Deuteronomy 28:36

28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ¹  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

Deuteronomy 28:64

28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ²  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ³  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 26:19

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.

Jeremiah 16:13

16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”

Ezekiel 20:32

20:32 “‘What you plan ⁷  will never happen. You say, “We will be ⁸  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ⁹ 

Ezekiel 20:39

20:39 “‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, ¹⁰  if you will not listen to me. ¹¹  But my holy name will not be profaned ¹²  again by your sacrifices ¹³  and your idols.

Acts 7:42

7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over ¹⁴  to worship the host ¹⁵  of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices ¹⁶  forty years in the wilderness, was it, ¹⁷  house of Israel?

¹ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

³ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

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.

⁷ tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”

⁹ tn Heb “serving wood and stone.”

¹⁰ sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.

¹¹ tn Heb “and after, if you will not listen to me.” The translation leaves out “and after” for smoothness. The text is difficult. M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:374) suggests that it may mean “but afterwards, if you will not listen to me…” with an unspoken threat.

¹² sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21; 20:3.

¹³ tn Or “gifts.”

¹⁴ sn The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32.

¹⁵ tn Or “stars.”

¹⁶ tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).

¹⁷ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”