Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 30:15
Context30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.
Deuteronomy 30:19
Context30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!
Deuteronomy 11:26-28
Context11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 1 11:27 the blessing if you take to heart 2 the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention 3 to his 4 commandments and turn from the way I am setting before 5 you today to pursue 6 other gods you have not known.
Deuteronomy 27:1--28:65
Context27:1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments 7 I am giving 8 you today. 27:2 When you cross the Jordan River 9 to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover 10 them with plaster. 27:3 Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 11 said to you. 27:4 So when you cross the Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal 12 these stones about which I am commanding you today, and you must cover them with plaster. 27:5 Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones – do not use an iron tool on them. 27:6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 27:7 Also you must offer fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God. 27:8 You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them clear.”
27:9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. 27:10 You must obey him 13 and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.” 27:11 Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day: 27:12 “The following tribes 14 must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 27:13 And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
27:14 “The Levites will call out to every Israelite 15 with a loud voice: 27:15 ‘Cursed is the one 16 who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent 17 to the Lord, the work of the craftsman 18 – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 19 27:16 ‘Cursed 20 is the one who disrespects 21 his father and mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:17 ‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:18 ‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:20 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with 22 his father’s former wife, 23 for he dishonors his father.’ 24 Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:21 ‘Cursed is the one who commits bestiality.’ 25 Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:22 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:23 ‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:24 ‘Cursed is the one who kills 26 his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ 27:26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
28:1 “If you indeed 27 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 28 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance 29 if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. 30 28:4 Your children 31 will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 32 28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack 33 you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction 34 but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he 35 is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments 36 and obey him. 37 28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, 38 and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, 39 the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he 40 promised your ancestors 41 he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; 42 you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his 43 commandments which I am urging 44 you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving 45 you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship 46 them.
28:15 “But if you ignore 47 the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 48 28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children 49 will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 50
28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you 51 in everything you undertake 52 until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 53 28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases 54 until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He 55 will afflict you with weakness, 56 fever, inflammation, infection, 57 sword, 58 blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The 59 sky 60 above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
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 61 to all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 28:27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28:28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. 62 28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; 63 you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 28:30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape 64 her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. 65 28:33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 28:35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 28:36 The Lord will force you and your king 66 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. 28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.
28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. 67 28:41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 28:42 Whirring locusts 68 will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 28:43 The foreigners 69 who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!
28:45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given 70 you. 28:46 These curses 71 will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants. 72
28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty 73 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They 74 will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth 75 as the eagle flies, 76 a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They 77 will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, 78 or lambs of your flocks 79 until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages 80 until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 28:53 You will then eat your own offspring, 81 the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege 82 by which your enemies will constrict you. 28:54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 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 83 you in your villages. 28:56 Likewise, the most 84 tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, 85 will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth 86 and her newborn children 87 (since she has nothing else), 88 because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
28:58 “If you refuse to obey 89 all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 28:60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt 90 that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. 91 28:61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, 92 until you have perished. 28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, 93 because you will have disobeyed 94 the Lord your God. 28:63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he 95 will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 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. 28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.
Deuteronomy 29:18-23
Context29:18 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. 96 29:19 When such a person 97 hears the words of this oath he secretly 98 blesses himself 99 and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” 100 This will destroy 101 the watered ground with the parched. 102 29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger 103 will rage 104 against that man; all the curses 105 written in this scroll will fall upon him 106 and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. 107 29:21 The Lord will single him out 108 for judgment 109 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 110 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. 111
Leviticus 26:1-46
Context26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 112 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 113 it, for I am the Lord your God. 26:2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence 114 my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 115 26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that 116 the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 117 26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, 118 and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so 119 you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, 120 and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that 121 you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. 122 I will remove harmful animals 123 from the land, and no sword of war 124 will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. 125 26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain 126 my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year 127 and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. 128
26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle 129 in your midst and I will not abhor you. 130 26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, 131 and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. 132
26:14 “‘If, however, 133 you do not obey me and keep 134 all these commandments – 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep 135 all my commandments and you break my covenant – 26:16 I for my part 136 will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. 137 You will sow your seed in vain because 138 your enemies will eat it. 139 26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.
