Deuteronomy 11:13

11:13 Now, if you pay close attention ¹  to my commandments that I am giving you today and love ²  the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, ³ 

Deuteronomy 28:23

28:23 The ⁴  sky ⁵  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ⁶  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁷  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ⁸  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ⁹  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 18:1

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ¹⁰  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 5:6

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹² 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Isaiah 30:23

30:23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,

and the ground will produce crops in abundance. ¹³ 

At that time ¹⁴  your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

Jeremiah 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ¹⁵  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ¹⁶ 

So we put our hopes in you ¹⁷ 

because you alone do all this.”

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ¹⁸ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ¹⁹  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

[11:13]  ¹ 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.”

[11:13]  ² 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).

[11:13]  ³ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[28:23]  ⁴ tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

[28:23]  ⁵ tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[28:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[17:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

[18:1]  ¹¹ sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the Lord will give to his people. It is the Lord’s inheritance, but the Levites are allowed to eat it since they themselves have no inheritance among the other tribes of Israel.

[5:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[30:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he will give rain for your seed which you plant in the ground, and food [will be] the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and abundant.”

[30:23]  ¹⁴ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[14:22]  ¹⁵ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

[14:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

[14:22]  ¹⁷ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

[4:7]  ¹⁸ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.