”
36tn Heb “your brothers, the sons of Israel.”
37tn Heb “gives your brothers rest.”
38tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
39tn Heb “your eyes are seeing.”
40tn Heb “which you are crossing over there.”
41tn Heb hw]hy+ yn`doa& (“Lord LORD”) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.”
42tn Heb “your servant.”
43tn Heb “much to you.”
44tn Heb “he will cross over before this people.”
45sn Beth Peor. This is likely the spot near Pisgah where Balaam attempted to curse the nation Israel (Num 23:28). The Moabites also worshiped Baal there by the name Baal (of) Peor (Num 25:1-5).
1tn Heb “hear.”
2sn These technical terms (Heb. <y]Qj% and <yf!P*v=m!) occur repeatedly throughout Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word <y]Qj% derives from the verb qj, “to inscribe, carve,” and <yf!P*v=m! from fpv, “to judge.” They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.
3tn Heb “commanding.”
4tn Heb “your eyes.”
5tc LXX, Syr read “to Baal Peor,” that is, the god worshiped at that place; see note on Deut 3:29.
6tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
7tn Heb “every man.”
8tn Heb “clung to.”
9tn Heb “the LORD my God.”
10tn Heb “to do thus.”
11tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”
12tn Heb “wise and understanding.”
13tn Heb “righteous.”
14sn Heb taZ)h^ hr`oTh^, in this context, refers specifically to the book of Deuteronomy. That is, it is the collection of all the <yQ!j% and <yf!P*v=m! to be included in the covenant text. In a full canonical sense, of course, it pertains to the entire Pentateuch or Torah.
15tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul.”
16tn Heb “turn your heart.”
17tn Heb “make them known.”
18tn Heb “(the) day when.”
19tn Heb “the LORD.”
20tn Heb “fear.”
21tn Heb “as far as the heart of the heavens.”
22tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”
23tn Heb “voice of words.”
24sn This is the first occurrence of the word tyr]B= (“covenant”) in Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. M. Weinfeld, TDOT, 2:255.
25tn Heb “words.”
26tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”
27tn Heb “creeping thing.”
28 tn Heb “under the earth.”
29tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”
30tn Heb “under heaven.”
31tn Heb “taken.”
32sn Heb rWK (cf. Akk kru), “furnace,” is a metaphor for the intense heat of purification. A rWK was not a source of heat but a crucible in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away. I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE, 2:618-619. Thus, Egypt served not as a place of punishment but a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.
33tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
34tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
35sn The juxtaposition of Heb va@ (“fire”) and aN`q^ (“jealous”) is interesting in light of Deut 6:15 where the LORD is seen as a jealous God whose anger bursts into a destructive fire. For God to be “jealous” is to understand that his holiness and uniqueness cannot tolerate pretended or imaginary rivals. It is not petty envy but response to an act of insubordination that must be severely judged. H. Peels, NIDOTTE, 3:937-940.
36tn Heb “a form of anything.”
37sn This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a byr] or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the LORD’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the LORD here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.
38tn Heb “you will not lengthen days upon it.”
39tn Heb “you will be left few of number.”
40sn Or “when.”
41tn Heb “to his voice.”
42tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
43sn Heb <d`a* may mean either Adam or, more likely, man in the sense of the human race. The idea here seems more universal in scope than reference to Adam alone would suggest.
44tn Heb “has it been heard like it?”
45tn Heb “tried to go to take.”
46tn Heb “outstretched arm.”
47tn Heb “you have been shown to know.”
48tn Heb “made you hear his voice.”
49tn Heb “and his words you heard from the midst.”
50sn The concept of love here is not primarily that of emotional affection but of elective grace. This verse suggests that God chose Israel because he loved them but, in effect, to choose (rjB) is to love (bha) and vice-versa. This is best seen in Deut 7:7 where rjB and bha appear as essentially synonymous terms. E. Nicole, NIDOTTE, 2:638-642.
51tc SP, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read third person masculine plural suffix for MT 3ms, “his descendants.” Cf. Deut 10:15. Quite likely MT should be emended in this instance.
52tn Heb “after.”
53sn he chose their descendants who followed them. See note on “loved” in this verse.
54tn Heb “in his presence.”
55tn Heb “commanding.”
56tn Heb “the slayer who slew his neighbor without knowledge.”
57tn Heb “live.”
58tn Heb “Moses.”
59tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”
60sn This mountain (Heb /aoyc!), not to be confused with Zion (Heb /oYx!), is another name for Hermon, also called Sirion and Senir (cf. Deut 3:9).
61tn See note on Deut 3:17.
1tn Heb adds “saying to them.”
2tn Heb “speak in your ears.”
3tn Heb “the LORD.”
4tn Heb “at that time.”
5sn in my place. The Heb. phrase (y^n`P*-lu^) means, literally, “upon my face,” or “before me.” The idea is that of placing any other god before the LORD in the sense of taking his place.
6tn Heb “under the earth.”
7tn Heb “visiting.”
8sn Just as “to love” (bha) means, in a covenant context, to choose, so “to hate” (anc) means to reject (cf. note on Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).
9sn This theologically rich term (ds#j#) describes God’s loyalty to those who keep covenant with him. Sometimes it is used synonymously with tyr]B=, “covenant” (Deut 7:9), and sometimes interchangeably with it (Deut 7:12). H.-J. Zobel, TDOT, 5:44-64.
10sn By a slight emendation (<yp!WLa&l^ for <yp!l*a&l^) the rendering could be “clans” for MT “thousands.” However, no ms or versional evidence exists for this.
11sn See note on v. 9.
12tn Heb “his.”
13tn Heb “take up.”
14tn Heb “to emptiness.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but the use of the Divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (Heb aw+v*) and empty ends.
15tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”
16sn Set apart. That is, to put to special use, in this case, to sacred purposes.
17sn There is somewhat of a paronomasia (play on words) here: “the seventh (yu!yb!V=h^) day is the sabbath (tB*v^) . . . .” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, “sabbath” deriving from the verb tbv, “to cease.”
18tn Heb “in your gates.”
19tn Heb “a slave.”
20sn Honor. The imperative here means, literally, “regard as heavy” (Heb dB@K^). That is, great importance must be ascribed to parents by their children.
21tn Heb “commanded.”
22tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
23sn Murder. The verb here (jxr) is generic for homicide in general but since killing in war, as capital punishment, and the like was permitted and even commanded (Deut 13:5, 9; 20:13, 16-17), the technical meaning here is murder.
24tn Heb “neighbor.”
25sn The Heb verb here (dmj) is different from the one translated “crave” (hwa) in the next line. The former has sexual overtones (“lust” or the like; cf. Song of Sol 2:3) whereas the latter has more the idea of a desire for material things.
26tn Heb “your neighbor’s.”
27tn Heb “your neighbor’s.”
28tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
29tn Heb “and he did not add.”
30tn Heb “them.”
31tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”
32tn Heb “this day we have seen.”
33tn Heb “flesh.”
34tn Heb “the LORD our God.”
35tn Heb “the sound of your words.”
36tn Heb “who will give that their heart might be (like) this to them.”
37sn Commandments. MT actually has singular (hw`x=M!h^) suggesting, perhaps, that the following terms (<yQ!j% and <yf!p*v=m!) are in epexegetical apposition to “commandment.” That is, it could be translated “the entire command, namely, the statutes and ordinances.” This would essentially make hw`x=m! synonymous with hr`oT, the usual term for the whole collection of law.
38tn Heb “to possess it.”
39tn Heb “in all the way.”
40tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
41tn Heb “commanded you.”
1sn The word hw`x=m! again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on 5:31.
2sn Here the terms are not the usual <yQ!j% and <yf!P*v=m! (as in v. 1) but toQj% and tox=m!. It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.
3tn Heb “commanding.”
4tn Heb “listen.”
5sn Verses 4 and 5 constitute the so-called Shema (after the first word um^v=, “hear”), widely regarded as the very heart of Jewish confession and faith. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment of all, he quoted this text (Matt 22:37-38). The most perplexing interpretive problem lies in the meaning of dj*a#, translated here as “one.” It could also be rendered “alone”: “as for the LORD your God, (he) alone is the LORD.” This is most suitable in the context of covenant for it is an appeal to the LORD’s claims to exclusive sovereignty. On the other hand, dj*a# bears overtones of unity and not just singularity so it provides entrée into the NT doctrine of a Triune God—three persons and one essence. Jensen, NIDOTTE, 1:349-351.
6sn Love. The verb bha in this setting communicates not so much an emotional idea as one of covenant commitment. To love the LORD is to be absolutely obedient to him in every respect, a truth Jesus himself taught (cf. John 14:15). See note on Deut 4:37.
7tn Heb “heart.” In OT physiology the heart (Heb bl@, bb*l@) was considered the seat of the mind or intellect. Thus, one could think with his/her heart. A. Luc, NIDOTTE, 2:749-754.
8tn Heb “soul.” Contrary to Hellenistic ideas of a soul that is discrete and separate from the body and spirit, OT anthropology equated the soul (Heb vp#n#) with the person himself. It is therefore best in most cases to translate vp#n# as “being,” or the like. See H. W. Wolff. Anthropology of the Old Testament, 10-25.
9sn For NT variations on the Shema see Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27.
10tn Heb “upon your heart.”
11tn Heb “repeat.” If /nv I, the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (pi’el); cf. BDB, 1041-1042.
12sn Later Jewish tradition referred to the little leather containers tied to the forearms and foreheads as tefillin. They were to contain the following passages from the Torah: Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut 6:5-9; 11:13-21. The purpose was to serve as signs (Heb toa) of covenant relationship and obedience.
