Deuteronomy 3:23-26

Denial to Moses of the Promised Land

3:23 Moreover, at that time I pleaded with the Lord, 3:24 “O, Lord God, ¹  you have begun to show me ²  your greatness and strength. ³  (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?) 3:25 Let me please cross over to see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River – this good hill country and the Lebanon!” ⁴  3:26 But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he ⁵  said to me, “Enough of that! ⁶  Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

¹ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.” Cf. NIV, TEV, NLT “Sovereign Lord.”

² tn Heb “your servant.” The pronoun is used in the translation to clarify that Moses is speaking of himself, since in contemporary English one does not usually refer to oneself in third person.

³ tn Heb “your strong hand” (so NIV), a symbol of God’s activity.

⁴ tn The article is retained in the translation (“the Lebanon,” cf. also NAB, NRSV) to indicate that a region (rather than the modern country of Lebanon) is referred to here. Other recent English versions accomplish this by supplying “mountains” after “Lebanon” (TEV, CEV, NLT).

⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

⁶ tn Heb “much to you” (an idiom).