translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.


text: Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).


text: Heb “the Lord .” The pronoun has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה ( tsÿdaqah , “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר ( yosher , “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the Lord ’s favor. As he states in both vv. 4-5 , the main reason he allowed Israel to take this land was the sinfulness of the Canaanites who lived there (cf. Gen 15:16 ).


text: Heb “the Lord .” See note on “he” in 9:3 .


text: Heb “fathers.”


text: Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV). sn The Hebrew word translated stubborn means “stiff-necked.” The image is that of a draft animal that is unsubmissive to the rein or yoke and refuses to bend its neck to draw the load. This is an apt description of OT Israel ( Exod 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9 ; Deut 9:13 ).


text: By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר ( zekhor , “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’ al-tishÿkakh , “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.


text: Heb “the Lord ” (likewise in the following verse with both “him” and “he”). See note on “he” in 9:3 .


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


text: Heb “according to all the words.”


text: Heb “the Lord ” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13 ). See note on “he” in 9:3 .


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה ( massekhah , “a cast thing”) but some mss and Smr add עֵגֶל (’ egel , “calf”), “a molten calf” or the like ( Exod 32:8 ). Perhaps Moses here omits reference to the calf out of contempt for it.


text: Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6 .


text: Heb “leave me alone.”


text: Heb “from under heaven.”


text: Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.


text: On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12 .


text: 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.


text: 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”).


text: Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).


text: Heb “burned it with fire.”


text: Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.


text: The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.


text: Heb “the Lord. ” See note on “he” in 9:3 .


text: Heb “Lord Lord ” ( אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה , ’ adonay yÿhvih ). The phrase is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God ” ( אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהִים , ’ adonay ’ elohim ). See also the note on the phrase “Lord God ” in Deut 3:24 .


text: 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.


text: Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”


text: Heb “by your strong hand.”


text: 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.


text: Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26 .


text: Heb “an outstretched arm.”