On the Greek text. The Greek follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint (Rahlfs-Hanhart in its main wording, itself an ancient, public-domain text); the distinctively copyrighted critical apparatus is not reproduced. Versification follows the LXX.

The Book of Deuteronomy (LXX) — Interlinear: Themes, Outlines & Translation Notes

A consolidated companion to the Deuteronomy data set: every chapter of LXX Deuteronomy (1-34) rendered as a six-tier Greek reverse-interlinear (Greek · gloss · parsing/case · syntax · semantic force · lexical note), with per-verse discourse analysis and a chapter argument-outline.

This document gathers the theme, the argument outline (the outline movements authored into each data file), and the translation / textual / exegetical notes (the text_note of each file, reproduced verbatim). Major translation and interpretive cruxes are handled within those notes rather than silently resolved. Deuteronomy — Moses' farewell addresses on the plains of Moab, the 'second law' (ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ, from 17:18) — recapitulates the journey, restates the Decalogue, gives the Shema and the love-command, lays out the Deuteronomic law code, sets the covenant blessings and curses, and ends with the Song, the Blessing, and the death of Moses; with the Psalms and Isaiah it is among the most-quoted books in the New Testament, and its LXX wording stands behind the Shema (Mark 12:29–30), Jesus' three answers to the tempter (8:3; 6:16; 6:13), 'the word is near you' (Rom 10:6–8), 'vengeance is mine' (Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30), the prophet like Moses (Acts 3:22), and the curse of the law and the tree (Gal 3:10,13). The Greek follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint (Rahlfs–Hanhart in its main wording, itself an ancient public-domain text); the distinctively copyrighted apparatus is not reproduced, and versification follows the LXX.

Scope

Each annotated word carries Greek, a working gloss, color-coded grammatical case, parsing (Tense·Voice·Mood·Person·Number + lemma), a Wallace-style syntactic-function label, an aspectual semantic-force label (verbal forms), and a condensed lexical note. As translation Greek, the annotation additionally flags Hebraisms and the underlying Hebrew idiom where it illuminates the rendering.

The argument of the book

The macro-structure of the whole book — its major movements — under which the chapter-by-chapter detail below unfolds. LXX Deuteronomy is a generally literal translation whose interpretive choices (the ἀγγέλων θεοῦ of 32:8 and the longer 32:43, Συρίαν ἀπέβαλεν at 26:5, the δευτερονόμιον of 17:18, ἄρχων for Molech, and the Hebrew-following chapter divisions at 13 and 28–29) the annotation flags throughout. (Section divisions are interpretive; the more common analysis is generally followed.)

• I · 1–4 — The first address: retrospect and exhortation. Moses reviews the journey from Horeb to the Jordan — the appointment of judges, the spies and the wilderness sentence, the Transjordan conquests — and presses home the great exhortation to obey, with its warning against idolatry and its monotheistic climax: the LORD is God, and there is none beside him.
• II · 5–11 — The second address (1): the heart of the covenant. The Decalogue restated at Horeb, the Shema and the command to love the LORD with all the heart, the danger of forgetting him in the good land, the memory of the golden calf and the wilderness discipline, and the call to circumcise the heart and choose blessing.
• III · 12–26 — The second address (2): the Deuteronomic law code. The central sanctuary and the purity of worship, the festal calendar, the offices of judge, king, priest, and prophet (the prophet like Moses), the laws of war, of witnesses and cities of refuge, of marriage, property, and the vulnerable — closing with the firstfruits creed and the ratifying covenant formula.
• IV · 27–30 — The covenant ratified. The ceremony at Ebal and Gerizim with its twelve curses, the long blessings and curses of chapter 28, the covenant sworn in Moab, and the final appeal — the word that is near, in the mouth and the heart, and the setting of life and death before the people: choose life.
• V · 31–34 — The end of Moses. The commissioning of Joshua and the deposit of the Law, the Song of Moses and the Blessing of the tribes, and the death of Moses on Nebo — buried by the LORD, unequaled as the prophet who knew the LORD face to face — the close of the Torah.

Chapter-by-chapter

Deuteronomy 1 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Α′

Theme. The Greek title ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ('second law') derives from the LXX rendering of 17:18 (τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο, for Hebrew מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה, 'a copy of this law'); the translator's mistaking of 'copy' for 'second' gave the book its Greek and Latin name.

Outline.

• A · 1:1–5 — Superscription: time, place, and the beginning of the exposition of the law.
• B · 1:6–8 — The Horeb command: depart and possess the sworn land.
• C · 1:9–18 — The appointment of judges: the burden too heavy, and impartial judgment is God's.
• D · 1:19–25 — From Horeb to Kadesh-barnea: the sending and the good report of the spies.
• E · 1:26–33 — The people's refusal and unbelief: 'because the LORD hated us'.
• F · 1:34–40 — The oath of exclusion: none of that generation but Caleb (and Joshua); turn back.
• G · 1:41–46 — The presumptuous defeat: the futile attack and the weeping at Kadesh.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 1 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. The Greek title ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ('second law') derives from the LXX rendering of 17:18 (τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο, for Hebrew מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה, 'a copy of this law'); the translator's mistaking of 'copy' for 'second' gave the book its Greek and Latin name. Chapter 1 opens Moses' first great retrospective address, delivered πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου ('beyond the Jordan') in the land of Moab in the fortieth year (v. 3). The superscription (vv. 1–5) fixes time and place; then Moses 'began to declare this law' (ἤρξατο … διασαφῆσαι τὸν νόμον τοῦτον, v. 5), the rare verb διασαφέω ('make clear, expound') signalling the homiletical, explanatory character of the whole book. The retrospect recalls the Horeb command to depart and possess the land sworn (ὤμοσα) to the patriarchs (vv. 6–8); the appointment of wise, understanding tribal heads as judges because the burden was too heavy for Moses alone (πῶς δυνήσομαι μόνος φέρειν, v. 12) — with the great judicial maxim that one must not 'regard the face' (οὐκ ἐπιγνώσῃ πρόσωπον) in judgment, 'for the judgment is God's' (ἡ κρίσις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, v. 17); the march through the great and terrible wilderness to Kadesh-barnea (v. 19); the sending of the twelve spies and the good report of the land's fruit (vv. 22–25); and then the central indictment — the people's refusal to go up and their unbelief (ἠπειθήσατε, οὐκ ἐνεπιστεύσατε), murmuring in their tents the blasphemous inversion that 'because the LORD hated us he brought us out of the land of Egypt' (διὰ τὸ μισεῖν κύριον ἡμᾶς ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς, v. 27). The chapter recalls the divine oath that none of that evil generation would see the good land except Caleb son of Jephunneh (and, by appointment, Joshua son of Naue), and that even Moses was barred 'on your account' (δι᾽ ὑμᾶς, v. 37). It closes with the futile presumptuous attack (παραβιασάμενοι ἀνέβητε, v. 43), the rout by the Amorite 'as the bees do' (ὡς εἰ ποιήσαισαν αἱ μέλισσαι, v. 44), and the weeping at Kadesh to which the LORD would not listen (vv. 45–46). The retrospective-homiletical voice, the heavy-burden judiciary motif, and the unbelief theme dominate; the latter is taken up typologically in Heb 3–4 and 1 Cor 10 as the warning generation that failed to enter the rest.

Deuteronomy 2 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Β′

Theme. Deuteronomy 2 continues Moses' first-person retrospect of the wilderness years (begun at 1:6): the long circuit of Mount Seir (vv. 1–8), the divine prohibitions against provoking Esau/Edom (vv.

Outline.

• A · 2:1–8 — The long circuit of Seir; do not provoke the sons of Esau.
• B · 2:9–16 — Moab spared; the Emim and Horites; the crossing of the Zered and the death of the war-generation.
• C · 2:17–23 — Ammon spared; the Rephaim/Zamzummim and the displacement of nations.
• D · 2:24–31 — Sihon of Heshbon: the offer of peace and the LORD's hardening.
• E · 2:32–37 — The ḥērem-conquest of Sihon's cities.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 2 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 2 continues Moses' first-person retrospect of the wilderness years (begun at 1:6): the long circuit of Mount Seir (vv. 1–8), the divine prohibitions against provoking Esau/Edom (vv. 4–8), Moab (vv. 9–12), and the sons of Ammon (vv. 17–23), and the campaign against Sihon king of Heshbon (vv. 24–37). A pervasive theological theme is the LORD's sovereign apportionment of land to the nations: each of Israel's kindred peoples holds its territory as an inheritance (ἐν κλήρῳ … κληρονομεῖν) given by God, exactly as Israel will hold Canaan (cf. 32:8; Acts 17:26). The chapter is studded with antiquarian glosses on the prehistoric 'giants' the LORD destroyed before these nations — the Ομμιν (Emim), the Χορραῖος (Horite), the Ραφαϊν (Rephaim) called Ζομζομμιν (Zamzummim) by the Ammanites — all 'reckoned' (λογισθήσονται) alongside the Ενακιμ (Anakim) and likened ὥσπερ οἱ Ενακιμ. The brook Zered (φάραγγα Ζαρετ, vv. 13–14) marks the chronological hinge: the thirty-eight years from Kadesh-Barnea until the whole war-generation 'fell away' (διέπεσεν … πᾶσα γενεὰ ἀνδρῶν πολεμιστῶν), the hand of God being against them (vv. 14–16), just as the LORD swore (ὤμοσεν). The Sihon episode (vv. 24–37) culminates in the chapter's central theological crux: when Moses offers peaceful passage with the words of peace (λόγοις εἰρηνικοῖς, v. 26), Sihon refuses, ὅτι ἐσκλήρυνεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ καὶ κατίσχυσεν τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ ('because the LORD our God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate', v. 30) — the hardening-unto-deliverance motif familiar from the Pharaoh cycle (σκληρύνω, Exod 4–14) and theologically central for Paul's argument at Rom 9:17–18. The conquest that follows is total ḥērem: Israel devotes every city to destruction (ἐξωλεθρεύσαμεν), leaving no survivor (οὐ κατελίπομεν ζωγρείαν, v. 34), though the territory of the sons of Ammon is spared by divine command (v. 37).

Deuteronomy 3 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Γ′

Theme. Chapter 3 continues Moses' first retrospective discourse: the conquest of the Transjordan. It narrates the defeat of Og king of Bashan, the last survivor of the Rephaim/giants (κατελείφθη ἀπὸ τῶν Ραφαϊν, v.

Outline.

• A · 3:1–11 — The defeat of Og king of Bashan and the capture of his sixty cities.
• B · 3:12–17 — The allotment of the conquered land east of the Jordan.
• C · 3:18–20 — The charge to the eastern tribes: cross over armed as a vanguard.
• D · 3:21–22 — The charge to Joshua: the LORD himself will fight for you.
• E · 3:23–29 — Moses' plea denied and the commission of Joshua.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 3 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Chapter 3 continues Moses' first retrospective discourse: the conquest of the Transjordan. It narrates the defeat of Og king of Bashan, the last survivor of the Rephaim/giants (κατελείφθη ἀπὸ τῶν Ραφαϊν, v. 11), whose famous iron bedstead (ἡ κλίνη αὐτοῦ κλίνη σιδηρᾶ) nine cubits long was shown at Rabbah of the Ammonites; the seizure of his sixty fortified cities of the Argob region (vv. 1–11); the allotment of Gilead and Bashan to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (vv. 12–17); the charge that the eastern warriors cross over armed (ἐνοπλισάμενοι προπορεύεσθε) as a vanguard before their brothers until the LORD gives them rest (vv. 18–20); the commissioning of Joshua with the assurance that the LORD himself will fight (αὐτὸς πολεμήσει περὶ ὑμῶν, vv. 21–22); and Moses' personal plea to cross the Jordan, denied for the sake of the people (ἕνεκεν ὑμῶν), with the LORD's curt ἱκανούσθω σοι ('let it suffice you'), the command to ascend Pisgah and look but not cross, and the final charge to strengthen Joshua (vv. 23–29). The chapter is dense with Transjordanian toponyms (Βασαν, Εδραϊν, Αργοβ, Γαλααδ, Αροηρ, Σελχα), giant/Rephaim lore (Ραφαϊν, the iron κλίνη), and the divine-warrior motif (αὐτὸς πολεμήσει). The LXX renders the place-name of Pisgah's peak interpretively as κορυφὴν Λελαξευμένου ('the top of the Hewn/Quarried One', v. 27) and the Hebrew Sirion/Senir by the doublet Σανιωρ/Σανιρ (v. 9); Hermon is glossed as named by οἱ Φοίνικες. Moses' denial is among the most poignant moments of the Pentateuch, sealing the succession from Moses to Joshua on the threshold of the land.

Deuteronomy 4 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Δ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 4 is the climactic peroration of Moses' first address (1:6–4:40), followed by a brief notice of the three Transjordan cities of refuge (vv.

Outline.

