Deuteronomy 2:24

2:24 Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon,¹ and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war!

Deuteronomy 2:30

2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our² God had made him obstinate³ and stubborn⁴ so that he might deliver him over to you⁵ this very day.

Deuteronomy 7:25

7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent⁶ to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 11:22

11:22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments⁷ I am giving you⁸ and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards,⁹ and remain loyal to him,

Deuteronomy 11:24

11:24 Every place you set your foot¹⁰ will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea.¹¹

Deuteronomy 12:11

12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing¹² everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared,¹³ and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him.¹⁴

Deuteronomy 12:18

12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he¹⁵ chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites¹⁶ in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor.¹⁷

Deuteronomy 17:8

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed,¹⁸ legal claim,¹⁹ or assault²⁰ – matters of controversy in your villages²¹ – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses.²²

Deuteronomy 17:15

17:15 you must select without fail²³ a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens²⁴ you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites.²⁵

Deuteronomy 17:19

17:19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

Deuteronomy 21:4

21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water,²⁶ to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown.²⁷ There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.

Deuteronomy 29:20

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger²⁸ will rage²⁹ against that man; all the curses³⁰ written in this scroll will fall upon him³¹ and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.³²

Deuteronomy 30:20

30:20 I also call on you³³ to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually³⁴ in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 31:17

31:17 At that time³⁵ my anger will erupt against them³⁶ and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome³⁷ them³⁸ so that they³⁹ will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters⁴⁰ overcome us⁴¹ because our⁴² God is not among us⁴³?’

¹sn Heshbon is the name of a prominent site (now Tell Hesba„n, about 7.5 mi [12 km] south southwest of Amman, Jordan). Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30). Heshbon is also mentioned in Deut 1:4.

²tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”

³tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”

⁴tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”

⁵tn Heb “into your hand.”

³tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abhorrent; detestable”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. Frequently such things (or even persons) must be condemned to annihilation (חֵרֶם, kherem) lest they become a means of polluting or contaminating others (cf. Deut 13:17; 20:17-18). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:315.

⁴tn Heb “this commandment.” See note at Deut 5:30.

⁵tn Heb “commanding you to do it.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation and “to do it” has been left untranslated.

⁶tn Heb “walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV); TEV “do everything he commands.”

⁵tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.

⁶tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”

⁶tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

⁷tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁸tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁷tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁸tn See note at Deut 12:12.

⁹tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”

⁸tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

⁹tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

¹⁰tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

¹¹tn Heb “gates.”

¹²tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.

⁹tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “without fail.”

¹⁰tn Heb “your brothers,” but not referring to siblings (cf. NIV “your brother Israelites”; NLT “a fellow Israelite”). The same phrase also occurs in v. 20.

¹¹tn Heb “your brothers.” See the preceding note on “fellow citizens.”

¹⁰tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.

¹¹sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

¹¹tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

¹²tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

¹³tn Heb “the entire oath.”

¹⁴tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

¹⁵tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

¹²tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

¹³tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”

¹³tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.

¹⁴tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

¹⁵tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”

¹⁶tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

¹⁷tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

¹⁸tn Heb “evils.”

¹⁹tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

²⁰tn Heb “my.”

²¹tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.