Ulangan 33:3

33:3 Surely he loves the people; ¹ 

all your holy ones ²  are in your power. ³ 

And they sit ⁴  at your feet,

each receiving ⁵  your words.

Ulangan 26:19

26:19 Then ⁶  he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. ⁷  You will ⁸  be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Ulangan 28:9

28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ⁹  and obey him. ¹⁰ 

Ulangan 7:6

7:6 For you are a people holy ¹¹  to the Lord your God. He ¹²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹³  above all others on the face of the earth.

Ulangan 14:2

14:2 For you are a people holy ¹⁴  to the Lord your God. He ¹⁵  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹⁶  above all others on the face of the earth.

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 ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸ 

Ulangan 23:14

23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat ¹⁹  your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent ²⁰  among you and turn away from you.

[33:3]  ¹ tc Heb “peoples.” The apparent plural form is probably a misunderstood singular (perhaps with a pronominal suffix) with enclitic mem (ם). See HALOT 838 s.v. עַם B.2.

[33:3]  ² tc Heb “his holy ones.” The third person masculine singular suffix of the Hebrew MT is problematic in light of the second person masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדֶךָ (bÿyadekha, “your hands”). The LXX versions by Lucian and Origen read, therefore, “the holy ones.” The LXX version by Theodotion and the Vulgate, however, presuppose third masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדָיו (bÿyadayv, “his hands”), and thus retain “his holy ones.” The efforts to bring pronominal harmony into the line is commendable but unnecessary given the Hebrew tendency to be untroubled by such grammatical inconsistencies. However, the translation harmonizes the first pronoun with the second so that the referent (the Lord) is clear.

[33:3]  ³ tn Heb “hands.” For the problem of the pronoun see note on the term “holy ones” earlier in this verse.

[33:3]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term תֻּכּוּ (tuku, probably Pual perfect of תָּכָה, takhah) is otherwise unknown. The present translation is based on the reference to feet and, apparently, receiving instruction in God’s words (cf. KJV, ASV). Other options are as follows: NIV “At your feet they all bow down” (cf. NCV, CEV); NLT “They follow in your steps” (cf. NAB, NASB); NRSV “they marched at your heels.”

[33:3]  ⁵ tn The singular verbal form in the Hebrew text (lit. “he lifts up”) is understood in a distributive manner, focusing on the action of each individual within the group.

[26:19]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”

[26:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.

[28:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn That is, “set apart.”

[7:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) 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 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[14:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “set apart.”

[14:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[14:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) 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 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[14:2]  sn The Hebrew term translated “select” (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).

[14:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “gates” (also in vv. 27, 28, 29).

[14:21]  ¹⁸ 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.

[23:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”

[23:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to 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 3:528-30.