Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 4:11-49
Context4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it 1 and yet dark with a thick cloud. 2 4:12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything – only a voice was heard. 3 4:13 And he revealed to you the covenant 4 he has commanded you to keep, the ten commandments, 5 writing them on two stone tablets. 4:14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. 6
4:15 Be very careful, 7 then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 4:16 I say this 8 so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 4:18 anything that crawls 9 on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. 10 4:19 When you look up 11 to the sky 12 and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation 13 – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, 14 for the Lord your God has assigned 15 them to all the people 16 of the world. 17 4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, 18 to be his special people 19 as you are today. 4:21 But the Lord became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he 20 is about to give you. 21 4:22 So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that 22 good land. 4:23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he 23 has forbidden 24 you. 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. 25
4:25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, 26 if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind 27 and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 28 4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you 29 today that you will surely and swiftly be removed 30 from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be 31 annihilated. 4:27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you 32 among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. 4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 33 4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, 34 if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 35 4:31 (for he 36 is a merciful God), he will not let you down 37 or destroy you, for he cannot 38 forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.
4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind 39 on the earth, and ask 40 from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it. 4:33 Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it? 4:34 Or has God 41 ever before tried to deliver 42 a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, 43 signs, wonders, war, strength, power, 44 and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 4:35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God – there is no other besides him. 4:36 From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. 45 4:37 Moreover, because he loved 46 your ancestors, he chose their 47 descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power 4:38 to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. 48 4:39 Today realize and carefully consider that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below – there is no other! 4:40 Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth 49 today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as a permanent possession.
4:41 Then Moses selected three cities in the Transjordan, toward the east. 4:42 Anyone who accidentally killed someone 50 without hating him at the time of the accident 51 could flee to one of those cities and be safe. 4:43 These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.
4:44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. 52 4:45 These are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites after he had brought them out of Egypt, 4:46 in the Transjordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. (It is he whom Moses and the Israelites attacked after they came out of Egypt. 4:47 They possessed his land and that of King Og of Bashan – both of whom were Amorite kings in the Transjordan, to the east. 4:48 Their territory extended 53 from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon valley as far as Mount Siyon 54 – that is, Hermon – 4:49 including all the Arabah of the Transjordan in the east to the sea of the Arabah, 55 beneath the watershed 56 of Pisgah.)
[4:11] 1 tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[4:11] 2 tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”
[4:12] 3 tn The words “was heard” are supplied in the translation to avoid the impression that the voice was seen.
[4:13] 4 sn This is the first occurrence of the word בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”) in the Book of Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. See M. Weinfeld, TDOT 2:255.
[4:13] 5 tn Heb “the ten words.”
[4:14] 6 tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”
[4:15] 7 tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”
[4:16] 8 tn The words “I say this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 16 is subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.
[4:18] 9 tn Heb “creeping thing.”
[4:18] 10 tn Heb “under the earth.”
[4:19] 11 tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.
[4:19] 12 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[4:19] 13 tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”
[4:19] 14 tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.
[4:19] 17 tn Heb “under all the heaven.”
[4:20] 18 tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.
[4:20] 19 tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.
[4:21] 20 tn Heb “the
[4:21] 21 tn The Hebrew text includes “(as) an inheritance,” or “(as) a possession.”
[4:22] 22 tn Heb “this.” The translation uses “that” to avoid confusion; earlier in the verse Moses refers to Transjordan as “this land.”
[4:23] 23 tn Heb “the
[4:24] 25 tn The juxtaposition of the Hebrew terms אֵשׁ (’esh, “fire”) and קַנָּא (qanna’, “jealous”) is interesting in light of Deut 6:15 where the
[4:25] 26 tn Heb “have grown old in the land,” i.e., been there for a long time.
[4:25] 27 tn Heb “a form of anything.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV “an idol.”
[4:25] 28 tn The infinitive construct is understood here as indicating the result, not the intention, of their actions.
[4:26] 29 sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the
[4:26] 30 tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”
[4:26] 31 tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.
[4:27] 32 tn Heb “you will be left men (i.e., few) of number.”
[4:29] 33 tn Or “mind and being.” See Deut 6:5.
[4:30] 34 sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.
[4:30] 35 tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.
[4:31] 36 tn Heb “the
[4:31] 37 tn Heb “he will not drop you,” i.e., “will not abandon you” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[4:31] 38 tn Or “will not.” The translation understands the imperfect verbal form to have an added nuance of capability here.
[4:32] 39 tn The Hebrew term אָדָם (’adam) may refer either to Adam or, more likely, to “man” in the sense of the human race (“mankind,” “humankind”). The idea here seems more universal in scope than reference to Adam alone would suggest.
[4:32] 40 tn The verb is not present in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification. The challenge has both temporal and geographical dimensions. The people are challenged to (1) inquire about the entire scope of past history and (2) conduct their investigation on a worldwide scale.
[4:34] 41 tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).
[4:34] 42 tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”
[4:34] 43 tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).
[4:34] 44 tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”
[4:36] 45 tn Heb “and his words you heard from the midst of the fire.”
[4:37] 46 tn The concept of love here is not primarily that of emotional affection but of commitment or devotion. This verse suggests that God chose Israel to be his special people because he loved the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and had promised to bless their descendants. See as well Deut 7:7-9.
[4:37] 47 tc The LXX, Smr, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read a third person masculine plural suffix for the MT’s 3rd person masculine singular, “his descendants.” Cf. Deut 10:15. Quite likely the MT should be emended in this instance.
[4:38] 48 tn Heb “(as) an inheritance,” that is, landed property that one can pass on to one’s descendants.
[4:40] 49 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV).
[4:42] 50 tn Heb “the slayer who slew his neighbor without knowledge.”
[4:42] 51 tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day).” The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing.
[4:44] 52 tn Heb “the sons of Israel” (likewise in the following verse).
[4:48] 53 tn The words “their territory extended” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 47-49 are all one sentence, but for the sake of English style and readability the translation divides the text into two sentences.
[4:48] 54 sn Mount Siyon (the Hebrew name is שִׂיאֹן [si’on], not to be confused with Zion [צִיּוֹן, tsiyyon]) is another name for Mount Hermon, also called Sirion and Senir (cf. Deut 3:9).
[4:49] 55 sn The sea of the Arabah refers to the Dead Sea, also known as the Salt Sea in OT times (cf. Deut 3:17).
[4:49] 56 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term אַשְׁדֹּת (’ashdot) is unclear. It is usually translated either “slopes” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or “watershed” (NEB).
