Deuteronomy 11:16-25

Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience

11:16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! ¹  11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ²  against you and he will close up the sky ³  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ⁴  from the good land that the Lord ⁵  is about to give you. 11:18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, ⁶  and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols ⁷  on your forehead. 11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ⁸  as you lie down, and as you get up. 11:20 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates 11:21 so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. ⁹  11:22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments ¹⁰  I am giving you ¹¹  and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, ¹²  and remain loyal to him, 11:23 then he ¹³  will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 11:24 Every place you set your foot ¹⁴  will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. ¹⁵  11:25 Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Watch yourselves lest your heart turns and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.”

[11:17]  ² tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

[11:17]  ³ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[11:17]  ⁴ tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

[11:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn On the Hebrew term טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “reminders”), cf. Deut 6:4-9.

[11:19]  ⁸ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[11:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “like the days of the heavens upon the earth,” that is, forever.

[11:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “this commandment.” See note at Deut 5:30.

[11:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “commanding you to do it.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation and “to do it” has been left untranslated.

[11:22]  ¹² tn Heb “walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV); TEV “do everything he commands.”

[11:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.

[11:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”