translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET translator note

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


text: Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15 ).


text: Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”


text: Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15 .


text: Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).


text: Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25 ).


text: Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.


text: Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.


text: Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).


text: Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28 ; Isa 4:1 , as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).


text: Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”


text: Heb “the Lord .” See note on “he” in 28:8 .


text: Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64 ).


text: Heb “all the work of your hands.”


text: Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8 .


text: Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”


text: Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”


text: Heb “in order to serve.”


text: Heb “do not hear the voice of.”


text: Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”


text: Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”


text: Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”


label: NET textual note

text: For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text. tn Heb “the evil of your doings wherein you have forsaken me”; CEV “all because you rejected the Lord.”


text: Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”


text: Heb “The Lord. ” See note on “he” in 28:8 .


text: Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).


text: Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”


text: Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).


text: The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”


text: Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.


text: The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה ( za ’ avah ) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה ( zÿva ’ ah , “terror”).


text: Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).


text: Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”


text: For MT reading שָׁגַל ( shagal , “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב ( shakhav , “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.


text: Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”


text: The LXX reads the plural “kings.”


text: Heb “your olives will drop off” ( נָשַׁל , nashal ), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.


text: The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).


text: Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.


text: Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).


text: Heb “lack of everything.”


text: Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).


text: Heb “from the end of the earth.”


text: Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.


text: Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52 ).


text: Heb “increase of herds.”


text: Heb “growth of flocks.”


text: Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57 .


text: Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”


text: Heb “siege and stress.”


text: Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”


text: The LXX adds σφόδρα ( sfodra , “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54 .


text: Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”


text: Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”


text: Heb “her sons that she will bear.”


text: Heb includes “in her need for everything.”


text: Heb “If you are not careful to do.”


text: Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”


text: The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה ( torah ) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”


text: Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.


text: Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”


text: Heb “the Lord. ” See note on “he” in 28:8 .


text: Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.