Deuteronomy 4:9

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 4:23

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 ²  has forbidden ³  you.

Joshua 23:11

23:11 Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! ⁴ 

Joshua 23:1

Joshua Challenges Israel to be Faithful

23:1 A long time ⁵  passed after the Lord made Israel secure from all their enemies, ⁶  and Joshua was very old. ⁷ 

Joshua 1:9-10

1:9 I repeat, ⁸  be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, ⁹  for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” ¹⁰ 

Joshua Prepares for the Invasion

1:10 Joshua instructed ¹¹  the leaders of the people:

Psalms 119:9

ב (Bet)

119:9 How can a young person ¹²  maintain a pure life? ¹³ 

By guarding it according to your instructions! ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 4:23

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹⁵ 

for from it are the sources ¹⁶  of life.

Proverbs 4:27

4:27 Do not turn ¹⁷  to the right or to the left;

turn yourself ¹⁸  away from evil. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 17:21

17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ²⁰  Do not carry any loads ²¹  in through ²²  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

Malachi 2:15

2:15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ²³  What did our ancestor ²⁴  do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. ²⁵ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[4:23]  ² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:23]  ³ tn Heb “commanded.”

[23:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Watch carefully yourselves so as to love the Lord your God.”

[23:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “many days.”

[23:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around.”

[23:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following verse.

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Have I not commanded you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes the importance of the following command by reminding the listener that it is being repeated.

[1:9]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “commanded.”

[119:9]  ¹² tn Heb “young man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender specific “young man” has been translated with the more neutral “young person.”

[119:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “purify his path.”

[119:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “by keeping according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss as well as the LXX read the plural, “your words.”

[4:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ¹⁶ sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[4:27]  ¹⁷ sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.

[4:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).

[4:27]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.

[17:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Be careful at the risk of your lives.” The expression with the preposition בְּ (bet) is unique. Elsewhere the verb “be careful” is used with the preposition לְ (lamed) in the sense of the reflexive. Hence the word “soul” cannot be simply reflexive here. BDB 1037 s.v. שָׁמַר Niph.1 understands this as a case where the preposition בְּ introduces the cost or price (cf. BDB 90 s.v. בּ III.3.a).

[17:21]  ²¹ sn Comparison with Neh 13:15-18 suggests that these loads were merchandise or agricultural produce which were being brought in for sale. The loads that were carried out of the houses in the next verse were probably goods for barter.

[17:21]  ²² tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “Be careful…by carrying”). This is supported by the next line where only “carry out” of the houses is mentioned.

[2:15]  ²³ tn Heb “and not one has done, and a remnant of the spirit to him.” The very elliptical nature of the statement suggests it is proverbial. The present translation represents an attempt to clarify the meaning of the statement (cf. NASB).

[2:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the one.” This is an oblique reference to Abraham who sought to obtain God’s blessing by circumventing God’s own plan for him by taking Hagar as wife (Gen 16:1-6). The result of this kind of intermarriage was, of course, disastrous (Gen 16:11-12).

[2:15]  ²⁵ sn The wife he took in his youth probably refers to the first wife one married (cf. NCV “the wife you married when you were young”).