Ulangan 4:26-27
4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you
1 today that you will surely and swiftly be removed
2 from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be
3 annihilated.
4:27 Then the
Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you
4 among the nations where the
Lord will drive you.
Ulangan 28:37
28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the
Lord will drive you.
Ulangan 28:64-65
28:64 The
Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.
28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the
Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.
Ulangan 32:26-27
The Weakness of Other Gods
32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. 5
I want to make people forget they ever existed.
32:27 But I fear the reaction 6 of their enemies,
for 7 their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, “Our power is great, 8
and the Lord has not done all this!”’
1 sn I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you. This stock formula introduces what is known form-critically as a רִיב (riv) or controversy pattern. It is commonly used in the ancient Near Eastern world in legal contexts and in the OT as a forensic or judicial device to draw attention to Israel’s violation of the Lord’s covenant with them (see Deut 30:19; Isa 1:2; 3:13; Jer 2:9). Since court proceedings required the testimony of witnesses, the Lord here summons heaven and earth (that is, all creation) to testify to his faithfulness, Israel’s disobedience, and the threat of judgment.
2 tn Or “be destroyed”; KJV “utterly perish”; NLT “will quickly disappear”; CEV “you won’t have long to live.”
3 tn Or “be completely” (so NCV, TEV). It is not certain here if the infinitive absolute indicates the certainty of the following action (cf. NIV) or its degree.
4 tn Heb “you will be left men (i.e., few) of number.”
5 tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).
6 tn Heb “anger.”
7 tn Heb “lest.”
8 tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”