Deuteronomy 1:1

The Covenant Setting

1:1 This is what ¹  Moses said to the assembly of Israel ²  in the Transjordanian ³  wastelands, the arid country opposite ⁴  Suph, ⁵  between ⁶  Paran ⁷  and Tophel, ⁸  Laban, ⁹  Hazeroth, ¹⁰  and Di Zahab ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 10:1-22

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ¹²  10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words ¹³  that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia ¹⁴  wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 10:4 The Lord ¹⁵  then wrote on the tablets the same words, ¹⁶  the ten commandments, ¹⁷  which he ¹⁸  had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he ¹⁹  gave them to me. 10:5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made – they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me.

Conclusion of the Historical Resume

10:6 “During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan ²⁰  to Moserah. ²¹  There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. 10:7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, ²²  and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, ²³  a place of flowing streams. 10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ²⁴  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²⁵  in his name, as they do to this very day. 10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance ²⁶  among his brothers; ²⁷  the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. 10:10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, forty days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. 10:11 Then he ²⁸  said to me, “Get up, set out leading ²⁹  the people so they may go and possess ³⁰  the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” ³¹ 

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ³²  to obey all his commandments, ³³  to love him, to serve him ³⁴  with all your mind and being, ³⁵  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ³⁶  you today for your own good? 10:14 The heavens – indeed the highest heavens – belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he ³⁷  show his loving favor, ³⁸  and he chose you, their descendants, ³⁹  from all peoples – as is apparent today. 10:16 Therefore, cleanse ⁴⁰  your heart and stop being so stubborn! ⁴¹  10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 10:18 who justly treats ⁴²  the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 10:19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 10:20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name. 10:21 He is the one you should praise; ⁴³  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. 10:22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky. ⁴⁴ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “These are the words.”

[1:1]  ² tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[1:1]  ³ tn Heb “on the other side of the Jordan.” This would appear to favor authorship by someone living on the west side of the Jordan, that is, in Canaan, whereas the biblical tradition locates Moses on the east side (cf. v. 5). However the Hebrew phrase בְּעֵבֶר הַיּרְדֵּן (bÿ’ever hayyrÿden) is a frozen form meaning “Transjordan,” a name appropriate from any geographical vantage point. To this day, one standing east of the Jordan can describe himself as being in Transjordan.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term מוֹל (mol) may also mean “in front of” or “near” (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[1:1]  ⁵ sn This place is otherwise unattested and its location is unknown. Perhaps it is Khirbet Sufah, 4 mi (6 km) SSE of Madaba, Jordan.

[1:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term בֵּין (ben) may suggest “in the area of.”

[1:1]  ⁷ sn Paran is the well-known desert area between Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea (cf. Num 10:12; 12:16).

[1:1]  ⁸ sn Tophel refers possibly to et£-T£afîleh, 15 mi (25 km) SE of the Dead Sea, or to Da‚bîlu, another name for Paran. See H. Cazelles, “Tophel (Deut. 1:1),” VT 9 (1959): 412-15.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn Laban. Perhaps this refers to Libnah (Num 33:20).

[1:1]  ¹⁰ sn Hazeroth. This probably refers to àAin Khadra. See Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 199-200.

[1:1]  ¹¹ sn Di Zahab. Perhaps this refers to Mina al-Dhahab on the eastern Sinai coast.

[10:1]  ¹² tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.

[10:2]  ²³ sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the Lord’s commandments.

[10:3]  ³⁴ sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.

[10:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.

[10:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”

[10:4]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[10:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” earlier in this verse.

[10:6]  ⁵⁶ sn Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan. This Hebrew name could be translated “the wells of Bene-Yaaqan” or “the wells of the sons of Yaaqan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31-32; 1 Chr 1:42).

[10:6]  ⁵⁷ sn Moserah. Since Aaron in other texts (Num 20:28; 33:38) is said to have died on Mount Hor, this must be the Arabah region in which Hor was located.

[10:7]  ⁶⁷ sn Gudgodah. This is probably the same as Haggidgad, which is also associated with Jotbathah (Num 33:33).

[10:7]  ⁶⁸ sn Jotbathah. This place, whose Hebrew name can be translated “place of wadis,” is possibly modern Ain Tabah, just north of Eilat, or Tabah, 6.5 mi (11 km) south of Eilat on the west shore of the Gulf of Aqaba.

[10:8]  ⁷⁸ sn The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11-13; 8:12-26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in the Book of Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25-28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.

[10:8]  ⁷⁹ sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.

[10:9]  ⁸⁹ sn Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the Lord himself was their apportionment, that is, service to him would be their full-time and lifelong privilege (Num 18:20-24; Deut 18:2; Josh 13:33).

[10:9]  ⁹⁰ tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.

[10:11]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:11]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “before” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “at the head of.”

[10:11]  ¹⁰² tn After the imperative these subordinated jussive forms (with prefixed vav) indicate purpose or result.

[10:11]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 15, 22).

[10:12]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ¹¹² tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

[10:12]  ¹¹³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[10:13]  ¹²² tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[10:15]  ¹³³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:15]  ¹³⁴ tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

[10:15]  ¹³⁵ tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.

[10:16]  ¹⁴⁴ tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).

[10:16]  ¹⁴⁵ tn Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[10:18]  ¹⁵⁵ tn Or “who executes justice for” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “gives justice to.”

[10:21]  ¹⁶⁶ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[10:22]  ¹⁷⁷ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.