Ulangan 1:1

The Covenant Setting

1:1 This is what ¹  Moses said to the assembly of Israel ²  in the Transjordanian ³  wastelands, the arid country opposite ⁴  Suph, ⁵  between ⁶  Paran ⁷  and Tophel, ⁸  Laban, ⁹  Hazeroth, ¹⁰  and Di Zahab ¹¹ 

Ulangan 2:36

2:36 From Aroer, ¹²  which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), ¹³  all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us – the Lord our God gave them all to us.

Ulangan 3:11

3:11 Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy ¹⁴  that his sarcophagus ¹⁵  was made of iron. ¹⁶  Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath ¹⁷  of the Ammonites? It is thirteen and a half feet ¹⁸  long and six feet ¹⁹  wide according to standard measure.) ²⁰ 

Ulangan 3:20

3:20 You must fight ²¹  until the Lord gives your countrymen victory ²²  as he did you and they take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Then each of you may return to his own territory that I have given you.”

Ulangan 3:24

3:24 “O, Lord God, ²³  you have begun to show me ²⁴  your greatness and strength. ²⁵  (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?)

Ulangan 4:9

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ²⁶  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Ulangan 4:32

The Uniqueness of Israel’s God

4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind ²⁷  on the earth, and ask ²⁸  from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it.

Ulangan 11:17

11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ²⁹  against you and he will close up the sky ³⁰  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ³¹  from the good land that the Lord ³²  is about to give you.

Ulangan 12:17

12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

Ulangan 12:30

12:30 After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.”

Ulangan 13:4

13:4 You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him.

Ulangan 14:7

14:7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. ³³  (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you).

Ulangan 14:21

14:21 You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages ³⁴  and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. ³⁵ 

Ulangan 14:26

14:26 Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it.

Ulangan 16:15

16:15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he ³⁶  chooses, for he ³⁷  will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; ³⁸  so you will indeed rejoice!

Ulangan 17:14

Provision for Kingship

17:14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,”

Ulangan 18:22

18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my ³⁹  name and the prediction ⁴⁰  is not fulfilled, ⁴¹  then I have ⁴²  not spoken it; ⁴³  the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”

Ulangan 19:9

19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ⁴⁴  I am giving ⁴⁵  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ⁴⁶  to these three.

Ulangan 26:19

26:19 Then ⁴⁷  he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. ⁴⁸  You will ⁴⁹  be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Ulangan 28:29

28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; ⁵⁰  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.

Ulangan 29:18

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. ⁵¹ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “These are the words.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[1:1]  ³ tn Heb “on the other side of the Jordan.” This would appear to favor authorship by someone 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 Hebrew phrase בְּעֵבֶר הַיּרְדֵּן (bÿ’ever hayyrÿden) 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.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term מוֹל (mol) may also mean “in front of” or “near” (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[1:1]  ⁵ sn This place is otherwise unattested and its location is unknown. Perhaps it is Khirbet Sufah, 4 mi (6 km) SSE of Madaba, Jordan.

[1:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term בֵּין (ben) may suggest “in the area of.”

[1:1]  ⁷ sn Paran is the well-known desert area between Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea (cf. Num 10:12; 12:16).

[1:1]  ⁸ sn Tophel refers possibly to et£-T£afîleh, 15 mi (25 km) SE of the Dead Sea, or to Da‚bîlu, another name for Paran. See H. Cazelles, “Tophel (Deut. 1:1),” VT 9 (1959): 412-15.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn Laban. Perhaps this refers to Libnah (Num 33:20).

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn Hazeroth. This probably refers to àAin Khadra. See Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 199-200.

[1:1]  ¹¹ sn Di Zahab. Perhaps this refers to Mina al-Dhahab on the eastern Sinai coast.

[2:36]  ¹² sn Aroer. Now known as àAraáir 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).

[2:36]  ¹³ tn Heb “the city in the wadi.” This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar or, more likely, to Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer…, that is, the city in the wadi.” See D. L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–11 (WBC), 49.

[3:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[3:11]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term עֶרֶשׂ (’eres), traditionally translated “bed” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) 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. See A. Millard, “King Og’s Iron Bed: Fact or Fancy?” BR 6 (1990): 16-21, 44; cf. also NEB “his sarcophagus of basalt”; TEV, CEV “his coffin.”

[3:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “of iron-colored basalt.” See note on the word “sarcophagus” earlier in this verse.

[3:11]  ¹⁷ sn 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.

[3:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “nine cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 in (45 cm) for the standard cubit, this would be 13.5 ft (4.1 m) long.

[3:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “four cubits.” This would be 6 ft (1.8 m) wide.

[3:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “by the cubit of man.” This probably refers to the “short” or “regular” cubit of approximately 18 in (45 cm).

[3:20]  ²¹ tn The words “you must fight” are not present in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:20]  ²² tn Heb “gives your brothers rest.”

[3:24]  ²³ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.” Cf. NIV, TEV, NLT “Sovereign Lord.”

[3:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your servant.” The pronoun is used in the translation to clarify that Moses is speaking of himself, since in contemporary English one does not usually refer to oneself in third person.

[3:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your strong hand” (so NIV), a symbol of God’s activity.

[4:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[4:32]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term אָדָם (’adam) may refer either to Adam or, more likely, to “man” in the sense of the human race (“mankind,” “humankind”). The idea here seems more universal in scope than reference to Adam alone would suggest.

[4:32]  ²⁸ tn The verb is not present in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification. The challenge has both temporal and geographical dimensions. The people are challenged to (1) inquire about the entire scope of past history and (2) conduct their investigation on a worldwide scale.

[11:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

[11:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[11:17]  ³¹ tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

[11:17]  ³² tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

[14:7]  ³³ tn The Hebrew term שָׁפָן (shafan) may refer to the “coney” (cf. KJV, NIV) or hyrax (“rock badger,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[14:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “gates” (also in vv. 27, 28, 29).

[14:21]  ³⁵ sn Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. This strange prohibition – one whose rationale is unclear but probably related to pagan ritual – may seem out of place here but actually is not for the following reasons: (1) the passage as a whole opens with a 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). See C. M. Carmichael, “On Separating Life and Death: An Explanation of Some Biblical Laws,” HTR 69 (1976): 1-7; J. Milgrom, “You Shall Not Boil a Kid In Its Mother’s Milk,” BRev 1 (1985): 48-55; R. J. Ratner and B. Zuckerman, “In Rereading the ‘Kid in Milk’ Inscriptions,” BRev 1 (1985): 56-58; and M. Haran, “Seething a Kid in its Mother’s Milk,” JJS 30 (1979): 23-35.

[16:15]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”

[18:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

[18:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”

[18:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”

[18:22]  ⁴² tn Heb “the Lord has.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

[18:22]  ⁴³ tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”

[19:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

[19:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

[19:9]  ⁴⁶ sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.

[26:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).

[26:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”

[26:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.

[28:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”

[29:18]  ⁵¹ 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.”