• A · 4:1–8 — Hear and keep: add nothing, take nothing; the wisdom of the law and the near God.
• B · 4:9–14 — The memory of Horeb: a voice of words, no form seen.
• C · 4:15–24 — The aniconic command and the consuming, jealous God.
• D · 4:25–31 — Exile for idolatry and merciful return: the compassionate God.
• E · 4:32–40 — The unparalleled deeds and the monotheistic climax: there is none beside him.
• F · 4:41–43 — The three Transjordan cities of refuge.
• G · 4:44–49 — Superscription to the law and the geographic setting.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 4 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 4 is the climactic peroration of Moses' first address (1:6–4:40), followed by a brief notice of the three Transjordan cities of refuge (vv. 41–43) and the superscription introducing the law-code proper (vv. 44–49). The chapter is the theological heart of Deuteronomic monotheism. Its opening summons — καὶ νῦν Ισραηλ ἄκουε (v. 1) — gives way to the canon-formula οὐ προσθήσετε … οὐδὲ ἀφελεῖτε (v. 2, here rendered οὐκ ἀφελεῖτε), the Hebrew לֹא תֹסִפוּ … וְלֹא תִגְרְעוּ, echoed at Deut 13:1 and famously at Rev 22:18–19. The Baal-Peor warning (τῷ Βεελφεγωρ, v. 3; cf. Num 25) sets idolatry under the sign of annihilation (ἐξέτριψεν). The rhetorical questions of vv. 7–8 — what great nation has a god so near (ἐγγίζων), what nation has statutes so righteous? — frame Israel's law as both privilege and witness. The memory of Horeb (vv. 9–14) insists on the central Deuteronomic datum: φωνὴν ῥημάτων ὑμεῖς ἠκούσατε καὶ ὁμοίωμα οὐκ εἴδετε (v. 12) — they heard a voice of words but saw no form. From this the aniconic command flows (vv. 15–19): make no γλυπτὸν ὁμοίωμα of any creature, and do not, looking up, worship sun, moon, stars, and all the κόσμος of heaven — ἃ ἀπένειμεν κύριος … πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ('which the LORD apportioned to all the nations', v. 19; cf. 32:8). YHWH took Israel ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς, 'out of the iron furnace', of Egypt (v. 20). He is πῦρ καταναλίσκον … θεὸς ζηλωτής, 'a consuming fire, a jealous God' (v. 24; cf. Heb 12:29). The exile-and-return oracle (vv. 25–31) culminates in θεὸς οἰκτίρμων κύριος ὁ θεός σου, 'the LORD your God is a compassionate God' (v. 31), who will not forsake or forget the covenant sworn to the fathers. The grand peroration (vv. 32–40) marshals the uniqueness of the Horeb event and the Exodus into the twin monotheistic confessions: ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, οὗτος θεός ἐστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ (v. 35) and οὗτος θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ (v. 39) — 'the LORD he is God, and there is none other besides him.' κύριος throughout renders the Tetragrammaton יהוה. Proper names (Ισραηλ, Βεελφεγωρ, Χωρηβ, Ιορδάνης and its cognates, Μωυσῆς, and the Transjordan toponyms of vv. 43–49) are transliterations of the Hebrew, several wholly indeclinable.

Deuteronomy 5 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Ε′

Theme. Deuteronomy 5 is the great restatement of the Decalogue at Horeb, set within Moses' first address in the plains of Moab. Moses summons all Israel (ἄκουε Ισραηλ, v.

Outline.

• A · 5:1–5 — Summons and covenant-at-Horeb preamble: the LORD spoke face to face from the fire.
• B · 5:6–15 — The First Table: the LORD alone, his Name, and the Sabbath grounded in the Exodus.
• C · 5:16–21 — The Second Table: honor, life, marriage, property, truth, and desire.
• D · 5:22–27 — The people's terror at the voice and their request for mediation.
• E · 5:28–33 — The LORD's response, the wish for a fearing heart, and the charge to walk in the way.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 5 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 5 is the great restatement of the Decalogue at Horeb, set within Moses' first address in the plains of Moab. Moses summons all Israel (ἄκουε Ισραηλ, v. 1, the verb whose imperative gives the Shema its name at 6:4) and insists that the Horeb covenant was made 'not with our fathers but with us, the living, here, today' (οὐχὶ τοῖς πατράσιν … ἀλλ᾽ ἢ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὑμεῖς ὧδε πάντες ζῶντες σήμερον, v. 3) — a theological actualization that collapses the generational distance. The LORD spoke 'face to face' (πρόσωπον κατὰ πρόσωπον, v. 4) out of the midst of the fire, with Moses standing as mediator between the LORD and the people (ἀνὰ μέσον κυρίου καὶ ὑμῶν, v. 5) because of their terror. The Ten Words (vv. 6–21) closely parallel Exodus 20 but diverge at two signal points the tradition has long marked. First and most striking is the Sabbath commandment (vv. 12–15): where Exod 20:11 grounds the Sabbath in the creation rest, Deuteronomy grounds it in the EXODUS and redemption from slavery — 'and you shall remember (μνησθήσῃ) that you were a slave (οἰκέτης) in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out … with a mighty hand and a high arm; therefore (διὰ τοῦτο) the LORD your God commanded you to keep the day of the sabbaths' (v. 15). Deuteronomy also opens the Sabbath word with φύλαξαι ('guard / keep', v. 12) rather than Exodus' μνήσθητι ('remember'), and adds ἵνα ἀναπαύσηται ὁ παῖς σου καὶ ἡ παιδίσκη σου ('that your manservant and maidservant may rest', v. 14) — a humanitarian motive flowing directly from the memory of bondage. Second, the coveting prohibition (v. 21) lists the neighbor's WIFE first, in a separate clause, with a distinct repetition of οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις, before turning to house, field, and chattels — and the chattels are governed by οὔτε with the genitive (οὔτε τοῦ βοὸς αὐτοῦ …), against the single coordinated accusative series of Exod 20:17. The fifth commandment likewise expands the Exodus promise with the explicit ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται ('that it may be well with you', v. 16), the clause Paul cites at Eph 6:2–3 as 'the first commandment with a promise.' The Decalogue's commandments stand behind the NT decalogue-citations (Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Rom 13:9; Jas 2:11), several of which follow the LXX order. The chapter's second movement (vv. 22–27) recounts the people's terror at the great voice, darkness, gloom, and storm (σκότος, γνόφος, θύελλα, v. 22) and their request that Moses mediate ('you go near and hear … and we will hear and do', vv. 27), a passage that the writer to the Hebrews evokes at Heb 12:18–21 and that frames Paul's account of the law as given 'through a mediator' (Gal 3:19). The LORD's response (vv. 28–31) approves their words and voices the poignant wish, 'O that there were such a heart in them, to fear me and to keep my commandments all the days, that it might be well with them and with their children forever' (v. 29) — a longing for the circumcised heart that Deuteronomy will promise at 30:6. The chapter closes (vv. 32–33) with the charge to walk in all the way the LORD commanded, turning neither right nor left, 'that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land you shall inherit.'

Deuteronomy 6 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Ϛ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 6 is one of the theological summits of the Pentateuch: it contains the Shema (vv. 4–5), Israel's foundational confession of YHWH's oneness and the command to love him with the whole of one's being.

Outline.

• A · 6:1–3 — Heading: the commandments for life in the land.
• B · 6:4–5 — The Shema: YHWH is one, and the command to love him wholly.
• C · 6:6–9 — These words on the heart: transmission and inscription.
• D · 6:10–15 — Warning against forgetting YHWH in prosperity; the jealous God.
• E · 6:16–19 — Do not test the LORD; keep the commandments and inherit.
• F · 6:20–25 — The son's question and the salvation-history creed.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 6 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 6 is one of the theological summits of the Pentateuch: it contains the Shema (vv. 4–5), Israel's foundational confession of YHWH's oneness and the command to love him with the whole of one's being. The chapter opens with a heading framing the commandments as the program for life in the land (vv. 1–3, echoing the 'land flowing with milk and honey'), reaches its crux in the Shema proper (vv. 4–5: ἄκουε Ισραηλ· κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν· καὶ ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου), then prescribes the constant transmission and visible inscription of these words — on the heart, to children, at home and away, bound on hand and forehead, written on doorposts (vv. 6–9, the basis of tefillin and mezuzah). A warning against forgetting YHWH amid the prosperity of cities, houses, cisterns, vineyards, and olive-groves Israel did not build (vv. 10–15) leads to the demand for exclusive fear, service, and oath in his name, and the prohibition of other gods, grounded in YHWH's being a jealous God (θεὸς ζηλωτής). The prohibition οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ('you shall not test the LORD your God', v. 16) recalls the Massah rebellion. The keeping of testimonies, statutes, and ordinances (vv. 17–19) brings the conquest, and the chapter closes with a catechetical scene (vv. 20–25): when the son asks the meaning of the testimonies, the father answers with the salvation-historical creed — bondage in Egypt, the exodus by a mighty hand and uplifted arm, the gift of the land — and concludes that keeping these commandments will be ἐλεημοσύνη ('righteousness') for Israel. The LXX renders the threefold 'all' of v. 5 with καρδία, ψυχή, and δύναμις (the last for Hebrew מְאֹד, 'might'); the NT citations vary the third term (ἰσχύς in Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27, with διανοία added) but reproduce the LXX structure closely. Jesus names the Shema the first and greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30; Matt 22:37; Luke 10:27), and answers the tempter with v. 13 (Matt 4:10; Luke 4:8) and v. 16 (Matt 4:7; Luke 4:12), making this chapter one of the most densely quoted in the entire LXX.

Deuteronomy 7 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Ζ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 7 is one of the great election-chapters of the Torah, structured as a covenant homily: the command of ḥērem against the seven Canaanite nations (vv.

Outline.

• A · 7:1–5 — The ḥērem command: the seven nations, no covenant, no intermarriage, the demolished cult.
• B · 7:6–8 — Election by love: the holy people and the treasured possession (λαὸς περιούσιος).
• C · 7:9–11 — The faithful God: covenant and mercy to a thousand generations, requital of haters.
• D · 7:12–16 — Covenant blessings: fruitfulness, health, the removal of sickness, the devouring of the nations.
• E · 7:17–24 — Do not fear the nations: remember Pharaoh, the hornet, the gradual conquest.
• F · 7:25–26 — No abomination: burn the idols, covet no silver or gold, βδέλυγμα.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 7 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 7 is one of the great election-chapters of the Torah, structured as a covenant homily: the command of ḥērem against the seven Canaanite nations (vv. 1–5), the election-rationale that grounds it (vv. 6–8), the confession of the faithful God who keeps covenant to a thousand generations (vv. 9–11), the catalogue of blessings for obedience (vv. 12–16), and the encouragement not to fear the nations (vv. 17–26). The LXX renders the seven-nations list of v. 1 (Χετταῖον, Γεργεσαῖον, Αμορραῖον, Χαναναῖον, Φερεζαῖον, Ευαῖον, Ιεβουσαῖον) with declinable gentilic adjectives in -αῖος. The total-destruction command is intensified by cognate-dative Hebraisms: ἀφανισμῷ ἀφανιεῖς (v. 2, 'you shall surely destroy'), calquing the Hebrew infinitive absolute הַחֲרֵם תַּחֲרִים. The covenant prohibitions — οὐ διαθήσῃ … διαθήκην ('make no covenant', v. 2) and οὐδὲ μὴ γαμβρεύσητε ('do not intermarry', v. 3) — protect against the apostasy named in v. 4 (λατρεύσει θεοῖς ἑτέροις). The cultic-demolition command (v. 5) pairs four verbs (καθελεῖτε, συντρίψετε, ἐκκόψετε, κατακαύσετε) against altars (βωμούς), pillars (στήλας), groves (ἄλση, rendering אֲשֵׁרִים), and graven images (γλυπτά). The theological centre is vv. 6–8: Israel is λαὸς ἅγιος ('a holy people') whom the LORD προείλατο ('chose/preferred', rendering בָּחַר) to be a λαὸς περιούσιος ('a people for his treasured possession', rendering עַם סְגֻלָּה) — not because of numerical greatness (οὐχ ὅτι πολυπληθεῖτε), for Israel is ὀλιγοστοί ('fewest'), but παρὰ τὸ ἀγαπᾶν κύριον ὑμᾶς ('because the LORD loves you') and his oath to the fathers. The crux term περιούσιος (a LXX coinage) is taken up at Titus 2:14 (λαὸν περιούσιον) and 1 Pet 2:9 (λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν), and the election-by-love-not-merit logic anticipates Paul's argument in Rom 9–11. The confession of v. 9 names YHWH ὁ θεὸς ὁ πιστός ('the faithful God') who keeps διαθήκην καὶ ἔλεος ('covenant and mercy') εἰς χιλίας γενεάς ('to a thousand generations'), while v. 10 holds the antithesis: he repays τοῖς μισοῦσιν ('those who hate him') κατὰ πρόσωπον ('to their face'). The blessing-catalogue (vv. 12–16) promises fertility of womb, field, herd and flock, freedom from barrenness and sickness — περιελεῖ κύριος … πᾶσαν μαλακίαν ('the LORD will remove every illness', v. 15) — and the consuming of the nations. The fear-not section (vv. 17–24) recalls Pharaoh, the great signs and the mighty hand and uplifted arm, and announces that the LORD will send τὰς σφηκίας ('the hornet', v. 20) and consume the nations κατὰ μικρὸν μικρόν ('little by little', v. 22). The chapter closes (vv. 25–26) by forbidding the coveting of the idols' silver and gold and the bringing of a βδέλυγμα ('abomination') into the house: such a thing is itself ἀνάθημα ('a devoted thing', ḥērem).

Deuteronomy 8 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Η′

Theme. Deuteronomy 8 is the great wilderness-retrospect of Moses' second discourse, a hortatory chapter built on the imperatives 'keep' (φυλάξεσθε, v. 1), 'remember' (μνησθήσῃ, v.

Outline.

