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
6:1 VE ZOT HA MITSVAH HA CHUKIM VE HA MISHPATIM ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LELAMED ET'CHEM LA'ASOT BA ARETS ASHER ATEM OVRIM SHAMAH LERISHTAH
וְזֹאת הַמִּצְוָה הַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לְלַמֵּד אֶתְכֶם לַעֲשׂוֹת בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ
KJ (King James translation): Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
BN (BibleNet translation): Now this is [these are] the commandment[s], the statutes, and the ordinances, which YHVH your god commanded [me] to teach you, to live by them in the land to which you are going over to possess it.
VE ZOT: is singular, but it lists three items, so it should be VE ELEH, which is plural - precisely the sort of grammatical error that we find throughout Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah).
HA MITZVAH: again in the singular, while the next two are both in the plural (CHUKIM and MISHPATIM).
LELAMED ET'CHEM: I have added "me" in square brackets; in Yehudit it would be OTI (אתי).
In the previous chapter we were given the Ten Commandments, yet only now are we being told that "these" are the commandments - and "these" turns out not to be the Ten at all, but the opening paragraph of the Shema, the Credo of the Beney Yisra-El now, and of the Yehudim (Jews) later: rather more about lifestyle and philosophy than Law; rather more about "instruction" than "commandment".
6:2 LEMA'AN TIRA ET YHVH ELOHEYCHA LISHMOR ET KOL CHUKOTAV U MITSVOTAV ASHER ANOCHI METSAVECHA ATAH U VINCHA U VEN BINCHA KOL YEMEY CHAYEYCHA U LEMA'AN YA'ARICHUN YAMEYCHA
לְמַעַן תִּירָא אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר אֶת כָּל חֻקֹּתָיו וּמִצְוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּךָ אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבֶן בִּנְךָ כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ וּלְמַעַן יַאֲרִכֻן יָמֶיךָ
KJ: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
BN: That you might fear YHVH your god, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I am instructing you and your son, and your grandson, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
TIRA: Today we talk about "believing" in a god, which is an existential question about whether gods exist or not, and which side of the argument you are on; or we talk about having "faith" in a god, which is a vote of confidence in his ability, or even his willingness, to fulfill his manifesto commitments. Back then it was much more tyrannically simple: a matter of fear.
But it was also more than that: it was an explanation of how life and death worked, and that explanation remains in place among a significant majority of humankind, even in our supposedly science-based contemporary world. Essentially it breaks down like this: if you keep all my commandments, and regularly say sorry for even the minor breaches, life will go well with you, and I will prolong your life in health, peace and prosperity: if you die young, or get ill, or live in poverty, or find yourself at war, or any other bad thing happens to you, it's your own fault, your sorries failed to outweigh your breaches, and I told you this is how it was going to be.
Why were we previously given MITSVOT (plural on this occasion), CHUKIM and MISHPATIM, but here only the first two, and here in reverse order. Rather arbitrary by the divine dictator! Or is there a distinction being made in the following verses, understandable as we analyse them?
Why were we previously given MITSVOT (plural on this occasion), CHUKIM and MISHPATIM, but here only the first two, and here in reverse order. Rather arbitrary by the divine dictator! Or is there a distinction being made in the following verses, understandable as we analyse them?
It is often said that the 5th is the only commandment that comes with a reward; that of long life. In fact, as demonstrated here and in the next verse, the commandments in toto carry the same reward.
6:3 VE SHAMA'TA YISRA-EL VE SHAMARTA LA'ASOT ASHER YIYTAV LECHA VA ASHER TIRBUN ME'OD KA ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEY AVOTEYCHA LACH ERETS ZAHAV CHALAV U DVASH
KJ: Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
BN: Listen therefore, Yisra-El, and take care to live by it; that things may go well for you, and that you may increase mightily, as YHVH, the god of your ancestors, has promised you - a land flowing with milk and honey.
