Deuteronomy 2:31

2:31 The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”

Deuteronomy 3:28

3:28 Commission ¹  Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people over and will enable them to inherit the land you will see.”

Deuteronomy 4:14

4:14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ² 

Deuteronomy 4:43

4:43 These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

Deuteronomy 5:11

5:11 You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, ³  for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 6:23

6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors.

Deuteronomy 9:25

Moses’ Plea on Behalf of the Lord’s Reputation

9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, ⁵  for he ⁶  had said he would destroy you.

Deuteronomy 10:21

10:21 He is the one you should praise; ⁷  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen.

Deuteronomy 11:31

11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it.

Deuteronomy 12:3

12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ⁸  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ⁹  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

Deuteronomy 12:29

The Abomination of Pagan Gods

12:29 When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 12:32

Idolatry and False Prophets

12:32 (13:1) ¹¹  You ¹²  must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 13:4

13:4 You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him.

Deuteronomy 26:16

Narrative Interlude

26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 27:1

The Assembly at Shechem

27:1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments ¹⁵  I am giving ¹⁶  you today.

Deuteronomy 29:9

The Present Covenant Setting

29:9 “Therefore, keep the terms ¹⁷  of this covenant and obey them so that you may be successful in everything you do.

Deuteronomy 30:6

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ¹⁸  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ¹⁹  so that you may love him ²⁰  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Deuteronomy 34:2

34:2 and all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the distant ²¹  sea,

[3:28]  ¹ tn Heb “command”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “charge Joshua.”

[4:14]  ¹ tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”

[5:11]  ¹ tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (the Hebrew term is שָׁוְא) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.

[5:11]  ² tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”

[9:25]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.

[9:25]  ² tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[10:21]  ¹ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[12:3]  ¹ sn Sacred pillars. These are the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.

[12:3]  ² sn Sacred Asherah poles. The Hebrew term (plural) is אֲשֵׁרִים (’asherim). See note on the word “(leafy) tree” in v. 2, and also Deut 7:5.

[12:29]  ¹ tn Heb “dwell in their land” (so NASB). In the Hebrew text vv. 29-30 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides it into two.

[12:32]  ¹ sn Beginning with 12:32, the verse numbers through 13:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 12:32 ET = 13:1 HT, 13:1 ET = 13:2 HT, 13:2 ET = 13:3 HT, etc., through 13:18 ET = 13:19 HT. With 14:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[12:32]  ² tn This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions – one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural – which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. The MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (plural) you (plural) must be careful to do; you (singular) must not add to it nor should you (singular) subtract form it.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few Smr mss propose plural for the last two. What both ancient and modern scholars tend to overlook, however, is the covenantal theological tone of the Book of Deuteronomy, one that views Israel as a collective body (singular) made up of many individuals (plural). See M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11 (AB), 15-16; J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy (TOTC), 21-23.

[12:32]  ³ sn Do not add to it or subtract from it. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) This work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).

[26:16]  ¹ tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”

[27:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the whole commandment.” See note at 5:31.

[27:1]  ² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 10).

[29:9]  ¹ tn Heb “words.”

[30:6]  ¹ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ² tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[34:2]  ¹ tn Or “western” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); Heb “latter,” a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).