Deuteronomy 5:11

5:11 You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, ¹  for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way. ² 

Deuteronomy 12:26

12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. ³ 

Deuteronomy 4:19

4:19 When you look up ⁴  to the sky ⁵  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ⁶  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ⁷  for the Lord your God has assigned ⁸  them to all the people ⁹  of the world. ¹⁰ 

[5:11]  ¹ tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (the Hebrew term is שָׁוְא) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.

[5:11]  ² tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”

[12:26]  ³ tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.

[4:19]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

[4:19]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “allotted.”

[4:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “nations.”

[4:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”