Deuteronomy 2:11

2:11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; ¹  the Moabites call them Emites.

Deuteronomy 32:21

32:21 They have made me jealous ²  with false gods, ³ 

enraging me with their worthless gods; ⁴ 

so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ⁵ 

with a nation slow to learn ⁶  I will enrage them.

Deuteronomy 3:20

3:20 You must fight ⁷  until the Lord gives your countrymen victory ⁸  as he did you and they take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Then each of you may return to his own territory that I have given you.”

Deuteronomy 14:7

14:7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. ⁹  (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you).

Deuteronomy 4:10

4:10 You ¹⁰  stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he ¹¹  said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. ¹²  Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.”

[2:11]  ¹ sn Rephaites. The earliest reference to this infamous giant race is, again, in the story of the invasion of the eastern kings (Gen 14:5). They lived around Ashteroth Karnaim, probably modern Tell Ashtarah (cf. Deut 1:4), in the Bashan plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Og, king of Bashan, was a Rephaite (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). Other texts speak of them or their kinfolk in both Transjordan (Deut 2:20; 3:13) and Canaan (Josh 11:21-22; 14:12, 15; 15:13-14; Judg 1:20; 1 Sam 17:4; 1 Chr 20:4-8). They also appear in extra-biblical literature, especially in connection with the city state of Ugarit. See C. L’Heureux, “Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim,” HTR 67 (1974): 265-74.

[32:21]  ² sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.

[32:21]  ³ tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”

[32:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).

[32:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).

[32:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”

[3:20]  ³ tn The words “you must fight” are not present in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “gives your brothers rest.”

[14:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term שָׁפָן (shafan) may refer to the “coney” (cf. KJV, NIV) or hyrax (“rock badger,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁵ tn The text begins with “(the) day (in) which.” In the Hebrew text v. 10 is subordinate to v. 11, but for stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 10 as an independent clause, necessitating the omission of the subordinating temporal phrase at the beginning of the verse.

[4:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “my words.” See v. 13; in Hebrew the “ten commandments” are the “ten words.”