Introduction to the Stipulations

¹ “Now, Israel, listen to the rules and to the regulations that I am teaching you to do, in order that you may live and you may go in and you may take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,¹ is giving to you.

1. Or “fathers”

² You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, and you shall not take away from it in order to keep¹ the commands of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you to observe.

1. Or “observe”

³ Your eyes have seen¹ what Yahweh did with² the case of Baal Peor, for ⌞each⌟³ man that followed after Baal Peor Yahweh your God destroyed from your midst.

1. Literally “your eyes the seeing what”
2. Or “in”
3. Literally “every one of”

⁴ But you, the ones holding fast to Yahweh your God, are all alive ⌞today⌟.¹

1. Literally “the day”

⁵ See, I now teach¹ you rules and regulations just as Yahweh my God has commanded me, to observe them just so in the midst of the land where you are going, to take possession of it.

1. Or “I have taught” (compare NASB, NEB)

⁶ And ⌞you must observe them diligently⌟,¹ for that is your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all of these rules, and they will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’

1. Literally “you must observe and you must do”

⁷ For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, whenever¹ we call upon him?

1. Literally “in every matter/every time we call ”

⁸ And what other great nation has for it¹ just rules and regulations just like² ⌞this whole⌟³ law that I am setting ⌞before⌟⁴ you ⌞today⌟?⁵

1. Literally “which/that is for him it”
2. Literally “as”
3. Literally “all of”
4. Literally “to the face of”
5. Literally “the day”

⁹ “However, ⌞take care⌟¹ for yourself and watch your inner self² closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to ⌞your grandchildren⌟.³

1. Literally “watch”
2. Or “soul”
3. Literally “the children of your children”

¹⁰ Remember the day that you stood ⌞before⌟¹ Yahweh your God at Horeb ⌞when Yahweh said to me⌟,² ‘Summon for me the people so that I can tell them my words, that they may learn to fear me all of the days they are alive on the earth and so that they may teach their children.’

1. Literally “to the face of”
2. Literally “when to say Yahweh”

¹¹ And so you came near, and you stood under the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heaven, ⌞dark with a very thick cloud⌟.¹

1. Literally “darkness, cloud, and very thick darkness”

¹² And Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; ⌞you heard⌟¹ a sound of words, but ⌞you did not see⌟² a form—only a voice.

1. Literally “you were hearing”
2. Literally “you were not seeing”

¹³ And he declared to you his covenant, ⌞the Ten Commandments⌟,¹ which he charged you ⌞to observe⌟,² and he wrote them on the two tablets of stone.

1. Literally “the ten words”
2. Literally “to do”

¹⁴ And Yahweh charged me at that time to teach you rules and regulations ⌞for your observation of them⌟¹ in the land that you are ⌞about to cross into⌟² to take possession of it.

1. Literally “for your doing them”
2. Literally “about to cross into there”

¹⁵ “So ⌞you must be very careful for yourselves⌟,¹ because you did not see² any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,

1. Literally “watch yourselves diligently with respect to your souls”
2. Or “have not seen”

¹⁶ so that you do not ⌞ruin yourselves⌟¹ and make for yourselves a divine image in a form of any image, a replica of male or female,

1. Literally “corrupt yourselves”

¹⁷ a replica of any animal that is upon the earth, a replica of any winged bird that flies in the air,

¹⁸ a replica of any creeping thing on the ground, a replica of any fish that is in the water ⌞below⌟¹ the earth.

1. Literally “under”

¹⁹ ⌞And do this so that you do not lift⌟¹ your eyes toward heaven and ⌞observe⌟² the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of the heaven, and be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that Yahweh your God has allotted to all of the peoples under all of the heaven.

1. Literally “And lest you lift up”
2. Literally “see”

²⁰ But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out from the furnace of iron, from Egypt, to be a people of inheritance to¹ him, ⌞as it is this day⌟.²

1. Or “for”; a people of inheritance = a people who is his very own possession
2. Literally “as the day the this” = as you are now

²¹ “And Yahweh was angry with me ⌞because of you⌟,¹ and he swore ⌞that I would not cross the Jordan⌟² and ⌞that I would not go to the good land⌟³ that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.

1. Literally “because of your matter”
2. Literally “not I to cross the Jordan”
3. Literally “not I going to the land”

²² For I am going to die in this land; I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you are going to take possession of this good land.

²³ Watch out for yourselves so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God that he had ⌞made⌟¹ with you and make for yourselves a divine image of the form of anything that Yahweh your God ⌞has forbidden⌟,²

1. Literally “cut”
2. Literally “has commanded you about”

²⁴ for Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous¹ God.

1. Or “zealous” or “impassioned”

²⁵ “When you have had children and ⌞grandchildren⌟¹ and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger,

1. Literally “children of children”

²⁶ I call¹ to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; ⌞you will not live long on it⌟,² but you will be completely destroyed.

1. Or “I shall call to witness”
2. Literally “you will not extend days”

²⁷ And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left ⌞few in number⌟¹ among the nations ⌞to where Yahweh will lead you⌟.²

1. Literally “people of number,” as opposed to people without number
2. Literally “he will lead Yahweh you there”

²⁸ And you will there serve gods ⌞made by human hands⌟,¹ of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell.

1. Literally “the work of the hands of human”

²⁹ But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.¹

1. Or “inner self”

³⁰ ⌞In your distress⌟¹ when² all these things have found you in the ⌞latter days⌟,³ then⁴ you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.

1. Literally “In the distress for you”
2. Hebrew “and”
3. Literally “in the last of the days”
4. Hebrew “and”

³¹ For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he ⌞will not abandon you⌟,¹ and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors² that he swore to them.

1. Literally “will not leave you alone”
2. Or “fathers”

³² “Yes, ask, please, about former days that ⌞preceded you⌟¹ from the day that God created humankind on the earth; ask even from one end of the heaven up to the other end of heaven ⌞whether anything ever happened⌟² like this great thing or ⌞whether anything like it was ever heard⌟.³

1. Literally “that they were to the face of you”
2. Literally “was it ever”
3. Literally “was it ever heard as it”

³³ Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, just as you heard it, and lived?

³⁴ Or has a god ever attempted to go to take for himself¹ a nation from the midst of a nation, using trials and signs and wonders and war, with an outstretched arm and with great and awesome deeds, like all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

1. Hebrew “for him”

³⁵ You yourselves¹ were shown this wonder in order for you to acknowledge that Yahweh is the God;² there is no other God ⌞besides him⌟.³

1. Emphatic use of pronoun; plural meaning implied
2. The definite article indicates that Israel’s God is alone the true God and the one who revealed himself to them
3. Literally “except him” or “to him alone”

³⁶ From heaven he made you hear his voice to teach you, and on the earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire.