translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET textual note

text: For the MT reading וַיֵּלֶךְ ( vayyelekh , “he went”), the LXX and Qumran have וַיְכַל ( vaykhal , “he finished”): “So Moses finished speaking,” etc. The difficult reading of the MT favors its authenticity.


label: NET translator note

text: In the MT this refers to the words that follow (cf. NIV, NCV).


text: Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”


text: The Hebrew text includes “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “fathers” (also in v. 20 ).


text: Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּה ( shÿmittah ), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט ( shamat , “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the procedure whereby debts of all fellow Israelites were to be canceled. Since the Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God’s own deliverance of and provision for his people, this was an appropriate time for Israelites to release one another. See note on this word at Deut 15:1 .


text: The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת [ חַג ] ([ khag ] hassukot , “[festival of] huts” [or “shelters”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. See note on the name of the festival in Deut 16:13 . sn For the regulations on this annual festival see Deut 16:13-15 .


text: Heb “before all Israel.”


text: The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).


text: The LXX reads “by the door of the tent” in line with v. 10 but also, perhaps, as a reflection of its tendency to avoid over-familiarity with Yahweh and his transcendence.


text: Heb “tent of assembly” ( מוֹעֵד אֹהֶל , ’ ohel mo ’ ed ); this is not always the same as the tabernacle, which is usually called מִשְׁכָּן ( mishkan , “dwelling-place”), a reference to its being invested with God’s presence. The “tent of meeting” was erected earlier than the tabernacle and was the place where Yahweh occasionally appeared, especially to Moses (cf. Exod 18:7-16; 33:7-11 ; Num 11:16, 24, 26; 12:4 ).


text: Heb “I will command him.”


text: Heb “and the pillar of cloud.” This phrase was not repeated in the translation; a relative clause was used instead.


text: Heb “lie down with your fathers” (so NASB); NRSV “ancestors.”


text: Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style. The third person singular also occurs in the Hebrew text twice more in this verse, three times in v. 17 , once in v. 18 , five times in v. 20 , and four times in v. 21 . Each time it is translated as third person plural for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16 .


text: Or “abandon” (TEV, NLT).


text: Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16 .


text: Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18 .


text: Heb “find,” “encounter.”


text: Heb “evils.”


text: Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.


text: Heb “my.”


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”


text: Heb “his.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “their.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16 .


text: Heb “and are satisfied.”


text: Heb “Then it will come to pass that.”


text: Heb “it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed.”


text: Heb “which he is doing.”


text: Heb “he.” Since the pronoun could be taken to refer to Moses, the referent has been specified as “the Lord ” in the translation for clarity. See also the note on the word “you” later in this verse.


text: The LXX reads, “as the Lord promised them, and he will be with you.” This relieves the problem of Moses apparently promising to be with Joshua as the MT reads on the surface (“I will be with you”). However, the reading of the LXX is clearly an attempt to clarify an existing obscurity and therefore is unlikely to reflect the original.


text: Heb “Moses.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “stiffness of neck” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV). See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6 .


text: Heb “How much more after my death?” The Hebrew text has a sarcastic rhetorical question here; the translation seeks to bring out the force of the question.


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “totally.”


text: Heb “do the evil.”


text: Heb “the work of your hands.”