Deuteronomy 18:15-22

18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; ¹  you must listen to him. 18:16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our ²  God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” 18:17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 18:19 I will personally hold responsible ³  anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet ⁴  speaks in my name.

18:20 “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized ⁵  him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 18:21 Now if you say to yourselves, ⁶  ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’ ⁷  – 18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my ⁸  name and the prediction ⁹  is not fulfilled, ¹⁰  then I have ¹¹  not spoken it; ¹²  the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”

Deuteronomy 29:15-20

29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ¹³ 

The Results of Disobedience

29:16 “(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled. 29:17 You have seen their detestable things ¹⁴  and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.) ¹⁵  29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ¹⁶  29:19 When such a person ¹⁷  hears the words of this oath he secretly ¹⁸  blesses himself ¹⁹  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ²⁰  This will destroy ²¹  the watered ground with the parched. ²²  29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ²³  will rage ²⁴  against that man; all the curses ²⁵  written in this scroll will fall upon him ²⁶  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 1:20

1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,

you will be devoured ²⁸  by the sword.”

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ²⁹ 

Isaiah 3:11

3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners!

For they will get exactly what they deserve. ³⁰ 

Romans 2:8-9

2:8 but ³¹  wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition ³²  and do not obey the truth but follow ³³  unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be ³⁴  affliction and distress on everyone ³⁵  who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, ³⁶ 

[18:15]  ¹ tc The MT expands here on the usual formula by adding “from among you” (cf. Deut 17:15; 18:18; Smr; a number of Greek texts). The expansion seems to be for the purpose of emphasis, i.e., the prophet to come must be not just from Israel but an Israelite by blood.

[18:16]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”

[18:19]  ³ tn Heb “will seek from him”; NAB “I myself will make him answer for it”; NRSV “will hold accountable.”

[18:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet mentioned in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[18:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your heart.”

[18:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “know the word which the Lord has not spoken.” The issue here is not understanding the meaning of the message, but distinguishing a genuine prophetic word from a false one.

[18:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

[18:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”

[18:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”

[18:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord has.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.

[18:22]  ¹² tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”

[29:15]  ¹³ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:17]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term שִׁקּוּץ (shiquts) refers to anything out of keeping with the nature and character of Yahweh and therefore to be avoided by his people Israel. It is commonly used with or as a synonym for תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “detestable, abhorrent”; 2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on the term “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:243-46.

[29:17]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment.

[29:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (la’anah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”

[29:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[29:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.

[29:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “heart.”

[29:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.

[29:19]  ²² tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”

[29:20]  ²³ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

[29:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

[29:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

[29:20]  ²⁶ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

[29:20]  ²⁷ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

[1:20]  ²⁸ sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.

[1:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[3:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for the work of his hands will be done to him.”

[2:8]  ³¹ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:8]  ³² tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”

[2:8]  ³³ tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”

[2:9]  ³⁴ tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”

[2:9]  ³⁵ tn Grk “every soul of man.”

[2:9]  ³⁶ sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.