Nice verbal play here on SHAMA'TA and SHAMARTA, though the link to the milk and honey phrase is without preface; and the translation is simply in error (mitigated by having to deal with yet more grammatical errors in the original).
וְשָׁמַעְתָּ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְשָׁמַרְתָּ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֲשֶׁר יִיטַב לְךָ וַאֲשֶׁר תִּרְבּוּן מְאֹד כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֶיךָ לָךְ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ
BN: Listen therefore, Yisra-El, and take care to live by it; that things may go well for you, and that you may increase mightily, as YHVH, the god of your ancestors, has promised you - a land flowing with milk and honey.
Nice verbal play here on SHAMA'TA and SHAMARTA, though the link to the milk and honey phrase is without preface; and the translation is simply in error (mitigated by having to deal with yet more grammatical errors in the original).
A literal translation would read:
"And you, Yisra-El, heard, and you observed to do what will be good for you, and what will increase your numbers greatly, according to that which YHVH the god of your ancestors spoke to you - land flowing with milk and honey."
But the translators have made a decision to link this verse with the next one, quite unnecessarily, and changing the meaning of this verse in order to do so.
What follows has become the first paragraph of the central credo of Judaism, known from its opening word as the "Shema". The second paragraph is taken from Deuteronomy 11:13-21, Numbers 15:37-41. For a full account, see "A Myrtle Among Reeds" pp 155 ff.
pey break
6:4 SHEMA YISRA-EL YHVH ELOHEYNU YHVH ECHAD
KJ: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
BN: Listen, Yisra-El: YHVH our god, YHVH is One.
One. Not a pantheistic cult in which a multitude of gods rule, as in the Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Hindu...or indeed the entire Biblical period until the first hints of this new Monotheism or Omnideism that starts with Ezra and Nechem-Yah... But also, and this is the essential difference between Judaism and Christianity, the reason why Jews never speak of Judeo-Christianity, while Christians always do. Christianity claims to be monotheistic, and struggles to explain how it can be when it has the ancient trinity, the leadership group of traditional polytheism, the sun-father, moon-mother and every-dying ever-reborn Earth-son. But Christianity is also philosophically dualistic, dividing everything in the universe into the two adversarial camps of Good (= Gutt = Gott = God) versus Evil. In Judaism, as per this verse, which is the central statement of the credo of Judaism, YHVH is One - embodying both the good and the evil, the life and the death, the creative and the destructive, the male and the female, et cetera. A construct that we can date, and therefore this text with it, to the period of the Second Temple, not earlier than 450 BCE.
6:5 VE AHAVTA ET YHVH ELOHEYCHA BE CHOL LEVAVECHA BE CHOL NAPHSHECHA U VE CHOL ME'ODECHA
KJ: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
BN: And you shall love YHVH your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
As noted above, the ancients did not "believe in" their god or gods, which is an intellectual position, and belongs to an Epistemological age (Key Stage 3 in Comtian sociology). The ancients inhabited Key Stage 1, the Mythological age, and "feared" their god or gods, who manifested "good" in rich crops, fine weather, and healthy babies, but manifested "evil" in droughts, famines, wars, sickness, volcanoes.... "Love" belongs to Key Stage 2, the Metaphysical age, which seems to have started around the 6th century BCE (the epoch of Confucius, Buddha, the Prophets, Zoroaster, Pythagoras...), when the human brain first achieved abstract thought, though not yet science. All three attitudes are problematic, but differently so: with "love" it is a matter, surely, that this is something that has to come from an individual, by choice, because they want to and because they feel it, and cannot be imposed in this manner from above.
6:6 VE HAYU HA DEVARIM HA ELEH ASHER ANOCHI METSAVECHA HAYOM AL LEVAVECHA
וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם עַל לְבָבֶךָ
KJ: And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
BN: And these words, which I am instructing you today, shall be in your heart.
