Deuteronomy 10:12-13

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, ¹  to obey all his commandments, ²  to love him, to serve him ³  with all your mind and being, ⁴  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ⁵  you today for your own good?

Psalms 19:7-11

19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect

and preserves one’s life. ⁶ 

The rules set down by the Lord ⁷  are reliable ⁸ 

and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. ⁹ 

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ¹⁰ 

and make one joyful. ¹¹ 

The Lord’s commands ¹²  are pure ¹³ 

and give insight for life. ¹⁴ 

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ¹⁵ 

and endure forever. ¹⁶ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ¹⁷ 

19:10 They are of greater value ¹⁸  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ¹⁹  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ²⁰ 

those who obey them receive a rich reward. ²¹ 

Psalms 119:86

119:86 All your commands are reliable.

I am pursued without reason. ²²  Help me!

Psalms 119:96

119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,

but your commands are beyond full comprehension. ²³ 

Psalms 119:127-128

119:127 For this reason ²⁴  I love your commands

more than gold, even purest gold.

119:128 For this reason I carefully follow all your precepts. ²⁵ 

I hate all deceitful actions. ²⁶ 

Psalms 147:19-20

147:19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,

his statutes and regulations to Israel.

147:20 He has not done so with any other nation;

they are not aware of his regulations.

Praise the Lord!

Romans 7:12-14

7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ²⁷ 

Romans 7:2

7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ²⁸  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ²⁹ 

Romans 3:16-17

3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” ³⁰ 

[10:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[19:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.

[19:7]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the Lord.” The noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law.

[19:7]  ⁸ tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

[19:7]  ⁹ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.

[19:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ¹² tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[19:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ¹⁷ sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[19:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[19:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”

[19:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”

[119:86]  ²² sn God’s commands are a reliable guide to right and wrong. By keeping them the psalmist is doing what is right, yet he is still persecuted.

[119:96]  ²³ tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).

[119:127]  ²⁴ tn “For this reason” connects logically with the statement made in v. 126. Because the judgment the psalmist fears (see vv. 119-120) is imminent, he remains loyal to God’s law.

[119:128]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for this reason all the precepts of everything I regard as right.” The phrase “precepts of everything” is odd. It is preferable to take the kaf (כ) on כֹּל (kol, “everything) with the preceding form as a pronominal suffix, “your precepts,” and the lamed (ל) with the following verb as an emphatic particle. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 138.

[119:128]  ²⁶ tn Heb “every false path.”

[7:14]  ²⁷ tn Grk “under sin.”

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[7:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “husband.”

[3:17]  ³⁰ sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.