• A · 8:1 — The programmatic charge: keep the whole commandment and live.
• B · 8:2–5 — The wilderness discipline: humbling, hunger, manna, and the word.
• C · 8:6–10 — The good land: eat, be satisfied, and bless the LORD.
• D · 8:11–18 — The prosperity-warning: forget not the LORD who gives power to get wealth.
• E · 8:19–20 — The covenant-lawsuit threat: perish like the nations if you forget.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 8 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 8 is the great wilderness-retrospect of Moses' second discourse, a hortatory chapter built on the imperatives 'keep' (φυλάξεσθε, v. 1), 'remember' (μνησθήσῃ, v. 2), 'take heed to yourself' (πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ, v. 11), and 'remember' again (μνησθήσῃ, v. 18). Its theological centre is the manna-lesson of v. 3 — οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι τῷ ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ ('man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God') — which Jesus quotes verbatim in the LXX wording against the tempter (Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4). The chapter frames the forty years (τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη, v. 4) as divine pedagogy: the LXX's three coordinated aorists ἐκάκωσέν … ἐλιμαγχόνησέν … ἐψώμισέν ('he afflicted … made you hunger … fed you', v. 3) present hunger itself as the instrument of revelation, ἵνα ἀναγγείλῃ σοι ('that he might make known to you'). The fatherly-discipline simile of v. 5 (ὡς εἴ τις παιδεύσαι ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ) supplies the lexical and theological background to Heb 12:5–11. Verses 7–10 catalogue the good land in a sevenfold list — wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive-oil, honey — closing with iron and copper and the command to 'eat and be satisfied and bless the LORD' (φάγῃ καὶ ἐμπλησθήσῃ καὶ εὐλογήσεις κύριον, v. 10), the proof-text for the Jewish grace-after-meals (Birkat ha-Mazon). The hinge of the second half is the prosperity-warning (vv. 11–18): satiety, fine houses, multiplied herds and silver breed forgetfulness (ἐπιλάθῃ κυρίου) and the proud boast ἡ ἰσχύς μου καὶ τὸ κράτος τῆς χειρός μου ἐποίησέν μοι τὴν δύναμιν τὴν μεγάλην ταύτην ('my strength and the might of my hand has produced for me this great power', v. 17) — answered by the corrective μνησθήσῃ … ὅτι αὐτός σοι δίδωσιν ἰσχὺν τοῦ ποιῆσαι δύναμιν ('remember … that it is he who gives you strength to produce power', v. 18). The chapter ends with a covenant-lawsuit threat (vv. 19–20): apostasy will bring destruction ἀπωλείᾳ ἀπολεῖσθε ('you shall surely perish', a cognate-dative Hebraism) like the nations the LORD destroys before them, witnessed by heaven and earth (διαμαρτύρομαι … τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν).

Deuteronomy 9 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Θ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 9 is one of the great grace-not-merit chapters of the Pentateuch.

Outline.

• A · 9:1–6 — Not for your righteousness: the gift, not Israel's merit.
• B · 9:7–8 — Remember and do not forget: you provoked the LORD at Horeb.
• C · 9:9–14 — The mountain, the tablets, and the golden calf; the LORD's wrath.
• D · 9:15–17 — Moses' descent and the breaking of the tablets.
• E · 9:18–21 — Moses' second fast, intercession for Aaron, and destruction of the calf.
• F · 9:22–24 — The further rebellions: Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hattaavah, Kadesh.
• G · 9:25–29 — Moses' great intercession: do not destroy your people and inheritance.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 9 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 9 is one of the great grace-not-merit chapters of the Pentateuch. Moses, addressing Israel on the plains of Moab, insists that the conquest of Canaan — the dispossession of nations 'greater and stronger' than Israel, the sons of Enak in cities 'walled up to heaven' (vv. 1–2) — is wholly the LORD's gift and in no way Israel's reward. The crux of the chapter (vv. 4–6) is the threefold denial: 'Do not say in your heart … διὰ τὰς δικαιοσύνας μου (for my righteousness) the LORD brought me in to inherit this land'; rather it is διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῶν ἐθνῶν (for the wickedness of these nations) and ἵνα στήσῃ τὴν διαθήκην (to confirm the oath sworn to the fathers); 'for you are a stiff-necked people' (λαὸς σκληροτράχηλος, vv. 6, 13). This anti-merit theology is the Old-Testament taproot of Paul's argument in Romans 9–11 and of Titus 3:5 ('not by works of righteousness which we have done'). To prove Israel's unworthiness Moses recites the rebellions, above all the golden calf at Horeb (vv. 7–21): his ascent of the mountain to receive τὰς πλάκας τὰς λιθίνας ('the stone tablets') written ἐν τῷ δακτύλῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ('by the finger of God'), the forty days and nights without bread or water (v. 9), the LORD's word that the people had corrupted themselves (ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου) and his offer to destroy them and make of Moses a greater nation (vv. 12–14), Moses' descent and the smashing of the tablets before their eyes (vv. 15–17), his second forty-day fast and intercession for both people and Aaron (vv. 18–20), and the burning, grinding to dust, and casting of the calf into the mountain-stream (v. 21). Further rebellions are named at Taberah (Ἐμπυρισμός), Massah (Πειρασμός), Kibroth-hattaavah (Μνήματα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας), and Kadesh-barnea (vv. 22–24). The chapter climaxes in Moses' great intercession (vv. 25–29): 'do not destroy your people and your inheritance (μὴ ἐξολεθρεύσῃς τὸν λαόν σου), whom you redeemed in your great strength … remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob … lest the land from which you brought them say the LORD was not able (παρὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι κύριον) to bring them in.' The appeal binds together the covenant oath, the divine name and reputation among the nations, and the bond of God to his own inheritance (κλῆρός σου, v. 29).

Deuteronomy 10 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Ι′

Theme. Deuteronomy 10 is a Mosaic first-person retrospect that gives way to a sustained second-person paraenesis. It opens with the second pair of stone tablets and the ark of acacia wood (ἐκ ξύλων ἀσήπτων, v.

Outline.

• A · 10:1–5 — The second tablets and the ark of acacia.
• B · 10:6–9 — Aaron's death and the setting apart of Levi.
• C · 10:10–11 — The forty days recalled and the command to journey.
• D · 10:12–16 — What the LORD asks: fear, walk, love, serve — and circumcise the heart.
• E · 10:17–19 — The impartial God who loves the sojourner.
• F · 10:20–22 — Fear, serve, cleave; the seventy become as the stars.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 10 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 10 is a Mosaic first-person retrospect that gives way to a sustained second-person paraenesis. It opens with the second pair of stone tablets and the ark of acacia wood (ἐκ ξύλων ἀσήπτων, v. 3): at the LORD's command Moses hews two tablets like the first, ascends Horeb, and the decalogue (τοὺς δέκα λόγους, v. 4) is rewritten and deposited in the ark (vv. 1–5). A brief itinerary-and-death notice records Aaron's death and Eleazar's succession (vv. 6–7) and the setting apart of the tribe of Levi to bear the ark, to stand before the LORD, to minister and to bless in his name — so that 'the LORD himself is his inheritance' (κύριος αὐτὸς κλῆρος αὐτοῦ, v. 9). After recalling the forty days of intercession and the renewed command to journey to the land sworn to the fathers (vv. 10–11), the chapter turns to its rhetorical centre: the great paraenetic question, 'And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD … to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the LORD with all your heart and all your soul?' (τί κύριος ὁ θεός σου αἰτεῖται παρὰ σοῦ ἀλλ᾽ ἢ φοβεῖσθαι …, vv. 12–13; cf. Mic 6:8). To the LORD belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all in it (v. 14), yet he set his love (προείλατο … ἀγαπᾶν) on the fathers and chose their seed (v. 15). The chapter's headline imperative follows: καὶ περιτεμεῖσθε τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν καὶ τὸν τράχηλον ὑμῶν οὐ σκληρυνεῖτε ἔτι ('circumcise the hardness/foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer', v. 16) — the heart-circumcision motif later radicalised at Deut 30:6 and taken up by Jer 4:4, Acts 7:51 ('uncircumcised in heart'), and supremely Rom 2:28–29 and Col 2:11. The LORD is then confessed as 'God of gods and Lord of lords' (θεὸς τῶν θεῶν καὶ κύριος τῶν κυρίων), the great, mighty and awesome God who 'is not partial' (οὐ θαυμάζει πρόσωπον) and takes no bribe, who executes justice for orphan and widow and loves the sojourner (ἀγαπᾷ τὸν προσήλυτον), giving him bread and clothing — therefore Israel too must love the sojourner, 'for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt' (vv. 17–19; cf. Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11). The closing summons gathers the covenant verbs — fear, serve, cleave (αὐτῷ κολληθήσῃ), and swear by his name (vv. 20) — confessing him as Israel's praise (καύχημα) who multiplied the seventy souls into stars (vv. 21–22; cf. Gen 15:5; 46:27). The chapter is a tissue of Deuteronomic theological vocabulary — σκληροκαρδία, περιτέμνω, the impartiality of God, and the love-command extended to the προσήλυτος — that the New Testament will mine repeatedly.

Deuteronomy 11 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΑ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 11 is the rhetorical climax of Moses' first great parenesis (chs. 5–11): an extended exhortation to love (ἀγαπήσεις, v.

Outline.

• A · 11:1–7 — Love and obey: remember the great deeds your own eyes saw.
• B · 11:8–12 — The land that drinks the rain of heaven, not Egypt watered by foot.
• C · 11:13–17 — The early and latter rain for obedience; drought and exile for apostasy.
• D · 11:18–21 — The second Shema-paragraph: bind, teach, and write these words.
• E · 11:22–25 — The conditional promise of total conquest and borders.
• F · 11:26–32 — The blessing and the curse: Gerizim and Ebal.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 11 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 11 is the rhetorical climax of Moses' first great parenesis (chs. 5–11): an extended exhortation to love (ἀγαπήσεις, v. 1) and obey YHWH grounded in what Israel's own eyes have seen — the παιδεία ('discipline / instruction') of the Exodus, the χεὶρ κραταιά and βραχίων ὑψηλός ('mighty hand and outstretched arm'), the drowning of the Egyptian host in the Red Sea, the wilderness, and the swallowing of Dathan and Abiram (vv. 2–7). The chapter then unfolds the theology of the land in a striking contrast (vv. 10–12): unlike Egypt, irrigated 'by foot' (ποτίζωσιν τοῖς ποσίν) like a vegetable garden, the promised land is γῆ ὀρεινὴ καὶ πεδινή ('a land of mountains and plains') that drinks water ἐκ τοῦ ὑετοῦ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ('from the rain of heaven'), a land which the LORD ἐπισκοπεῖται ('watches over'), his eyes upon it continually from the beginning of the year to its end. The conditional rain-theology follows: obedience brings the early and latter rain (ὑετὸν πρόιμον καὶ ὄψιμον, v. 14; cf. Jas 5:7) and abundant grain, wine, and oil; apostasy provokes YHWH to shut up heaven so there is no rain and the land yields no fruit (vv. 13–17). The second Shema-paragraph follows (vv. 18–21; cf. 6:6–9): lay up these words in heart and soul, bind them as a sign on the hand and immovable before the eyes, teach them to the children, write them on the doorposts and gates — 'that your days may be multiplied … as the days of heaven upon the earth.' A renewed conditional promise of total conquest and borders from the wilderness to the Euphrates and the western sea follows (vv. 22–25), and the chapter closes with the great two-ways antithesis (vv. 26–32): 'Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse' (εὐλογίαν καὶ κατάραν) — the blessing to be pronounced on Mount Gerizim, the curse on Mount Ebal (Γαριζιν / Γαιβαλ; cf. chs. 27–28), as Israel crosses the Jordan to inherit the land.

Deuteronomy 12 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΒ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 12 opens the great legal core of Deuteronomy (chs. 12–26) and is the foundational charter of Israelite worship: the law of the central sanctuary.

Outline.

• A · 12:1–4 — Destroy the Canaanite cult-places; do not worship the LORD in their manner.
• B · 12:5–14 — The central sanctuary: the place where the LORD will put his name.
• C · 12:15–22 — Profane slaughter permitted in the land — but the blood must be poured out.
• D · 12:23–28 — The blood is the life; bring the holy things to the chosen place.
• E · 12:29–31 — Warning against Canaanite worship: they burn their sons and daughters.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 12 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 12 opens the great legal core of Deuteronomy (chs. 12–26) and is the foundational charter of Israelite worship: the law of the central sanctuary. The chapter has a clear architecture: a command to annihilate the Canaanite cult-places 'on the high mountains and under every leafy tree' with their altars, pillars, and Asherim, and a prohibition against worshipping the LORD in their manner (vv. 1–4); the positive principle of the single chosen place 'which the LORD your God will choose … to put his name there to be called upon (ἐπονομάσαι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖ ἐπικληθῆναι)', to which all sacrifices, tithes, vows, and firstfruits must be brought and where Israel is to rejoice before the LORD (vv. 5–14); the concession of profane (non-sacrificial) slaughter 'in all the desire of your soul' anywhere in the land, qualified by the absolute blood prohibition — the blood must be poured out on the ground like water (vv. 15–22); the rationale of the blood prohibition, ὅτι τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ψυχή ('for the blood is its life'), with the command to bring holy things and vows to the chosen place (vv. 23–28); and a closing warning against being ensnared into imitating the abominable Canaanite cult, which even immolates sons and daughters in fire (vv. 29–31). The name-theology — the place where YHWH causes his name to dwell — is the seedbed of the temple ideology (cf. 1 Kgs 8:29; Jer 7:12) and stands behind Jesus' word at John 4:20–24 ('neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem … in spirit and truth'). The blood prohibition (vv. 16, 23–25) grounds Lev 17:11 ('the life of the flesh is in the blood') and is carried into the apostolic decree of Acts 15:20, 29. The recurring chosen-place formula (τὸν τόπον ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται κύριος, vv. 5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26) functions as the structural refrain of the chapter. The LXX consistently renders the leitmotif with ἐκλέγομαι ('choose') and the divine name-dwelling with the infinitive ἐπικληθῆναι ('to be invoked / called upon there').