And presumably in your "soul" (NEPHESH in the previous verse could be "soul" or "spirit", as you prefer; to an epistemologist neither is terribly meaningful). What is odd about the verse is that there is nothing about keeping it in your "mind" (to a mythologist or metaphysician, the concept of "mind" or "psyche" is delusional; there is no physical evidence of the existence of such a thing anywhere in the human body, let alone the brain). Thought, to the ancients, was subjective, and therefore located in the heart. So, in fact, in its own terms, this verse does set it in the "mind" as well.
6:4 SHEMA YISRA-EL YHVH ELOHEYNU YHVH ECHAD
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד
KJ: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
BN: Listen, Yisra-El: YHVH our god, YHVH is One.
One. Not a pantheistic cult in which a multitude of gods rule, as in the Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Hindu...or indeed the entire Biblical period until the first hints of this new Monotheism or Omnideism that starts with Ezra and Nechem-Yah... But also, and this is the essential difference between Judaism and Christianity, the reason why Jews never speak of Judeo-Christianity, while Christians always do. Christianity claims to be monotheistic, and struggles to explain how it can be when it has the ancient trinity, the leadership group of traditional polytheism, the sun-father, moon-mother and every-dying ever-reborn Earth-son. But Christianity is also philosophically dualistic, dividing everything in the universe into the two adversarial camps of Good (= Gutt = Gott = God) versus Evil. In Judaism, as per this verse, which is the central statement of the credo of Judaism, YHVH is One - embodying both the good and the evil, the life and the death, the creative and the destructive, the male and the female, et cetera. A construct that we can date, and therefore this text with it, to the period of the Second Temple, not earlier than 450 BCE.
6:5 VE AHAVTA ET YHVH ELOHEYCHA BE CHOL LEVAVECHA BE CHOL NAPHSHECHA U VE CHOL ME'ODECHA
וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָלנַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָלמְאֹדֶךָ
BN: And you shall love YHVH your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.
As noted above, the ancients did not "believe in" their god or gods, which is an intellectual position, and belongs to an Epistemological age (Key Stage 3 in Comtian sociology). The ancients inhabited Key Stage 1, the Mythological age, and "feared" their god or gods, who manifested "good" in rich crops, fine weather, and healthy babies, but manifested "evil" in droughts, famines, wars, sickness, volcanoes.... "Love" belongs to Key Stage 2, the Metaphysical age, which seems to have started around the 6th century BCE (the epoch of Confucius, Buddha, the Prophets, Zoroaster, Pythagoras...), when the human brain first achieved abstract thought, though not yet science. All three attitudes are problematic, but differently so: with "love" it is a matter, surely, that this is something that has to come from an individual, by choice, because they want to and because they feel it, and cannot be imposed in this manner from above.
6:6 VE HAYU HA DEVARIM HA ELEH ASHER ANOCHI METSAVECHA HAYOM AL LEVAVECHA
וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם עַל לְבָבֶךָ
KJ: And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
BN: And these words, which I am instructing you today, shall be in your heart.
And presumably in your "soul" (NEPHESH in the previous verse could be "soul" or "spirit", as you prefer; to an epistemologist neither is terribly meaningful). What is odd about the verse is that there is nothing about keeping it in your "mind" (to a mythologist or metaphysician, the concept of "mind" or "psyche" is delusional; there is no physical evidence of the existence of such a thing anywhere in the human body, let alone the brain). Thought, to the ancients, was subjective, and therefore located in the heart. So, in fact, in its own terms, this verse does set it in the "mind" as well.
6:7 VE SHINANTAM LE VANECHA VE DIBARTA BAM BE SHIVTECHA BE VEITECHA U VE LECHTECHA VA DERECH U VE SHACHBECHA U VE KUMECHA
וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ
KJ: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
BN: And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and discuss them when you are sitting in your house, and while you are walking along the road, and when you lie down, and when you get up.
EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION! Another of the key differences between Judaism and Christianity; the one insists on it, and even waives conscription from military service for those who are formally engaged; Christianity locks you up to prevent you (Roger Bacon), shows you the instruments of torture to dissuade you (Galileo Galilei), burns your books (Copernicus), and even you (Giordano Bruno) - click here for more on all of these. Has any historian yet noticed that English public and grammar schools started in the 1550s, within literally days of Henry VIII breaking with the Catholic church?
6:8 U KESHARTAM LE OT AL YADECHA VE HAYU LE TOTAPHOT BEY EYNEYCHA
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל יָדֶךָ וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ
KJ: And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
BN: And you shalt bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall serve as frontlets between your eyes.
For the past two thousand years, these have been understood as the tefillin, though there is absolutely no evidence that the leather thongs wrapped along the arm and around the forehead are in the slightest bit what was intended here; and indeed, it is entirely possible that what is intended here is purely metaphorical. Neverthless leather thongs are what they became - for a full account of what they are and how they are used, see "A Myrtle Among Reeds" pp 33 ff.
And surely this too is a poetic metaphor, not intended as a literality? And if it is intended as a literality, how does it harmonise with that other instruction, the one that prohibits all forms of superstition? (The same question applies to the next verse). But it too distinguishes Judaism from most other religions: Nazis wear swastikas on their arms, Christians hang an amulet of a murdered man around their necks, Hindus paint a red circle on their foreheads, and American Capitalists keep their NRA membership card in their wallets; but Jews lay tefillin, and wear tsitsis (a fringed undervest), as a symbolic copy of the Torah.
6:9 U CHETAVTAM AL MEZUZOT BEITECHA U VI SHE'ARECHA
וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ
KJ: And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
BN: And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.
In fact, the mezuzah is not this object, but the doorpost itself (see Exodus 12:7), and it comes into Yisra-Eli history first with a Red Cross painted on it, exactly as you think of the Red Cross today (or their Moslem and Jewish equivalents, the Red Crescent and the Red Magen David), a denotion of a building as a place of safe asylum, generally but not always a medical facility, but certainly a place over which the Angel of Death is expected to pass, and those inside the room not used as human shields. In ancient Mitsrayim (Egypt), where Mosheh and the Beney Yisra-El learned of this superstition, and in much of the Mediterranean to this day, what was nailed to the doorpost - or the hull, in the case of a fishing-boat - was the Eye of Ra or Eye of Horus, and like it or not the nature of the mezuzah in today's tradition, and even more so the kissing of the mezuzah each time you go in or out, is an act of superstition specifically prohibited by Jewish law.
samech break: this is where the excerpt used as the first paragraph of the Shema ends.
samech break: this is where the excerpt used as the first paragraph of the Shema ends.
וְהָיָה כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לָתֶת לָךְ עָרִים גְּדֹלֹת וְטֹבֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא בָנִיתָ
BN: And it shall be, when YHVH your god brings you into the land which he promised your ancestors - to Av-Raham, to Yitschak and to Ya'akov - that he would give you - large and splendid cities which you did not build...
Divine validation and legitimisation of conquest. An early version of "manifest destiny".
VE HAYAH: The reverse form of the Vav Consecutive; we are accustomed to the future standing for the past, but here the past stands for the future. It is not something that can be equivalated in English, only translated.
6:11 U VATIM MELEYIM KOL TOV ASHER LO MILEYTA U VOROT CHATSUVIM ASHER LO CHATSAVTA KERAMIM VE ZEYTIM ASHER LO NATATA VE ACHALTA VE SAVATA
KJ: And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
BN: And houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, vineyards and olive-trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
Divine validation and legitimisation even down to the booty. Though does this not conflict with Numbers 31 and 32?
6:12 HISHAMER LECHA PEN TISHKACH ET YHVH ASHER HOTSI'ACHA MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM MI BEIT AVADIM
הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיאֲךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים
KJ: Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
BN: Then beware lest you forget YHVH, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage.