13tn Heb tpof*fo was also known later as tefillin (previous note), or, in Greek, phylaktrion (“phylactery”). These box-like containers, like those on the forearms, held the same scraps of the Torah. It is the hypocritical practice of wearing these without heartfelt sincerity that caused Jesus to speak scathingly about them (cf. Matt 23:5).
14tn Heb “between your eyes.”
15sn Heb tz)Wzm= refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing Scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the Decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. Tigay, Deuteronomy, 443-444.
16tn Heb “fill.”
17tn Heb “you eat and you are full.”
18tn Heb “the gods.”
19tn Heb “be kindled.”
20sn The place name Massah (Heb hS*m^) derives from a root (hsn) meaning “to test, try.” The reference here is to the experience in the Sinai desert when Moses struck the rock to obtain water (Exod 17:1-2). The complaining Israelites had, thus, tested the LORD, a wickedness that gave rise to the naming of the place (Exod 17:7; cf. Deut 9:22; 33:8).
21tn Heb “of the LORD your God.”
22tn Heb “upright.”
23tn Heb “the LORD.”
24tn Heb “your son.”
25tn Heb “to your son.”
26tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The LORD is commonly depicted as a Divine Warrior in Deut (cf. 5:15; 7:8; 9:26; 26:8).
27tn Heb “the LORD.”
28tn Heb “house.”
29tn Heb “he might bring us to give us.”
30tn Heb “the LORD our God.”
31tn Heb “righteousness will be to us.”
32sn Commandment (Heb hw`x=m!), here in the singular, refers to the entire body of covenant stipulations.
1sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B.C.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 B.C.).
2sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see note 323).
3sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 B.C. or thereabouts.
4sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 B.C.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.
5sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
6sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on Deut 2:12).
7sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
8sn seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites (Gen 10:15-19).
9tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
10tn Heb “daughter” (singular; here and elsewhere in the verse).
11sn This is a transliteration of a Hebrew word (tobx@m^) that denotes a standing pillar, usually of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the LORD (Gen 28:18, 22; 31:13; 35:14; Exod 24:4), they were usually associated with pagan cults and rituals (Exod 23:24; 34:13; Deut 12:3; 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; Hos 3:4; 10:1; Jer 43:13).
12sn A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Heb <yr]v@a&, as here). They must be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Jud 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
13tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
14sn prized. Heb hL*g%s= describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chron 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE, 3:224.
15tn Heb “the LORD’s.”
16sn For the verb “love” (bha) as a term of choice or election, see the note on Deut 4:37.
17sn oath. This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).
18sn redeeming. The verb hdp has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the LORD as ransom in exchange for deliverence from bondage and death (Exod 12:1-14). Later, the firstborn sons of Israel, represented by the Levites, became the ransom (Num 3:11-13). These were all types of redemption effected by the death of Christ who described his atoning work as “a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28; cf. 1 Pet 1:18).
19tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of tyr]B= and ds#j# should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial in which ds#j# modifies the verb rmv (“keeps”).
20sn hate. For this term as synonymous with rejection or disobedience see note on Deut 5:9.
21tn Heb “to his face,” that is, the face of the one hating the LORD.
22tn Heb “he will not hesitate.”
23tn Heb “the covenant and loyalty.” Again, this hendiadys should be understood as “gracious (or “faithful” or “loyal”) covenant” or the like.
24sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very word (hr`q*u&) used here, an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.
25tn Heb “turn aside from you.”
26tn Heb “he will not place among you.”
27tn Heb “devour.”
28tn Heb “if you say in your heart.”
29tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
30tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
31sn The meaning of the term translated “hornet” (hu*r+x!) is somewhat debated. Various suggestions are “discouragement” (KB, p 817) and “leprosy” (Ibn Ezra; Tigay, Deuteronomy, p360, n. 33), as well as “hornet” (BDB, p 864). The latter seems most suitable to the verb jlv, “send” (cf. Exod 23:28; Josh 24:12).
32tn Heb “the remnant and those who hide themselves.”
33tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
34tn Heb “the God before you.”
35tn Heb “devour.”
36tn Heb “you will destroy their name from under heaven.”
37sn The Heb word translated “abhorrent” (hb*u@oT) describes anything detestable to the LORD because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. Frequently such things (or even persons) must be condemned to annihilation (Heb. <r#j@) lest they become a means of polluting or contaminating others (cf. Deut 13:17; 20:17-18). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE, 4:315.
38sn The word <r#j@ refers to persons or things placed under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of its complete destruction. See note on Deut 2:34.
39sn This verb (Jqv) is essentially synonymous with the next verb (but); cf. hb*u@oT, note 352), though its field of meaning is more limited to cultic abomination (cf. Lev 11:11, 13; Ps 22:25).
1sn The singular (hw`x=m!) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly Deut 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 (tox=m!) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
2tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
3tn Heb “that he might humble you to test you to know what was in your heart.”
4tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from Heb aWh /m*, i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).
5sn Jesus quoted this text to the Devil in the midst of his 40 day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).
6tn Heb “you know with your heart.”
7tn Heb “the commandments of the LORD your God.”
8tn Heb “a land.”
9tn Heb “not in scarcity you may eat.”
10sn Since iron deposits are few and far between in Palestine, the reference here is probably to iron ore found in mines as opposed to the meteorite iron more commonly known in that area.
11tn Heb “commanding.”
12tn Heb “and are satisfied.”
13tn Heb “your heart lifts up.”
14sn This figure of speech (metonymy) likely describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (Heb [r`c*).
15tn Heb “my strength and the might of my hand.”
16tn SP and Lucian add “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the standard way of rendering this almost stereotypical formula (cf. Deut 1:8; 6:10; 9:5, 27; 29:13; 30:20; 34:4). MT’s lectio difficilior presumptively argues for its originality, however.
17tn Heb “the voice of the LORD your God.”
1tn Heb “to go to dispossess.”
2tn Heb “to the heavens.”
3sn Anakites. See note on Deut 1:28.
4tn Heb “and you have heard.”
5tn Heb “the LORD.”
6tn Heb “brought.”
7tn Heb “the LORD.”
8tn Heb “you.”
9tn Heb “uprightness of your heart.” The word “righteousness” (hq*d`x=), though essentially synonymous here with “uprightness” (rv#oy), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. Heb rv#oy has more to do with an inner, moral quality. Neither, however, is grounds for appealling to the LORD’s favor. He acts as he does on the basis of his grace and promises.
10tn Heb “the LORD.”
11tn Heb “hard-necked.” The image is that of a draught animal that is unsubmissive to the rein or yoke and refuses to bend its neck to draw the load. This is an apt description of OT Israel (Exod 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut 9:13).
12sn By juxtaposing the positive (rkoz+, “remember”) with the negative (jk^v=T!-la^, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
13tn Heb “the LORD.”
14tn Heb “the LORD.”
15tn Heb “the LORD.”
16tn Heb “in the mountain.”
17tn Heb “no bread and no water.”
18sn Finger. This is a double figure of speech in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself—not Moses in any way—was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).
19tn Heb “according to all the words.”
20tn Heb “the LORD.”
21tn Heb “the tablets.”
22tn Heb “the LORD.”
23tn Heb “this mountain.”
24tn Heb “a casting.” MT reads hk*S@m^ (“a cast thing”) but some manuscripts and SP add lg#u@ (“calf”), “a molten calf” or the like (Exod 32:8). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.
25tn Heb “the LORD.”
26tn Heb “stiff-necked.”
27tn Heb “flee from me.”
28tn Heb “from under heaven.”
29tn Heb “behold, you had.”
30sn Cast calf. See note on v. 12.
31tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
32tn Heb “commanded.”
33tn MT adds “from my two hands.”
34tn Heb “no bread and no water.”
35tn Heb “anger and wrath.” This is a hendiadys construction for the purpose of intensifying the emotion.
36tn Heb “the LORD.”
37tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the molten image).
38tn Heb “burned it.”
39sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the verb rub, “to burn,” thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the LORD’s fiery wrath against Israel because of their constant complaints against him (Num 11:1-3).
40sn Massah. See note on Deut 6:16.
41sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means, literally, “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from over-indulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).
42tn Heb “the LORD.”
43tn Heb “the LORD.”
44tn MT adds “when I prostrated myself.”
45tn Heb “the LORD.”
46tn Heb “the LORD.”
47tn Heb yn`doa& YHWH. To avoid the translation “Lord LORD” Masoretic tradition reads YHWH as <yh!Oa^ (“God”). See note on Deut 3:24.
48tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
49tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
50tn Heb “do not turn toward.”
51tc MT has only “the land.” SP supplies <u^ (“people”) and LXX and its dependents “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form of MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning.
52tn Heb “outstretched arm.”
1sn (same) words. The care with which the copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision. Divine inspiration is concerned with individual words as well as overall content or meaning.
2sn Shittim. This is the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See N. Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
3tn Heb “he.”
4tn Heb “according to the writing.” See note on v. 2.
5tn Heb “words.”
6tn Heb “the LORD.”
7tn Heb “the LORD.”
8tn Heb “and.”
9sn Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan. This could be translated “the wells of Bene-Yaaqan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31-32; 1 Chron 1:42).
10sn Moserah. Since Aaron in other texts is said to have died on Mount Hor (Num 20:28; 33:38), this must be the Arabah region in which Hor was located.
11sn Gudgodah. This is probably the same as Haggidgad, which is also associated with Jotbatah (Num 33:33).
