Deuteronomy 29
29
Narrative Interlude
1 (28:69)#sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same. These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.#sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
The Exodus, Wandering, and Conquest Reviewed
2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did#tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation. in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land. 3 Your eyes have seen the great judgments,#tn Heb “testings.” This is a reference to the plagues; see note at 4:34. those signs and mighty wonders. 4 But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears!#tn Heb “a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear” (NASB similar); NAB, NRSV “a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.” 5 I have led you through the desert for forty years. Your clothing has not worn out#tn The Hebrew text includes “on you.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons. nor have your sandals#tn The Hebrew text includes “from on your feet.” deteriorated. 6 You have eaten no bread and drunk no wine or beer – all so that you might know that I#tc The LXX reads “that he is the Lord your God.” am the Lord your God! 7 When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them. 8 Then we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
The Present Covenant Setting
9 “Therefore, keep the terms#tn Heb “words.” of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do. 10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes,#tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.” your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 11 your infants, your wives, and the#tn Heb “your.” foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today.#tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.” 13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God,#tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons. just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors#tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today.#tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
The Results of Disobedience
16 “(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled. 17 You have seen their detestable things#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. and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.)#tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment. 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.#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.” 19 When such a person#tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity. hears the words of this oath he secretly#tn Heb “in his heart.” blesses himself#tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse. and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.”#tn Heb “heart.” This will destroy#tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here. the watered ground with the parched.#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.” 20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger#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. will rage#tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.” against that man; all the curses#tn Heb “the entire oath.” written in this scroll will fall upon him#tn Or “will lie in wait against him.” and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.#tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.” 21 The Lord will single him out#tn Heb “set him apart.” for judgment#tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.” from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law. 22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see#tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted. the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.#tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion. 24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger#tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.” all about?” 25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.#tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.” 27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses#tn Heb “the entire curse.” written in this scroll. 28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.” 29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants#tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV “children.” forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.
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Deuteronomy 29: NET
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Deuteronomy 29
29
Covenant Renewal, Oaths, Restoration, Charges to the Nation
1#Deuteronomy 29:1–29 in the English Bible is 28.69–29:28 in the Hebrew Bible These are the words of the covenant that Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” in the land of Moab besides#Literally “from to alone” the covenant that he made with them at Horeb.
2And Moses summoned all of Israel and said to them, “You saw all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt and to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land; 3that is, the great trials that your eyes saw, and those great signs and wonders. 4But Yahweh has not given to you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, even to this day.#Literally “until the day the this” 5And I have led you forty years#Hebrew “year” in the desert; your clothes have not worn out on you,#Literally “from on you” and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.#Literally “from on your foot” 6You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine and strong drink, so that you may know that I am Yahweh your God. 7And when you came to this place then Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out to meet you for battle, and we defeated them. 8And we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites#Hebrew “Reubenite” and to the Gadites#Hebrew “Gadite” and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. 9And you must diligently observe the words of this covenant,#Literally “you must keep the words of the covenant the this and you must do them” so that you may succeed in all that you do.
10“You are standing today,#Literally “the day” all of you, before#Literally “to the face of” Yahweh your God, your leaders, your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, 11your little children, your women and your aliens#Hebrew “alien” who are in the midst of your camp, from the choppers#Hebrew “chopper” of your wood to the drawers#Hebrew “drawer” of your water, 12in order for you to enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God,#Literally “for you to go over into the covenant of Yahweh your God” and into#Or “with” his oath that Yahweh your God is making with you#Literally “cutting with you” today,#Literally “the day” 13in order to establish you today#Literally “the day” to himself#Literally “for him” as a people and so that he may be for you as God, just as he promised#Literally “spoke” to you and just as#Literally “according to that which” he swore to your ancestors,#Or “your fathers” to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
14“Now I am not making this covenant#Literally “cutting this covenant” and this oath with you alone.#Literally “with you to alone you” 15But with whoever is standing here#Literally “with who he is here with us standing” with us today#Literally “the day” before#Literally “to the face of” Yahweh our God, and with whoever is not standing here#Literally “with who he is not standing here with us” with us today.#Literally “the day” 16For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the midst of the nations that you traveled#Or “journeyed” through. 17And you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood and stone, silver, and gold that were among them, 18so that there is not#Literally “lest there be/develop” among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart#Literally “his heart” turns today#Literally “the day” from being with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. 19And then when he hears the words of this oath, then#Or “and” he will assure himself#Literally “he will bless himself”; HALOT 160 suggests “to consider oneself fortunate” in his heart, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart,’#Literally “Peace shall happen/be for me, although/even if in the stubbornness of my heart I go” thereby destroying the well-watered land along with the parched.#Some translators prefer to include the last clause as a part of the words of the wicked man (NASV vs. NEB) 20Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. 21And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.
22“And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when#Hebrew “and” they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, 23‘All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, none of its land will be sown,#Literally “all of its land will not be sown” and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.’ 24And all the nations will say, ‘Why#Literally “On what basis” has Yahweh done such a thing#Literally “so” to this land? What caused the fierceness of this great anger?’ 25And they will say,#Or “answer/respond” ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,#Or “fathers” which he made#Literally “cut” with them when he brought them out#Literally “at/in his to bring them out from the land of Egypt” from the land of Egypt. 26And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he#That is, Yahweh had not allotted to them. 27So the anger of Yahweh was kindled#Literally “became hot the nose of Yahweh” against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, 28and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, just as it is today.’#Literally “as the day the this”
29“The hidden things belong to Yahweh#Literally “are for Yahweh” our God, but the revealed things belong to us#Literally “are for us” to know and to our children forever,#Literally “until eternity” in order to do all the words of this law.”
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