Deuteronomy 13 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΓ′

Theme. A versification note is essential: the Rahlfs LXX (following the Hebrew/Masoretic numbering) counts this chapter as nineteen verses, 13:1–19, where 13:1 (πᾶν ῥῆμα… οὐ προσθήσεις… οὐδὲ ἀφελεῖς) is the 'neither add nor subtract' frame; many English versions (KJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV) attach that frame to the previous chapter as 12:32 and therefore number the present material 13:1–18.

Outline.

• A · 13:1 — Frame: neither add to nor subtract from the commandment.
• B · 13:2–6 — First case: the prophet or dreamer who entices — the loyalty test.
• C · 13:7–12 — Second case: the intimate enticer — show no pity.
• D · 13:13–19 — Third case: the apostate city — the ban (ḥērem).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 13 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. A versification note is essential: the Rahlfs LXX (following the Hebrew/Masoretic numbering) counts this chapter as nineteen verses, 13:1–19, where 13:1 (πᾶν ῥῆμα… οὐ προσθήσεις… οὐδὲ ἀφελεῖς) is the 'neither add nor subtract' frame; many English versions (KJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV) attach that frame to the previous chapter as 12:32 and therefore number the present material 13:1–18. This annotation follows the verse numbers of the source file (1–19) throughout; readers comparing an English Bible should subtract one (LXX 13:2 = English 13:1, and so on). Deuteronomy 13 develops a single legal theme — the duty of exclusive covenant loyalty in the face of incitement to apostasy (the verb most at issue is לכת אחרי אלהים אחרים, 'to go after other gods', LXX λατρεύσωμεν θεοῖς ἑτέροις) — in three escalating cases. (1) The prophet or dreamer of dreams whose sign or wonder actually comes to pass yet who says πορευθῶμεν καὶ λατρεύσωμεν θεοῖς ἑτέροις is not to be heeded, ὅτι πειράζει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμᾶς — 'because the LORD your God is testing you' to know whether Israel loves him ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας… καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς (vv. 2–6, echoing the Shema of 6:5); the prophet must die. (2) The most intimate enticer — brother, son, daughter, the wife ἐν κόλπῳ σου, the friend ὁ ἴσος τῆς ψυχῆς σου — who entices secretly (λάθρᾳ): the Israelite must show no pity (οὐ φείσεται ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου), must not conceal him, and must be the first hand against him to put him to death (vv. 7–12) — a severe and difficult text that the LXX renders without mitigation. (3) The apostate city led astray by ἄνδρες παράνομοι: after diligent inquiry (ἐρωτήσεις καὶ ἐραυνήσεις σφόδρα), if the βδέλυγμα is confirmed, the city is placed under the ban — ἀναθέματι ἀναθεματιεῖτε αὐτήν (the ḥērem, חרם) — its inhabitants slain by the sword, its spoil heaped and burned ἐναντίον κυρίου as a total offering, the site left ἀοίκητος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, never rebuilt (vv. 13–19). Key vocabulary: πειράζω ('test/prove', v. 4); ἐκζητέω/ἐρωτάω–ἐραυνάω (the duty of diligent inquiry, v. 15); and the ἀνάθεμα / ἀναθεματίζω cluster for the ban (vv. 16, 18). The chapter must be read soberly: its severity is the dark obverse of the love-command — covenant loyalty tested at the cost of one's nearest ties (cf. Matt 10:37) — and its ban-language belongs to the conquest theology of Deuteronomy, not to any standing license.

Deuteronomy 14 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΔ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 14 is a tightly structured chapter of covenant law built on a single theological axiom — Israel's status as YHWH's holy and chosen people — from which three bodies of practice are derived.

Outline.

• A · 14:1–2 — Sons of the LORD, a holy and treasured people: no pagan mourning rites.
• B · 14:3–21 — Clean and unclean: the dietary laws (animals, fish, birds, swarming things; the kid in milk).
• C · 14:22–29 — The tithe: the festal tithe before the LORD and the third-year tithe for the dependent.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 14 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 14 is a tightly structured chapter of covenant law built on a single theological axiom — Israel's status as YHWH's holy and chosen people — from which three bodies of practice are derived. (1) The opening identity-claim (vv. 1–2): υἱοί ἐστε κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ('you are sons of the LORD your God', v. 1) grounds the prohibition of pagan mourning rites — οὐ φοιβήσετε (ritual self-laceration) and the making of φαλάκρωμα ('baldness') between the eyes for the dead — and is reinforced by λαὸς ἅγιος εἶ ('you are a holy people') and the election formula σὲ ἐξελέξατο κύριος … γενέσθαι σε αὐτῷ λαὸν περιούσιον ('the LORD chose you to be for himself a treasured people', v. 2; λαὸς περιούσιος recurs at Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 26:18; cf. Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9). (2) The dietary code (vv. 3–21), closely paralleling Lev 11: the διχηλοῦν/μηρυκισμός test for land animals (cloven hoof plus chewing the cud, vv. 6–8), the πτερύγια-καὶ-λεπίδες (fins-and-scales) test for water creatures (vv. 9–10), and a list of forbidden birds (vv. 11–18) and the swarming things of the air (ἑρπετὰ τῶν πετεινῶν, v. 19). The transliterated and rare Greek zoological vocabulary — χοιρογρύλλιον, καμηλοπάρδαλις, ἁλιαίετος, χαραδριός, πορφυρίων — reflects the translator's effort to render an unfamiliar Hebrew faunal taxonomy into Hellenistic Greek. The unit closes with the apodictic οὐχ ἑψήσεις ἄρνα ἐν γάλακτι μητρὸς αὐτοῦ ('you shall not boil a lamb in its mother's milk', v. 21), again anchored to the holiness formula. The food laws are reaffirmed in the NT yet relativized in their cultic function (cf. Mark 7:19; Acts 10:9–16). (3) The tithe legislation (vv. 22–29): the annual festal tithe of grain, wine, and oil with the firstborn of herd and flock, eaten ἔναντι κυρίου ('before the LORD') at the chosen place (vv. 22–23), with provision for conversion to silver when the journey is too far (vv. 24–26, including the rare loanword σικερα, 'strong drink'); the stated purpose is ἵνα μάθῃς φοβεῖσθαι κύριον ('that you may learn to fear the LORD', v. 23). The triennial tithe (vv. 28–29) is stored locally for the landless Levite, the προσήλυτος ('sojourner'), the ὀρφανός ('orphan'), and the χήρα ('widow'), that they may eat and be filled and that YHWH may bless all the works of Israel's hands — a fusion of worship and charity that makes the tithe a school of covenant fear and social mercy.

Deuteronomy 15 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΕ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 15 is one of the great Mosaic statutes of social mercy, structured in three movements bound by a single key term: ἄφεσις, 'release' (vv. 1–11), the manumission of the Hebrew slave (vv.

Outline.

• A · 15:1–6 — The seventh-year release: remission of debts to the brother.
• B · 15:7–11 — The open hand: generosity to the poor brother.
• C · 15:12–18 — The release of the Hebrew slave, furnished and free.
• D · 15:19–23 — The consecration of the firstborn of herd and flock.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 15 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 15 is one of the great Mosaic statutes of social mercy, structured in three movements bound by a single key term: ἄφεσις, 'release' (vv. 1–11), the manumission of the Hebrew slave (vv. 12–18), and the consecration of the firstborn (vv. 19–23). The chapter opens with the law of the seventh-year ἄφεσις (vv. 1–6): δι᾿ ἑπτὰ ἐτῶν ποιήσεις ἄφεσιν ('at the end of seven years you shall make a release'), the remission of debts owed by a fellow Israelite (πᾶν χρέος ἴδιον ὃ ὀφείλει σοι ὁ πλησίον). The word-group ἄφεσις / ἀφίημι, used here for debt-remission and at v. 9 for the 'year of release,' is the same that crowns Jubilee theology (Lev 25:10) and is taken up by Jesus in the Nazareth sermon (Luke 4:18–19, κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν). The statute holds two declarations in deliberate tension: 'there shall be no poor among you' (οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ ἐνδεής, v. 4), the ideal under perfect obedience, and 'the poor shall not cease from the land' (οὐ … ἐκλίπῃ ἐνδεὴς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, v. 11), the realistic ground of perpetual generosity — the latter quoted by Jesus at Matt 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8. The call to open-handedness is voiced in the emphatic cognate Hebraism ἀνοίγων ἀνοίξεις τὰς χεῖράς σου ('opening you shall open your hands', vv. 8, 11) and διδοὺς δώσεις αὐτῷ ('giving you shall give to him', v. 10), with the warning not to give λυπηθήσῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ('grieved in heart') — language that stands behind Paul's ἱλαρὸν δότην at 2 Cor 9:7. The second movement (vv. 12–18) legislates the release of the Hebrew slave (ὁ ἀδελφός σου ὁ Εβραῖος) in the seventh year, not empty-handed (οὐκ … κενόν) but furnished liberally from flock, threshing-floor, and winepress; the motive clause grounds the law in Israel's own redemption from Egypt (ἐλυτρώσατό σε κύριος, v. 15). The slave who loves his master may stay forever, sealed by the awl driven through the ear at the door (τὸ ὀπήτιον … τρυπήσεις τὸ ὠτίον, v. 17; cf. Exod 21:6). The release is not to be grudged, for the slave has served six years 'worth a double hired-wage' (ἐφέτιον μισθὸν τοῦ μισθωτοῦ, v. 18). The third movement (vv. 19–23) consecrates every firstborn male of herd and flock to the LORD, to be eaten yearly at the chosen place; the blemished animal (μῶμος, χωλὸν ἢ τυφλόν) is disqualified from sacrifice and eaten as common food like the gazelle or deer, with the blood poured out on the ground like water (ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐκχεεῖς αὐτὸ ὡς ὕδωρ). The chapter thus binds economic mercy, personal liberation, and cultic devotion into a single vision of a redeemed people imitating the open hand of its Redeemer.

Deuteronomy 16 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙϚ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 16 sets out the festal calendar of Israel from the controlling angle of the central sanctuary — 'the place that the LORD your God shall choose' (ὁ τόπος ὃν ἐὰν ἐκλέξηται κύριος) — and then turns to the appointment of judges.

Outline.

• A · 16:1–8 — Passover and Unleavened Bread at the chosen place.
• B · 16:9–12 — The Feast of Weeks: counted from the sickle, kept with rejoicing and inclusion.
• C · 16:13–15 — The Feast of Booths: seven days of harvest rejoicing.
• D · 16:16–17 — Three pilgrim appearances, none empty-handed.
• E · 16:18–20 — The appointment of judges and the pursuit of justice.
• F · 16:21–22 — Prohibition of grove and pillar beside the altar.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 16 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 16 sets out the festal calendar of Israel from the controlling angle of the central sanctuary — 'the place that the LORD your God shall choose' (ὁ τόπος ὃν ἐὰν ἐκλέξηται κύριος) — and then turns to the appointment of judges. Three pilgrim feasts structure vv. 1–17: Passover (πασχα) in the month of the new grain (ὁ μὴν τῶν νέων, Abib), eaten with unleavened 'bread of affliction' (ἄρτος κακώσεως) and slaughtered only at the chosen place, with nothing left till morning (vv. 1–8); the Feast of Weeks (ἑορτὴ ἑβδομάδων), counted as seven complete weeks from the first putting of the sickle to the standing grain, kept as a freewill measure of the hand and marked by rejoicing that gathers in the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow (vv. 9–12); and the Feast of Booths (ἑορτὴ σκηνῶν) / Tabernacles (σκηνοπηγία), seven days of harvest rejoicing at the threshing-floor and winepress (vv. 13–15). The pilgrim theology is summed at v. 16: τρεῖς καιροὺς τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ — three times a year every male shall appear before the LORD (ὀφθήσεται … ἐναντίον κυρίου), and 'you shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed' (οὐκ ὀφθήσῃ ἐνώπιον κυρίου κενός). The chapter then pivots (vv. 18–20) to civic justice: judges and officers are to be appointed 'in all your gates' (the LXX renders 'in all your cities,' ἐν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσίν σου) to judge the people with a righteous judgment (κρίσιν δικαίαν); they must not pervert judgment (οὐκ ἐκκλινοῦσιν κρίσιν), respect persons (οὐκ ἐπιγνώσονται πρόσωπον), or take a bribe (δῶρον), for the gift blinds the eyes of the wise. The famous charge δικαίως τὸ δίκαιον διώξῃ ('justly shall you pursue what is just') binds righteous means to righteous ends and grounds the promise of life and inheritance. The chapter closes (vv. 21–22) with two cultic prohibitions guarding the chosen altar: no planting of a sacred grove / Asherah (ἄλσος) and no setting up of a standing pillar (στήλη), 'things which the LORD your God hates.' Throughout, δικαιοσύνη and centralised worship are interwoven: rightly-pursued justice and rightly-located worship are two faces of covenant fidelity.

Deuteronomy 17 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΖ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 17 in the LXX is a chapter of cultic and constitutional law, moving in four movements: the prohibition of blemished sacrifice (v. 1); the trial and stoning of the apostate who worships the host of heaven (vv.

Outline.

