8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 3 I am giving 4 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 5 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 6
12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 10 has given you to possess. 11
1 tn Heb “the commandments of the
2 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”
3 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
4 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
5 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
6 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
5 tn Heb “this commandment.” See note at Deut 5:30.
6 tn Heb “commanding you to do it.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation and “to do it” has been left untranslated.
7 tn Heb “walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV); TEV “do everything he commands.”
7 tn Heb “fathers.”
8 tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the