Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Exhortation to Teach the Covenant Principles

6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach ¹  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ²  as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm ³  and fasten them as symbols ⁴  on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

11:18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, ⁶  and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols ⁷  on your forehead. 11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ⁸  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Deuteronomy 17:18-19

17:18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law ⁹  on a scroll ¹⁰  given to him by the Levitical priests. 17:19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

Deuteronomy 30:14

30:14 For the thing is very near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind ¹¹  so that you can do it.

Deuteronomy 31:11

31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them ¹²  within their hearing.

Psalms 37:30-31

37:30 The godly speak wise words

and promote justice. ¹³ 

37:31 The law of their God controls their thinking; ¹⁴ 

their ¹⁵  feet do not slip.

Psalms 40:10

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; ¹⁶ 

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 119:42-43

119:42 Then I will have a reply for the one who insults me, ¹⁸ 

for I trust in your word.

119:43 Do not completely deprive me of a truthful testimony, ¹⁹ 

for I await your justice.

Isaiah 59:21

59:21 “As for me, this is my promise to ²⁰  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ²¹  says the Lord.

Matthew 12:35

12:35 The good person ²²  brings good things out of his ²³  good treasury, ²⁴  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

Ephesians 4:29

4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ²⁵  that it may give grace to those who hear.

[6:7]  ¹ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

[6:7]  ² tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[6:8]  ³ sn Tie them as a sign on your forearm. Later Jewish tradition referred to the little leather containers tied to the forearms and foreheads as tefillin. They were to contain the following passages from the Torah: Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut 6:5-9; 11:13-21. The purpose was to serve as a “sign” of covenant relationship and obedience.

[6:8]  ⁴ sn Fasten them as symbols on your forehead. These were also known later as tefillin (see previous note) or phylacteries (from the Greek term). These box-like containers, like those on the forearms, held the same scraps of the Torah. It was the hypocritical practice of wearing these without heartfelt sincerity that caused Jesus to speak scathingly about them (cf. Matt 23:5).

[6:9]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew term מְזוּזֹת (mÿzuzot) refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 443-44.

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn On the Hebrew term טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “reminders”), cf. Deut 6:4-9.

[11:19]  ⁸ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[17:18]  ⁹ tn Or “instruction.” The LXX reads here τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (to deuteronomion touto, “this second law”). From this Greek phrase the present name of the book, “Deuteronomy” or “second law” (i.e., the second giving of the law), is derived. However, the MT’s expression מִשְׁנֶה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (mishneh hattorah hazzo’t) is better rendered “copy of this law.” Here the term תּוֹרָה (torah) probably refers only to the book of Deuteronomy and not to the whole Pentateuch.

[17:18]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term סֵפֶר (sefer) means a “writing” or “document” and could be translated “book” (so KJV, ASV, TEV). However, since “book” carries the connotation of a modern bound book with pages (an obvious anachronism) it is preferable to render the Hebrew term “scroll” here and elsewhere.

[30:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “heart.”

[31:11]  ¹² tn Heb “before all Israel.”

[37:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.

[37:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[37:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.

[40:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”

[40:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”

[119:42]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and I will answer [the] one who insults me a word.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive (see v. 41).

[119:43]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “do not snatch from my mouth a word of truth to excess.” The psalmist wants to be able to give a reliable testimony about the Lord’s loyal love (vv. 41-42), but if God does not intervene, the psalmist will be deprived of doing so, for the evidence of such love (i.e., deliverance) will be lacking.

[59:21]  ²⁰ tn Or “my covenant with” (so many English versions); NCV “my agreement with.”

[59:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “from now and on into the future.”

[12:35]  ²² tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

[12:35]  ²³ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[12:35]  ²⁴ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).

[4:29]  ²⁵ tn Grk “but if something good for the building up of the need.” The final genitive τῆς χρείας (th" creia") may refer to “the need of the moment” or it may refer to the need of a particular person or group of people as the next phrase “give grace to those who hear” indicates.