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.
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
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
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).