Deuteronomy 9:18

9:18 Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him.

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ¹  a numerous ²  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 12:16-20

12:16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ³  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ⁴  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ⁵  12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.

The Sanctity of Blood

12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” ⁶  you may do so as you wish. ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ⁸  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 7:3

7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ¹⁰  “My Father, if possible, ¹¹  let this cup ¹²  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Matthew 26:1

The Plot Against Jesus

26:1 When ¹³  Jesus had finished saying all these things, he told his disciples,

Matthew 5:6

5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger ¹⁴  and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

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

² 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).

³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁴ tn See note at Deut 12:12.

⁵ tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”

⁶ tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”

⁷ tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”

⁸ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

⁹ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

¹⁰ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

¹¹ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

¹² sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

¹³ tn Grk “And it happened when.” The introductory phrase καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto, “it happened that”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

¹⁴ sn Those who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).