Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ¹  and troops ²  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Deuteronomy 25:5

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, ³  and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 26:3

26:3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your ⁵  God that I have come into the land that the Lord ⁶  promised ⁷  to our ancestors ⁸  to give us.”

Deuteronomy 28:55

28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ⁹  you in your villages.

Deuteronomy 28:65

28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.

Deuteronomy 30:20

30:20 I also call on you ¹⁰  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ¹¹  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Deuteronomy 31:17

31:17 At that time ¹²  my anger will erupt against them ¹³  and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome ¹⁴  them ¹⁵  so that they ¹⁶  will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters ¹⁷  overcome us ¹⁸  because our ¹⁹  God is not among us ²⁰ ?’

¹ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

² tn Heb “people.”

³ tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”

⁴ sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).

⁵ tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX mss have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, TEV). Perhaps the text reflects dittography of the kaf (כ) at the end of the word with the following preposition כִּי (ki).

⁶ tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.

⁷ tn Heb “swore on oath.”

⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).

⁷ tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

⁹ tn 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”

¹¹ tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.

¹² tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

¹³ tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”

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

¹⁵ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

¹⁶ tn Heb “evils.”

¹⁷ tn 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.

¹⁸ tn Heb “my.”

¹⁹ tn 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.