26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, 140 you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. 141 26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land 142 will not produce their fruit.
26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me 143 and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction 144 seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals 145 against you and they will bereave you of your children, 146 annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population 147 so that your roads will become deserted.
26:23 “‘If in spite of these things 148 you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 149 26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you 150 seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. 151 Although 152 you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. 153 26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, 154 ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, 155 and you will eat and not be satisfied.
26:27 “‘If in spite of this 156 you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, 157 26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you 158 and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 159 26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, 160 and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. 161 I will abhor you. 162 26:31 I will lay your cities waste 163 and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword 164 after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.
26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for 165 its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have 166 on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
26:36 “‘As for 167 the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though 168 there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand 169 for you before your enemies. 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.
26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of 170 their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ 171 iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when 172 they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, 173 by which they also walked 174 in hostility against me 175 26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and 176 then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for 177 their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, 178 and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them 179 in order that it may make up for 180 its Sabbaths while it is made desolate 181 without them, 182 and they will make up for their iniquity because 183 they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred 184 my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors 185 whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
26:46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established 186 between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through 187 Moses.
[11:26] 1 sn A blessing and a curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.
[11:27] 2 tn Heb “listen to,” that is, obey.
[11:28] 3 tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.
[11:28] 4 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[11:28] 5 tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
[11:28] 6 tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).
[27:1] 7 tn Heb “the whole commandment.” See note at 5:31.
[27:1] 8 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 10).
[27:2] 9 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[27:2] 10 tn Heb “plaster” (so KJV, ASV; likewise in v. 4). In the translation “cover” has been used for stylistic reasons.
[27:4] 12 tc Smr reads “Mount Gerizim” for the MT reading “Mount Ebal” to justify the location of the Samaritan temple there in the postexilic period. This reading is patently self-serving and does not reflect the original. In the NT when the Samaritan woman of Sychar referred to “this mountain” as the place of worship for her community she obviously had Gerizim in mind (cf. John 4:20).
[27:10] 13 tn Heb “listen to the voice of the
[27:12] 14 tn The word “tribes” has been supplied here and in the following verse in the translation for clarity.
[27:14] 15 tn Heb “Israelite man.”
[27:15] 16 tn Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.
[27:15] 17 tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
[27:15] 18 tn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”
[27:15] 19 tn Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.
[27:16] 20 tn The Levites speak again at this point; throughout this pericope the Levites pronounce the curse and the people respond with “Amen.”
[27:16] 21 tn The Hebrew term קָלָה (qalah) means to treat with disdain or lack of due respect (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “dishonors”; NLT “despises”). It is the opposite of כָּבֵד (kaved, “to be heavy,” that is, to treat with reverence and proper deference). To treat a parent lightly is to dishonor him or her and thus violate the fifth commandment (Deut 5:16; cf. Exod 21:17).
[27:20] 22 tn Heb “who lies with” (so NASB, NRSV); also in vv. 22, 23. This is a Hebrew idiom for having sexual relations (cf. NIV “who sleeps with”; NLT “who has sexual intercourse with”).
[27:20] 23 tn See note at Deut 22:30.
[27:20] 24 tn Heb “he uncovers his father’s skirt” (NASB similar). See note at Deut 22:30.
[27:21] 25 tn Heb “lies with any animal” (so NASB, NRSV). “To lie with” is a Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations with someone (or in this case, some animal).
[27:24] 26 tn Or “strikes down” (so NRSV).
[28:1] 27 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
[28:1] 28 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
[28:2] 29 tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”
[28:3] 30 tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.
[28:4] 31 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[28:6] 32 sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.
[28:7] 33 tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).
[28:7] 34 tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).
[28:8] 35 tn Heb “the
[28:9] 36 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[28:9] 37 tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[28:10] 38 tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).
[28:11] 39 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”
[28:11] 40 tn Heb “the
[28:11] 41 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).
[28:12] 42 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
[28:13] 43 tn Heb “the
[28:13] 44 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”
[28:14] 45 tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”
[28:14] 46 tn Heb “in order to serve.”
[28:15] 47 tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”
[28:15] 48 tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”
[28:18] 49 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[28:19] 50 sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.
