Deuteronomy 4:6

4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ¹  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ²  people.”

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ³  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, ⁴  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 11:1-10

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments ⁵  at all times. 11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ⁶  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ⁷  of the Lord your God, which revealed ⁸  his greatness, strength, and power. ⁹  11:3 They did not see ¹⁰  the awesome deeds he performed ¹¹  in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, 11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea ¹²  overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he ¹³  annihilated them. ¹⁴  11:5 They did not see ¹⁵  what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place, 11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, ¹⁶  sons of Eliab the Reubenite, ¹⁷  when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp ¹⁸  and swallowed them, their families, ¹⁹  their tents, and all the property they brought with them. ²⁰  11:7 I am speaking to you ²¹  because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!

The Abundance of the Land of Promise

11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments ²²  I am giving ²³  you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ²⁴  11:9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors ²⁵  and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 11:10 For the land where you are headed ²⁶  is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand ²⁷  like a vegetable garden.

Proverbs 14:8

14:8 The wisdom of the shrewd person ²⁸  is to discern ²⁹  his way,

but the folly of fools is deception. ³⁰ 

Proverbs 14:1

14:1 Every wise woman ³¹  builds ³²  her household, ³³ 

but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

Proverbs 2:3

2:3 indeed, if ³⁴  you call out for ³⁵  discernment ³⁶  –

raise your voice ³⁷  for understanding –

[4:6]  ¹ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

[4:6]  ² tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

[4:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[11:1]  ⁵ tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow – חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).

[11:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

[11:2]  ⁸ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

[11:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.

[11:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.

[11:4]  ¹² tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[11:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.

[11:5]  ¹⁵ tn See note on these same words in v. 3.

[11:6]  ¹⁶ sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1-3, 31-35).

[11:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”

[11:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.

[11:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”

[11:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”

[11:7]  ²¹ tn On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. 3.

[11:8]  ²² tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).

[11:8]  ²³ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).

[11:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”

[11:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 21).

[11:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you are going there to possess it”; NASB “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; NRSV “that you are crossing over to occupy.”

[11:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “with your foot” (so NASB, NLT). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.

[14:8]  ²⁸ tn Or “the prudent [person]” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

[14:8]  ²⁹ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct denotes purpose. Those who are shrewd will use it to give careful consideration to all their ways.

[14:8]  ³⁰ tn The word means “deception,” but some suggest “self-deception” here (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 466; and D. W. Thomas, “Textual and Philological Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 286); cf. NLT “fools deceive themselves.” The parallelism would favor this, but there is little support for it. The word usually means “craft practiced on others.” If the line is saying the fool is deceitful, there is only a loose antithesis between the cola.

[14:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “wise ones of women.” The construct phrase חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים (khakhmot nashim) features a wholistic genitive: “wise women.” The plural functions in a distributive sense: “every wise woman.” The contrast is between wise and foolish women (e.g., Prov 7:10-23; 31:10-31).

[14:1]  ³² tn The perfect tense verb in the first colon functions in a gnomic sense, while the imperfect tense in the second colon is a habitual imperfect.

[14:1]  ³³ tn Heb “house.” This term functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for contents (= household, family).

[2:3]  ³⁴ tn Both particles retain their individual meanings, otherwise the verse would begin with a strong adversative and be a contrast to what has been said.

[2:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “summon.”

[2:3]  ³⁶ sn The noun recalls the second purpose of the book (1:2). It is also cognate to the last word of 2:2, forming a transition. The two objects of the prepositions in this verse are actually personifications, as if they could be summoned.

[2:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “give your voice”; the expression is idiomatic for raising or lifting the voice to make a sound that carries further (e.g., Jer 2:15). This deliberate expression indicates that something significant is being uttered. J. H. Greenstone says, “If it [understanding] does not come at your first call, raise your voice to a higher pitch, put forth greater efforts” (Proverbs, 17).