Deuteronomy 29:16-29

The Results of Disobedience

29:16 “(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled. 29:17 You have seen their detestable things ¹  and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.) ²  29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ³  29:19 When such a person ⁴  hears the words of this oath he secretly ⁵  blesses himself ⁶  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ⁷  This will destroy ⁸  the watered ground with the parched. ⁹  29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹⁰  will rage ¹¹  against that man; all the curses ¹²  written in this scroll will fall upon him ¹³  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ¹⁴  29:21 The Lord will single him out ¹⁵  for judgment ¹⁶  from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law. 29:22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see ¹⁷  the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ¹⁸  29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ¹⁹  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ²⁰  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ²¹  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.” 29:29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants ²²  forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

[29:17]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term שִׁקּוּץ (shiquts) refers to anything out of keeping with the nature and character of Yahweh and therefore to be avoided by his people Israel. It is commonly used with or as a synonym for תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “detestable, abhorrent”; 2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on the term “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:243-46.

[29:17]  ² tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment.

[29:18]  ³ tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (la’anah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”

[29:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[29:19]  ⁶ tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.

[29:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “heart.”

[29:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.

[29:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”

[29:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

[29:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

[29:20]  ¹² tn Heb “the entire oath.”

[29:20]  ¹³ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

[29:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

[29:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “set him apart.”

[29:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”

[29:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted.

[29:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[29:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

[29:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

[29:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

[29:29]  ²² tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV “children.”