• A · 17:1 — No blemished sacrifice to the LORD.
• B · 17:2–7 — The apostate who worships the host of heaven: trial and stoning on two or three witnesses.
• C · 17:8–13 — The supreme tribunal at the chosen place.
• D · 17:14–20 — The law of the king.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 17 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 17 in the LXX is a chapter of cultic and constitutional law, moving in four movements: the prohibition of blemished sacrifice (v. 1); the trial and stoning of the apostate who worships the host of heaven (vv. 2–7); the supreme tribunal at the chosen place for cases too hard to judge locally (vv. 8–13); and the celebrated 'law of the king' (vv. 14–20). At v. 6 the LXX renders the evidentiary rule ἐπὶ δυσὶν μάρτυσιν ἢ ἐπὶ τρισὶν μάρτυσιν ('on two or three witnesses') — the foundational biblical law of corroborated testimony (cf. Deut 19:15) repeatedly cited in the New Testament (Matt 18:16; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 10:28); the witnesses' own hands must strike first (ἐν πρώτοις, v. 7), binding accuser to the gravity of capital judgment. The forbidden objects of worship — ἡλίῳ ἢ σελήνῃ ἢ παντὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ (v. 3) — render the Hebrew צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם ('host of heaven'); the LXX's κόσμος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ uses κόσμος in its older sense of 'ordered array/adornment' (cf. Gen 2:1 LXX). The high-court legislation (vv. 8–13) employs the threefold ἀνὰ μέσον … ἀνὰ μέσον idiom ('between … and …') and the standard Deuteronomic refrain οὐκ ἐκκλινεῖς … δεξιὰ οὐδὲ ἀριστερά ('you shall not turn aside right or left', v. 11). The presumptuous man who acts ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ ('in arrogance') and refuses the priest or judge dies, purging evil from Israel (v. 12). The law of the king (vv. 14–20) anticipates Israel's request for a monarch 'like the surrounding nations' (καθὰ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη, v. 14; cf. 1 Sam 8); the king must be one whom the LORD chooses (ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται κύριος), drawn from among the brothers and not a foreigner (ἄνθρωπον ἀλλότριον, v. 15); he must not multiply horses (nor return the people to Egypt to acquire them, v. 16), nor multiply wives lest his heart turn aside (μεταστήσεται αὐτοῦ ἡ καρδία, v. 17), nor multiply silver and gold. The constitutional climax is v. 18: when he sits on his throne, καὶ γράψει ἑαυτῷ τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο εἰς βιβλίον ('he shall write for himself this Deuteronomy in a book') — the verse from which the Greek (and hence English) name of the book, ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ('second law / copy of the law'), is derived, rendering the Hebrew מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה ('a copy of this law'). The king is to read it all his days (v. 19), so that his heart not be lifted above his brothers (ἵνα μὴ ὑψωθῇ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ, v. 20) and that he and his sons may reign long — the seed of the limited-king ideal and the messianic-king trajectory.

Deuteronomy 18 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΗ′

Theme. The chapter falls into four movements. (1) The portion of the Levitical priests (vv.

Outline.

• A · 18:1–8 — The portion of the Levitical priests: the LORD their inheritance.
• B · 18:9–14 — Against the abominations of the nations: the forbidden occult arts.
• C · 18:15–19 — The prophet like Moses: him you shall heed.
• D · 18:20–22 — The test of the true prophet: if the word does not come to pass.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 18 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. The chapter falls into four movements. (1) The portion of the Levitical priests (vv. 1–8): the priests and the whole tribe of Levi receive no land-allotment (μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος) but live from the LORD's offerings (καρπώματα κυρίου), the formula κύριος αὐτὸς κλῆρος αὐτοῦ ('the LORD himself is his inheritance', v. 2) rendering the priestly theology of Num 18:20; their dues from the sacrifices (the shoulder, the jowls, the maw) and the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, and wool (vv. 3–5); and the right of any Levite who comes from his town to the chosen place to serve and eat an equal portion (μερίδα μεμερισμένην, vv. 6–8). (2) The prohibition of the abominations of the nations (vv. 9–14): a catalogue of forbidden occult practitioners — one who makes a son or daughter pass through fire (περικαθαίρων … ἐν πυρί), the diviner (μαντευόμενος μαντείαν), soothsayer, augur (οἰωνιζόμενος), sorcerer (φαρμακός), charmer (ἐπαείδων ἐπαοιδήν), medium (ἐγγαστρίμυθος), wizard (τερατοσκόπος), and necromancer (ἐπερωτῶν τοὺς νεκρούς) — all of which are βδέλυγμα ('an abomination') to the LORD; Israel is to be τέλειος ('blameless') before the LORD their God. (3) The promise of the prophet like Moses (vv. 15–19), the chapter's headline crux: προφήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου ὡς ἐμὲ ἀναστήσει σοι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε ('the LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers like me; him you shall heed', v. 15), grounded in the Horeb request (v. 16) that Moses mediate lest the people die in the fire; YHWH responds, προφήτην ἀναστήσω … καὶ δώσω τὸ ῥῆμά μου ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ ('I will raise up a prophet … and I will put my words in his mouth', v. 18), with judgment threatened on whoever will not heed (v. 19). This passage is quoted of Christ at Acts 3:22–23 and 7:37 and stands behind the Mosaic-prophet expectation of John 1:21, 25; 6:14; 7:40. (4) The test of the true prophet (vv. 20–22): the presumptuous prophet (ὃς ἂν ἀσεβήσῃ) who speaks in the LORD's name what he was not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, shall die; and the diagnostic criterion — ἐὰν μὴ γένηται τὸ ῥῆμα καὶ μὴ συμβῇ ('if the word does not come to pass and does not come about'), the LORD did not speak it; do not fear him (οὐκ ἀφέξεσθε αὐτοῦ). The LXX renders the dense occult vocabulary of vv. 10–11 with a string of substantival participles, and twice uses cognate-accusative constructions (μαντευόμενος μαντείαν, ἐπαείδων ἐπαοιδήν) calquing the Hebrew idiom for the comprehensive scope of the prohibition.

Deuteronomy 19 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΙΘ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 19 is a tightly organized unit of casuistic and apodictic law in three movements: the law of the cities of refuge (vv. 1–13), a single prohibition guarding the boundary-marker (v.

Outline.

• A · 19:1–7 — The three cities of refuge and the law of the involuntary manslayer.
• B · 19:8–10 — Three further cities upon enlargement of the territory.
• C · 19:11–13 — The deliberate murderer: no asylum.
• D · 19:14 — The boundary-marker of the neighbor.
• E · 19:15 — The law of witnesses: two or three.
• F · 19:16–21 — The false witness and the lex talionis applied to perjury.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 19 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 19 is a tightly organized unit of casuistic and apodictic law in three movements: the law of the cities of refuge (vv. 1–13), a single prohibition guarding the boundary-marker (v. 14), and the law of witnesses with its sanction against the false witness (vv. 15–21). The chapter turns on the distinction between the involuntary manslayer (ὁ φονευτής who kills ἀκουσίως, 'unintentionally', vv. 4–5 — the classic case of the axe-head, τὸ σιδήριον, flying off the helve) and the deliberate murderer who acts μισῶν ('hating', vv. 11–12). For the former YHWH commands three cities of asylum to be set apart (διαστελεῖς, v. 2), with three more (vv. 8–9) should he enlarge (ἐμπλατύνῃ) the territory as he swore to the patriarchs, so that innocent blood (αἷμα ἀναίτιον, v. 10) not be shed; the manslayer flees ἐκεῖ ('there') and lives (ζήσεται), beyond the reach of the blood-avenger, ὁ ἀγχιστεύων τοῦ αἵματος (v. 6), whose heart is 'inflamed' (παρατεθέρμανται). The deliberate murderer, however, is fetched back by the elders (ἡ γερουσία) and handed over to the avenger: 'your eye shall not spare' (οὐ φείσεται ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου, v. 13). The single prohibition οὐ μετακινήσεις ὅρια ('you shall not move the boundary-markers', v. 14) protects the inalienable patrimony fixed by the fathers. The chapter's juridical climax is the two-or-three-witnesses rule (v. 15): οὐκ ἐμμενεῖ μάρτυς εἷς … ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων καὶ ἐπὶ στόματος τριῶν μαρτύρων σταθήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα — the corroboration principle taken up at Matt 18:16; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; John 8:17; Heb 10:28. The malicious false witness (μάρτυς ἄδικος, v. 16) is examined ἀκριβῶς ('exactly') by the priests and judges before YHWH; if convicted of perjury he suffers the very penalty he plotted against his brother (vv. 18–19), and the lex talionis is applied to perjury in the famous formula ψυχὴν ἀντὶ ψυχῆς, ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ … (v. 21; cf. Exod 21:23–25; Lev 24:20; Matt 5:38), 'that the rest may hear and fear' (vv. 20).

Deuteronomy 20 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Κ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 20 is the Torah's principal 'law of war' (a unified torat ha-milḥamah), structured in four movements: the pre-battle exhortation against fear, grounded in the Exodus deliverance (vv.

Outline.

• A · 20:1–4 — Going to war without fear: the Exodus God who fights for Israel.
• B · 20:5–9 — The officers' exemptions and the appointment of commanders.
• C · 20:10–18 — The terms of war: peace offered, distant cities and Canaanite ḥerem.
• D · 20:19–20 — Siege ecology: sparing the fruit-bearing trees (bal tashḥit).

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 20 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 20 is the Torah's principal 'law of war' (a unified torat ha-milḥamah), structured in four movements: the pre-battle exhortation against fear, grounded in the Exodus deliverance (vv. 1–4); the herald's exemptions and the appointment of commanders (vv. 5–9); the protocol of siege — peace offered first, then the differing treatment of distant cities and the Canaanite nations under ḥerem (vv. 10–18); and the siege-ecology law sparing fruit-bearing trees (vv. 19–20). The LXX renders the priest's encouragement with a chain of present prohibitive imperatives — μὴ ἐκλυέσθω ἡ καρδία ὑμῶν, μὴ φοβεῖσθε μηδὲ θραύεσθε μηδὲ ἐκκλίνητε (v. 3) — calquing the Hebrew אַל סדרה (Deut 20:3). The motive clause κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν ὁ προπορευόμενος μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν (v. 4) casts YHWH as the divine warrior who 'goes before' Israel. The exemptions (vv. 5–8) follow a tight rhetorical pattern (τίς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ … — πορευέσθω καὶ ἀποστραφήτω): the man who has built but not dedicated (ἐνεκαίνισεν) a house, planted but not enjoyed (εὐφράνθη) a vineyard, betrothed but not taken (ἔλαβεν) a wife, and finally the fearful and fainthearted (ὁ φοβούμενος καὶ δειλὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ) — each dismissed lest he die in battle and another enjoy his portion, or lest he 'melt' (δειλιάνῃ) his brother's heart. The siege protocol distinguishes sharply: distant cities receive an offer of peace (ἐκκαλέσῃ αὐτοὺς μετ᾽ εἰρήνης, v. 10); a city that submits becomes tributary and subject (φορολόγητοι καὶ ὑπήκοοι, v. 11); a city that resists is besieged, its males struck ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας while women, children, livestock, and spoil are taken (vv. 12–14). The Canaanite nations within the inheritance, by contrast, fall under total ḥerem — ἀναθέματι ἀναθεματιεῖτε αὐτούς (v. 17), a cognate-dative Hebraism rendering the emphatic infinitive absolute הַחֲרֵם תַּחֲרִימֵם — 'that they may not teach you to do all their abominations (τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῶν)' (v. 18); this is a difficult holy-war text whose rationale the LXX frames as the protection of Israel's covenant fidelity. Finally vv. 19–20 enshrine an early conservation principle (the rabbinic bal tashḥit): in a prolonged siege the fruit-bearing trees may not be cut down — μὴ ἄνθρωπος τὸ ξύλον τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ ('is the tree of the field a man, that it should come before you into the siege?') — only non-fruit trees may be felled for the siege-works (χαράκωσιν).

Deuteronomy 21 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΑ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 21 is a chapter of discrete casuistic laws, each governing the handling of blood, death, and the boundaries of the household and the land.

Outline.

• A · 21:1–9 — Atonement for an unsolved murder: the broken-necked heifer.
• B · 21:10–14 — The captive woman taken as wife.
• C · 21:15–17 — The right of the firstborn: the double portion.
• D · 21:18–21 — The rebellious and incorrigible son.
• E · 21:22–23 — The hanged man: cursed by God upon a tree.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 21 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 21 is a chapter of discrete casuistic laws, each governing the handling of blood, death, and the boundaries of the household and the land. It opens with the rite of atonement for an unsolved murder (vv. 1–9): when a slain man (τραυματίας) is found in the field and the killer is unknown, the elders (ἡ γερουσία) of the nearest city break the neck of a heifer that has never been worked (νευροκοπήσουσιν τὴν δάμαλιν) in a rough wadi (φάραγγα τραχεῖαν), wash their hands over it, and declare 'our hands did not shed this blood' (αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐξέχεαν τὸ αἷμα τοῦτο), praying that the LORD not lay innocent blood (αἷμα ἀναίτιον) to his people Israel — purging blood-guilt from the land. There follows the law of the captive woman (vv. 10–14): taken in war and desired as a wife, she shaves her head, mourns her parents a month (μηνὸς ἡμέρας), and, if later rejected, must be released free (ἐλευθέραν) and never sold for silver, διότι ἐταπείνωσας αὐτήν ('because you humbled her'). The right of the firstborn (vv. 15–17) protects the son of the unloved wife (τῆς μισουμένης): though the father love another wife, he may not prefer her son; the true firstborn receives the double portion (δοῦναι αὐτῷ διπλᾶ), for he is ἀρχὴ τέκνων ('the beginning of his children'). The law of the rebellious and incorrigible son (vv. 18–21) — a son ἀπειθὴς καὶ ἐρεθιστής who will not obey father or mother — has him brought to the elders at the gate and stoned (λιθοβολήσουσιν αὐτόν), 'and you shall purge the evil from among you' (ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν); the severity is sobering, and the New Testament's gospel reversal of the prodigal who is received rather than stoned (Luke 15) presupposes precisely this statute. The chapter closes with its most far-reaching crux (vv. 22–23): the executed criminal hanged on a tree (κρεμάσητε αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ξύλου) must not remain overnight but be buried the same day, ὅτι κεκατηραμένος ὑπὸ θεοῦ πᾶς κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου ('for cursed by God is everyone who hangs on a tree') — lest the land be defiled. Paul cites this verse of the crucified Christ at Gal 3:13 (γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα, ὅτι γέγραπται· ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ κρεμάμενος ἐπὶ ξύλου), reading the cross as the substitutionary bearing of the covenant curse; cf. Acts 5:30; 10:39; 1 Pet 2:24. The chapter thus moves from unatoned blood crying from the ground to the cursed body on the tree — the two poles between which the whole drama of atonement is later played out.

