7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, 12 Girgashites, 13 Amorites, 14 Canaanites, 15 Perizzites, 16 Hivites, 17 and Jebusites, 18 seven 19 nations more numerous and powerful than you –
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 20 I am giving 21 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 22 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 23
9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity 24 – do not regard as inconsequential 25 all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!
106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,
and relented 26 because of his great loyal love.
14:21 For the honor of your name, 27 do not treat Jerusalem 28 with contempt.
Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. 29
Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! 30
1:72 He has done this 32 to show mercy 33 to our ancestors, 34
and to remember his holy covenant 35 –
1 sn This was to be a perpetual reminder that the priest ministers on behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their names would always be borne by the priests.
2 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).
4 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.
5 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).
6 tn Heb “from them.”
7 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).
8 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”
9 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”
10 tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”
11 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”).
12 sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
13 sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).
14 sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
15 sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
16 sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
17 sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
18 sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
19 sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.
20 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).
21 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
22 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
23 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
24 tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.
25 tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”
26 tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.
27 tn Heb “For the sake of your name.”
28 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
29 tn English versions quite commonly supply “us” as an object for the verb in the first line. This is probably wrong. The Hebrew text reads: “Do not treat with contempt for the sake of your name; do not treat with disdain your glorious throne.” This is case of poetic parallelism where the object is left hanging until the second line. For an example of this see Prov 13:1 in the original and consult E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 103-4. There has also been some disagreement whether “your glorious throne” refers to the temple (as in 17:12) or Jerusalem (as in 3:17). From the beginning of the prayer in v. 19 where a similar kind of verb has been used with respect to Zion/Jerusalem it would appear that the contextual referent is Jerusalem. The absence of an object from the first line makes it possible to retain part of the metaphor in the translation and still convey some meaning.
30 tn Heb “Remember, do not break your covenant with us.”
31 tn Or “eternal.”
32 tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.
33 sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.
34 tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.
35 sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).