49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning devouring the prey,
and in the evening dividing the plunder.”
1:11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
1:36 From the descendants of Benjamin: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. 1:37 Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.
33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;
he protects him all the time,
and the Lord 1 places him on his chest. 2
33:1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.
7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. 7:8 Rather it is because of his 6 love 7 for you and his faithfulness to the promise 8 he solemnly vowed 9 to your ancestors 10 that the Lord brought you out with great power, 11 redeeming 12 you from the place of slavery, from the power 13 of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, 14 the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully 15 with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 7:10 but who pays back those who hate 16 him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore 17 those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! 7:11 So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do.
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 18 as he promised 19 your ancestors.
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 8:2 Remember the whole way by which he 24 has brought you these forty years through the desert 25 so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. 26 He did this to teach you 27 that humankind 28 cannot live by bread 29 alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. 30 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out nor did your feet swell all these forty years. 8:5 Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, 31 the Lord your God disciplines you. 8:6 So you must keep his 32 commandments, live according to his standards, 33 and revere him. 8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of brooks, 34 springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and hills,
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
2 tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.
3 tn That is, “set apart.”
4 tn Heb “the
5 tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.
6 tn Heb “the
7 tn For the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) as a term of choice or election, see note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.
8 tn Heb “oath.” This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).
9 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
10 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13).
11 tn Heb “by a strong hand” (NAB similar); NLT “with such amazing power.”
12 sn Redeeming you from the place of slavery. The Hebrew verb translated “redeeming” (from the root פָּדָה, padah) has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the
13 tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NRSV), a metaphor for power or domination.
14 tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”
15 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”).
16 tn For the term “hate” as synonymous with rejection or disobedience see note on the word “reject” in Deut 5:9 (cf. NRSV “reject”).
17 tn Heb “he will not hesitate concerning.”
18 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
19 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
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
25 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
26 tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).
27 tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.
28 tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).
29 tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).
30 sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).
31 tn Heb “just as a man disciplines his son.” The Hebrew text reflects the patriarchal idiom of the culture.
32 tn Heb “the commandments of the
33 tn Heb “by walking in his ways.” The “ways” of the Lord refer here to his moral standards as reflected in his commandments. The verb “walk” is used frequently in the Bible (both OT and NT) for one’s moral and ethical behavior.
34 tn Or “wadis.”