Deuteronomy 6:4

The Essence of the Covenant Principles

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ¹ 

Deuteronomy 1:45

1:45 Then you came back and wept before the Lord, but he ²  paid no attention to you whatsoever. ³ 

Deuteronomy 1:16

1:16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ⁴  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ⁵  and judge fairly, ⁶  whether between one citizen and another ⁷  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 5:26

5:26 Who is there from the entire human race ⁹  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

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. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 21:18

21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 21:20

21:20 They must declare to the elders ¹²  of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.”

Deuteronomy 33:7

Blessing on Judah

33:7 And this is the blessing ¹³  to Judah. He said,

Listen, O Lord, to Judah’s voice,

and bring him to his people.

May his power be great,

and may you help him against his foes.

Deuteronomy 3:26

3:26 But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he ¹⁴  said to me, “Enough of that! ¹⁵  Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ¹⁶  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ¹⁷  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ¹⁸  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 11:13

11:13 Now, if you pay close attention ¹⁹  to my commandments that I am giving you today and love ²⁰  the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, ²¹ 

Deuteronomy 17:12

17:12 The person who pays no attention ²²  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 20:3

20:3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

¹ tn Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women.

² tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation here for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

³ tn Heb “did not hear your voice and did not turn an ear to you.”

³ tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.

⁵ tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).

⁶ tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”

⁷ tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”

⁴ tn Heb “who is there of all flesh.”

⁵ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

⁶ tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”

⁷ tc The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.

⁸ tn The words “the blessing” are supplied in the translation for clarity and stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

¹⁰ tn Heb “much to you” (an idiom).

¹⁰ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

¹¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

¹¹ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

¹² tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”

¹³ tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהַב (’ahav) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).

¹⁴ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

¹³ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).