Deuteronomy 5:9

5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ¹  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ²  me, ³ 

Deuteronomy 4:36

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. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 4:39

4:39 Today realize and carefully consider that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below – there is no other!

Deuteronomy 11:18

11:18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, ⁵  and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols ⁶  on your forehead.

Deuteronomy 28:35

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.

Deuteronomy 30:7

30:7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you.

Deuteronomy 32:36

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ⁷  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ⁸  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 17:11

17:11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you.

Deuteronomy 21:5

21:5 Then the Levitical priests ¹⁰  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ¹¹  and to decide ¹²  every judicial verdict ¹³ )

[5:9]  ¹ tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהַב, ’ahav) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, sane’) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).

[5:9]  ³ tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:50) is elliptical/abbreviated or that it suffers from textual corruption (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).

[4:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his words you heard from the midst of the fire.”

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[11:18]  ⁸ tn On the Hebrew term טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “reminders”), cf. Deut 6:4-9.

[32:36]  ¹⁰ tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ¹⁴ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[21:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

[21:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the name of the Lord.” See note on Deut 10:8. The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[21:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

[21:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”