Ulangan 11:26

Anticipation of a Blessing and Cursing Ceremony

11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ¹ 

Ulangan 13:15

13:15 you must by all means ²  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ³  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock.

Yosua 6:17

6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ⁴  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ⁵  we sent.

Yosua 23:15

23:15 But in the same way every faithful promise the Lord your God made to you has been realized, ⁶  it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the Lord will bring on you every judgment ⁷  until he destroys you from this good land which the Lord your God gave you.

Zakharia 5:3

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ⁸  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ⁹  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.”

[11:26]  ¹ sn A blessing and a 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. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.

[13:15]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “by all means.” Cf. KJV, NASB “surely”; NIV “certainly.”

[13:15]  ³ tn Or “put under divine judgment. The Hebrew word (חֵרֶם, kherem) refers to placing persons or things under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction.Though primarily applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7). See also the note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.

[6:17]  ⁴ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

[6:17]  sn To make the city set apart for the Lord would involve annihilating all the people and animals and placing its riches in the Lord’s treasury (vv. 19, 21, 24).

[6:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “messengers.”

[23:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it will be as every good word which the Lord your God spoke to you has come to pass.”

[23:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “so the Lord will bring every injurious [or “evil”] word [or “thing”] upon you.”

[5:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

[5:3]  ⁹ sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.