Deuteronomy 28:25

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:36

28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ²  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

Deuteronomy 28:64

28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ³  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁴  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:15

14:15 the ostrich, ⁵  the owl, ⁶  the seagull, the falcon ⁷  after its species,

Deuteronomy 14:2

14:2 For you are a people holy ⁸  to the Lord your God. He ⁹  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹⁰  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 17:18

17:18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law ¹¹  on a scroll ¹²  given to him by the Levitical priests.

Deuteronomy 17:1-2

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ¹³  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ¹⁴  to the Lord your God. 17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ¹⁵  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ¹⁶  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 7:20

7:20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets ¹⁷  among them until the very last ones who hide from you ¹⁸  perish.

Psalms 52:5

52:5 Yet ¹⁹  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ²⁰ 

He will scoop you up ²¹  and remove you from your home; ²² 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Proverbs 2:22

2:22 but the wicked ²³  will be removed ²⁴  from the land,

and the treacherous ²⁵  will be torn away ²⁶  from it.

Jeremiah 42:10

42:10 ‘If you will just stay ²⁷  in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you. ²⁸  I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.

Luke 21:23-24

21:23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! For there will be great distress ²⁹  on the earth and wrath against this people. 21:24 They ³⁰  will fall by the edge ³¹  of the sword and be led away as captives ³²  among all nations. Jerusalem ³³  will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ³⁴ 

[28:25]  ¹ tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).

[28:36]  ² tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

[28:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[14:15]  ⁵ tn Or “owl.” The Hebrew term בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה (bat hayya’anah) is sometimes taken as “ostrich” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but may refer instead to some species of owl (cf. KJV “owl”; NEB “desert-owl”; NIV “horned owl”).

[14:15]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term תַּחְמָס (takhmas) is either a type of owl (cf. NEB “short-eared owl”; NIV “screech owl”) or possibly the nighthawk (so NRSV, NLT).

[14:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term נֵץ (nets) may refer to the falcon or perhaps the hawk (so NEB, NIV).

[14:2]  ⁸ tn Or “set apart.”

[14:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[14:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “instruction.” The LXX reads here τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (to deuteronomion touto, “this second law”). From this Greek phrase the present name of the book, “Deuteronomy” or “second law” (i.e., the second giving of the law), is derived. However, the MT’s expression מִשְׁנֶה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (mishneh hattorah hazzo’t) is better rendered “copy of this law.” Here the term תּוֹרָה (torah) probably refers only to the book of Deuteronomy and not to the whole Pentateuch.

[17:18]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term סֵפֶר (sefer) means a “writing” or “document” and could be translated “book” (so KJV, ASV, TEV). However, since “book” carries the connotation of a modern bound book with pages (an obvious anachronism) it is preferable to render the Hebrew term “scroll” here and elsewhere.

[17:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[17:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[7:20]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the term translated “hornets” (צִרְעָה, tsir’ah) is debated. Various suggestions are “discouragement” (HALOT 1056-57 s.v.; cf. NEB, TEV, CEV “panic”; NCV “terror”) and “leprosy” (J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 360, n. 33; cf. NRSV “the pestilence”), as well as “hornet” (BDB 864 s.v.; cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). The latter seems most suitable to the verb שָׁלַח (shalakh, “send”; cf. Exod 23:28; Josh 24:12).

[7:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the remnant and those who hide themselves.”

[52:5]  ¹⁹ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ²¹ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ²² tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[2:22]  ²³ tn Heb “the guilty.” The term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “the wicked”) is from the root רָשַׁע (rasha’, “to be guilty”) and refers to those who are (1) guilty of sin: moral reprobates or (2) guilty of crime: criminals deserving punishment (BDB 957 s.v. רָשָׁע). This is the person who is probably not a covenant member and manifests that in the way he lives, either by sinning against God or committing criminal acts. The noun sometimes refers to guilty criminals who deserve to die (Num 16:26; 35:31; 2 Sam 4:11). Here they will be “cut off” and “torn away” from the land.

[2:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “cut off.” The verb כָּרַת (karat, “to be cut off”) indicates either that the guilty will (1) die prematurely, (2) be excommunicated from the community or (3) be separated eternally in judgment. The Mishnah devoted an entire tractate (m. Keritot) to this topic. The context suggests that the guilty will be “removed” from the land where the righteous dwell in security either through death or expulsion.

[2:22]  ²⁵ tn The word בָּגַד (bagad) means “to act treacherously” (BDB 93 s.v.; HALOT 108 s.v. בגד). It describes those who deal treacherously, unfaithfully or deceitfully in marriage relations, matters of property or personal rights, in violating covenants, and in their words and general conduct.

[2:22]  ²⁶ tn The consonantal form יסחו (yskhv) is vocalized in the MT as יִסְּחוּ (yissÿkhu, Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from נָסַח, nasakh, “to tear away”) but this produces an awkward sense: “they [= the righteous in vv. 20-21] will tear away the treacherous from it” (BDB 650 s.v. נָסַח). Due to the parallelism, the BHS editors suggest emending the form to יִנָּסְחוּ (yinnaskhu, Niphal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural): “the treacherous will be torn away from it.” However, Tg. Prov 2:22 points the form as יֻסְחוּ (yuskhu) which reflects an old Qal passive vocalization – probably the best solution to the problem: “the treacherous will be torn away from it.”

[42:10]  ²⁷ tn The word “just” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizing here the condition rather than the verb root (see Joüon 2:423 §123.g, and compare the usage in Exod 15:26). The form looks like the infinitive absolute of the verb שׁוּב (shuv), but all the versions interpret it as though it is from יָשַׁב (yashav) which is the root of the verb that follows it. Either this is a textual error of the loss of a י (yod) or this is one of the cases that GKC 69 §19.i list as the possible loss of a weak consonant at the beginning of a word.

[42:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “I will firmly plant you in the land,” or “I will establish you.” This is part of the metaphor that has been used of God (re)establishing Israel in the land. See 24:6; 31:28; 32:41.

[21:23]  ²⁹ sn Great distress means that this is a period of great judgment.

[21:24]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:24]  ³¹ tn Grk “by the mouth of the sword” (an idiom for the edge of a sword).

[21:24]  ³² sn Here is the predicted judgment against the nation until the time of Gentile rule has passed: Its people will be led away as captives.

[21:24]  ³³ tn Grk “And Jerusalem.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[21:24]  ³⁴ sn Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled implies a time when Israel again has a central role in God’s plan.