Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 9:7--10:11
Context9:7 Remember – don’t ever forget 1 – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him. 2 9:8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there 3 forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger 4 of God, and on them was everything 5 he 6 said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 9:11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 9:12 And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.” 7 9:13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn 8 lot! 9:14 Stand aside 9 and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, 10 and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”
9:15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it 11 was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 9:16 When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; 12 you had quickly turned aside from the way he 13 had commanded you! 9:17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down, 14 and shattered them before your very eyes. 9:18 Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him. 9:19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger 15 that threatened to destroy you. But he 16 listened to me this time as well. 9:20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him 17 too. 9:21 As for your sinful thing 18 that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, 19 ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, 20 Massah, 21 and Kibroth-Hattaavah. 22 9:23 And when he 23 sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God 24 and would neither believe nor obey him. 9:24 You have been rebelling against him 25 from the very first day I knew you!
9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, 26 for he 27 had said he would destroy you. 9:26 I prayed to him: 28 O, Lord God, 29 do not destroy your people, your valued property 30 that you have powerfully redeemed, 31 whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength. 32 9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. 9:28 Otherwise the people of the land 33 from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” 34 9:29 They are your people, your valued property, 35 whom you brought out with great strength and power. 36
10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 37 10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words 38 that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia 39 wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 10:4 The Lord 40 then wrote on the tablets the same words, 41 the ten commandments, 42 which he 43 had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he 44 gave them to me. 10:5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made – they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me.
10:6 “During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan 45 to Moserah. 46 There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. 10:7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, 47 and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, 48 a place of flowing streams. 10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi 49 to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings 50 in his name, as they do to this very day. 10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance 51 among his brothers; 52 the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. 10:10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, forty days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. 10:11 Then he 53 said to me, “Get up, set out leading 54 the people so they may go and possess 55 the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” 56
[9:7] 1 tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishÿkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
[9:7] 2 tn Heb “the
[9:9] 3 tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[9:10] 4 sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).
[9:10] 5 tn Heb “according to all the words.”
[9:10] 6 tn Heb “the
[9:12] 7 tc Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some
[9:13] 8 tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.
[9:14] 9 tn Heb “leave me alone.”
[9:14] 10 tn Heb “from under heaven.”
[9:15] 11 tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
[9:16] 12 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
[9:16] 13 tn Heb “the
[9:17] 14 tn The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
[9:19] 15 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” Although many English versions translate as two terms, this construction is a hendiadys which serves to intensify the emotion (cf. NAB, TEV “fierce anger”).
[9:19] 16 tn Heb “the
[9:20] 17 tn Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[9:21] 18 tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
[9:21] 19 tn Heb “burned it with fire.”
[9:22] 20 sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the
[9:22] 21 sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.
[9:22] 22 sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).
[9:23] 23 tn Heb “the
[9:23] 24 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
[9:24] 25 tn Heb “the
[9:25] 26 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
[9:25] 27 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 28 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 29 tn Heb “Lord
[9:26] 30 tn Heb “your inheritance”; NLT “your special (very own NRSV) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.
[9:26] 31 tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
[9:26] 32 tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
[9:28] 33 tc The MT reads only “the land.” Smr supplies עַם (’am, “people”) and LXX and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:28] 34 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
[9:29] 35 tn Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26.
[9:29] 36 tn Heb “an outstretched arm.”
[10:1] 37 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
[10:2] 38 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
[10:3] 39 sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
[10:4] 40 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[10:4] 41 tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.
[10:4] 42 tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”
[10:4] 43 tn Heb “the
[10:4] 44 tn Heb “the
[10:6] 45 sn Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan. This Hebrew name could be translated “the wells of Bene-Yaaqan” or “the wells of the sons of Yaaqan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31-32; 1 Chr 1:42).
[10:6] 46 sn Moserah. Since Aaron in other texts (Num 20:28; 33:38) is said to have died on Mount Hor, this must be the Arabah region in which Hor was located.
[10:7] 47 sn Gudgodah. This is probably the same as Haggidgad, which is also associated with Jotbathah (Num 33:33).
[10:7] 48 sn Jotbathah. This place, whose Hebrew name can be translated “place of wadis,” is possibly modern Ain Tabah, just north of Eilat, or Tabah, 6.5 mi (11 km) south of Eilat on the west shore of the Gulf of Aqaba.
[10:8] 49 sn The
[10:8] 50 sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.
[10:9] 51 sn Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the
[10:9] 52 tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.
[10:11] 53 tn Heb “the
[10:11] 54 tn Heb “before” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “at the head of.”
[10:11] 55 tn After the imperative these subordinated jussive forms (with prefixed vav) indicate purpose or result.