Deuteronomy 22 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΒ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 22 is a miscellany of covenant case-law binding the everyday ordering of property, dress, agriculture, and sexuality to the holiness of the covenant people.

Outline.

• A · 22:1–4 — The active-neighbor ethic: returning strays and lost goods, raising the fallen.
• B · 22:5 — No cross-dressing: gender distinction as covenant holiness.
• C · 22:6–7 — The mother-bird law and the long-life promise.
• D · 22:8 — The rooftop parapet against bloodguilt.
• E · 22:9–11 — The prohibition of mixed kinds: seed, yoke, and cloth.
• F · 22:12 — Tassels on the four corners.
• G · 22:13–21 — The slandered bride and the tokens of virginity.
• H · 22:22–29 — Graded sexual offenses: adultery, the betrothed virgin, the unbetrothed virgin.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 22 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 22 is a miscellany of covenant case-law binding the everyday ordering of property, dress, agriculture, and sexuality to the holiness of the covenant people. It opens with the active-neighbor ethic (vv. 1–4): the Israelite may not 'hide himself' (the LXX renders the Hebrew לֹא תִתְעַלָּם with the recurring οὐχ ὑπερόψῃ / οὐ δυνήσῃ ὑπεριδεῖν) from a brother's straying ox or sheep, his lost cloak, or his fallen donkey, but must return the one and raise the other — a positive duty of restoration that the Gospel tradition will universalize (cf. the Good Samaritan, Luke 10; and the parallel Exod 23:4–5). The cognate-dative Hebraisms ἀποστροφῇ ἀποστρέψεις (v. 1) and ἀνιστῶν ἀναστήσεις (v. 4) calque the Hebrew infinitive absolute, intensifying the obligation. The chapter then turns to a series of separation-laws expressing covenant holiness: no cross-dressing, 'for it is an abomination (βδέλυγμα) to the LORD' (v. 5); the mother-bird law, with its rare long-life promise (ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ πολυήμερος ἔσῃ, vv. 6–7); the rooftop parapet (στεφάνη) that guards against bloodguilt (φόνος, v. 8); and the prohibition of mixed kinds — sowing the vineyard with διάφορον seed, plowing with ox and donkey yoked together, wearing the κίβδηλον ('mongrel/adulterated') mixture of wool and linen (vv. 9–11) — capped by the command to make tassels (στρεπτά) on the four corners of one's garment (κράσπεδα, v. 12; cf. Matt 23:5). The remainder of the chapter is sexual case-law set within its ancient legal frame: the slandered bride and the tokens of virginity (τὰ παρθένια), with the falsely accusing husband fined a hundred shekels but the proven case stoned at her father's door (vv. 13–21); and the graded offenses (vv. 22–29) — the adulterer and adulteress both die; the betrothed virgin, with the city/field distinction turning on whether she could cry out for rescue (the 'cry test'); and the seizure of an unbetrothed virgin, penalized by a fifty-didrachma bride-price and indissoluble marriage. The refrain καὶ ἐξαρεῖς τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν ('and you shall remove the evil from among you') punctuates the capital cases, framing them as acts of communal purgation.

Deuteronomy 23 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΓ′

Theme. IMPORTANT — VERSIFICATION OFFSET: the Rahlfs LXX (with the Masoretic Hebrew) numbers this chapter 1–26 with no gaps, and that numbering is followed here verbatim.

Outline.

• A · 23:1–9 — Who may enter the assembly of the LORD (ἐκκλησία κυρίου): exclusions and admissions.
• B · 23:10–15 — Camp holiness in war: cleanliness and latrine etiquette.
• C · 23:16–17 — The escaped slave not to be returned.
• D · 23:18–19 — No cult prostitution; the wages of a harlot and the price of a dog excluded.
• E · 23:20–21 — No usury toward a brother.
• F · 23:22–24 — The law of vows: pay what you vow.
• G · 23:25–26 — Gleaning in a neighbor's grain and vineyard.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 23 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. IMPORTANT — VERSIFICATION OFFSET: the Rahlfs LXX (with the Masoretic Hebrew) numbers this chapter 1–26 with no gaps, and that numbering is followed here verbatim. Many English Bibles (KJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV) shift the count by one: LXX/Hebrew 23:1 (οὐ λήμψεται ἄνθρωπος τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, 'A man shall not take his father's wife') = English Deut 22:30, so that LXX/Hebrew 23:2–26 correspond to English 23:1–25. Thus the law of the emasculated stands at LXX v. 2 (Eng. 23:1), the assembly-exclusions at LXX vv. 3–9 (Eng. 23:2–8), and the gleaning permissions at LXX vv. 25–26 (Eng. 23:24–25). Deuteronomy 23 is a Mosaic catalogue of cultic and social legislation governing membership in the ἐκκλησία κυρίου ('the assembly of the LORD', vv. 2–9), the holiness of the war-camp where the LORD ἐμπεριπατεῖ ('walks about', vv. 10–15), the harboring of an escaped slave (vv. 16–17), the exclusion of cultic prostitution and 'the wages of a harlot / the price of a dog' from the LORD's house (vv. 18–19), the prohibition of usury (τόκος) toward a brother (vv. 20–21), the law of vows (vv. 22–24), and the gleaning rights in a neighbor's grain and vineyard (vv. 25–26). The term ἐκκλησία ('assembly'), the standard LXX rendering of Hebrew קָהָל, is taken up in the NT for the church; the inclusion-of-the-excluded reversal of these exclusion-laws is announced at Isa 56:3–5 and dramatized at Acts 8:27 (the Ethiopian eunuch). The cognate-intensive ἐκζητῶν ἐκζητήσει (v. 22) and the vow-law (vv. 22–24) lie behind Eccl 5:4–5, Matt 5:33, and Acts 5:4; the gleaning permission (vv. 25–26) is the legal background to the disciples' plucking of grain at Matt 12:1 / Mark 2:23.

Deuteronomy 24 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΔ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 24 is a loosely-bound chain of apodictic and casuistic statutes governing the household and the protection of the socially vulnerable. It opens with the celebrated law of the divorce-certificate (βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, vv.

Outline.

• A · 24:1–4 — The law of the divorce-certificate (βιβλίον ἀποστασίου).
• B · 24:5 — The newlywed's one-year exemption.
• C · 24:6 — The millstone not taken in pledge.
• D · 24:7 — Kidnapping and enslaving a brother: the death penalty.
• E · 24:8–9 — Vigilance in leprosy; remember Miriam.
• F · 24:10–13 — The dignity of the debtor in pledging.
• G · 24:14–15 — Prompt wages for the poor hired laborer.
• H · 24:16 — Individual responsibility in capital justice.
• I · 24:17–22 — Justice for the vulnerable and the gleaning laws.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 24 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 24 is a loosely-bound chain of apodictic and casuistic statutes governing the household and the protection of the socially vulnerable. It opens with the celebrated law of the divorce-certificate (βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, vv. 1–4): a man who writes his wife such a document, sends her away, and she marries another, may not — once she has been 'defiled' (μιανθῆναι) by the second union or widowed from it — take her back, ὅτι βδέλυγμά ἐστιν ἐναντίον κυρίου ('for it is an abomination before the LORD'). This is the text the Pharisees set before Jesus (Matt 19:3–9; Mark 10:2–12), to which he answers that Moses wrote the command 'for your hardness of heart' (πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν) while appealing behind it to Gen 1–2. The chapter then strings together: the one-year military and civic exemption of the newlywed 'to gladden his wife' (v. 5); the prohibition on taking a millstone in pledge 'for he takes a life in pledge' (ψυχὴν ... ἐνεχυράζει, v. 6); the death penalty for kidnapping and enslaving an Israelite brother (v. 7); vigilance in leprosy, with the charge to remember what the LORD did to Miriam (τῇ Μαριαμ, vv. 8–9); the dignity of the debtor in the taking of pledges — the creditor must not enter the house to seize the pledge but wait outside (vv. 10–11), and must return the poor man's cloak by sunset so that he may sleep in his garment and bless the lender, 'and it shall be mercy/righteousness before the LORD' (ἐλεημοσύνη ἐναντίον κυρίου, vv. 12–13); the prompt payment of the poor hired laborer's wage the same day (αὐθημερόν) before sunset, 'for he is poor and sets his hope on it, lest he cry against you to the LORD and it be sin in you' (vv. 14–15; echoed at Jas 5:4 and paralleled at Lev 19:13); the principle of individual responsibility in capital justice — 'fathers shall not be put to death for children ... each shall die for his own sin' (ἕκαστος τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀποθανεῖται, v. 16; cf. Ezek 18; Jer 31:30); the prohibition on perverting the judgment of the sojourner and orphan or pledging a widow's garment (v. 17); and the gleaning laws — the forgotten sheaf, the olive afterglean, and the vintage afterglean, all to be left τῷ προσηλύτῳ καὶ τῷ ὀρφανῷ καὶ τῇ χήρᾳ (the sojourner, orphan, and widow; vv. 19–22; cf. Lev 19:9–10; Ruth 2). The recurrent motivation-clause — 'remember that you were a household-slave (οἰκέτης) in Egypt' (vv. 18, 22) — grounds the whole social-justice cluster in Israel's own redemption.

Deuteronomy 25 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΕ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 25 is a miscellany of covenant statutes bound by a single ethical thread — the proportion and limit of justice — gathering six discrete cases: the bounding of judicial flogging at forty stripes 'lest your brother be dishonoured before you' (vv.

Outline.

• A · 25:1–3 — Measured justice: the limit of forty stripes.
• B · 25:4 — You shall not muzzle a threshing ox.
• C · 25:5–10 — Levirate marriage and the sandal of shame.
• D · 25:11–12 — The immodest intervention.
• E · 25:13–16 — Honest weights and measures.
• F · 25:17–19 — Remember Amalek; blot out his name.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 25 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 25 is a miscellany of covenant statutes bound by a single ethical thread — the proportion and limit of justice — gathering six discrete cases: the bounding of judicial flogging at forty stripes 'lest your brother be dishonoured before you' (vv. 1–3); the brief but enormously influential ox-statute οὐ φιμώσεις βοῦν ἀλοῶντα ('you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads', v. 4); the levirate marriage with its sandal-removal and spitting ritual (vv. 5–10); the immodest-intervention law (vv. 11–12); the demand for honest weights and measures sealed by the abomination-formula βδέλυγμα κυρίῳ (vv. 13–16); and the command to remember and blot out Amalek (ἐξαλείψεις τὸ ὄνομα Αμαληκ, vv. 17–19). Three passages reverberate through later Scripture. The forty-stripe limit of vv. 1–3 lies behind Paul's testimony that he received 'forty stripes less one' five times (τεσσαράκοντα παρὰ μίαν, 2 Cor 11:24), the rabbinic mitigation that capped the count at thirty-nine to guard against accidental excess of the Torah's limit. The ox-statute of v. 4 is twice quoted by Paul (1 Cor 9:9; 1 Tim 5:18) as warrant for the labourer's right to material support — 'the labourer is worthy of his wages' — making this five-word Greek clause one of the most theologically load-bearing single verses of the Greek Pentateuch. The verb φιμόω ('muzzle / silence') is itself notable: the LXX choice here supplies the very word Jesus uses to silence demons and storms (Mark 1:25; 4:39) and that Paul echoes. The levirate institution of vv. 5–10 — raising up seed in a dead brother's name 'that his name not be blotted out of Israel' — is the legal premise of the Sadducees' resurrection-question (Matt 22:24 // Mark 12:19 // Luke 20:28) and the narrative engine of Ruth 4, where the sandal (τὸ ὑπόδημα) functions as the token of transferred redemption-right. The just-weights ethic of vv. 13–16 (στάθμιον ἀληθινὸν καὶ δίκαιον) belongs to a wisdom-stream running through Lev 19:35–36, Prov 11:1; 20:10, 23, and Mic 6:11. The Amalek-mandate of vv. 17–19, recalling the cowardly attack on Israel's stragglers (τὴν οὐραγίαν, 'the rear') in Exod 17:8–16, grounds the war of 1 Sam 15 and Saul's downfall. Lexically, the chapter rewards attention to φιμόω, to the levirate vocabulary (ἀναστῆσαι τὸ ὄνομα, ὑπολύω τὸ ὑπόδημα, ἐμπτύω), to the merism μέγα ἢ μικρόν for fraudulent double standards, and to the dual command ἐξαλείψεις … οὐ μὴ ἐπιλάθῃ ('you shall blot out … you shall not forget') that closes the chapter on a paradox of remembered erasure.

Deuteronomy 26 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚϚ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 26 is the liturgical climax of the Deuteronomic law-code, comprising three movements: the rite of firstfruits with its recited creed (vv. 1–11), the third-year tithe declaration (vv.

Outline.