12sn Jotbathah. This “place of wadis” is possibly modern ‘Ain bah, just north of Eilat, or abeh, 11 km S of Eilat on the west shore of the Gulf of Aqaba.
13sn Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11-13; 8:12-26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25-28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.
14sn blessing. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.
15sn inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for 48 towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the LORD himself was their apportionment, that is, service to him would be their full-time and life-long privilege (Num 18:20-24; Deut 18:2; Josh 13:33).
16tn Heb “the LORD.”
17tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
18tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
19tn Heb “heart.”
20tn Heb “heavens of heavens.”
21tn Heb “the LORD.”
22tn Heb “take delight.”
23tn Heb “love.” Here again the verb bha (“love”), juxtaposed with rjb (“choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the LORD’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. note on Deut 4:37).
24tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of.” Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).
25tn Heb “does not lift up faces.”
26tn Heb “your eyes.”
1sn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of parenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. “Obligations” (Heb torm*v=m!) sums up the three terms that follow—toQj%, <yf!P*v=m!, and tox=m!.
2tn Heb “know.”
3tn Heb “strong hand.”
4tn Heb “stretched-out arm.”
5sn Reed Sea. This is the more accurate rendering of [Ws <y`, usually translated “Red Sea.” See note on Deut 1:40.
6tn Heb “the LORD.”
7sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (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).
8tn Heb “son of Reuben.”
9tn Heb “be careful.”
10sn commandment. The singular hw`x=m! speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
11tn Heb “commanding.”
12tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
13tn Heb “prolong days.”
14tn Heb “you are going there to possess it.”
15tn Heb “with your foot.” There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Ar. shadf) still used by Egyptian farmers. C. Aldred, The Egyptians, p 181.
16tn Heb “rain of heaven.”
17 tn Heb “a land.”
18tn Heb “seeks.”
19tn Heb “the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it.” This attention to the land by the LORD is understandable in light of the centrality of the land in the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen 12:1, 7; 13:15; 15:7, 16, 18; 17:8; 26:3).
20sn This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on v. 14.
21sn Love. Again, Heb bha draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).
22tn Heb “heart.”
23sn Former . . . latter. The “former” (Heb hr#oy) and latter” (Heb voql=m^) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.
24tn Heb “give.”
25tn Heb “grass in your field.”
26tn Heb “and be full.”
27tn Heb “your heart is deceived.”
28tn Heb “become hot.”
29tn Heb “the LORD.”
30tn Heb “heart.”
31tn Heb tpof*of; cf. Deut 6:4-9.
32tn Heb “between your eyes.”
33tn Heb “like the days of the heavens upon the earth,” that is, forever.
34tn Heb “the LORD.”
35tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). E. Merrill, NIDOTTE, 1:992.
36tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one facing east, which is the normal OT orientation.
37tn Heb “stand before you.”
38tn Heb “giving.”
39sn blessing . . . curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. In Deut these are fully developed in 27:1-28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.
40tn Heb “listen to.”
41tn Heb “commanding.”
42tn Heb “do not listen to.”
43tn Heb “the commandments of the LORD your God.”
44tn Heb “commanding.”
45tn Heb “walk after.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).
46tn Heb “give.”
47sn Gerizim . . . Ebal. These two mountains are near the ancient site of Shechem and the modern city of Nablus. The valley between them is like a great amphitheater with the mountain slopes as seating sections. The place was sacred because Abraham pitched his camp there and there he built his first altar after coming to Canaan (Gen 12:6). Jacob also settled at Shechem for a time and dug a well from which Jesus once requested a drink of water (Gen 33:18-20; Jn 4:5-7). When Joshua and the Israelites finally brought Canaan under control they assembled at Shechem as Moses commanded and undertook a ritual of covenant reaffirmation (Josh 8:30-35; 24:1, 25). Half the tribes stood on Mount Gerizim and half on Ebal and in antiphonal chorus pledged their loyalty to the LORD before Joshua and the Levites who stood in the valley below (Josh 8:33; cf. Deut 27:11-13).
48tn Heb “after the way of the going down of the sun.”
49sn Gilgal. From a verb root llg (“to roll”) this place name means “circle” or “rolling,” a name given because God had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (Josh 5:9). It is perhaps to be identified with Kh. el-Metjir, 2 km NE of OT Jericho.
50sn oaks of Moreh. MT plural (yn}ola@) should probably be altered (with many Greek texts) to singular /ola@ in line with the only other occurrence of the phrase (Gen 12:6). Syr, Tg Jn read mmr’, confusing this place with the “oaks of Mamre” near Hebron (Gen 13:18). SP also appears to confuse Moreh with Mamre (reading mwr’, a combined form), adding the clarification mwl km (“near Shechem”) apparently to distinguish it from Mamre near Hebron.
51tn Heb “giving to your face.”
1tn Heb “all the days which.”
2sn leafy tree. This 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 note on Deut 7:5). J. Hadley, NIDOTTE, 1:569-570. J. DeMoor, TDOT, 1:438-444.
3sn pillars. These are the tobX@m^ or stelae associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See note on Deut 7:5.
4sn <yr]v@a&. See note on v. 2.
5tn Heb “name.”
6tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
7tn residence. Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend MT onk=v! (“his residence”) to the inf. cst. /k@v*l= (“to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3ms sf onK=v^l= (“to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed noun /k#v# is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with hM*v^ (“there”) favors the MT as it stands.
8tn Heb “of your hand.”
9tn Heb “your vows.”
10tn Heb “the sending out of your hands.”
11tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
12tn Heb “all that is right in his eyes.”
13tn Heb “rest.”
14tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
15tn Heb “causing you to inherit.”
16tn Heb “of your hand.”
17tn Heb “the LORD.”
18tn Heb “within your gates.”
19sn no allotment or inheritance. See note on Deut 10:9.
20tn Heb “see.”
21tn Heb “offer burnt offerings.”
22tn Heb “tribes.”
23sn This injunction to worship in a single and central sancturary—one limited and appropriate to the thrice-annual festival celebrations (see Exod 23:14-17; 34:22-24; Lev 23:4-36; Deut 16:16-17)—marks a departure from previous times when worship was carried out at local shrines (cf. Gen 8:20; 12:7; 13:18; 22:9; 26:25; 35:1, 3, 7; Exod 17:15). Apart from the corporate worship of the whole theocratic community, however, worship at local altars would still be permitted as in the past (Deut 16;21; Judg 6:24-27; 13:19-20; 1 Sam 7:17; 10:5, 13; 2 Sam 24:18-25; 1 Kgs 18:30).
24tn Heb “gates.”
25tn Heb “gates.”
26tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
27tn Heb “in your gates.”
28tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”
29tn Heb “leave.”
30tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”
31tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
32tn Heb “the LORD.”
33tn Heb “gates.”
34sn blood is life. This is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which the cause or means (the blood) stands for the result or effect (life). That is, life depends upon the existence and circulation of blood, a truth known empirically but not scientifically tested and proved until the 17th century (cf. Lev 17:11).
35tc LXX adds “your God” to create the common formula, “the LORD your God.” MT is preferred precisely because it fails to attest the stereotype thus preserving a more likely, uncorrected original.
36tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes.
37sn sacrifices. These would be so-called peace or fellowship offerings whose ritual required a different use of the blood from that of burnt (sin and trespass) offerings (cf. Lev 3; 7:11-14, 19-21).
38tn Heb “the altar of the LORD your God.”
39tn Heb “after them.”
40tn Heb “every abomination of the LORD.”
41tn Heb MT adds “with fire.”
1tn you. This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions—one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural—which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (pl.) you (pl.) must be careful to do; you (sing.) must not add to it nor should you (sing.) subtract form it.” SP, LXX, Syr, Vg suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few SP manuscripts propose plural for the last two. What both ancient and modern scholars tend to overlook, however, is the covenantal theological tone of Deuteronomy, one that views Israel as a collective body (singular) made up of many individuals (plural). M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11, 15-16; J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy, 21-23.
2sn add . . . or subtract. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) this work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).
3tn Heb “rise up.”
4tn MT adds “of dreams.” The difference between a prophet (Heb ayb!n`) and dreamer (Heb <l@jo) was not so much one of office—for both received revelation by dreams (cf. Num 12:6)—as it was of function or emphasis. The prophet was more a proclaimer and interpreter of revelation whereas the dreamer was a receiver of revelation. In later times the role of the dreamer was abused and thus denigrated as compared to that of the prophet. As Jeremiah put it, “Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word [that is, the prophet] speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” (Jer 23:28).
5sn sign or token. The expression tp@om oa toa became a formulaic way of speaking of ways of authenticating prophetic messages or other works of God (cf. Deut 28:46; Isa 20:3). The NT equivalent is Greek shmeivwn, signs performed (usually by John 2:11, 18; 20:30-31). They could, however, be counterfeited or (as here) permitted to false prophets by the LORD as a means of testing his people.
6tn Heb “come.”
7tn MT adds “of dreams.”
8tn Heb “to know.”
9tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
10tn Heb “heart.”
11tn MT adds “of dreams.”
12tn Heb “spoke.”
13tn Heb “he redeemed.”
14tn Heb “your midst.” The severity of the judgment here (i.e., capital punishment) is because of the severity of the sin, namely, high treason against the Great King. Idolatry is a violation of the first two commandments (Deut 5:6-10) as well as the spirit and intent of the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
15tn Heb “son of your mother.” In a polygamous society it was not rare, of course, to have half brothers and sisters by way of a common father and different mothers.
16tn Heb “the friend who is like your soul.”
17tn Heb “people.”
