Deuteronomy 33:1-2

Introduction to the Blessing of Moses

33:1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. 33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ¹  to Israel ²  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ³  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ⁴ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ⁵  to them.

Deuteronomy 23:2

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ⁶  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ⁸  or severed genitals ⁹  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 13:1

13:1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams ¹¹  should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, ¹² 

Deuteronomy 13:1

13:1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams ¹³  should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 28:19

28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ¹⁵ 

Acts 13:22

13:22 After removing him, God ¹⁶  raised up ¹⁷  David their king. He testified about him: ¹⁸  ‘I have found David ¹⁹  the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, ²⁰  who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’ ²¹ 

Acts 13:36

13:36 For David, after he had served ²²  God’s purpose in his own generation, died, ²³  was buried with his ancestors, ²⁴  and experienced ²⁵  decay,

[33:2]  ¹ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ² tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  ³ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ⁴ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ⁵ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[23:2]  ⁶ tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

[23:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[23:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

[23:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”

[23:1]  ¹⁰ sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

[13:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or a dreamer of dreams” (so KJV, ASV, NASB). The difference between a prophet (נָבִיא, navi’) and one who foretells by dreams (חֹלֵם אוֹ, ’o kholem) was not so much one of office – for both received revelation by dreams (cf. Num 12:6) – as it was of function or emphasis. The prophet was more a proclaimer and interpreter of revelation whereas the one who foretold by dreams was a receiver of revelation. In later times the role of the one who foretold by dreams was abused and thus denigrated as compared to that of the prophet (cf. Jer 23:28).

[13:1]  ¹² tn The expression אוֹת אוֹ מוֹפֵת (’ot ’o mofet) became a formulaic way of speaking of ways of authenticating prophetic messages or other works of God (cf. Deut 28:46; Isa 20:3). The NT equivalent is the Greek term σημεῖον (shmeion), a sign performed (used frequently in the Gospel of John, cf. 2:11, 18; 20:30-31). They could, however, be counterfeited or (as here) permitted to false prophets by the Lord as a means of testing his people.

[13:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “or a dreamer of dreams” (so KJV, ASV, NASB). The difference between a prophet (נָבִיא, navi’) and one who foretells by dreams (חֹלֵם אוֹ, ’o kholem) was not so much one of office – for both received revelation by dreams (cf. Num 12:6) – as it was of function or emphasis. The prophet was more a proclaimer and interpreter of revelation whereas the one who foretold by dreams was a receiver of revelation. In later times the role of the one who foretold by dreams was abused and thus denigrated as compared to that of the prophet (cf. Jer 23:28).

[13:1]  ¹⁴ tn The expression אוֹת אוֹ מוֹפֵת (’ot ’o mofet) became a formulaic way of speaking of ways of authenticating prophetic messages or other works of God (cf. Deut 28:46; Isa 20:3). The NT equivalent is the Greek term σημεῖον (shmeion), a sign performed (used frequently in the Gospel of John, cf. 2:11, 18; 20:30-31). They could, however, be counterfeited or (as here) permitted to false prophets by the Lord as a means of testing his people.

[28:19]  ¹⁵ sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.

[13:22]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:22]  ¹⁷ sn The expression raised up refers here to making someone king. There is a wordplay here: “raising up” refers to bringing someone onto the scene of history, but it echoes with the parallel to Jesus’ resurrection.

[13:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “about whom.” The relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the pronoun “him” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek. The verb εἶπεν (eipen) has not been translated (literally “he said testifying”) because it is redundant when combined with the participle μαρτυρήσας (marturhsa", “testifying”). Instead the construction of verb plus participle has been translated as a single English verb (“testified”).

[13:22]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 89:20.

[13:22]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from 1 Sam 13:14.

[13:22]  ²¹ tn Or “who will perform all my will,” “who will carry out all my wishes.”

[13:36]  ²² tn The participle ὑπηρετήσας (Juphrethsa") is taken temporally.

[13:36]  ²³ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.

[13:36]  ²⁴ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “was gathered to his fathers” (a Semitic idiom).

[13:36]  ²⁵ tn Grk “saw,” but the literal translation of the phrase “saw decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “looked at decay,” while here “saw decay” is really figurative for “experienced decay.” This remark explains why David cannot fulfill the promise.