Deuteronomy 7:9

7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, ¹  the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully ²  with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Deuteronomy 23:2-3

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ³  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ⁴ 

23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite ⁵  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever ⁶  do so, ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 32:7

32:7 Remember the ancient days;

bear in mind ⁸  the years of past generations. ⁹ 

Ask your father and he will inform you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

Deuteronomy 32:20

32:20 He said, “I will reject them, ¹⁰ 

I will see what will happen to them;

for they are a perverse generation,

children ¹¹  who show no loyalty.

¹ tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”

² tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).

³ tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

⁴ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁵ sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).

⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.

⁷ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁷ tc The Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read 2nd person masculine singular whereas the MT has 2nd person masculine plural. The former is preferred, the latter perhaps being a misreading (בִּינוּ [binu] for בִּינָה [binah]). Both the preceding (“remember”) and following (“ask”) imperatives are singular forms in the Hebrew text.

⁸ tn Heb “generation and generation.” The repetition of the singular noun here singles out each of the successive past generations. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3b.

⁹ tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”