18sn The accuser must be the first to impose punishment because he was the first to draw attention to the violation and also because this would put a brake on wild and unsupported charges by him. Once the community was satisfied as to the validity of the claims they would join in on the execution of justice as a corporate entity.
19sn stones. Execution by this means afforded a mechanism whereby the whole community could share in it. In a very real sense it could be done not only in the name of the community and on its behalf but by its members (cf. Lev 24:14; Num 15:35; Deut 21:21; Josh 7:25).
20sn This is clearly an argument for the deterrent effect of capital punishment (Deut 17:13; 19:20; 21:21).
21tn Heb “if you should hear.”
22tn Heb “to live there.”
23tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” Heb. lu^Y^l!B= has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (KB, 130).
24tn Heb “and have drawn away.”
25tc LXX and Tg have “your” for MT “their.”
26tn Heb “and search.”
27tn Theodotian adds “in Israel,” perhaps to broaden the matter beyond the local village.
28tn Heb <r#j@. Though usually applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7).
29tn Heb “street.”
30tn MT adds “with fire.”
31tn Heb lT@ refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).
32tn Heb “of the <r#j@”; see note 569.
33tn Heb “turn from.”
34tn Heb “commanding.”
35tc SP, LXX add “and good” to bring the phrase in line with a familiar cliché (cf. Deut 6:18; Josh 9:25; 2 Kgs 10:3; 2 Chron 14:1; etc.). This is an unnecessary and improper attempt to force a text into a preconceived mold.
36tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
1sn cut . . . make . . . bald. These were pagan practices whose meaning is not altogether clear but because they were pagan they could not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5). For other warnings against them see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.
2tn Heb “the LORD.”
3tn Heb hL*g%s=. This term (and the whole verse) is reminiscent of the classic covenant text (Exod 19:4-6) which describes Israel’s entry into covenant relationship with the LORD. Israel must resist paganism and its trappings precisely because she is a holy people elected by the LORD from among the nations to be his instrument of world redemption (cf. Deut 7:6; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).
4tn Heb hb*u@oT (see note on Deut 7:25).
5sn Heb lY`a^. Perhaps a deer (cf. Ar ‘ayyl).
6sn Heb yb!x=. Sometimes rendered “roebuck.”
7sn Heb rWmj=y^. Perhaps “fallow deer”; cf. Ar yamr, “deer.”
8sn Heb /voyD]. This hapax is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope.
9sn Heb oaT= (variant aoT) could also be another species of antelope.
10sn Heb rm#z#. Hapax with possible meaning “wild sheep.”
11tn Heb “brings up.”
12tn MT adds “among the animals.”
13tn Heb “bring up.”
14sn Heb /p*v*. Perhaps “coney” or “hyrax.”
15tc MT lacks (probably by haplography) hs*r^P^ us^v# us^vow+ (“and is clovenfooted,” i.e., “has parted hooves”), a phrase found in the otherwise exact parallel in Lev 11:7. SP, LXX attest the longer reading here. The meaning is, however, clear without it.
16tn Heb “corpse.”
17tn Heb “which is in the water.”
18sn Heb sr#P#. Otherwise known as the ossifrage, this largest of the vultures takes its name from its habit of dropping skeletal remains from a great height so as to break the bones apart.
19sn Heb hY`n]z+u*; perhaps the ospray, an eagle-like bird subsisting mainly on fish.
20sn Heb hY`D^. This, with the previous two (ha*r` and hY`a^), is probably a kite of some species but otherwise impossible to specify.
21sn Heb hn`u&Y^h^ tb^; possibly the owl.
22sn Heb sm^j=T^; possibly the nighthawk.
23sn Heb Jn}; possibly the hawk.
24sn Heb tm#v#n+T!; perhaps the swan.
25sn Heb ta*q*; perhaps the pelican.
26tc MT reads niphal (passive) for expected qal (“you [plur] must not eat”); cf. SP, LXX. However, the lectio difficilior should stand.
27tn Heb “gates.”
28sn This strange prohibition—one whose rationale is unclear but probably related to pagan ritual—may seem out of place here but, indeed, is not and for the following reasons: (1) the passage as a whole opens with prohibition against heathen mourning rites (i.e., death, vv. 1-2) and closes with what appear to be birth and infancy rites. (2) In the other two places where the stipulation occurs (Exod 23:19 and Exod 34:26) it similarly concludes major sections. (3) Whatever the practice signified it clearly was abhorrent to the LORD and fittingly concludes the topic of various breaches of purity and holiness as represented by the ingestion of unclean animals (vv. 3-21).
29sn grape juice. Heb voryT! means “new wine,” that is, wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (Heb /y]y^) in its mature sense.
30tn MT adds “way is so far from you that you are unable to carry it because the.”
31tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
32tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
33tn Heb “give.
34tn Heb “bind the silver in your hand.”
35tn Heb “your soul asks you.”
36tn Heb “rejoice.”
37tn Heb “gates.”
38tn Heb “leave.”
39tn Heb “cause it to rest.”
40tn Heb “gates.”
41tn Heb “gates.”
42tn Heb “be satisfied.”
43tn Heb “labor of your hands that you do.”
1tn Heb “make.”
2sn Heb tF*m!v=, a derivative of the verb fmv (“to release, relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. R. Wakely, NIDOTTE, 4:155-160.
3tn Heb “master of the loan of his hand.”
4tn Heb “called.”
5tn Heb “yours.”
6tn Heb “your hand.”
7tc After the phrase “the LORD” many manuscripts and versions add “your God” to complete the usual full epithet.
8tn MT has “the LORD your God.” In the translation this has been changed to the pronoun “he” in keeping with contemporary English style, which would see the repetition of the name as redundant.
9tc MT adds “to possess.”
10tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
11tn Heb “commanding.”
12tn Heb “much.”
13tn Heb “gates.”
14tn Heb “withdraw your hand.”
15tn Heb “whatever his need that he needs for himself.”
16tn Heb “your eye.”
17tn Heb “a sin to you.”
18tc LXX Orig adds, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.
tn Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.”
19tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hand.”
20tn Heb “commanding.”
21tn Heb “your.”
22sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called Hebrews (yr]b=u!) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:33; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jon 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exodus 21:2-6 yr]b=u! may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ‘apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely yr]b=u! is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.
23tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.
24tn MT adds “from you.”
25tn Heb “you shall remember.”
26tn Heb “go out from.”
27tn Heb “give it to.”
28sn Ear to the door. The door in question was that of the master’s house. In effect, the bondslave is declaring his undying and lifelong loyalty to his creditor. The scar (or even hole) in the earlobe would testify to the community that the slave had surrendered independence and personal rights. This is probably what Paul had in mind when he said “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
29tn Heb “let it not be hard in your eyes.”
30sn hn#v=m! (“twice”) could mean “equivalent to” or, more likely, “double.” The idea is that a hired worker would put in only so many hours per day whereas a bondslave was available around the clock.
31tn Heb vyD]q=T^, “sanctify,” that is, put to use on behalf of the LORD.
32tn Heb “it.”
33tn Heb “any evil blemish.”
34tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
35tn Heb “in your gates.”
36tn clean. LXX adds ejn soi (“among you”) to make clear that the antecedant is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.
1sn Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.
2tn Heb “in the month Abib.”
3tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
4tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
5tn Heb “the LORD.”
6tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”
7tn MT adds “until morning.”
8tn Heb “in one.”
9tn Heb “gates.”
10tn MT la# (“unto”) before “the place” should, with SP, Syr, Tgs, Vg, be omitted in favor of b (<oqM*B^), “in the place.”
11tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
12tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
13tn Heb “you shall turn in the morning and go to your tents.”
14tn Heb “from the beginning of the sickle against/to.”
15sn Heb toub%v* gj^. This is otherwise known in the OT (Exod 23:16) as ryx!q* (“harvest”) and in the NT as penthcosth (Pentecost).
16tn Heb “offering of your hand.”
17tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
18tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
19tn Heb “gates.”
20tn Heb “do.”
21tn Heb tKoS%h^ gj^ (“huts” or “shelters”).
22tn Heb “when you gather in your threshing-floor and winepress.”
23tn Heb “in your gates.”
24tn Heb “the LORD.”
25tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
26tn Heb “the work of your hands.”
27tn Heb “the LORD.”
28tn Heb “emptily.”
29tn Heb “according to the gift of his hand.”
30sn Heb <yr]f=vo, usually translated “official, officer,” or the like, derives from the verb rfv, “to write.” The noun became generic for all manner of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the <yr]f=vo are, their task here is that of judging.
31tn Heb “gates.”
32tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness.”
33tn Heb “the bribe.”
34tn Heb “justice, justice.”
1tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.” See note on Deut 7:5.
2tn Heb hb*X@m^; see note on Deut 7:5.
3tn Heb “which.”
4tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
5tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
6tn Heb hb*u@oT, “an abomination.” This term describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-318.
7tn Heb “gates.”
8tn Heb “in the eyes of the LORD your God.”
9tn MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including it, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. Theod, Luc, however, read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that it and the others are not in the category of actual deities.
10tn Heb “I have not commanded you.”
11tn Heb hb*u@oT; see note on v. 1.
12tn Heb “bring forth.”
13tn Heb “gates.”
14tn Heb “stone them with stones so that they die.”
15tn Heb “mouth.”
16tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.”
17tn Heb “between blood and blood.”
18tn Heb “between claim and claim.”
19tn Heb “between blow and blow.”
20tn Heb “gates.”
21tn Heb “rise.”
22tn Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.
23tn Heb “who will be.”
