Deuteronomy 26:14-19

26:14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; ¹  I have obeyed you ²  and have done everything you have commanded me. 26:15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Narrative Interlude

26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. ³  26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 26:18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 26:19 Then ⁴  he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. ⁵  You will ⁶  be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

¹ sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.

² tn Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.

³ tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”

⁴ tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).

⁵ tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”

⁶ tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.