• A · 26:1–4 — The firstfruits rite: bringing the basket to the chosen place.
• B · 26:5–11 — The recited creed and the worshipper's joy.
• C · 26:12–15 — The third-year tithe and the declaration of obedience.
• D · 26:16–19 — Covenant ratification: the mutual election and the treasured people.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 26 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 26 is the liturgical climax of the Deuteronomic law-code, comprising three movements: the rite of firstfruits with its recited creed (vv. 1–11), the third-year tithe declaration (vv. 12–15), and the covenant-ratification climax (vv. 16–19). At its heart stands the so-called 'little historical creed' (vv. 5–9), the great Heilsgeschichte confession recited by the worshipper at the chosen place — a compressed salvation-narrative running from the wandering patriarch through the descent into Egypt, the affliction, the outcry, and the LORD's deliverance 'with a mighty hand' into 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' The LXX offers a strikingly divergent rendering of the creed's opening line at v. 5: the Hebrew אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי ('a wandering/perishing Aramean was my father') becomes Συρίαν ἀπέβαλεν ὁ πατήρ μου ('my father abandoned/forsook Syria'), reading the participle אֹבֵד as a transitive verb and construing 'Aram' as object rather than predicate — a divergence with a long history of interpretation. The tithe declaration (vv. 12–15) gives the worshipper's oath of obedience: the holy things have been removed and given to the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow; the commandment has been neither transgressed nor forgotten. The chapter culminates in the mutual-election formula (vv. 16–19): 'today you have chosen (εἵλου) the LORD to be your God … and the LORD has chosen (εἵλατό) you today to be to him a treasured people (λαὸν περιούσιον)' — the reciprocal covenant bond, framing Israel as a holy people set high above all nations in praise, name, and glory (cf. Deut 7:6; 14:2; and the NT reuse of περιούσιος at Titus 2:14 and λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν at 1 Pet 2:9). The verbs of election (αἱρετίζω / αἱρέομαι) and the formula λαὸς περιούσιος are the theological signature of the chapter.

Deuteronomy 27 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΖ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 27 marks a structural seam in the book: the long second discourse of Moses pauses, and a ceremony of covenant ratification at Shechem is commanded for the day Israel crosses the Jordan (vv.

Outline.

• A · 27:1–8 — The command at the Jordan: inscribed stones and the altar on Ebal.
• B · 27:9–10 — Constitution of the covenant people.
• C · 27:11–13 — The tribal liturgy: Gerizim and Ebal.
• D · 27:14–26 — The dodecalogue of curses with the people's Amen.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 27 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 27 marks a structural seam in the book: the long second discourse of Moses pauses, and a ceremony of covenant ratification at Shechem is commanded for the day Israel crosses the Jordan (vv. 1–8; cf. its fulfilment at Josh 8:30–35). Israel is to set up great plastered stones on Mount Ebal (Γαιβαλ) and inscribe on them 'all the words of this law' (πάντα τὸν νόμον τοῦτον σαφῶς σφόδρα, v. 8), and to build an altar of unhewn stones — no iron tool to be lifted upon them (οὐκ ἐπιβαλεῖς ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς σίδηρον, v. 5; cf. Exod 20:25) — for whole burnt offerings (ὁλοκαυτώματα) and peace offerings (θυσίαν σωτηρίου), eating and rejoicing before the LORD (vv. 6–7). At v. 9 the priests the Levites declare, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ γέγονας εἰς λαὸν κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ σου ('on this day you have become a people to the LORD your God'), the perfect γέγονας marking an accomplished covenantal status. The tribal liturgy (vv. 11–13) divides Israel: six tribes stand on Mount Gerizim (Γαριζιν) to bless the people, six on Mount Ebal ἐπὶ τῆς κατάρας ('for the curse'). There follows the great Levitical dodecalogue of curses (vv. 14–26): twelve declarations, each opening with the verbal adjective ἐπικατάρατος ('cursed') and each sealed by the whole people's antiphonal γένοιτο ('so be it / Amen', rendering Hebrew אָמֵן) — against the idol-maker (v. 15), the one who dishonours father or mother (v. 16), who moves a neighbour's boundary (v. 17), who misleads the blind (v. 18), who perverts the justice due to sojourner, orphan, and widow (v. 19), the several cases of incest and bestiality (vv. 20–23), the secret murderer (v. 24), and the taker of a bribe to slay innocent blood (v. 25). The series climaxes at v. 26 in a comprehensive curse that gathers all the rest: ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἐμμενεῖ ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς λόγοις τοῦ νόμου τούτου τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτούς ('Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the words of this law, to do them'). Paul cites this verse at Gal 3:10 — almost verbatim from the LXX, retaining ἐπικατάρατος, πᾶς, and the totalizing ἐν πᾶσιν — as scriptural proof that ὅσοι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσὶν ὑπὸ κατάραν εἰσίν ('all who rely on works of the law are under a curse'), since no one keeps the whole of it; the LXX's universalizing πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ('every person'), absent from the MT's verse-opening, is precisely the word that carries the weight of his argument. The chapter is thus the Old Testament's most concentrated statement of the law's sanction of curse, and a primary text for the Pauline antithesis of law and faith.

Deuteronomy 28 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΗ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 28 is the longest chapter in the book and, in the Rahlfs/MT versification, comprises 69 verses (the closing v.

Outline.

• A · 28:1–14 — The blessings for obedience.
• B · 28:15–19 — The curses pronounced: the exact reversal.
• C · 28:20–29 — Plague, fever, drought, defeat, and the madness of noon.
• D · 28:30–44 — The futility curses and the ascendancy of the alien.
• E · 28:45–57 — The eagle-nation, the siege, and the horror of cannibalism.
• F · 28:58–68 — Egypt's diseases, the scattering, the despairing soul, and the return to Egypt.
• G · 28:69 — Colophon: the words of the covenant in Moab.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 28 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 28 is the longest chapter in the book and, in the Rahlfs/MT versification, comprises 69 verses (the closing v. 69, 'these are the words of the covenant…', is numbered 29:1 in most English Bibles, which then run chapter 29 one verse ahead). The chapter is the climactic blessings-and-curses peroration of the Moab covenant: a short catalogue of blessings for obedience (vv. 1–14) followed by an enormous, harrowing catalogue of curses for disobedience (vv. 15–68), closed by a narratorial colophon (v. 69). The covenant-treaty form is unmistakable: the structure mirrors the blessing/curse sanctions of ancient Near Eastern suzerainty treaties (cf. the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon), but here the sovereign is YHWH. The LXX renders the blessing/curse antitheses with formulaic parallelism: εὐλογημένος σύ ('blessed are you', vv. 3–6) is exactly reversed by ἐπικατάρατος σύ ('cursed are you', vv. 16–19). The curse-catalogue moves through reversed fertility, disease (the boils of Egypt, fever, ophthalmia, madness), cosmic drought (heaven χαλκοῦς 'bronze', earth σιδηρᾶ 'iron', v. 23), military defeat and dispersion (becoming a διασπορά and a horror ἐν πάσαις ταῖς βασιλείαις, v. 25), futility curses (the unenjoyed wife, house, vineyard, vv. 30–33), exile under a foreign king (v. 36), the invading nation that swoops ὡσεὶ ὅρμημα ἀετοῦ ('as the swoop of an eagle', v. 49), and the siege's ultimate horror — parents eating the flesh of their own children (vv. 53–57), the gravest of all covenant-curses. The final movement (vv. 58–68) threatens the diseases of Egypt, reduction ἐν ἀριθμῷ βραχεῖ ('few in number') after having been as the stars, scattering 'from one end of the earth to the other', and life under καρδίαν ἀθυμοῦσαν ('a despairing heart'), failing eyes, and a wasting soul, so that in the morning one longs for evening and in the evening for morning (v. 67), ending with the return to Egypt by ship to be sold as slaves with none to buy (v. 68). This curse-trajectory is the seedbed of the prophetic theology of exile: it is echoed throughout Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel 9, taken up by Jesus over Jerusalem (Luke 21:23–24), and stands behind Paul's wrestling with Israel's hardening and final mercy (Rom 11:25–32). κύριος throughout renders the Tetragrammaton יהוה.

Deuteronomy 29 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΚΘ′

Theme. A versification caution is essential here: the LXX (following the Masoretic Hebrew) attaches what English Bibles print as Deut 29:1 to the previous chapter as Hebrew 28:69 — so Rahlfs/Hebrew ch.

Outline.

• A · 29:1–8 — Covenant recital: the signs your eyes have seen, the heart not yet given, the forty years.
• B · 29:9–14 — All Israel enters the covenant today — including the absent.
• C · 29:15–20 — The secret apostate: the root of bitterness and the inescapable curse.
• D · 29:21–27 — The devastated land: the question of the generations and the nations, and its answer.
• E · 29:28 — The hidden and the revealed.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 29 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. A versification caution is essential here: the LXX (following the Masoretic Hebrew) attaches what English Bibles print as Deut 29:1 to the previous chapter as Hebrew 28:69 — so Rahlfs/Hebrew ch. 29 corresponds to English 29:2–29. The numbering used in this annotation follows the Rahlfs verse-file, running 1–28 with no gaps: thus LXX/Rahlfs 29:1 = English 29:2, and LXX/Rahlfs 29:28 = English 29:29. Deuteronomy 29 is the formal proclamation of the covenant made 'in the land of Moab, besides the covenant at Horeb.' Moses rehearses the Exodus signs the people's own eyes have seen (vv. 1–2), then states the chapter's theological paradox: the LORD has not yet given them a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear 'until this day' (οὐκ ἔδωκεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῖν καρδίαν εἰδέναι, v. 3) — the spiritual-blindness motif Paul cites at Rom 11:8 (cf. Isa 6:9–10), answered by the promise of the circumcised heart in 30:6. The forty wilderness years preserved their garments and sandals and sustained them without bread or wine (vv. 4–8). The whole assembly — chiefs, elders, judges, officers, wives, children, sojourners, woodcutters and water-drawers — enters the sworn covenant 'today,' together with those not present (vv. 9–14). The warning falls on the secret apostate whose heart turns away today, who blesses himself saying 'I shall have peace though I walk in the wandering of my heart' — 'a root growing upward in gall and bitterness' (ῥίζα ἄνω φύουσα ἐν χολῇ καὶ πικρίᾳ, v. 17), the phrase quoted at Heb 12:15. The chapter then projects the devastation and exile that later generations and the nations will see and ask about, and be told: 'because they forsook the covenant of the LORD' (vv. 18–27). It closes with the celebrated v. 28 (LXX): 'the hidden things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things to us and to our children forever, to do all the words of this law' (τὰ κρυπτὰ κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, τὰ δὲ φανερὰ ἡμῖν …), a crux balancing divine secrecy against the sufficiency of revealed Torah. Throughout, κύριος renders the Tetragrammaton יהוה.

Deuteronomy 30 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ Λ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 30 is one of the theological summits of the book and of the whole Pentateuch: it moves from the promise of restoration after exile (vv. 1–10), through the famous declaration that the commandment is near (vv.

Outline.

• A · 30:1–10 — Restoration after exile and the circumcision of the heart.
• B · 30:11–14 — The word is very near you.
• C · 30:15–20 — The two ways: choose life.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 30 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 30 is one of the theological summits of the book and of the whole Pentateuch: it moves from the promise of restoration after exile (vv. 1–10), through the famous declaration that the commandment is near (vv. 11–14), to the climactic setting of the two ways and the call to choose life (vv. 15–20). The restoration oracle anticipates exile as already foreseen (διασκορπίσῃ … ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, v. 1) and promises a return-and-gathering (ἐπιστραφήσῃ … συνάξει σε, vv. 2–4) reaching even ἀπ᾿ ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ('from the end of heaven', v. 4). Its centre is the new-heart promise of v. 6: καὶ περικαθαριεῖ κύριος τὴν καρδίαν σου — 'the LORD will circumcise/purify your heart' — using περικαθαρίζω where the Hebrew has מָל ('circumcise'), interpreting the rite as inward purgation that enables true love of God (cf. Deut 10:16; Jer 38:33 LXX [MT 31:33]; Ezek 36:26; Rom 2:29). The headline crux is vv. 11–14: the commandment is οὐχ ὑπέρογκός … οὐδὲ μακράν ('not too hard, nor far off'); it is not in heaven nor beyond the sea, but ἔστιν σου ἐγγὺς τὸ ῥῆμα σφόδρα, ἐν τῷ στόματί σου καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσίν σου ('the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart and in your hands') — a passage Paul reappropriates for 'the word of faith' at Rom 10:6–8. The chapter closes with the two-ways summons (vv. 15–20): YHWH has set before Israel τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν θάνατον, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακόν (v. 15), summons heaven and earth as witnesses (διαμαρτύρομαι ὑμῖν … τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, v. 19), and issues the imperative ἔκλεξαι τὴν ζωήν ('choose life', v. 19), grounding the choice in love, obedience, and clinging to YHWH, ὅτι τοῦτο ἡ ζωή σου καὶ ἡ μακρότης τῶν ἡμερῶν σου ('for this is your life and the length of your days', v. 20; cf. Jer 21:8; Matt 7:13–14).

Deuteronomy 31 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΛΑ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 31 is the great transitional chapter of the book: Moses, now 120 years old and 'no longer able to go out and come in' (v.

Outline.