24tn Heb “show you the matter of judgment.”
25tn Heb “according to the word they declare to you.”
26tn Heb “the teaching.”
27tn Heb “the judgment that they say.”
28tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen.”
29tn Heb “standing to serve.”
30tn Heb “you will not be able to give.”
31tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.”
32tn Heb “multiply.”
33tn Heb “the throne of his kingdom.”
34sn LXX reads toV deuteronovmion tou'to, lit., “this second law.” It is this phrase that gives rise to the name of the book in modern times, Deuteronomy. However, MT taz)h^ hr`oTh^ hn#v=m! is better rendered “copy of this law.” hr`oT here likely means Deuteronomy only and not the whole Pentateuch.
35tn Heb “do them.”
36tn Heb “lest his heart be lifted up.”
37tn Heb “his brothers.”
38tn Heb “days may be lengthened.”
39tn Heb “upon his kingship.” SP supplies as@K!, “throne,” so as to read “upon the throne of his kingship.” This overliteralizes what is a clearly understood figure of speech.
1sn MT apposes “priests” and “Levites” thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. Syr renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction but one out of place here.
2tn Heb “fires.”
3sn his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the LORD will give to his people.
4tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).
5tn Heb “he.”
6tn Heb “judgment.”
7tn SP and some Greek texts add “before the LORD your God” to bring the language into line with a formula found elsewhere (Deut 10:8; 2 Chron 29:11).
8tn Heb “the name of the LORD.”
9tn Heb “the.”
10tn Heb “according to all the desire of his soul.”
11tn Heb “portion like portion.”
12sn passes . . . through the fire. This is a euphemism for human sacrifice. See note on Deut 12:31.
13sn Heb <ym!s*q= <s@qo, lit., “a diviner of divination.” This was a means employed to determine the future or the outcome of events by observation of various omens and signs (cf. Num 22:7; 23:23; Josh 13:22; 1 Sam 6:2; 15:23; 28:8; etc.). M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE 3:945-951.
14sn Heb /n}oum=, lit., “one who causes to appear.” Such a practitioner was thought to be able to conjure up spirits or apparitions (cf. Lev 19:26; Jud 9:37; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 2:6; 57:3; Jer 27:9; Mic 5:11).
15sn Heb vj@n^m=, lit., “a seeker of omens.” This is a subset of divination, one illustrated by the use of a “divining cup” in the story of Joseph (Gen 44:5).
16sn Heb [V@k^m=, lit., “a doer of sorcery.” This has to do with magic or the casting of spells in order to manipulate the gods or the powers of nature (cf. Lev 19:26-31; 2 Kgs 17:15b-17; 21:1-7; Isa 57:3, 5; etc.). M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE, 2:735-738.
17sn Heb rb#j# rb@jo, lit., “a binder of binding.” The connotation is that of immobilizing someone or something by the use of magical words (cf. Ps 58:6; Isa 47:9, 12).
18sn Heb boa la@vo, lit., “asker of a (dead) spirit.” This is a form of necromancy (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6; 1 Sam 28:8, 9; Isa 8:19; 19:3; 29:4).
19sn Heb yn]uoD=y], lit., “a knowing (or familiar) (spirit),” i.e., one who is expert in mantic arts (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam 28:3, 9; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 8:19; 19:3).
20tn Heb “a seeker of the dead.” This is much the same as “one who consults a ghost” (cf. 1 Sam 28:6-7).
21tn Heb “these detestable things.”
22tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
23tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
24sn MT expands here on the usual formula by adding “from your midst” (cf. Deut 17:15; 18:18; SP; a number of Greek texts). The expansion seems to be for the purpose of emphasis, i.e., the prophet to come must be not just from Israel but an Israelite by blood.
25tn Heb “command.”
26tn Heb “will not hear.”
27tn Heb “will seek from him.”
28tn Heb “the.”
29tn Heb “the LORD’s.”
30tn Heb “does not happen nor come to pass.”
31tn Heb “the LORD has.”
1tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
2sn three cities. These, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
3tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
4tn Heb “the.”
5tn Heb “border.”
6tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
7tn Heb “word.”
8tn Heb “if.”
9tn Heb “iron.”
10tn Heb “slips off.”
11tn Heb “finds.”
12tn Heb “and live.”
13tn Heb “lest.”
14tn Heb “when his heart burns.”
15tn Heb “smite fatally.”
16tn Heb “no judgment of death.”
17tn Heb “to give to your ancestors.”
18sn whole commandment, that is, the entire covenant agreement of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (6:4-5).
19tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
20sn three more cities. Since these are nowhere else alluded to and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). P. Craigie, Deuteronomy, 267.
21sn Heb yq!n` <D` means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (KB, 632).
22tn Heb “blood will be upon you.”
23tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”
24sn blood avenger. The <D`h^ la@g) would ordinarily be a member of the victim’s family who, after due process of law, was invited to initiate the process of execution (cf. Num 35:16-28). R. Hubbard, NIDOTTE, 1:789-794.
25sn blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).
26tn Heb “border.”
27tn Heb “which they set off from the beginning.”
28tn Heb “rise up.”
29tn Heb “any sin.”
30tn Heb “sinned.”
31tn Heb “stand.”
32tn Heb sm*j* (“violent”). This is a witness whose motivation from the beginning is to do harm to the accused and who, therefore, resorts to calumny and deceit. I. Swart/C. VanDam, NIDOTTE, 2:177-180.
33tn Heb “rise up.”
34tn Heb “a man.”
35tn Heb “men.”
36sn priests and judges. The appositional construction indicates that these human agents represented the LORD himself, that is, they stood in his place (cf. Deut 16:18-20; 17:8-9).
37tn Heb “judgment.”
38tn Heb “his fellow man.”
39tn Heb “his fellow man.”
40sn Heb hT*r+u^B!, lit., “you will burn out.” Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).
41sn This kind of justice is commonly called lex talionis or “measure for measure” (cf. Exod 21:23-25; Lev 24:19-20). It is likely that it is the principle that is important and not always a strict application. That is, the punishment should fit the crime and it may do so by the payment of fines or other suitable and equitable compensation (cf. Exod 22:21; Num 35:31). T. Frymer-Kensky, BA 43 (1980): 230-234.
1tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
2sn the priest. The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s accompaniment. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).
3tn Heb “drawing near.”
4tn Heb “the man.”
5sn Heb Jnj occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chron 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (hK*n%j*) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chron 7:9) and of the post-exilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes IV (1 Macc 4:36-61).
6tn Heb “to his house.”
7tn Heb “the man.”
8tn Heb “begun to use it.”
9tn Heb “the man.”
10tn Heb “taken.”
11tn Heb “the man.”
12tn Heb “afraid and faint-hearted.”
13tn Heb “heart.”
14tn Heb “melted.”
15tn Heb adds “to the people.”
16tn Heb “princes of hosts.”
17tn Heb “at the head of.”
18tn Heb “call out peace to it.”
19tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”
20tn Heb “opens to you.”
21sn compulsory servants. The Heb sm^ refers to either Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites became an illustrative case in point (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).
22tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.”
23tn Heb “it.”
24tn Heb “to your hands.”
25tn Heb “only.”
26tn Heb “eat.”
27tn Heb “any breath.”
28tn Heb “to live.”
29sn Heb <r#j@, as elsewhere, refers to persons and things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable and, thus, to be devoted to the LORD for his exclusive disposition. In the case of living beings, this meant annihilation (see note on Deut 7:2).
30tc LXX adds “Girgashites” here in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven.
sn For identification of these peoples, see the note on Deut 7:1.
31tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
32tn MT adds “with an iron” (i.e., an axe).
33tn Heb adds “of the field.”
34tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”
35sn Heb roxm*, “enclosure,” may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.
1sn Heb ll*j*, lit., “pierced one,” suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
2tn Heb “to possess it.”
3tn Heb “struck.”
4tn Heb “slain (one).”
5tn Heb “slain (one).”
6tn Heb “the elders of that city.”
7sn wadi . . . water. This combination is necessary because a wadi (Heb. lj^n^) was ordinarily dry. For this ritual, however, a time must be chosen after a recent rain when there would be fresh, rushing water.
8sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity, of freedom from human contamination.
9tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
10tn Heb “in the name of the LORD.” See note on Deut 10:8.
11tn Heb “mouth.”
12tn Heb “blow.”
13tn Heb “slain (one).”
14tn Heb “valley.”
15tn Heb “answer.”
16tn Heb “our eyes.”
17tn Heb “it.”
18tn Heb “atone for.”
19tn Heb “in the midst of your people Israel.”
20tn Heb “gives him into your hands.”
21tn Heb “the prisoners.”
22sn shave. This (and the next two requirements) perhaps symbolizes the putting away of the old life and customs in preparation for being numbered among the people of the LORD.
23tn Heb “go unto.”
24sn let her go. The Heb. term hT*j=L^v! is a somewhat euphemistic way of referring to divorce, the matter clearly in view here (cf. Deut 22:19, 29; 24:1, 3; Jer 3:1; Mal 2:16). This passage does not have the matter of divorce as its principal objective so it should not be understood as endorsing divorce generally. It merely makes the point that should grounds for divorce exist (see Deut 24:1-4), and then divorce ensue, the husband could in no way gain profit from it.
25tn Heb adds “for money.”
26tn Heb “be tyrannical over.”
27sn humiliated. Since divorce was considered as rejection, the wife subjected to it would “lose face.” Furthermore, the verb hnu, commonly used to speak of rape (cf. Gen 34:2; 2 Sam 13:12, 14, 22, 32; Jud 19:24), likely has sexual overtones here as well. The woman is humiliated because she is “damaged goods.”
28tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of anc (“hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less, see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-1260.
29tn Heb “sons.”
30tn See note 864.
31tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”
32tn Heb “the hated.”
33tn See note 864.
34sn The Heb. <y]n^v= yP! (lit., “measure of two”) suggests 2/3; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).
35tn Heb /oa, lit., “generative power” (KB, 20).
36tn Heb “he does not listen to them.”
37tn Heb “seize him.”
38tc SP, LXX read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) MT is likely original and correct here.
39sn Heb hT*r+u^B!, here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus rub, to burn). H. Ringgren, TDOT, 2:203-204.
40tc Some LXX traditions read <yr]a*v=N]h^ (“those who remain”) for MT la@r`c=y] (“Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult MT is more likely original.
41tn Heb “a sin of a judgment of death.”
42sn Cursed by God. The idea seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. Tigay, Deuteronomy, 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians, 238-239).
1tn Heb “hide yourself.”
2tn Heb “is not.”
3tn Heb “hide yourself from them.”
4tn Heb “a man’s clothing.”
5sn Heb hb*u@oT speaks of anything that runs counter to ritual or moral order, especially (in the OT) to Divine standards. Cross-dressing in this covenant context may suggest homosexuality, fertility cult ritual, or some other practice contrary to God’s nature and will. Cf. Deut 7:25 and the note there.
6tn Heb “upon the chicks or the eggs.”
7tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
8tn Heb “touch.” The verb vdq in qal (as here) has the idea of being holy or being treated with special care. One would expect the hithpa’el, to place something into a state of special use, a reading attested by Syriac.
9sn Heb zn^f=u^v^ occurs only here and in Lev 19:19. KB (1000) takes it to be a contraction of words (vv^, headdress + zn^f=u^, strong). BDB (1043) offers “mixed stuff.” The general meaning is clear if not the etymology.
10sn Heb <yl!d]G+ (lit., “twisted threads”) appears to be synonymous with tx!yx! which, in Numbers 15:38, occurs in a passage instructing Israel to remember the covenant. Perhaps that is the purpose of the tassels here as well.
11tn Heb “in which you dress.”
12tn Heb “take.”
13tn Heb “hate.” See note on Deut 21:15
14tn Heb “deeds of things.”
15tn Heb “brings against her a bad name.”
16tn Heb “drew near to her.”
17tn Heb “bring forth.”
18sn In light of v. 17 these would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. E. Merrill, Deuteronomy, 302-303.
19tn Heb “hated.” See note on v. 13.
20tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
21tn Heb “discipline.”
22tn Heb “send her away.”
23sn Heb hl*b*n+ means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Jud 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13.
24tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
25tn Heb “found.”
26tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
27tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
28tn Heb “humbled.”
29tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
30sn Heb “lay with” here means forcible sexual relationship as the accompanying verb “seized” (Heb. qzj) makes clear.
31tn Heb “lay with her.”
32tn Heb “a man.”
33tn Heb “his neighbor.”
34tn Heb “finds.”
35tn Heb “seizes.”
36tn Heb “the girl’s.”
37tn Heb “take.”
38sn This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his step-mother while his father was married to her.
39tn Heb “uncover his father’s skirt.” This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality.
1tn Heb “bruised by crushing.”
2sn Heb lh*q* (“assembly”) does not refer to the nation as such but to the formal services of the Tabernacle or Temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not, of course, read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.
3tn Heb “not to him.”
4tn Heb “enter the assembly of the LORD.”
5sn These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).
6tn Heb “not to them.”
7tn Heb “enter the assembly of the LORD.”
8sn Heb <l*ou du^ suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense forever means not eternally but for an indeterminate future time. A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.
9tn Heb “water.”
10tn Heb “he.”
11tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
12sn The verb bha (“love”) here and commonly elsewhere in Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See the note on Deut 4:37.
13tn Heb “good.”
14tn Heb “all your days forever.”
15tn Heb “sojourner.”
16sn The concessions made to the Edomites and Egyptians as compared to the others listed in vv. 1-6 are because the Edomites (i.e., Esauites) were full “brothers” of Israel and the Egyptians had provided security and sustenance for Israel for more than four centuries.
17tn Heb “camp.”
18tn Heb “evil.” The context makes clear that this is a matter of ritual impurity, not moral, so it is evil in the sense that it disbars one from certain religious activity.
19sn Heb hrq means “happen” so the phrase here is euphemistic (a “night happening”) for some kind of bodily emission such as excrement or semen. Such otherwise normal physical functions rendered one ritually unclean whether accidental or not. See Lev 15:16-18; 22:4.
20tn Heb “come within the camp.”
21tn Heb “come into the midst of.”
22tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.”
23tn Heb “sit.”
24tn Heb “what comes from you.”
25sn Heb rb*D` tw^r+u# (lit., nakedness of a thing”) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE, 3:528-530.
26tn Heb “one.”
27sn The term here (hv*d}q= from vdq, “holy”) refers to the pagan fertility cults that employed female and male prostitutes in various rituals designed to evoke agricultural and even human fecundity (cf. Gen 38:21-22; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7; Hos 4:14). The word for a regular, non-cultic female harlot is hn`oz.
28tn Heb “daughters.”
29sn The male cultic prostitute was called vd}q*. See note 944. The popular term for a “secular” male prostitute (i.e., a sodomite) is the disparaging epithet bl#K#, that is, “dog.”
30tn Heb “sons.”
31sn Here hn`oz; see note 944.
32sn See note 946.
33tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
1tn Heb “lend with interest.”
2tn Heb “all the reaching out of your hand.”
3tn Heb “vow.”
4tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
5tn Heb “will seek from you.”
6tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you.”
7tn Heb “a sin to you.”
8tn Heb “comes from your lips.”
9tn Heb “that which your mouth has spoken.”
10tn Heb “according to your appetite, your fullness.”
11tn Heb “your.”
12sn For the continuation of these practices into NT times see Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.
13tn Heb “and marries her.”
14tn Heb “she finds no favor in his eyes.”
15sn The Heb. phrase rb*D` tw^r+u# (see note on Deut 23:14) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety. Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10). Jesus, citing this text, clearly has adultery in mind by using the Greek term porneiva as the only justification for divorce (Matt 5:31-32; 19:7-9).
16tn Heb “his house.”
17tn Heb “later.”
18tn Heb “write her a document of divorce.”
19tn Heb “sent her away.”
20tn Heb “take her to be his wife.”
21sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
22tn Heb “cause the land to sin.”
23tn Heb “takes a new wife.”
24tn Heb “not come over upon him anything.”
25tn For MT piel jM^c! (“bring joy to”) Syriac and others read jm^c* (“enjoy”).
26tn Heb “burn.” See the note on Deut 19:19.
1tn Heb “to watch and to do.”
2sn The reference is to Miriam’s having contracted leprosy because of her intemperate challenge to Moses’ leadership (Num 12:1-15). The purpose for the allusion here appears to be the assertion of the theocratic leadership of the priests who, like Moses, should not be despised.
3tn Heb “man.”
4tn Heb “man.”
5tn Heb “lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37).
6tn Heb “brothers.”
7tn Heb “in his.”
8tn Heb “upon it he carries his soul.”
9tn Heb “sons.”
10tn Heb “sons.”
11tn Heb “in the field.”
12tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).
13tn Heb “knock down after you.”
14tn Heb “glean after you.”
15tn Heb “men.”
16tn Heb “they.”
17tn Heb “declare to be just.”
18tn Heb “declare to be evil.”
19tn Heb “and it will be.”
20tn Heb “if the evil is a son of smiting.”
21tn Heb “he may strike him.”
22tn Heb “an.”
23sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from Lat. levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descent to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in that of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).
24tn Heb “and it will be that.”
25tn Heb “his.”
26tn Heb “his sister-in-law.”
27tn Heb “raise up.”
28sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). W. Bailey, NIDOTTE, 2:544.
29tn Heb “called.”
30tn Heb “a man and his brother.”
31tn Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man.
32tn Heb “there must not be.”
33sn Heb hp*ya@ refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U. S. gallons.
34tn Heb “full.”
35tn Heb “righteous.”
36sn Heb hb*u@oT speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on Deut 7:25.
37sn See Exod 17:8-16.
38tn Heb “ the LORD your God.”
39sn See for the fulfillment 1 Sam 15:1-33.
1tn Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
2tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
3tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
4tn Heb “place.”
5sn This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first of all the tabernacle and later the temple. See Deut 12:1-14 and especially the note on v. 14.
6tn Heb “who will be.”
7tc For MT “your God,” certain LXX readings have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition. Perhaps the text reflects dittography (yk!÷hk*yh@Oa^).
8tn Syr adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
9tn Heb “your hand.”
10tn Heb “answer and say.”
11tn Though Heb. dba generally means “to perish” or the like (KB, 2-3; BDB, 1-2), 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 ajtevbalen (“lose”) for a possibly metathesized Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus ajpevlaben (“receive”), and others attest katevleipen (“leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9).
12sn 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).
13tn Heb “the LORD.”
14tn Heb “our voice.”
15tn Heb “bow yourself down.”
16tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
17tn Heb “house.”
18tn Heb adds “the tithes of.”
19tn Heb “and be full.”
20sn Heb vd#Qoh^ likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the LORD but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need.
21tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.”
22sn These suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. Merrill, Deuteronomy, 335-336.
23tn Heb “listened to.”
24tn Heb “the LORD my God.”
25tn Heb “and you must watch and do them.”
