Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 31:16-18
Context31:16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, 1 and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they 2 are going. They 3 will reject 4 me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 5 31:17 At that time 6 my anger will erupt against them 7 and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome 8 them 9 so that they 10 will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters 11 overcome us 12 because our 13 God is not among us 14 ?’ 31:18 But I will certainly 15 hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they 16 will have done by turning to other gods.
Deuteronomy 32:15-27
Context32:15 But Jeshurun 17 became fat and kicked,
you 18 got fat, thick, and stuffed!
Then he deserted the God who made him,
and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.
32:16 They made him jealous with other gods, 19
they enraged him with abhorrent idols. 20
32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known;
to new gods who had recently come along,
gods your ancestors 21 had not known about.
32:18 You have forgotten 22 the Rock who fathered you,
and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.
32:19 But the Lord took note and despised them
because his sons and daughters enraged him.
32:20 He said, “I will reject them, 23
I will see what will happen to them;
for they are a perverse generation,
children 24 who show no loyalty.
32:21 They have made me jealous 25 with false gods, 26
enraging me with their worthless gods; 27
so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, 28
with a nation slow to learn 29 I will enrage them.
32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol; 30
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
32:23 I will increase their 31 disasters,
I will use up my arrows on them.
32:24 They will be starved by famine,
eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; 32
I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,
along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.
32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,
and terror will do so inside;
they will destroy 33 both the young man and the virgin,
the infant and the gray-haired man.
32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. 34
I want to make people forget they ever existed.
32:27 But I fear the reaction 35 of their enemies,
for 36 their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, “Our power is great, 37
and the Lord has not done all this!”’
[31:16] 1 tn Heb “lie down with your fathers” (so NASB); NRSV “ancestors.”
[31:16] 2 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style. The third person singular also occurs in the Hebrew text twice more in this verse, three times in v. 17, once in v. 18, five times in v. 20, and four times in v. 21. Each time it is translated as third person plural for stylistic reasons.
[31:16] 3 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:16] 4 tn Or “abandon” (TEV, NLT).
[31:16] 5 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 6 tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.
[31:17] 7 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 8 tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”
[31:17] 9 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 10 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[31:17] 12 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
[31:17] 14 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
[31:18] 15 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”
[31:18] 16 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
[32:15] 17 tn To make the continuity of the referent clear, some English versions substitute “Jacob” here (NAB, NRSV) while others replace “Jeshurun” with “Israel” (NCV, CEV, NLT) or “the Lord’s people” (TEV).
[32:15] 18 tc The LXX reads the third person masculine singular (“he”) for the MT second person masculine singular (“you”), but such alterations are unnecessary in Hebrew poetic texts where subjects fluctuate frequently and without warning.
[32:16] 19 tc Heb “with strange (things).” The Vulgate actually supplies diis (“gods”).
[32:16] 20 tn Heb “abhorrent (things)” (cf. NRSV). A number of English versions understand this as referring to “idols” (NAB, NIV, NCV, CEV), while NLT supplies “acts.”
[32:17] 21 tn Heb “your fathers.”
[32:18] 22 tc The Hebrew text is corrupt here; the translation follows the suggestion offered in HALOT 1477 s.v. שׁיה. Cf. NASB, NLT “You neglected”; NIV “You deserted”; NRSV “You were unmindful of.”
[32:20] 23 tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”
[32:20] 24 tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”
[32:21] 25 sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.
[32:21] 26 tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”
[32:21] 27 tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).
[32:21] 28 tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).
[32:21] 29 tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”
[32:22] 30 tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”
[32:23] 31 tn Heb “upon them.”
[32:24] 32 tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).
[32:25] 33 tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.
[32:26] 34 tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).
[32:27] 37 tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”