6:13 ET YHVH ELOHEYCHA TIRA VE OTO TA'AVOD U VISHMO TISHAVEYA
KJ: Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
BN: You shall fear YHVH your god; and you shall serve him, and by his name you shall make your oaths.
6:11 U VATIM MELEYIM KOL TOV ASHER LO MILEYTA U VOROT CHATSUVIM ASHER LO CHATSAVTA KERAMIM VE ZEYTIM ASHER LO NATATA VE ACHALTA VE SAVATA
וּבָתִּים מְלֵאִים כָּל טוּב אֲשֶׁר לֹא מִלֵּאתָ וּבֹרֹת חֲצוּבִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא חָצַבְתָּ כְּרָמִים וְזֵיתִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא נָטָעְתָּ וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ
BN: And houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, vineyards and olive-trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
Divine validation and legitimisation even down to the booty. Though does this not conflict with Numbers 31 and 32?
6:12 HISHAMER LECHA PEN TISHKACH ET YHVH ASHER HOTSI'ACHA MEY ERETS MITSRAYIM MI BEIT AVADIM
KJ: Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
BN: Then beware lest you forget YHVH, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage.
6:13 ET YHVH ELOHEYCHA TIRA VE OTO TA'AVOD U VISHMO TISHAVEYA
אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ תִּירָא וְאֹתוֹ תַעֲבֹד וּבִשְׁמוֹ תִּשָּׁבֵעַ
BN: You shall fear YHVH your god; and you shall serve him, and by his name you shall make your oaths.
TIRA: See my note to verse 5. Is this because the "love" is not so certain as the "fear"? Or because the Ezraic scribe has tried to update an ancient text, but missed a "correction"? Or because, as with most of us humans, the elements of the "mythological Stage 1" are never completely eradicated when we enter "Metaphysical Stage 2", let alone "Epistemological Stage 3"; because ages 0-7 are the most impressionable, and "if you get them when they're young, you can reckon you've got them for life" as a Catholic Headmaster once shared with an inter-faith education conference.
TA'AVOD: Following AVADIM in the previous verse; yet again this perennial problem that AVAD can mean work, or service, slavery or worship, and we cannot finally know which is intended on any given occasion - though here "worship" is the most likely, especially in the context of the verse that follows.
6:14 LO TELCHUN ACHAREY ELOHIM ACHERIM MEY ELOHEY HA AMIM ASHER SEVIVOTEYCHEM
6:14 LO TELCHUN ACHAREY ELOHIM ACHERIM MEY ELOHEY HA AMIM ASHER SEVIVOTEYCHEM
לֹא תֵלְכוּן אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים מֵאֱלֹהֵי הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבוֹתֵיכֶם
KJ: Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
BN: You shall not follow other gods, the gods of the people that are round about you...
Which of course conflicts with the statement that YHVH Echad (One). In Mosaic times, you can have as many gods as you like, so long as you place YHVH in top position; here YHVH is still first, but the other gods are prohibited, which is a significant change; but it does not yet deny the existence of those other gods, or insist that they are simply variant manifestations of the Oneness. So we can actually witness three different stages of theological evolution inside this single chapter, and know that this text must belong to the Ezraic epoch.
TELCHUN is a late Yehudit grammatical construction, found in Ezra and Nechem-Yah but very rarely in any earlier text. LO TILCHU (לא תלכו) is what we would expect here.
6:15 KI EL KANA YHVH ELOHEYCHA BE KIRBECHA PEN YECHEREH APH YHVH ELOHEYCHA BACH VE HISHMIYDCHA MEY AL PENEY HA ADAMAH
KJ: (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
BN: For YHVH your god who lives among you is a jealous god; beware lest the anger of YHVH your god is kindled against you, and he wipes you from off the face of the Earth.
Unclear to me why the KJ has the opening of this verse in parenthesis; it is a continuation of the previous verse, and only requires a comma.
