Deuteronomy 29:12

29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹ 

Genesis 2:17

2:17 but ²  you must not eat ³  from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when ⁴  you eat from it you will surely die.” ⁵ 

[29:12]  ¹ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[2:17]  ² tn The disjunctive clause here indicates contrast: “but from the tree of the knowledge….”

[2:17]  ³ tn The negated imperfect verb form indicates prohibition, “you must not eat.”

[2:17]  ⁴ tn Or “in the very day, as soon as.” If one understands the expression to have this more precise meaning, then the following narrative presents a problem, for the man does not die physically as soon as he eats from the tree. In this case one may argue that spiritual death is in view. If physical death is in view here, there are two options to explain the following narrative: (1) The following phrase “You will surely die” concerns mortality which ultimately results in death (a natural paraphrase would be, “You will become mortal”), or (2) God mercifully gave man a reprieve, allowing him to live longer than he deserved.

[2:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “dying you will die.” The imperfect verb form here has the nuance of the specific future because it is introduced with the temporal clause, “when you eat…you will die.” That certainty is underscored with the infinitive absolute, “you will surely die.”