• A · 31:1–6 — Moses' farewell: the LORD and Joshua will cross over; be strong and courageous.
• B · 31:7–8 — The public commissioning of Joshua before all Israel.
• C · 31:9–13 — The writing of the Law and the septennial reading at the Feast of Booths.
• D · 31:14–23 — The tent of witness: the prediction of apostasy, the Song as witness, and Joshua commissioned.
• E · 31:24–30 — The Book of the Law beside the ark as witness; Moses' indictment of rebellion.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 31 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 31 is the great transitional chapter of the book: Moses, now 120 years old and 'no longer able to go out and come in' (v. 2), hands the future of Israel to two successors — the LORD himself, who will cross the Jordan and destroy the nations (v. 3), and Joshua, publicly commissioned before all Israel (vv. 7–8, 23). The chapter is structured around three deposits and one refrain. The refrain is the charge ἀνδρίζου καὶ ἴσχυε ('be courageous and be strong', vv. 6, 7, 23), addressed first to the people, then to Joshua; its expansion at v. 6 — οὐ μή σε ἀνῇ οὔτε μή σε ἐγκαταλίπῃ ('he will never let you go nor forsake you'), repeated at v. 8 (οὐκ ἀνήσει σε οὐδὲ μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃ σε) — is taken up at Heb 13:5 (οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ οὐδ᾽ οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλίπω) as the LORD's pledge of presence. The first deposit is the Law written εἰς βιβλίον and given to the levitical priests, to be read aloud to all Israel every seventh year at the Feast of Booths (the septennial Torah-reading, vv. 9–13). The LORD then summons Moses and Joshua to the tent of witness (σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρίου, v. 14) and predicts Israel's apostasy after Moses' death — ἐκπορνεύσει ὀπίσω θεῶν ἀλλοτρίων ('it will go whoring after foreign gods', v. 16), forsaking the LORD and breaking the covenant; therefore the second deposit, the Song (ᾠδή), is commanded as a μάρτυς / μαρτύριον, a witness against them (vv. 19, 21). The third deposit is the Book of the Law placed beside the ark, again εἰς μαρτύριον (vv. 24–26). The chapter closes with Moses' indictment of Israel's ἐρεθισμός ('provocation') and stiff neck (τράχηλος σκληρός, v. 27) and his summons of the leaders to hear the Song (vv. 28–30). The triple witness motif — Joshua, the Song, and the Book — and the doubled charge to courage make this the hinge between Moses' Torah and Israel's life in the land.

Deuteronomy 32 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΛΒ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 32 is the Song of Moses (Hebrew Haazinu, 'Give ear'), the great covenant-lawsuit poem (rîb) that Moses teaches Israel as a witness against them (cf.

Outline.

• A · 32:1–3 — Exordium: heaven and earth summoned to hear the proclamation of the Name.
• B · 32:4–6 — The Rock: perfect, faithful, just — against the crooked generation.
• C · 32:7–14 — Election and providence: Jacob as the LORD's portion, nursed in the wilderness.
• D · 32:15–18 — Jeshurun grew fat and kicked: the apostasy from the Rock.
• E · 32:19–25 — The provocation answered: divine jealousy and the sentence of judgment.
• F · 32:26–35 — Restraint for the Name's sake; the folly of the enemy; vengeance reserved.
• G · 32:36–43 — Vindication: the LORD judges his people; the no-gods exposed; heaven, nations, and angels summoned to worship.
• H · 32:44–47 — Epilogue: Moses delivers the Song and exhorts Israel to the law.
• I · 32:48–52 — Moses commanded to ascend Mount Nebo and die.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 32 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 32 is the Song of Moses (Hebrew Haazinu, 'Give ear'), the great covenant-lawsuit poem (rîb) that Moses teaches Israel as a witness against them (cf. 31:19–22); it runs vv. 1–43 as sustained Hebrew verse, followed by the prose epilogue (vv. 44–47) and the divine command that Moses ascend Mount Nebo to die (vv. 48–52). The poem is built on parallelismus membrorum, and the LXX preserves the bicolon structure with marked rhythmic balance. Its dominant theological image is God as the Rock (Hebrew צוּר): perfect in his works and faithful, a θεὸς πιστός 'without injustice, righteous and holy' (v. 4); the Rock who begot Israel (v. 18); the Rock incomparable to the no-gods (v. 31). Greek-speaking readers met the motif not through a single lexeme but through ὁ θεός / ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, since the LXX regularly de-metaphorizes צוּר into 'God'; the Rock-of-Israel theme stands behind 1 Cor 10:4. Deuteronomy 32 is among the most cited OT chapters in the New Testament. Four LXX divergences from the Masoretic Text carry major NT weight: (1) v. 8, where the Most High fixes the boundaries of the nations 'according to the number of the angels of God' (κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ) — the LXX/Qumran reading against MT's 'sons of Israel'; (2) v. 21, παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπ᾽ οὐ θεῷ … κἀγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπ᾽ οὐκ ἔθνει ('they made me jealous with a no-god … I will make them jealous with a no-people'), quoted verbatim by Paul at Rom 10:19 as the scriptural charter of Gentile inclusion; (3) v. 35, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐκδικήσεως ἀνταποδώσω ('in the day of vengeance I will repay'), the source of ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω at Rom 12:19 and Heb 10:30; and (4) the long LXX text of v. 43 — εὐφράνθητε, οὐρανοί … καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ θεοῦ· εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη, μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ — which supplies both the angels-worship line cited at Heb 1:6 and the nations-rejoice line cited at Rom 15:10, a longer reading attested at Qumran (4QDeut-q) against the shorter MT. Verse 36 (κρινεῖ κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ) is likewise cited at Heb 10:30. The Song thus moves from cosmic summons (vv. 1–3), through the Rock's righteousness and Israel's election and apostasy (vv. 4–18), the provocation and judgment (vv. 19–35), to vindication and the worship of the nations and angels (vv. 36–43), closing with Moses' delivery of the song and his appointed death (vv. 44–52).

Deuteronomy 33 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΛΓ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 33 is the Blessing of Moses — 'the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death' (v.

Outline.

• A · 33:1 — Superscription: the blessing of Moses the man of God.
• B · 33:2–5 — Theophany prologue: the LORD comes from Sinai and reigns in Jeshurun.
• C · 33:6–7 — Reuben and Judah.
• D · 33:8–11 — Levi: the Thummim and Urim, teaching and priesthood.
• E · 33:12 — Benjamin: the beloved who dwells in confidence.
• F · 33:13–17 — Joseph: the richest blessing of heaven, deep, sun, moon, and mountains.
• G · 33:18–25 — Zebulun and Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, Asher.
• H · 33:26–29 — Closing doxology: the incomparable God and the everlasting arms.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 33 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 33 is the Blessing of Moses — 'the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death' (v. 1) — the dying prophet's tribe-by-tribe benediction that consciously parallels Jacob's deathbed blessing of his sons in Genesis 49. It is among the most archaic and difficult poetry in the Pentateuch, and the LXX translator wrestled visibly with a Hebrew text whose vocabulary was already obscure to him; the Greek frequently diverges from the Masoretic Text and resolves enigmatic Hebrew images into smoother (and sometimes quite different) Greek sense. The chapter falls into three movements. (1) A theophany prologue (vv. 2–5) opens with κύριος ἐκ Σινα ἥκει ('the LORD comes/has come from Sinai'), shining forth from Seir and hastening from Mount Paran 'with myriads of Kadesh,' and — strikingly in the LXX — ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ ἄγγελοι μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ ('at his right hand were angels with him'), where the MT reads the obscure אֵשׁ דָּת ('fiery law' / 'a fiery law'). The prologue culminates with God enthroned 'in the beloved one' (ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ, v. 5), the LXX's recurring rendering of Hebrew יְשֻׁרוּן ('Jeshurun', the upright/beloved one, Israel) by way of a participle of ἀγαπάω — a chain that binds vv. 5, 26 together. (2) The tribal blessings proper (vv. 6–25) run: Reuben (v. 6), Judah (v. 7), Levi with the Thummim and Urim rendered δήλους … καὶ ἀλήθειαν ('manifestations and truth', vv. 8–11) and the priestly office of teaching the ordinances and offering incense (vv. 9–10), Benjamin the beloved who dwells in confidence under God's shadow (v. 12), Joseph who receives the richest blessing — of heaven above, the deep beneath, sun and moon, the ancient mountains and everlasting hills, and 'the goodwill of the one who appeared in the bush' (τῷ ὀφθέντι ἐν τῷ βάτῳ, v. 16), crowned by the bull/unicorn imagery πρωτότοκος ταύρου … κέρατα μονοκέρωτος ('firstborn of a bull … horns of a unicorn', v. 17), Zebulun and Issachar (vv. 18–19), Gad like a couching lion (vv. 20–21), Dan a lion's whelp leaping from Bashan (v. 22), Naphtali full of acceptable things (v. 23), and Asher whose foot is dipped in oil and whose strength matches his days (vv. 24–25). (3) A closing doxology (vv. 26–29) returns to the prologue's theme of the incomparable God: οὐκ ἔστιν ὥσπερ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ ἠγαπημένου ('there is none like the God of the beloved one', v. 26), the rider on heaven, whose dwelling is 'the ancient God' and 'underneath, the everlasting arms' (ὑπὸ ἰσχὺν βραχιόνων ἀενάων, v. 27), and concludes with the beatitude μακάριος σύ, Ισραηλ· τίς ὅμοιός σοι, λαὸς σῳζόμενος ὑπὸ κυρίου; ('Happy are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the LORD?', v. 29). The poem is dense with synonymous and climactic parallelism, optatives of blessing and cursing (εἰσέλθοισαν v. 7; ἔλθοισαν v. 16; ἀπόλοιο v. 27), and rare or archaizing vocabulary (μυριάσιν, μονοκέρωτος, ἀέναος, μεγαλοπρεπής, συννεφής), all marshalled to frame Israel as the uniquely beloved and saved people of the incomparable LORD.

Deuteronomy 34 — ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΛΔ′

Theme. Deuteronomy 34 is the closing chapter of the Pentateuch — the death and burial of Moses and his epitaph.

Outline.

• A · 34:1–4 — The ascent of Nebo and the showing of the land.
• B · 34:5–6 — The death and hidden burial of Moses.
• C · 34:7–9 — Obituary, mourning, and the spirit-endowed succession of Joshua.
• D · 34:10–12 — The epitaph: no prophet like Moses.

Translation & textual notes. The Greek text of Deuteronomy 34 follows the standard critical text of the Septuagint as established in the Rahlfs–Hanhart edition (Septuaginta, rev. ed. 2006), an ancient and public-domain text; the critical apparatus is not reproduced. Deuteronomy 34 is the closing chapter of the Pentateuch — the death and burial of Moses and his epitaph. The chapter moves through four panels: Moses' ascent of Nebo to the top of Pisgah and the LORD's panoramic showing of the whole land 'from Gilead to Dan' down to Zoar (vv. 1–4); the death of Moses 'in the land of Moab by the word of the LORD' (διὰ ῥήματος κυρίου) and his unknown grave 'to this day' (vv. 5–6); the obituary notice of his age and undimmed vigor and Israel's thirty days of mourning (vv. 7–8); the spirit-endowed succession of Joshua son of Nun, on whom Moses had laid his hands (vv. 9); and the unequaled-prophet epitaph (vv. 10–12). The land-survey of vv. 1–4 fulfills and seals the patriarchal land-oath (cf. Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 26:3; 28:13), here recited as ἣν ὤμοσα Αβρααμ καὶ Ισαακ καὶ Ιακωβ; the bittersweet καὶ ἐκεῖ οὐκ εἰσελεύσῃ ('and there you shall not enter') closes the Mosaic exclusion announced at Num 20:12 and Deut 32:52. The phrase διὰ ῥήματος κυρίου (v. 5) — literally 'through the word/mouth of the LORD,' rendering Hebrew עַל־פִּי יְהוָה ('by the mouth of YHWH') — gives Moses' death the character of a covenantal act rather than a natural event; rabbinic tradition read 'by the mouth' as 'by the kiss' of God. The hidden grave (v. 6: καὶ οὐκ οἶδεν οὐδεὶς τὴν ταφὴν αὐτοῦ ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης) supplies the backdrop to Jude 9, the archangel Michael's dispute with the devil over the body of Moses. At v. 9 Joshua is ἐνεπλήσθη πνεύματος συνέσεως ('filled with a spirit of understanding') because Moses had laid hands on him (cf. Num 27:18–23), the foundational text for ordination by the laying-on of hands. The epitaph (vv. 10–12) declares that no prophet like Moses ever again arose in Israel, ὃν ἔγνω κύριος αὐτὸν πρόσωπον κατὰ πρόσωπον ('whom the LORD knew face to face,' rendering אֲשֶׁר יְדָעוֹ יְהוָה פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים; cf. Exod 33:11; Num 12:8) — a uniqueness held in tension with the promise of a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15) and answered, in Christian reading, by the Transfiguration where Moses appears with Christ (Matt 17:3) and by the 'apostle and high priest' greater than Moses (Heb 3:1–6).

How the data set is organized

• lxx-interlinear/data/deuteronomy{1..34}.json — the durable scholarly content: one JSON object per chapter (reference, titles, text-note, outline, and verses with per-word annotation and per-verse discourse notes). The data set shares the nt-interlinear toolkit and schema with the New Testament volumes.
• lxx-interlinear/ — the LXX data home and index builder; rendering reuses the chapter-agnostic nt-interlinear toolkit (stdlib-only HTML; headless-Chromium PDF). Adding a chapter (or a book) requires no code changes.
• Rendered artifacts — Deuteronomy{1..34}.html and .pdf under lxxsite/Deuteronomy/, linked from its index.html in the Septuagint site root.

The interpretive tiers (syntactic function, semantic force, discourse structure, and the proposed argument outlines) are interpretive by nature; where readings legitimately differ, the more common analysis was generally chosen, and the lexical notes are condensed orientation rather than a substitute for a lexicon (e.g. LEH / Muraoka) or a full commentary.