Genesis 15:18-21

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ¹  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ²  this land, from the river of Egypt ³  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ⁴  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ⁵ 

Exodus 23:31

23:31 I will set ⁶  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ⁷  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Numbers 34:2-18

34:2 “Give these instructions ⁸  to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, ⁹  the land of Canaan with its borders, 34:3 your southern border ¹⁰  will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea, 34:4 and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, ¹¹  continue to Zin, and then its direction ¹²  will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. 34:5 There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea. ¹³ 

The Western Border of the Land

34:6 “‘And for a western border ¹⁴  you will have the Great Sea. ¹⁵  This will be your western border.

The Northern Border of the Land

34:7 “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; 34:8 from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, ¹⁶  and the direction of the border will be to Zedad. 34:9 The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

The Eastern Border of the Land

34:10 “‘For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 34:11 The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth. ¹⁷  34:12 Then the border will continue down the Jordan River ¹⁸  and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

34:13 Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given ¹⁹  to the nine and a half tribes, 34:14 because the tribe of the Reubenites by their families, ²⁰  the tribe of the Gadites by their families, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. 34:15 The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, east of Jericho, ²¹  toward the sunrise.”

Appointed Officials

34:16 The Lord said to Moses: 34:17 “These are the names of the men who are to allocate the land to you as an inheritance: ²²  Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. 34:18 You must take one leader from every ²³  tribe to assist in allocating the land as an inheritance. ²⁴ 

Deuteronomy 1:7

1:7 Get up now, ²⁵  resume your journey, heading for ²⁶  the Amorite hill country, to all its areas ²⁷  including the arid country, ²⁸  the highlands, the Shephelah, ²⁹  the Negev, ³⁰  and the coastal plain – all of Canaan and Lebanon as far as the Great River, that is, the Euphrates.

Deuteronomy 3:25

3:25 Let me please cross over to see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River – this good hill country and the Lebanon!” ³¹ 

Deuteronomy 11:24

11:24 Every place you set your foot ³²  will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. ³³ 

Deuteronomy 11:1

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments ³⁴  at all times.

Deuteronomy 5:9

5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ³⁵  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ³⁶  me, ³⁷ 

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ³⁸  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 18:3

18:3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment ³⁹  from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep – they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.

[15:18]  ¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ² tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ³ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ⁴ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ⁵ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.

[23:31]  ⁶ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ⁷ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

[34:2]  ⁸ tn Or “command.”

[34:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “this is the land that will fall to you as an inheritance.”

[34:3]  ¹⁰ tn The expression refers to the corner or extremity of the Negev, the South.

[34:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).

[34:4]  ¹² tn Heb “its going forth,” or the way it runs.

[34:5]  ¹³ sn That is, the Mediterranean.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ tn The word for west is simply “sea,” because the sea is west of Israel.

[34:6]  ¹⁵ sn That is, the Mediterranean Sea (also in the following verse).

[34:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “to the entrance to Hamath.”

[34:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the Sea of Galilee” (so NLT); NCV, TEV, CEV “Lake Galilee.”

[34:12]  ¹⁸ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:13]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive forms the direct object of what the Lord commanded. It actually means “to give,” but without an expressed subject may be made passive.

[34:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.” So also a little later in this verse.

[34:15]  ²¹ map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[34:17]  ²² tn The verb can be translated simply as “divide,” but it has more the idea of allocate as an inheritance, the related noun being “inheritance.”

[34:18]  ²³ tn This sense is created by repetition: “one leader, one leader from the tribe.”

[34:18]  ²⁴ tn The sentence simply uses לִנְחֹל (linkhol, “to divide, apportion”). It has been taken already to mean “allocate as an inheritance.” Here “assist” may be added since Joshua and Eleazar had the primary work.

[1:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “turn”; NAB “Leave here”; NIV, TEV “Break camp.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “go (to).”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “its dwelling places.”

[1:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Arabah” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “lowlands” (so TEV) or “steppes”; NIV, CEV, NLT “the western foothills.”

[1:7]  ³⁰ sn The Hebrew term Negev means literally “desert” or “south” (so KJV, ASV). It refers to the area south of Beer Sheba and generally west of the Arabah Valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.

[3:25]  ³¹ tn The article is retained in the translation (“the Lebanon,” cf. also NAB, NRSV) to indicate that a region (rather than the modern country of Lebanon) is referred to here. Other recent English versions accomplish this by supplying “mountains” after “Lebanon” (TEV, CEV, NLT).

[11:24]  ³² tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.

[11:24]  ³³ tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”

[11:1]  ³⁴ tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow – חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).

[5:9]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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).

[5:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[18:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “judgment”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “the priest’s due.”