6:15 KI EL KANA YHVH ELOHEYCHA BE KIRBECHA PEN YECHEREH APH YHVH ELOHEYCHA BACH VE HISHMIYDCHA MEY AL PENEY HA ADAMAH
כִּי אֵל קַנָּא יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּקִרְבֶּךָ פֶּןיֶחֱרֶה אַף יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בָּךְ וְהִשְׁמִידְךָ מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה
KJ: (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
BN: For YHVH your god who lives among you is a jealous god; beware lest the anger of YHVH your god is kindled against you, and he wipes you from off the face of the Earth.
Unclear to me why the KJ has the opening of this verse in parenthesis; it is a continuation of the previous verse, and only requires a comma.
EL...YHVH ELOHEYCHA: Three concepts of deity in four words! The EL as the primal force, the ELOHIM as the polytheon of the gods and goddesses, and YHVH as the Supreme Leader. As with the three stages of human development, so, again, we witness theological evolution, contained within the text, and are able to date it.
BE KIRBECHA: KAROV means physically "near", but there is also a sense of innerness about the word - see for example Genesis 18:12, where Sarah laughs BE KIRBAH, "within herself".
HISHMIYDCHAH: Again the terms of the covenant are dictatorial, bullying, despotic: obey me or be destroyed! But slightly differently this time: usually it is NICHRETAH, which is actually slightly less than HASHMADAH. Nichretah is a mere Easter Sunday pogrom; Hashmadah is the full Holocaust.
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6:16 LO TENASU ET YHVH ELOHEYCHEM KA ASHER NISIYTEM BA MASAH
KJ: Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
BN: You shall not try YHVH your god, as you tried him in Masah.
The place is also called Rephidim and Merivah, see Exodus 17, especially verses 1 and 7.
6:17 SHAMOR TISHMERUN ET MITSVOT YHVH ELOHEYCHEM VE EDOTAV VE CHUKIM ASHER TSIVACH
KJ: Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
BN: You shall diligently keep the commandments of YHVH your god, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has instructed you.
EDOTAV: In addition to the MITSVOT, CHUKIM and MISHPATIM. See verse 20ff. For a theologian's explanation of the differences between these types of law, Maimonides' Mishneh Torah is really the definitive place to go (but for a quick and easy modern/orthodox explanation, click here).
6:18 VA ASIYTA HA YASHAR VE HA TOV BE EYNEY YHVH LEMA'AN YIYTAV LACH U VATA VE YARASHTA ET HA ARETS HA TOVAH ASHER NISHBA YHVH LA AVOTEYCHA
KJ: And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
BN: And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of YHVH, that things may go well for you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which YHVH promised your ancestors...
Another way of dating the text by Key Stage is to track down the expectations. In the Mythological age, as evidenced by the dozens of laws given in the early books, it is all about propitiation, which is a way of calming human fear by seeming to calm the potential of the gods - precluding avalanches and earthquakes and hailstorms, or encouraging rain when you need it, and in the amount you crops can best handle, rather than flooded wadis just when you were about to start harvesting. So the expectations are all sacrificial: what to bring, how many, what type, where to kill it, who can eat it, what to do with the remains - chapter upon chapter of mythologically driven laws. Then we enter the Metaphysical age, and the Prophets tell us the gods don't really want any of these sacrifices (Hosea 6:6 as a random example; but there are dozens) - they want "love" not "fear"; they want "good behaviour"; they want intellectual abstractions, the stuff we start teaching 9 and 10 year olds, Zero Tolerance For Bullying, which is the modern form of Love Thy Neighbour As Thyself, and pious hopes for Peace, Truth, Mercy, Compassion, Justice; they want morals, ethics, values, principles...and this too is a key differentiator between Judaism and Christianity (between Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Socialism, Humanism... and Christianity as well); the Metaphysical religions are not really religions at all, but philosophical systems, Tables of Values, which may retain some of their ancient mythological elements, but are not centred upon them, as Christianity is.
BE KIRBECHA: KAROV means physically "near", but there is also a sense of innerness about the word - see for example Genesis 18:12, where Sarah laughs BE KIRBAH, "within herself".
