Deuteronomy 1:3

1:3 However, it was not until ¹  the first day of the eleventh month ²  of the fortieth year ³  that Moses addressed the Israelites just as ⁴  the Lord had instructed him to do.

Deuteronomy 1:39

1:39 Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, ⁵  and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, ⁶  will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.

Deuteronomy 18:22

18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my ⁷  name and the prediction ⁸  is not fulfilled, ⁹  then I have ¹⁰  not spoken it; ¹¹  the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”

Deuteronomy 31:23

31:23 and the Lord ¹²  commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 32:39

The Vindication of the Lord

32:39 “See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, ¹⁴ 

“and there is no other god besides me.

I kill and give life,

I smash and I heal,

and none can resist ¹⁵  my power.

Deuteronomy 33:9

33:9 He said to his father and mother, “I have not seen him,” ¹⁶ 

and he did not acknowledge his own brothers

or know his own children,

for they kept your word,

and guarded your covenant.

¹ tn Heb “in” or “on.” Here there is a contrast between the ordinary time of eleven days (v. 2) and the actual time of forty years, so “not until” brings out that vast disparity.

² sn The eleventh month is Shebat in the Hebrew calendar, January/February in the modern (Gregorian) calendar.

³ sn The fortieth year would be 1406 b.c. according to the “early” date of the exodus. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 66-75.

⁴ tn Heb “according to all which.”

⁵ tn Heb “would be a prey.”

⁶ sn Do not know good from bad. This is a figure of speech called a merism (suggesting a whole by referring to its extreme opposites). Other examples are the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9), the boy who knows enough “to reject the wrong and choose the right” (Isa 7:16; 8:4), and those who “cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). A young child is characterized by lack of knowledge.

⁹ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”

¹¹ tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”

¹² tn Heb “the Lord has.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

¹³ tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”

¹³ tn Heb “he.” Since the pronoun could be taken to refer to Moses, the referent has been specified as “the Lord” in the translation for clarity. See also the note on the word “you” later in this verse.

¹⁴ tc The LXX reads, “as the Lord promised them, and he will be with you.” This relieves the problem of Moses apparently promising to be with Joshua as the MT reads on the surface (“I will be with you”). However, the reading of the LXX is clearly an attempt to clarify an existing obscurity and therefore is unlikely to reflect the original.

¹⁷ tn Verses 39-42 appear to be a quotation of the Lord and so the introductory phrase “says the Lord” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn Heb “deliver from” (so NRSV, NLT).

²¹ sn This statement no doubt alludes to the Levites’ destruction of their own fellow tribesmen following the golden calf incident (Exod 32:25-29).