Deuteronomy 2:4

2:4 Instruct ¹  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ²  the descendants of Esau, ³  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully.

Deuteronomy 4:14

4:14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 4:22

4:22 So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that ⁵  good land.

Deuteronomy 6:1

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ⁶  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 11:11

11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ⁸  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 11:31

11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it.

Deuteronomy 4:26

4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you ¹⁰  today that you will surely and swiftly be removed ¹¹  from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be ¹²  annihilated.

Deuteronomy 11:8

The Abundance of the Land of Promise

11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments ¹³  I am giving ¹⁴  you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ¹⁵ 

Deuteronomy 31:13

31:13 Then their children, who have not known this law, ¹⁶  will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 32:47

32:47 For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

¹ tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”

² tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”

³ sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).

⁴ tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”

⁷ tn Heb “this.” The translation uses “that” to avoid confusion; earlier in the verse Moses refers to Transjordan as “this land.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

¹¹ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

¹³ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “rain of heaven.”

¹⁶ sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the Lord’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the Lord here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.

¹⁷ tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”

¹⁸ tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.

¹⁹ tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).

²⁰ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).

²¹ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

²² tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).