Deuteronomy 4:2

4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to ¹  you.

Deuteronomy 12:32

Idolatry and False Prophets

12:32 (13:1) ²  You ³  must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 12:1

The Central Sanctuary

12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁵  has given you to possess. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 15:1-3

Release for Debt Slaves

15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation ⁷  of debts. 15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ⁸  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ⁹  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.” 15:3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite ¹⁰  owes you, you must remit.

Deuteronomy 15:8-9

15:8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend ¹¹  him whatever he needs. ¹²  15:9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude ¹³  be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite ¹⁴  and you do not lend ¹⁵  him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 15:11

15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open ¹⁷  your hand to your fellow Israelites ¹⁸  who are needy and poor in your land.

Deuteronomy 15:19-22

Giving God the Best

15:19 You must set apart ¹⁹  for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 15:20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he ²⁰  chooses. 15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else ²¹  – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 15:22 You may eat it in your villages, ²²  whether you are ritually impure or clean, ²³  just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.

Matthew 23:23

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ²⁵  of mint, dill, and cumin, ²⁶  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ²⁷  should have done these things without neglecting the others.

Luke 11:42

11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! ²⁸  You give a tenth ²⁹  of your mint, ³⁰  rue, ³¹  and every herb, yet you neglect justice ³²  and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others. ³³ 

Acts 20:20

20:20 You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming ³⁴  to you anything that would be helpful, ³⁵  and from teaching you publicly ³⁶  and from house to house,

Acts 20:27

20:27 For I did not hold back from ³⁷  announcing ³⁸  to you the whole purpose ³⁹  of God.

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “commanding.”

[12:32]  ² sn Beginning with 12:32, the verse numbers through 13:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 12:32 ET = 13:1 HT, 13:1 ET = 13:2 HT, 13:2 ET = 13:3 HT, etc., through 13:18 ET = 13:19 HT. With 14:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[12:32]  ³ tn This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions – one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural – which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. The MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (plural) you (plural) must be careful to do; you (singular) must not add to it nor should you (singular) subtract form it.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few Smr mss propose plural for the last two. What both ancient and modern scholars tend to overlook, however, is the covenantal theological tone of the Book of Deuteronomy, one that views Israel as a collective body (singular) made up of many individuals (plural). See M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11 (AB), 15-16; J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy (TOTC), 21-23.

[12:32]  ⁴ sn Do not add to it or subtract from it. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) This work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).

[12:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days which you live in the land.” This adverbial statement modifies “to obey,” not “to possess,” so the order in the translation has been rearranged to make this clear.

[15:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּת (shÿmittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”

[15:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

[15:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your brother.”

[15:8]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before both verbs. The translation indicates the emphasis with the words “be sure to” and “generously,” respectively.

[15:8]  ¹² tn Heb “whatever his need that he needs for himself.” This redundant expression has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “your eye.”

[15:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your needy brother.”

[15:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “give” (likewise in v. 10).

[15:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “it will be a sin to you.”

[15:11]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

[15:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your brother.”

[15:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sanctify” (תַּקְדִּישׁ, taqdish), that is, put to use on behalf of the Lord.

[15:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons. See note on “he” in 15:4.

[15:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”

[15:22]  ²² tn Heb “in your gates.”

[15:22]  ²³ tc The LXX adds ἐν σοί (en soi, “among you”) to make clear that the antecedent is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.

[23:23]  ²⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ²⁵ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ²⁶ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ²⁷ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[11:42]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so to the end of this chapter).

[11:42]  ²⁹ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[11:42]  ³⁰ sn These small herbs were tithed with great care (Mishnah, m. Demai 2:1).

[11:42]  ³¹ tn Grk “and rue.” Καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[11:42]  ³² sn Justice was a major theme of OT ethics (Mic 6:8; Zech 7:8-10).

[11:42]  ³³ tn Grk “those”; but this has been translated as “the others” to clarify which are meant.

[20:20]  ³⁴ tn Or “declaring.”

[20:20]  ³⁵ tn Or “profitable.” BDAG 960 s.v. συμφέρω 2.b.α has “τὰ συμφέροντα what advances your best interests or what is good for you Ac 20:20,” but the broader meaning (s.v. 2, “to be advantageous, help, confer a benefit, be profitable/useful”) is equally possible in this context.

[20:20]  ³⁶ tn Or “openly.”

[20:27]  ³⁷ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ³⁸ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ³⁹ tn Or “plan.”