Ulangan 29:22--30:10

29:22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see ¹  the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ²  29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger ³  all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. ⁴  29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses ⁵  written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.” 29:29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants ⁶  forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

30:1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses ⁷  I have set before you, you will reflect upon them ⁸  in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 30:2 Then if you and your descendants ⁹  turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being ¹⁰  just as ¹¹  I am commanding you today, 30:3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he ¹²  has scattered you. 30:4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, ¹³  from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 30:5 Then he ¹⁴  will bring you to the land your ancestors ¹⁵  possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ¹⁶  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ¹⁷  so that you may love him ¹⁸  with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 30:7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 30:8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving ¹⁹  you today. 30:9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands ²⁰  abundantly successful and multiply your children, ²¹  the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more ²²  rejoice over you to make you prosperous ²³  just as he rejoiced over your ancestors, 30:10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him ²⁴  with your whole mind and being.

[29:22]  ¹ tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted.

[29:23]  ² tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[29:24]  ³ tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”

[29:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”

[29:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “the entire curse.”

[29:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV “children.”

[30:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

[30:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

[30:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

[30:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

[30:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to all.”

[30:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[30:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[30:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).

[30:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

[30:9]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

[30:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

[30:9]  ²² tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

[30:9]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

[30:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.