11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 1
30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.
1:19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, 2
then you will again eat the good crops of the land.
1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured 3 by the sword.”
Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. 4
1 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.
2 tn Heb “listen”; KJV “obedient”; NASB “If you consent and obey.”
3 sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.
4 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).