26tn Heb “listen to his voice.”
1tn Heb “commanding.”
2tn Heb “day.”
3tn Heb “plaster them.”
4tn Heb “the LORD.”
5tn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “Mount Gerizim” for MT “Mount Ebal” to justify the location of the Samaritan temple there in the post-exilic period. This reading is patently self-serving and does not reflect the original. When the woman of Samaria referred to “this mountain” as the place of worship for her community she obviously had Gerizim in mind (cf. John 4:20).
6tn Heb “commanding.”
7tn Heb “plaster.”
8tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
9tn Heb “you shall rejoice.”
10tn Heb “of the LORD your God.”
11tn Heb “do.”
12tn Heb “commanding.”
13tn Heb “these.”
14tn Heb “Israelite man.”
15tn Heb “man.”
16sn Heb hb*u@oT; see note on Deut 25:16.
17sn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”
18sn Heb hlq means to treat with disdain or lack of due respect. It is the opposite of dbK, “to be heavy,” that is, to treat with reverence and proper deference. To treat a parent lightly is to dishonor him or her and thus violate the fifth commandment (Deut 5:16; cf. Exod 21:17).
19tn Heb “lies.”
20tn Heb “he uncovers his father’s skirt.” See note on Deut 22:30.
21tn Heb “lies with any animal.”
22tn Heb “lies.”
23tn Heb “stand.”
1tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
2tn Heb “do.”
3tn Heb “commanding.”
4tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
5tn Heb “upon.”
6tn Heb “and overtake.”
7tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
8tn Heb “the fruit of your womb.”
9sn To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.
10tn Heb “ways.”
11tn Heb “with.”
12tn Heb “all the sending out of your hands.”
13tn Heb “and.”
14tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
15tn Heb “of the LORD your God.”
16tn Heb “is called upon you.”
17tn Heb “will increase to the good.”
18tn Heb “the fruit of your womb.”
19tn Heb “the LORD.”
20tn Heb “the LORD.”
21tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
22tn Heb “listen to.”
23tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
24tn Heb “commanding.”
25tn Heb “to observe and to do.”
26tn Heb “serve.”
27tn Heb “do not hear.”
28tn Heb “do.”
29tn Heb “commanding.”
30tn Heb “fruit of your womb.”
31tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
32tc For MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), LXX reads either kurion (“Lord”; Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT lectio difficilior is probably original.
tn Heb “the evil of your doings wherein you have forsaken me.”
33tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”
34tn Heb “the LORD.”
35tn Heb “hot fever.”
36tn Heb “pursue.”
37tc LXX reads “Heaven will be to you….”
tn Heb “Your heavens.”
38tn Heb “the heavens.”
39tn Heb “give you.”
40tn Heb “him.”
41tn Heb “him.”
42tn The meaningless MT hw`u&z^ is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested hu*w`z+, “terror.”
43tn Heb “the LORD.”
44tn Heb “heart.”
45tn Heb “your ways will not prosper.”
46tn Heb “only.”
47tn Heb “robbed all your days.”
48tn For MT lgv (“ravish, violate”), Syr, Tg, Vg presume the less violent bkv, “lie with.” The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of MT.
49tn Heb “your eyes.”
50tn Heb “seeing and failing unto them.”
51tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand.”
52tn Heb “from the seeing of your eyes what you see.”
53tn Heb “the.”
54tn Heb “the LORD.”
55tc LXX reads plural “kings.”
56tn Heb “it.”
57tn Heb “will drop off” (lvn)
58tn Heb “have.”
59tn Heb “possess.”
60tn Heb “come upon.”
61tn Heb “commanded.”
62tn Heb “they.”
63tn Heb “upon.”
64tn Heb “seed.”
65tn Heb “with a good heart.”
66tn Heb “from.”
67tn Heb “the LORD.”
68tn Heb “with.”
69tn Heb “he.”
70tn Heb “he.”
71tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
72tn Heb “a nation.”
73tn Heb “gates.”
74tn Heb “the fruit of your womb.”
75tn Heb “in.”
76tn Heb “siege and stress.”
77tn Heb “besiege.”
78tn Heb “gates.”
79tc LXX adds sfodra (“very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.
80tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”
81tn Heb “look with evil.”
82tn Heb adds “that which comes out from between her feet.”
83tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”
84tn Heb adds “for everything.”
85tn Heb “your gates.”
86tn Heb “make wonderful.”
87tn Heb “blows.”
88tn Heb “cause to return to you.”
89sn These are clearly the plagues the LORD inflicted on the Egyptians prior to the exodus which, though they did not fall upon Israel, must have caused great terror even to the Israelites (cf. Exod 15:26).
90tn Heb “cling to you.”
91tn Heb “written.”
92sn Heb hr`oT, which can mean either the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, the book of Deuteronomy or even just this curse section of the covenant text.
93tn Heb “be.”
94tn Heb “the LORD.”
95tn Heb “the fear of your heart that you will fear.”
96tn Heb “the seeings of your eyes that you will see.”
1tn Heb “and said to them.”
2tn Heb “before your eyes.”
3tn Heb “your eyes.”
4tn Heb “great.”
5tn Heb “heart.”
6tn Heb adds “on you.”
7tn Heb adds “on your feet.”
8tc LXX reads “that he is the LORD your God.”
9tn Heb “to meet us for battle.”
10tn Heb “smote them.” For the account of these campaigns see Deut 2:26-3:17 and the notes there.
11tn Heb “words.”
12tn Heb “your heads, your tribes.” Syr presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading <k#fop=vo for <k#yf@b=v!). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of MT.
13tn Heb “your.”
14tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
15sn Heb JWQv! refers to anything out of keeping with the nature and character of Yahweh and therefore to be avoided by his people Israel. It is commonly used with or as a synonym for hb*u@oT (2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on Deut 7:25). M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE, 4:243-246.
16tn Heb “in his heart.”
17tn Heb “heart.”
18sn This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches—”the watered and the parched.”
19tn Heb “the wrath and zeal of the LORD .” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.
20tn Heb “name.”
21tn Heb “set him apart.”
22tn Heb “assigned.”
23tn Heb “to bring.”
24tn Heb “as this.”
1tn Heb “come upon you.”
2tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
3tn Heb “you hear his voice.”
4tn Heb “according to all.”
5tn Heb “heart.”
6tn Heb vp#n#. This term, not to be translated “soul” in the OT, refers to the essential person, the being. D. Fredericks, NIDOTTE, 3:133-134.
7tn Heb “return.”
8tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
9tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
10tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
11tn Heb “the heart of.”
12tn Heb “seed.”
13tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
14tn Heb “heart.”
15tn Heb vp#n#; see note on v. 2.
16tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
17tn Heb “you will keep.”
18tn Heb “commanding.”
19tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
20tn Heb “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.
21tn Heb “the fruit of your womb.”
22tn Heb “the LORD .”
23tn Heb “return.”
24tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”
25tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
26tn Heb “heart.”
27tn Heb vp#n#; see note on v. 2.
28tn Heb “commanding.”
29tn Heb “do.”
30tn Heb “do.”
31tn Heb “heart.”
32tc A number of LXX manuscripts insert before this verse, “if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God,” thus translating rv#a& as “which” and the rest as “I am commanding you today, to love,” etc., “then you will live,” etc.
33tn Heb “the LORD your God.”
34tn Heb “your heart.”
35tn Heb “seed.”
36tn Heb “length of your days.”
37tn Heb “to.”
38tn Heb “the LORD.”
1tc For MT El#Y}w^ (“he went”) LXX and Qumran have lk^y+w^ (“he finished”): “So Moses finished speaking” etc. The difficult reading of MT favors its authenticity.
2tn Heb “go out and come in.”
3tn Heb “the LORD.”
4tn Heb adds “and said to him.”
5tn Heb “he.”
6tn Heb “Moses.”
7sn hF*m!v= refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be cancelled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverence of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See the note on Deut 15:1.
8sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15.
9tn Heb “all the days.”
10tc LXX reads “by the door of the tent” in line with v. 10 but also, perhaps, as a reflection of its tendency to avoid over-familiarity with Yahweh and his transcendence.
11sn Heb du@om lh#ao (“tent of assembly”) is not the same as the tabernacle, which is usually called /K*v=m!, “dwelling-place,” a reference to its being invested with God’s presence. The “tent of assembly” was erected earlier than the tabernacle and was the place where Yahweh occasionally appeared, especially to Moses (cf. Exod 18:7-16; 33:7-11; Num 11:16, 24, 26; 12:4).
12tn Heb “I will command him.”
13tn Heb adds “and the pillar of cloud.”
14tn Heb “the LORD.”
15tn Heb “lie with your fathers.”
16tn Heb “he.” SP, LXX Tgs read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
17tn Heb “he.” See note 1238.
18tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
19tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
20tn Heb “and it will be to devour.”
21tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
22tn Heb “he.” See note 1238.
23tn Heb “me.” See note 1238.
24tn Heb “evils.”
25tn Heb “me.” See note 1238.
26tn Heb “he.” See note 1238.
27tn Heb “this.”
28tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
29tn Heb “his.” See note 1238.
30tn Heb “he.” See note 1238.
31tn Heb “he.” See note 1238.
32tn Heb “to.”
33tn Heb “come to pass.”
34tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
35tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
36tn Heb “his.” See note 1238.
37tn Heb “it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed.”
38tn Heb “his.” See note 1238.
39tn Heb “which he is doing.”
40tn Heb “him.” See note 1238.
41tn Heb “I.”
