Deuteronomy 33:26

General Praise and Blessing

33:26 There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, ¹ 

who rides through the sky ²  to help you,

on the clouds in majesty.

Deuteronomy 28:23-24

28:23 The ³  sky ⁴  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 10:22

10:22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 28:62

28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, ⁶  because you will have disobeyed ⁷  the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 1:10

1:10 The Lord your God has increased your population ⁸  to the point that you are now as numerous as the very stars of the sky. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 4:17

4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky,

Deuteronomy 4:11

4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹⁰  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 28:26

28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off.

Deuteronomy 4:19

4:19 When you look up ¹³  to the sky ¹⁴  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ¹⁵  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ¹⁶  for the Lord your God has assigned ¹⁷  them to all the people ¹⁸  of the world. ¹⁹ 

Deuteronomy 11:11

11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ²⁰  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ²¹ 

Deuteronomy 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ²²  by describing people who are more numerous ²³  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ²⁴  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ²⁵  Anakites ²⁶  there.”

Deuteronomy 11:17

11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ²⁷  against you and he will close up the sky ²⁸  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ²⁹  from the good land that the Lord ³⁰  is about to give you.

Deuteronomy 17:3

17:3 by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, ³¹  moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. ³² 

Deuteronomy 33:13

Blessing on Joseph

33:13 Of Joseph he said:

May the Lord bless his land

with the harvest produced by the sky, ³³  by the dew,

and by the depths crouching beneath;

Deuteronomy 11:21

11:21 so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. ³⁴ 

¹ sn Jeshurun is a term of affection referring to Israel, derived from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁר (yashar, “be upright”). See note on the term in Deut 32:15.

² tn Or “(who) rides (on) the heavens” (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT). This title depicts Israel’s God as sovereign over the elements of the storm (cf. Ps 68:33). The use of the phrase here may be polemical; Moses may be asserting that Israel’s God, not Baal (called the “rider of the clouds” in the Ugaritic myths), is the true divine king (cf. v. 5) who controls the elements of the storm, grants agricultural prosperity, and delivers his people from their enemies. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 151 (1994): 275.

³ tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

⁴ tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁵ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁷ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁸ tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”

⁹ tn Heb “multiplied you.”

¹⁰ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹¹ tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹² tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

¹³ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

¹⁵ tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

¹⁶ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹⁷ tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

¹⁸ tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.

¹⁹ tn Or “allotted.”

²⁰ tn Or “nations.”

²¹ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “rain of heaven.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

²⁰ tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

²¹ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

²² tn Heb “we have seen.”

²³ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

²¹ tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

²² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

²³ tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

²⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

²³ tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.

²⁴ tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²⁵ tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.

²⁷ tn Heb “like the days of the heavens upon the earth,” that is, forever.