Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ¹  and troops ²  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 25:5

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, ³  and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁴ 

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 ⁵  you in your villages.

Deuteronomy 31:17

31:17 At that time ⁶  my anger will erupt against them ⁷  and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome ⁸  them ⁹  so that they ¹⁰  will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters ¹¹  overcome us ¹²  because our ¹³  God is not among us ¹⁴ ?’

[20:1]  ¹ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “people.”

[25:5]  ³ tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”

[25:5]  ⁴ sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).

[28:55]  ⁵ tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

[31:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.

[31:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”

[31:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.

[31:17]  ¹² tn Heb “evils.”

[31:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.

[31:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my.”

[31:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.