Ulangan 29:14-21

29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ¹ 

The Results of Disobedience

29:16 “(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled. 29:17 You have seen their detestable things ²  and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.) ³  29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ⁴  29:19 When such a person ⁵  hears the words of this oath he secretly ⁶  blesses himself ⁷  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ⁸  This will destroy ⁹  the watered ground with the parched. ¹⁰  29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹¹  will rage ¹²  against that man; all the curses ¹³  written in this scroll will fall upon him ¹⁴  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ¹⁵  29:21 The Lord will single him out ¹⁶  for judgment ¹⁷  from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.

Ulangan 30:15-20

30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 30:16 What ¹⁸  I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess. ¹⁹  30:17 However, if you ²⁰  turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 30:18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly ²¹  perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. ²²  30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 30:20 I also call on you ²³  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ²⁴  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

[29:15]  ¹ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:17]  ² tn The Hebrew term שִׁקּוּץ (shiquts) 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 תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “detestable, abhorrent”; 2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on the term “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:243-46.

[29:17]  ³ tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment.

[29:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (la’anah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”

[29:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[29:19]  ⁷ tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.

[29:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “heart.”

[29:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.

[29:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. 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.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”

[29:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

[29:20]  ¹² tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

[29:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

[29:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

[29:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

[29:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “set him apart.”

[29:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”

[30:16]  ¹⁸ tc A number of LXX mss insert before this verse, “if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God,” thus translating אֲשֶׁר (’asher) as “which” and the rest as “I am commanding you today, to love,” etc., “then you will live,” etc.

[30:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which you are going there to possess it.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.

[30:18]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”

[30:18]  ²² tn Heb “to go there to possess it.”

[30:20]  ²³ tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

[30:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”