Deuteronomy 2:5

2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ¹  as an inheritance for Esau.

Deuteronomy 2:9

2:9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar ²  to the descendants of Lot ³  as their possession.

Deuteronomy 2:19

2:19 But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants ⁴  as their possession.

Deuteronomy 4:26

4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you ⁵  today that you will surely and swiftly be removed ⁶  from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be ⁷  annihilated.

Deuteronomy 8:3

8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. ⁸  He did this to teach you ⁹  that humankind ¹⁰  cannot live by bread ¹¹  alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 12:20

The Sanctity of Blood

12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” ¹³  you may do so as you wish. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 12:31

12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! ¹⁵  For everything that is abhorrent ¹⁶  to him, ¹⁷  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ¹⁸  and troops ¹⁹  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Deuteronomy 21:17

21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ²⁰  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ²¹  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ²²  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

Deuteronomy 21:23

21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury ²³  him that same day, for the one who is left exposed ²⁴  on a tree is cursed by God. ²⁵  You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 24:1

24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive ²⁶  in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.

Deuteronomy 30:10

30:10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him ²⁷  with your whole mind and being.

Deuteronomy 31:27

31:27 for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. ²⁸  Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death! ²⁹ 

Deuteronomy 32:47

32:47 For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

[2:5]  ¹ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

[2:9]  ² sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous with the whole land of Moab.

[2:9]  ³ sn The descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, as God’s judgment, Lot fathered two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these descendants of Lot in and around Ar were the Moabites.

[2:19]  ³ sn Lot’s descendants. See note on this phrase in Deut 2:9.

[4:26]  ⁴ sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the Lord’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the Lord here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.

[4:26]  ⁵ tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”

[4:26]  ⁶ tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.

[8:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).

[8:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).

[8:3]  ⁹ sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).

[12:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”

[12:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”

[12:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

[12:31]  ⁸ tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.

[12:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.

[20:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

[20:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “people.”

[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.”

[21:23]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”

[21:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”

[21:23]  ¹² sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).

[24:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).

[30:10]  ¹² tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[31:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “stiffness of neck” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV). See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[31:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “How much more after my death?” The Hebrew text has a sarcastic rhetorical question here; the translation seeks to bring out the force of the question.