HISHMIYDCHAH: Again the terms of the covenant are dictatorial, bullying, despotic: obey me or be destroyed! But slightly differently this time: usually it is NICHRETAH, which is actually slightly less than HASHMADAH. Nichretah is a mere Easter Sunday pogrom; Hashmadah is the full Holocaust.
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6:16 LO TENASU ET YHVH ELOHEYCHEM KA ASHER NISIYTEM BA MASAH
לֹא תְנַסּוּ אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר נִסִּיתֶם בַּמַּסָּה
KJ: Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
BN: You shall not try YHVH your god, as you tried him in Masah.
The place is also called Rephidim and Merivah, see Exodus 17, especially verses 1 and 7.
6:17 SHAMOR TISHMERUN ET MITSVOT YHVH ELOHEYCHEM VE EDOTAV VE CHUKIM ASHER TSIVACH
שָׁמוֹר תִּשְׁמְרוּן אֶת מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם וְעֵדֹתָיו וְחֻקָּיו אֲשֶׁר צִוָּךְ
KJ: Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
BN: You shall diligently keep the commandments of YHVH your god, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has instructed you.
EDOTAV: In addition to the MITSVOT, CHUKIM and MISHPATIM. See verse 20ff. For a theologian's explanation of the differences between these types of law, Maimonides' Mishneh Torah is really the definitive place to go (but for a quick and easy modern/orthodox explanation, click here).
6:18 VA ASIYTA HA YASHAR VE HA TOV BE EYNEY YHVH LEMA'AN YIYTAV LACH U VATA VE YARASHTA ET HA ARETS HA TOVAH ASHER NISHBA YHVH LA AVOTEYCHA
וְעָשִׂיתָ הַיָּשָׁר וְהַטּוֹב בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ וּבָאתָ וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ
BN: And you shall do what is right and good in the eyes of YHVH, that things may go well for you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which YHVH promised your ancestors...
Another way of dating the text by Key Stage is to track down the expectations. In the Mythological age, as evidenced by the dozens of laws given in the early books, it is all about propitiation, which is a way of calming human fear by seeming to calm the potential of the gods - precluding avalanches and earthquakes and hailstorms, or encouraging rain when you need it, and in the amount you crops can best handle, rather than flooded wadis just when you were about to start harvesting. So the expectations are all sacrificial: what to bring, how many, what type, where to kill it, who can eat it, what to do with the remains - chapter upon chapter of mythologically driven laws. Then we enter the Metaphysical age, and the Prophets tell us the gods don't really want any of these sacrifices (Hosea 6:6 as a random example; but there are dozens) - they want "love" not "fear"; they want "good behaviour"; they want intellectual abstractions, the stuff we start teaching 9 and 10 year olds, Zero Tolerance For Bullying, which is the modern form of Love Thy Neighbour As Thyself, and pious hopes for Peace, Truth, Mercy, Compassion, Justice; they want morals, ethics, values, principles...and this too is a key differentiator between Judaism and Christianity (between Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Socialism, Humanism... and Christianity as well); the Metaphysical religions are not really religions at all, but philosophical systems, Tables of Values, which may retain some of their ancient mythological elements, but are not centred upon them, as Christianity is.
6:19 LAHADOPH ET KOL OYEVEYCHA MI PANEYCHA KA ASHER DIBER YHVH
לַהֲדֹף אֶת כָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה
KJ: To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
BN: To thrust out all your enemies from before you, as YHVH has spoken.
Once again the divine vindication of conquest.
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6:20 KI YISH'ALCHA VINCHA MACHAR LEMOR MAH HA EDOT VE HA CHUKIM VE HA MISHPATIM ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ELOHEYNU ET'CHEM
כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר לֵאמֹר מָה הָעֵדֹת וְהַחֻקִּים וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֶתְכֶם
KJ: And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?
