Deuteronomy 28:37

28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ¹  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ²  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 9:7

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

9:7 Remember – don’t ever forget ³  – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ⁵  a numerous ⁶  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 7:20

7:20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets ⁷  among them until the very last ones who hide from you ⁸  perish.

Psalms 44:14

44:14 You made us ⁹  an object of ridicule ¹⁰  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ¹¹ 

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

² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

³ tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishÿkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3.

⁵ sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.

⁶ tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

⁷ tn The meaning of the term translated “hornets” (צִרְעָה, tsir’ah) is debated. Various suggestions are “discouragement” (HALOT 1056-57 s.v.; cf. NEB, TEV, CEV “panic”; NCV “terror”) and “leprosy” (J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 360, n. 33; cf. NRSV “the pestilence”), as well as “hornet” (BDB 864 s.v.; cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). The latter seems most suitable to the verb שָׁלַח (shalakh, “send”; cf. Exod 23:28; Josh 24:12).

⁸ tn Heb “the remnant and those who hide themselves.”

⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

¹⁰ tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

¹¹ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).