Deuteronomy 30:15-20

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Deuteronomy 30:16 tc A number of LXX mss insert before this verse, “if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God,” thus translating אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher) as “which” and the rest as “I am commanding you today, to love,” etc., “then you will live,” etc.
2. Deuteronomy 30:16 tn Heb “which you are going there to possess it.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3. Deuteronomy 30:17 tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.
4. Deuteronomy 30:18 sn To this point in the chapter, Moses has addressed the people with the singular pronoun “you,” but here he switches to the plural. Rhetorically, the singular pronoun has emphasized the responsibilities and consequences for the nation as a whole. It is a group responsibility that requires a group effort. At v. 18 he shifts to using the plural form. This individualizes the threatened punishment in v. 18 and highlights individual responsibility in the first half of v. 19 (calling heaven and earth as witness “against you”) before returning to the collective responsibility that “you” (singular) choose life.
5. Deuteronomy 30:18 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”
6. Deuteronomy 30:18 tn Heb “to go there to possess it.”
7. Deuteronomy 30:20 tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.
8. Deuteronomy 30:20 tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”