Deuteronomy 18:8

18:8 He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance. ¹ 

Deuteronomy 32:9

32:9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people,

Jacob is his special possession. ² 

Deuteronomy 10:9

10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance ³  among his brothers; ⁴  the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him.

Deuteronomy 18:3

18:3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment ⁵  from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep – they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.

Deuteronomy 4:8

4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just ⁶  as this whole law ⁷  that I am about to share with ⁸  you today?

Deuteronomy 14:27

14:27 As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you.

Deuteronomy 15:14

15:14 You must supply them generously ⁹  from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them.

Deuteronomy 18:4

18:4 You must give them the best of your ¹⁰  grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks.

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 ¹¹  your hand to your fellow Israelites ¹²  who are needy and poor in your land.

Deuteronomy 21:17

21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ¹³  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ¹⁴  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ¹⁵  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

Deuteronomy 28:55

28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ¹⁶  you in your villages.

Deuteronomy 33:21

33:21 He has selected the best part for himself,

for the portion of the ruler ¹⁷  is set aside ¹⁸  there;

he came with the leaders ¹⁹  of the people,

he obeyed the righteous laws of the Lord

and his ordinances with Israel.

Deuteronomy 5:9

5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ²⁰  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ²¹  me, ²² 

[18:8]  ¹ tn Presumably this would not refer to a land inheritance, since that was forbidden to the descendants of Levi (v. 1). More likely it referred to some family possessions (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV) or other private property (cf. NLT “a private source of income”), or even support sent by relatives (cf. TEV “whatever his family sends him”).

[32:9]  ² tc Heb “the portion of his inheritance.” The LXX and Smr add “Israel” and BHS suggests the reconstruction: “The Lord’s allotment is Jacob, the portion of his inheritance is Israel” (cf. NAB). While providing good parallelism, it destroys a fine chiastic structure: “allotment” (a), “his people” (b), “Jacob (b’), and “inheritance” (a’).

[10:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.

[18:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “judgment”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “the priest’s due.”

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Or “pure”; or “fair”; Heb “righteous.”

[4:8]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew phrase הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (hattorah hazzo’t), in this context, refers specifically to the Book of Deuteronomy. That is, it is the collection of all the חֻקִּים (khuqqim, “statutes,” 4:1) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “ordinances,” 4:1) to be included in the covenant text. In a full canonical sense, of course, it pertains to the entire Pentateuch or Torah.

[4:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “place before.”

[15:14]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “generously.”

[18:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).

[15:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

[15:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “your brother.”

[21:17]  ⁹ tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.

[21:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (piy shÿnayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).

[21:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ’on; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the first fruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”

[28:55]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

[33:21]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term מְחֹקֵק (mÿkhoqeq; Poel participle of חָקַק, khaqaq, “to inscribe”) reflects the idea that the recorder of allotments (the “ruler”) is able to set aside for himself the largest and best. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 444-45.

[33:21]  ¹² tn Heb “covered in” (if from the root סָפַן, safan; cf. HALOT 764-65 s.v. ספן qal).

[33:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “heads” (in the sense of chieftains).

[5:9]  ¹² tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.

[5:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהַב, ’ahav) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, sane’) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).

[5:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:50) is elliptical/abbreviated or that it suffers from textual corruption (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).