Ezekiel 20:48

20:48 And everyone ¹  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

Numbers 14:21-23

14:21 But truly, as I live, ²  all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 14:22 For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted ³  me now these ten times, ⁴  and have not obeyed me, ⁵  14:23 they will by no means ⁶  see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it.

Deuteronomy 29:24-28

29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ⁷  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ⁸  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ⁹  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”

Deuteronomy 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹⁰  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 9:7-9

The History of Israel’s Stubbornness

9:7 Remember – don’t ever forget ¹²  – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him. ¹³  9:8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there ¹⁴  forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing.

¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

² sn This is the oath formula, but in the Pentateuch it occurs here and in v. 28.

³ tn The verb נָסָה (nasah) means “to test, to tempt, to prove.” It can be used to indicate things are tried or proven, or for testing in a good sense, or tempting in the bad sense, i.e., putting God to the test. In all uses there is uncertainty or doubt about the outcome. Some uses of the verb are positive: If God tests Abraham in Genesis 22:1, it is because there is uncertainty whether he fears the Lord or not; if people like Gideon put out the fleece and test the Lord, it is done by faith but in order to be certain of the Lord’s presence. But here, when these people put God to the test ten times, it was because they doubted the goodness and ability of God, and this was a major weakness. They had proof to the contrary, but chose to challenge God.

⁴ tn “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition, 121-54.

⁵ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

⁶ tn The word אִם (’im) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In a human oath one would be saying: “The Lord do to me if they see…,” meaning “they will by no means see.” Here God is swearing that they will not see the land.

⁷ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

⁸ tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

⁹ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

¹⁰ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

¹¹ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

¹² tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishÿkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.

¹³ tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3.

¹⁴ tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.