42tc LXX reads, “as the LORD promised them, and he will be with you.” This relieves the problem of Moses apparently promising to be with Joshua as MT reads on the surface. However, LXX is clearly an attempt to clarify an existing obscurity and therefore is unlikely to reflect the original.
43tn Heb rp#s@ means a writing or document but since “book” seems to suggest one with pages, an obvious anachronism, it seems best to render it “scroll.”
44tn Heb “Moses.”
45tn Heb “stiffness of neck.”
46tn Heb “in their ears.”
47tn Heb “ears.”
1tn Heb “give ear.”
2tn SP, Tg read “in the name.”
3tc LXX reads Qeo" (“God”) for “Rock.”
4tn Heb “just.”
5tn Heb 3ms tjv is rendered as 3mp by SP, a reading supported by the pl. sf. on <Wm (“defect”) as well as the pl. of /B@ (“sons”).
6tn Heb “sons.”
7sn This highly elliptical line suggests that Israel’s major fault was its failure to act like God’s people; in fact, they acted quite the contrary.
8sn Syr, Tg, Vg read 2mp whereas MT has 2ms. The former is preferred, the latter perhaps being a misreading (WnyB! for hn`yB!).
9tn Heb “generation and generation.”
10sn /oylu# is an abbreviated form of the divine name El Elyon, frequently translated “God Most High” or the like. 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. T. Fretheim, NIDOTTE, 1:400-401.
11tn Heb “the sons of man (or Adam).”
12tn Tg Jn adds “70,” alluding, perhaps, to the 70 Israelites who descended to Egypt with Jacob (Gen 46:27). For MT la@r`c=y] yn}B= (“sons of Israel”) a Qumran fragment and LXX have aggelwn qeou (“angels of God”), presupposing la@ yn}B= or <yl!a@ yn}B=. The line could then be rendered, “According to the 70 angels of God.” This does little to clarify the passage which, at best, is still difficult. 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. Driver, Deuteronomy, 355-356.
13tc SP and LXX add “Israel” and BHS suggests the reconstruction: “The LORD’s allotment is Jacob, the portion of his inheritance is Israel.” While providing good parallelism it destroys a fine chiastic structure in which “Jacob” and “his people” match as do “allotment” and “inheritance.”
14sn Heb /ovya! means literally “little man,” perhaps because when one looks into another’s eyes he sees himself reflected there in miniature. A. Harman, NIDOTTE, 1:391.
15tn Heb “he.”
16tn Heb “he made him suck.”
17tn Heb “flinty.”
18sn Oil from rock probably suggests olive trees growing on ledgy ground and yet productively. Merrill, Deuteronomy, 415.
19tn Heb “fat.”
20tn Heb “kidneys.”
21tn Heb “blood.”
22sn This is a term of affection derived from the verb rvy, “be upright.” Here it speaks of Israel “in an ideal situation, with its ‘uprightness’ due more to God’s help than his own efforts” (M. Mulder, TDOT, 6:475).
23tc LXX has third person masculine singular (“he”) for MT second person masculine singular (“you”) but such alterations are unnecessary in Hebrew poetic texts where subjects fluctuate frequently and without warning.
24tc Vg actually supplies diis (“gods”).
25tn Heb “my face.”
26tn Heb “what their afterward will be.”
27tn Heb “sons.”
28sn 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 Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. H. Peels, NIDOTTE, 3:938-939.
29sn The “non-people” (Heb <u^ aO) are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
30sn Sheol refers not to hell and hell-fire—a much later concept—but to the innermost parts of the earth, as low down as one could get. The parallel with “the foundations of the mountains” makes this clear (cf. Ps 9:17; 16:10; 139:8; Isa 14:9, 15; Amos 9:2).
31tn Heb “upon them.”
32sn Heb bf#q# is probably metaphorical for the sting of a disease (KB, 834).
33tn Heb “from the rooms.”
34tn Heb “with.”
35tn Heb “I will make their remembrance to cease among men.”
36tn Heb “vexation.”
37tn Heb “his .”
38tn Heb “hand.”
39tn Heb “high.”
40tn Heb “their afterward.”
41tn Heb “sold them.”
42tn Heb “vine.”
43sn “Vine” is a reference to the pagan deities which, the passage says, find their ultimate source in Sodom and Gomorrah, that is, in the soil of perversion exemplified by these places (cf. Gen 18:20; 19:4-28; Isa 1:10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Ezek 16:44-52; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24).
44tn Heb “his.”
45tn Heb “him.”
46tn Heb “cruel.”
47tn Verses 34 and 35 appear to be a quotation of the LORD and so the quotation phrase is supplied.
48tn Heb “him.”
49tn Heb “his.”
50tn Heb “fat.”
51tn The addition indicates a direct quotation of the LORD.
52tn Heb “with.”
53sn This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.
54sn Heb anc (“hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see Deut 5:9; 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).
55tn Heb “in the hearing of.”
56tn Heb “Hoshea,” another name for the same man (cf. Num 13:8, 16).
57tn Heb “place in your heart.”
58sn This refers to the high plateau region of the Transjordan, the highest elevation of which is Mount Pisgah (or Nebo; cf. Deut 34:1). See note on Deut 3:17.
59sn See note on Deut 10:6.
60tn Heb plural suggests that Moses and Aaron are both in view here since both had rebelled at some time or other, if not at Meribah-Kadesh then elsewhere (cf. Num 20:24; 27:14).
61tn Heb “esteem me holy.”
1tc LXX reads “to us” (Wnl` for oml*). MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective.
tn Heb “him”; the referent (Israel) is specified in the translation for clarity.
2tn With slight alteration (vd}q* tb^r]m=m! for MT vd#qo tbob=r]m@) the translation would be “from Meribah-Kadesh” (see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war which views Yahweh as accompanied by angelic hosts favors the MT.
3tc The third person masculine singular suffix of the Hebrew text is problematic in light of the second person masculine singular suffix on ;d#y`B=, “your hands.” LXX Luc, Orig read, therefore, “the holy ones.” LXX Q, Vg, however, presuppose third masculine singular suffix on wyd`y`B=, “his hands,” and thus retain “his holy ones.” The efforts to bring suffixal harmony into the line is commendable but unnecessary given the Hebrew tendency to be untroubled by such grammatical inconsistencies.
4tn Heb “hands.” For the problem of the suffix see the previous note.
5tn Heb WKT% (probably pu’al pf. of hkT) is otherwise unknown. The translation here is based on the reference to feet and, apparently, receiving instruction in God’s words.
6tn Heb “commanded.”
7sn Heb hr`oT should be understood more broadly as instruction, that is, the whole Pentateuch.
8tn Heb “he was king.” The proposed translation avoids the sudden shift in person and the mistaken impression that Moses is the referent.
9sn This is a “pet” name for Israel. See the note on Deut 32:15.
10tn Heb “heads.”
11tn Heb “and (not) may his men be few.”
12tn Heb “hands.”
13sn These terms, whose meaning is not certain, refer to sacred stones carried in a pouch on the breastplate of the high priest and examined on occasion as a means of ascertaining God’s will or direction. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6. C. Van Dam, NIDOTTE, 1:329-331.
14tn Heb “man.” The reference is probably to Moses as representative of the whole tribe of Levi.
15sn Massah (“testing”); cf. Exod 17:7; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-9.
16sn Meribah (“contention”); cf. Num 20:13, 24; Ps 106:32.
17sn This no doubt alludes to the Levites’ destruction of their own fellow tribesmen following the golden calf incident (Exod 32:25-29).
18tn Heb “before your nose.”
19tn Heb “work of his hands.”
20tn Heb “smash the sinews (or loins).” This part of the body was considered to be center of one’s strength (cf. Job 40:16; Ps 69:24; Prov 31:17; Nah 2:2, 11). See Tigay, Deuteronomy, 325.
21tn Heb “all day.”
22tn Heb “he.”
23tn Heb “between his shoulders.” For a scene similar in its tender affection see John 13:23.
24tn Heb “goings forth of the sun.”
25tn Heb “moon.”
26tn Heb “head” or “top.”
27sn Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph who became founders of the two tribes into which Joseph was split (Gen 48:19-20).
28tn Heb “in your going out.”
29tn Heb “in your tents.”
30tn Heb “suck.”
31tn Heb “seen.”
32tn Heb qq@jom= (po’el ptc. of qqj, “inscribe.”) The idea is that of the recorder of allotments being able to set aside for himself the largest and best. Merrill, Deuteronomy, 444-445.
33tn Heb “covered in” (if from /ps; cf. KB, 664-665).
34sn “from Bashan.” This may refer to Dan’s conquest of Laish, a region just to the west of Bashan (Judg 18:27-28).
35tn Heb “satiated.”
36sn This is a metaphor for prosperity, one especially apt in light of the abundance of olive groves in the area settled by Asher. Oil (Heb /m#v#) symbolizes blessing in the OT. R. Way, NIDOTTE, 4:171-173.
37sn See note on Deut 32:15.
38tn Heb “for your help.”
39tn Heb “the God of the past.”
40tn Heb “all alone.” The idea is that such vital resources as water will some day no longer need protection for God will provide security.
41tn Heb “unto.”
42tn Heb “his.”
1sn For the geography involved, see the note on Deut 3:17.
2tn Heb “latter,” i.e., the Mediterranean.
3tn Heb “swore.”
4tn Heb “according to the mouth of the LORD.”
5tn Heb “sap.” That is, he was still in possession of his faculties or liveliness.
6tn Heb “wept for.”
7sn See Num 27:18.
8sn See Num 12:8; Deut 18:15-18.
9tn Heb “strong hand.”