Deuteronomy 6:17-18

6:17 Keep his ¹  commandments very carefully, ²  as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper ³  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ⁴  promised your ancestors,

Deuteronomy 6:2

6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ⁵  that I am giving ⁶  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Deuteronomy 1:15-16

1:15 So I chose ⁷  as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. 1:16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ⁸  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ⁹  and judge fairly, ¹⁰  whether between one citizen and another ¹¹  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ¹² 

Nehemiah 9:26

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ¹³  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.

Nehemiah 9:29-30

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁴  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹⁵  they rebelled ¹⁶  and did not obey. 9:30 You prolonged your kindness ¹⁷  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ¹⁸  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 44:4

44:4 I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over ²⁰  again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate. ²¹ 

Jeremiah 44:23

44:23 You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the Lord! You have not obeyed the Lord! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.” ²² 

¹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”

³ tn Heb “upright.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

⁵ 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 tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

⁷ tn Or “selected”; Heb “took.”

⁹ tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

¹⁰ tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.

¹¹ tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).

¹² tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”

¹³ tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”

¹¹ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

¹³ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

¹⁴ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

¹⁷ tn See 7:13 for an explanation of this idiom and compare 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15 for similar references to the persistent warnings of the prophets.

¹⁸ tn Heb “sent…over again, saying, ‘Do not do this terrible thing that I hate.’” The indirect quote has been used to shorten the sentence and eliminate one level of embedded quotes.

¹⁹ tn Heb “Because you have sacrificed and you have sinned against the Lord and you have not listened to the voice of the Lord and in his laws, in his statutes, and in his decrees you have not walked, therefore this disaster has happened to you as this day.” The text has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.