[28:20] 51 tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”
[28:20] 52 tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
[28:20] 53 tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.
[28:21] 54 tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”
[28:22] 55 tn Heb “The
[28:22] 56 tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).
[28:22] 57 tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”
[28:22] 58 tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[28:23] 59 tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”
[28:23] 60 tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[28:25] 61 tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).
[28:28] 62 tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).
[28:29] 63 tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”
[28:30] 64 tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.
[28:32] 65 tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”
[28:36] 66 tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”
[28:40] 67 tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.
[28:42] 68 tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).
[28:43] 69 tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.
[28:45] 70 tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”
[28:46] 71 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[28:46] 72 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).
[28:48] 73 tn Heb “lack of everything.”
[28:48] 74 tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the
[28:49] 75 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
[28:49] 76 tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.
[28:51] 77 tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).
[28:51] 78 tn Heb “increase of herds.”
[28:51] 79 tn Heb “growth of flocks.”
[28:52] 80 tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.
[28:53] 81 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”
[28:53] 82 tn Heb “siege and stress.”
[28:55] 83 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”
[28:56] 84 tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.
[28:56] 85 tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”
[28:57] 86 tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”
[28:57] 87 tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”
[28:57] 88 tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”
[28:58] 89 tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.”
[28:60] 90 sn These are the plagues the
[28:60] 91 tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”
[28:61] 92 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”
[28:62] 93 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[28:62] 94 tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”
[28:63] 95 tn Heb “the
[29:18] 96 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] 97 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[29:19] 98 tn Heb “in his heart.”
[29:19] 99 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] 101 tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.
[29:19] 102 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] 103 tn Heb “the wrath of the
[29:20] 104 tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”
[29:20] 105 tn Heb “the entire oath.”
[29:20] 106 tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”
[29:20] 107 tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”
[29:21] 108 tn Heb “set him apart.”
[29:21] 109 tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”
[29:22] 110 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] 111 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.
[26:1] 112 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
[26:1] 113 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
[26:2] 114 tn Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. NCV “respect”; CEV “honor.”
[26:3] 115 tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
[26:4] 116 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:4] 117 tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.
[26:5] 118 tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”
[26:5] 119 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:5] 120 tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”
[26:6] 121 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:6] 122 tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[26:6] 123 tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).
[26:6] 124 tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.
[26:7] 125 tn Heb “to the sword.”
[26:9] 126 tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the
[26:10] 127 tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”
[26:10] 128 tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”
[26:11] 129 tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”
[26:11] 130 tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”
[26:13] 131 tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”
[26:13] 132 tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”
[26:14] 134 tn Heb “and do not do.”
[26:15] 135 tn Heb “to not do.”
[26:16] 136 tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).
[26:16] 137 tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.
[26:16] 138 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.
[26:16] 139 tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.
[26:18] 140 tn Heb “And if until these.”
[26:18] 141 tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”
[26:20] 142 tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew
[26:21] 143 tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.
[26:21] 144 tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”
[26:22] 145 tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.
[26:22] 146 tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[26:22] 147 tn Heb “and diminish you.”
[26:23] 148 tn Heb “And if in these.”
[26:23] 149 tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.
[26:24] 150 tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”
[26:25] 151 tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”
[26:25] 152 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.
[26:25] 153 tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).
[26:26] 154 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).
[26:26] 155 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”
[26:27] 156 tn Heb “And if in this.”
[26:28] 158 tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”
[26:29] 159 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:30] 160 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”
[26:30] 161 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.
[26:30] 162 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”
[26:31] 163 tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”
[26:33] 164 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).
[26:34] 165 tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).
[26:35] 166 tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”
[26:37] 168 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.
[26:37] 169 tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.
[26:39] 170 tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).
[26:39] 171 tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).
[26:40] 172 tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.
[26:40] 173 tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”
[26:40] 174 tn Heb “and also which they walked.”
[26:41] 176 tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”
[26:41] 177 tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.
[26:42] 178 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:43] 179 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).
[26:43] 180 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.
[26:43] 181 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).
[26:43] 182 tn Heb “from them.”
[26:43] 183 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).
[26:43] 184 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”
[26:45] 185 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”