BN: When your son asks you in time to come, saying: What do they mean, these testimonies and statutes and ordinances which YHVH our god instructed you?
6:21 VA AMARTA LE VINCHA AVADIM HAYINU LE PHAR'OH BE MITSRAYIM VA YOTSIY'ENU YHVH MI MITSRAYIM BE YAD CHAZAKAH
וְאָמַרְתָּ לְבִנְךָ עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם וַיֹּצִיאֵנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרַיִם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה
BN: Then you shall say to your son: We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Mitsrayim; and YHVH brought us out of Mitsrayim with a mighty hand.
AVADIM: "Bondsmen" is not my translation, though I am happy to use it; but it is the standard translation; and perhaps the problem lies as much with the translators as with the complex Yehudit word. Because elsewhere it is translated as "slaves"; so why not here? Slaves and bondsmen are very different. And then look again at verse 13.
6:22 VA YITEN YHVH OTOT U MOPHTIM GEDOLIM VE RA'IM BE MITSRAYIM BE PHAR'OH U VE CHOL BEITO LE EYNEYNU
וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה אוֹתֹת וּמֹפְתִים גְּדֹלִים וְרָעִים בְּמִצְרַיִם בְּפַרְעֹה וּבְכָל בֵּיתוֹ לְעֵינֵינוּ
BN: And YHVH performed signs and wonders, both great and wicked, upon Mitsrayim, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes.
6:23 VE OTANU HOTSI MI SHAM LEMA'AN HAVI OTANU LATET LANU ET HA ARETS ASHER NISHBA LA AVOTEYNU
וְאוֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיא מִשָּׁם לְמַעַן הָבִיא אֹתָנוּ לָתֶת לָנוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ
KJ: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
BN: And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us here, to give us the land which he promised our ancestors.
6:24 VA YETSAVEYNU YHVH LA'ASOT ET KOL HA CHUKIM HA ELEH LE YIRAH ET YHVH ELOHEYNU LE TOV LANU KOL HA YAMIM LE CHAYOTEYNU KE HAYOM HA ZEH
KJ: And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
BN: And YHVH instructed us to carry out all these statutes, to fear YHVH our god, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.
6:25 U TSEDAKAH TIHEYEH LANU KI NISHMOR LA'ASOT ET KOL HA MITSVAH HA ZOT LIPHNEY YHVH ELOHEYNU KA ASHER TSIVANU
KJ: And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
BN: And we shall receive justice, because we have undertaken to obey all these laws of YHVH our god, as he has instructed us.
And in the last verses the mythological and the metaphysical come together, as they need to do in Ezraic times: "fear" (v24) from the mythological age now leading to "justice" (v25) in the metaphysical age. I shall not keep restating this through these commentaries on the Book of Deuteronomy, but the student/reader should keep it in mind, as it is central to an understanding, and not just to a dating, of this book.
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וַיְצַוֵּנוּ יְהוָה לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה לְיִרְאָה אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ לְטוֹב לָנוּ כָּל הַיָּמִים לְחַיֹּתֵנוּ כְּהַיּוֹם הַזֶּה
BN: And YHVH instructed us to carry out all these statutes, to fear YHVH our god, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.
6:25 U TSEDAKAH TIHEYEH LANU KI NISHMOR LA'ASOT ET KOL HA MITSVAH HA ZOT LIPHNEY YHVH ELOHEYNU KA ASHER TSIVANU
וּצְדָקָה תִּהְיֶה לָּנוּ כִּי נִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּנוּ
BN: And we shall receive justice, because we have undertaken to obey all these laws of YHVH our god, as he has instructed us.
And in the last verses the mythological and the metaphysical come together, as they need to do in Ezraic times: "fear" (v24) from the mythological age now leading to "justice" (v25) in the metaphysical age. I shall not keep restating this through these commentaries on the Book of Deuteronomy, but the student/reader should keep it in mind, as it is central to an understanding, and not just to a dating, of this book.
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