Jeremiah 7:13

7:13 You also have done all these things, says the Lord, and I have spoken to you over and over again. ¹  But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent! ² 

Jeremiah 7:23-25

7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: ³  “Obey me. If you do, I ⁴  will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you ⁵  and things will go well with you.” 7:24 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. ⁶  7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, ⁷  I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, ⁸  day after day. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 25:4

25:4 Over and over again ¹⁰  the Lord has sent ¹¹  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ¹² 

Jeremiah 35:15

35:15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said, “Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. ¹³  Do not pay allegiance to other gods ¹⁴  and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.

Exodus 15:26

15:26 He said, “If you will diligently obey ¹⁵  the Lord your God, and do what is right ¹⁶  in his sight, and pay attention ¹⁷  to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all ¹⁸  the diseases ¹⁹  that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer.” ²⁰ 

Exodus 23:21-22

23:21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name ²¹  is in him. 23:22 But if you diligently obey him ²²  and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.

Deuteronomy 4:6

4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ²³  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ²⁴  people.”

Deuteronomy 5:29

5:29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey ²⁵  all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever.

Deuteronomy 6:2

6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ²⁶  that I am giving ²⁷  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Deuteronomy 8:6

8:6 So you must keep his ²⁸  commandments, live according to his standards, ²⁹  and revere him.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ³⁰  to obey all his commandments, ³¹  to love him, to serve him ³²  with all your mind and being, ³³  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ³⁴  you today for your own good?

Deuteronomy 11:26-28

Anticipation of a Blessing and Cursing Ceremony

11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ³⁵  11:27 the blessing if you take to heart ³⁶  the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention ³⁷  to his ³⁸  commandments and turn from the way I am setting before ³⁹  you today to pursue ⁴⁰  other gods you have not known.

Deuteronomy 12:32

Idolatry and False Prophets

12:32 (13:1) ⁴¹  You ⁴²  must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! ⁴³ 

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ⁴⁴  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁴⁵  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ⁴⁶  if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ⁴⁷  28:4 Your children ⁴⁸  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ⁴⁹  28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ⁵⁰  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ⁵¹  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ⁵²  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ⁵³  and obey him. ⁵⁴  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, ⁵⁵  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ⁵⁶  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ⁵⁷  promised your ancestors ⁵⁸  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; ⁵⁹  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ⁶⁰  commandments which I am urging ⁶¹  you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ⁶²  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ⁶³  them.

Deuteronomy 30:20

30:20 I also call on you ⁶⁴  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 ⁶⁵  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

[7:13]  ¹ tn This reflects a Hebrew idiom (e.g., 7:25; 11:7; 25:3, 4), i.e., an infinitive of a verb meaning “to do something early [or eagerly]” followed by an infinitive of another verb of action. Cf. HALOT 1384 s.v. שָׁכַם Hiph.2.

[7:13]  ² tn Heb “I called to you and you did not answer.” The words “to repent” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ³ tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.

[7:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.

[7:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”

[7:24]  ⁶ tn Or “They went backward and not forward”; Heb “They were to the backward and not to the forward.” The two phrases used here appear nowhere else in the Bible and the latter preposition plus adverb elsewhere is used temporally meaning “formerly” or “previously.” The translation follows the proposal of J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 57. Another option is “they turned their backs to me, not their faces,” understanding the line as a variant of a line in 2:27.

[7:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”

[7:25]  ⁸ tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.

[7:25]  ⁹ tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).

[25:4]  ¹⁰ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ¹¹ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ¹² tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).

[35:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “Turn, each of you, from his [= your] wicked way and make good your deeds.” Compare 18:11 where the same idiom occurs with the added term of “make good your ways.”

[35:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Don’t go after/follow other gods.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom and see 11:10; 13:10; 25:6 for the same idiom.

[15:26]  ¹⁵ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of שָׁמַע (shama’). The meaning of the verb is idiomatic here because it is followed by “to the voice of Yahweh your God.” When this is present, the verb is translated “obey.” The construction is in a causal clause. It reads, “If you will diligently obey.” Gesenius points out that the infinitive absolute in a conditional clause also emphasizes the importance of the condition on which the consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[15:26]  ¹⁶ tn The word order is reversed in the text: “and the right in his eyes you do,” or, “[if] you do what is right in his eyes.” The conditional idea in the first clause is continued in this clause.

[15:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “give ear.” This verb and the next are both perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutive; they continue the sequence of the original conditional clause.

[15:26]  ¹⁸ tn The substantive כָּל־ (kol, “all of”) in a negative clause can be translated “none of.”

[15:26]  ¹⁹ sn The reference is no doubt to the plagues that Yahweh has just put on them. These will not come on God’s true people. But the interesting thing about a conditional clause like this is that the opposite is also true – “if you do not obey, then I will bring these diseases.”

[15:26]  ²⁰ tn The form is רֹפְאֶךָ (rofÿ’ekha), a participle with a pronominal suffix. The word is the predicate after the pronoun “I”: “I [am] your healer.” The suffix is an objective genitive – the Lord heals them.

[23:21]  ²¹ sn This means “the manifestation of my being” is in him (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 247). Driver quotes McNeile as saying, “The ‘angel’ is Jehovah Himself ‘in a temporary descent to visibility for a special purpose.’” Others take the “name” to represent Yahweh’s “power” (NCV) or “authority” (NAB, CEV).

[23:22]  ²² tn The infinitive absolute here does not add as great an emphasis as normal, but emphasizes the condition that is being set forth (see GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[4:6]  ²³ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

[4:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

[5:29]  ²⁵ tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[6:2]  ²⁶ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[8:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[8:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “by walking in his ways.” The “ways” of the Lord refer here to his moral standards as reflected in his commandments. The verb “walk” is used frequently in the Bible (both OT and NT) for one’s moral and ethical behavior.

[10:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

[10:12]  ³² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ³³ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[10:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[11:26]  ³⁵ sn A blessing and a curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.

[11:27]  ³⁶ tn Heb “listen to,” that is, obey.

[11:28]  ³⁷ tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.

[11:28]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:28]  ³⁹ tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).

[11:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).

[12:32]  ⁴¹ sn Beginning with 12:32, the verse numbers through 13:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 12:32 ET = 13:1 HT, 13:1 ET = 13:2 HT, 13:2 ET = 13:3 HT, etc., through 13:18 ET = 13:19 HT. With 14:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[12:32]  ⁴² tn This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions – one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural – which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. The MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (plural) you (plural) must be careful to do; you (singular) must not add to it nor should you (singular) subtract form it.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few Smr mss propose plural for the last two. What both ancient and modern scholars tend to overlook, however, is the covenantal theological tone of the Book of Deuteronomy, one that views Israel as a collective body (singular) made up of many individuals (plural). See M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11 (AB), 15-16; J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy (TOTC), 21-23.

[12:32]  ⁴³ sn Do not add to it or subtract from it. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) This work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).

[28:1]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[28:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[28:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[28:4]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:6]  ⁴⁹ sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.

[28:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

[28:7]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

[28:8]  ⁵² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[28:9]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

[28:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[28:12]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[28:13]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:13]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”

[28:14]  ⁶² tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

[28:14]  ⁶³ tn Heb “in order to serve.”

[30:20]  ⁶⁴ 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]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”