Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
The King James version has a different verse 1, the one that appears in most other versions as chapter 28:69. I have marked the altermate numbers in brackets accordingly. The text of 28:69 (KJ 29:1) reads:
"These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb."My comments on this verse are included at 28:69.
29:1 VA YIKRA MOSHEH EL KOL YISRA-EL VA YOMER ALEYHEM ATEM RE'ITEM ET KOL ASHER ASAH YHVH LE EYNEYCHEM BE ERETS MITSRAYIM LE PHAR'OH U LE CHOL AVADAV U LE CHOL ARTSO
וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה לְעֵינֵיכֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְפַרְעֹה וּלְכָל עֲבָדָיו וּלְכָל אַרְצוֹ
KJ (King James translation, 29:2): And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
BN (BibleNet translation): Then Mosheh called to all Yisra-El, and said to them: You have seen everything that YHVH did before your eyes in the land of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land...
RE'ITEM: "You have seen": but the whole point of this covenant ceremony is to recount to them what they have not seen, because their parents and grandparents left Mitsrayim forty years before, and after they rejected the two spies in favour of the ten, were told that none of them but only their descendants would see the Promise Land. So either that was a made-up story later on, and this is the very people who left Egypt with Mosheh, or we again have more than one version mixed up and causing conflict.
AVADAV here is complicated, because it does not mean his worshippers and it does not mean his slaves, and it does not mean his workers, but specifically his servants. Or does it?
29:2 HA MASOT HA GEDOLOT ASHER RA'U EYNEYCHA HA OTOT VE HA MOPHTIM HA GEDOLIM HA HEM
הַמַּסּוֹת הַגְּדֹלֹת אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ הָאֹתֹת וְהַמֹּפְתִים הַגְּדֹלִים הָהֵם
KJ (29:3): The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
BN: The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders...
MASOT: From the same root that gives the place named Masah, or sometimes Meriyvah, for which see the links. Odd that Mosheh should allude to it in this way, given that, according to the tales recounted in earlier texts, it was he who was on trial there, he who was sentenced to banishment from the Promised Land as a punishment for not following the divine instructions to the letter.
OTOT: See my note at Genesis 1:14.
MOPHTIM: Translated as "wonders"; as it was in Deuteronomy 28:46; but then HIPHLA at 28:59 was also translated as "wonderful", with an entirely opposite intention. See my notes there.
29:3 VE LO NATAN YHVH LACHEM LEV LADA'AT VE EYNAYIM LIROT VE AZNAYIM LISHMO'A AD HA YOM HA ZEH
29:3 VE LO NATAN YHVH LACHEM LEV LADA'AT VE EYNAYIM LIROT VE AZNAYIM LISHMO'A AD HA YOM HA ZEH
וְלֹא נָתַן יְהוָה לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה
BN: But YHVH has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day.
A phrase that simply cannot be taken literally, or its reverse impact on all the previous stories exonerates them entirely - after all, it was their following of their heart, or their failure to use their eyes and ears properly, that led to the Golden Calf, the Korach Rebellion, the Mo-Avi women...
29:4 VA OLECH ET'CHEM ARBA'IM SHANAH BA MIDBAR LO VALU SALMOTEYCHEM MEY ALEYCHEM VE NA'ALCHA LO VALTAH MEY AL RAGLECHA
BN: And I have led you for forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not grown old upon you, and your shoe has not grown old upon your foot.
He used this image earlier (Deuteronomy 8:4) and we mocked it then!
29:5 LECHEM LO ACHALTEM VA YAYIN VE SHECHER LO SHETITEM LEMA'AN TEDA KI ANI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
לֶחֶם לֹא אֲכַלְתֶּם וְיַיִן וְשֵׁכָר לֹא שְׁתִיתֶם לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
KJ (29:6): Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
BN: You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink; that you might know that I am YHVH your god.
Which sounds like a description of Nazirut. And if it is not, then why have they not eaten bread? At Passover, yes, they burned the leaven and ate matzah; and in the midst of the wilderness they ate manna for lack of substance. But for these past many months they have been camped, they have been able to build and supply a powerful army, even to use their otherwise empty time to cultivate a few crops or harvest those that grow naturally, which means they must have made fires, because even in the bronze age it required fire to smelt swords. Could they not also bake bread - desert Bedou use clay ovens, dug into the sand - click here to learn how very easy it is to do it. Then why didn't they? It has to be because they are still on pilgrimage. Does that then challenge the absurdity of the 38-year-gap, and reduce this entire adventure to just 2 years; or maybe even one, which would be more religiously logical? And in doing so, Mosheh telling them in this chapter that they themselves witnessed all the events, suddenly doesn't sound quite so absurd.
29:6 VA TAVO'U EL HA MAKOM HA ZEH VA YETS'E SICHON MELECH CHESHBON VE OG MELECH HA BASHAN LIKRATEYNU LA MILCHAMAH VA NAKEM
KJ (29:7): And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:
BN: And when you came to this place, Sichon the king of Cheshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us in battle, and we defeated them.
This is where senile Mosheh takes over from youthful-leader Mosheh, and it needs Yehoshu'a or the Kohen Gadol, yet again, to nudge him, and whisper in his ear, "Mosheh, you said all this already. The people are getting restless. They know about Sichon. It was immediately after the defeat of Sichon that you started this interminable speech." Deuteronomy 1:4 to be precise, though there have been several further mentions: 2:24, 3:2, 4:46...
29:7 VA NIKACH ET ARTSAM VA NITNAH LE NACHALAH LA RE'U-VENI VE LA GADI VE LA CHATSI SHEVET HA MENASHI
וַנִּקַּח אֶת אַרְצָם וַנִּתְּנָהּ לְנַחֲלָה לָראוּבֵנִי וְלַגָּדִי וְלַחֲצִי שֵׁבֶט הַמְנַשִּׁי
BN: And we took their land, and gave it as an inheritance to the Re'u-Veni, and to the Gadi, and to the half-tribe of the Menashi.
29:8 U SHEMARTEM ET DIVREY HA BRIT HA ZOT VA ASITEM OTAM LEMA'AN TASKILU ET KOL ASHER TA'ASUN
KJ (29:9): Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
BN: Therefore observe the words of this covenant, and carry them out, that you may prosper in everything you do.
BN: Therefore observe the words of this covenant, and carry them out, that you may prosper in everything you do.
pey break (though surely it ought to be a samech break?)
Sedra Ki Tavo ends here in the Yehudit versions, and logic therefore suggests that the Christian translations should have ended their chapter 28 here; however they do not. I have made a separation nonetheless, so that Yehudit readers can begin the next sedra at the start of the next page, for which click here.
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