Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ¹  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ²  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 5:32--6:3

5:32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! 5:33 Walk just as he ³  has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long ⁴  in the land you are going to possess.

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ⁵  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ⁶  6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ⁷  that I am giving ⁸  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number ⁹  – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, ¹⁰  said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

[4:1]  ¹ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[5:33]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[5:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “may prolong your days”; NAB “may have long life”; TEV “will continue to live.”

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[6:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).