Eikev, Ekev, Ekeb, Aikev, or ʿEqeb (—"if ou follow" the second word, and the first distinctive word in the

parashah The term ''parashah'', ''parasha'' or ''parashat'' ( ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian , Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book ...

) is the 46th

weekly Torah portion The weekly Torah portion refers to a lectionary custom in Judaism in which a portion of the Torah (or Pentateuch) is read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' (), is popularly abbre ...

(, ''parashah'') in the annual

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

cycle of

Torah reading Torah reading (; ') is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the ap ...

and the third in the

Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

. It comprises Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25. The parashah tells of the blessings of obedience to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, the dangers of forgetting God, and directions for taking the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

. Moses recalls the making and re-making of the

Tablets of Stone According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית ''lūḥōṯ habbǝrīṯ'' "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶ ...

, the incident of the

Golden Calf According to the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, the golden calf () was a cult image made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai (bible), Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf" (). It is first mentio ...

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

's death, the

Levite Levites ( ; ) or Levi are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew definite article "" ''Ha-' ...

s' duties, and exhortations to serve God. The parashah is made up of 6865 Hebrew letters, 1747 Hebrew words, 111 verses, and 232 lines in a Torah Scroll (, ''

Sefer Torah file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...

'').

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

generally read it in August or, on rare occasions, late July.

Readings

In traditional

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings or , '' aliyot''. In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' peh''">Pe_(Semitic_letter).html" ;"title="'Pe (Semitic letter)">peh''. Parashat Eikev has several further subdivisions, called "closed portions" (, ''setumah'') (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter [''samekh'']) within the open portion divisions. The first open portion divides the first reading. The second open portion goes from the middle of the first reading to the middle of the second reading. The short third open portion is contained within the second reading. The fourth open portion starts in the second reading and contains all of the third reading. The fifth open portion corresponds to the fourth reading, and the sixth open portion spans the fifth, sixth, and seventh readings. A closed portion corresponds to the fifth reading. The sixth reading is divided into two closed portion divisions, and the short seventh reading corresponds to a final closed portion.

First reading—Deuteronomy 7:12–8:10

In the first reading,

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

told the

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

s that if they obeyed God's rules, God would faithfully maintain the

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

, bless them with

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

, and ward off sickness. Moses directed the Israelites to destroy all the peoples whom God delivered to them showing no pity and without

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...

ing their gods. A closed portion ends here. Moses told the Israelites not to fear these nations because they were numerous, for the Israelites had but to recall what God did to

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

and the

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

and the wonders by which God liberated them. God would do the same to the peoples whom they feared, and would send a plague against them, too. God would dislodge those peoples little by little, so that the wild beasts would not take over the land. Moses directed the Israelites to burn the images of their gods, not to covet nor keep the

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

on them, nor to bring an abhorrent thing into their houses. The first open portion ends here. God made the Israelites travel the long way in the

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

for an additional thirty-eight years (for a total of 40 years) because of their sin of unbelief and their rebellion after the twelve spies returned from reconnoitering Canaan, of whom ten gave a negative report about Israel's ability to take the land. God determined that none of that generation would enter the land which He had promised and so they remained in the wilderness until all that generation died. God subjected them to hunger and then gave them

manna Manna (, ; ), sometimes or archaically spelled Mahna or Mana, is described in the Bible and the Quran as an edible substance that God in Abrahamic religions, God bestowed upon the Israelites while they were wandering the desert during the 40-year ...

to teach them that man does not live on

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

alone, but on what God decrees. Their

clothes Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

did not wear out, nor did their feet swell for 40 years. God disciplined them as a man disciplines his son. Moses told the Israelites that God was bringing them into a good land, where they might eat

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

without end, and thus when they had eaten their fill, they were to give thanks to God for the good land that God had given them. The first reading ends here.

Second reading—Deuteronomy 8:11–9:3

In the second reading, Moses warned the Israelites not to forget God, not to violate God's commandments, and not to grow haughty and believe that their own power had won their wealth, but to remember that God gave them the power to prosper. The second open portion ends here. Moses warned that if they forgot God and followed other gods, then they would certainly perish like the nations that God was going to displace from the land. The third open portion ends here with the end of chapter 8.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, ''Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Devarim/Deuteronomy'', page 62. Moses warned the Israelites that they were to dispossess nations greater than they, but God would go before them as a devouring fire to drive out the land's inhabitants. The second reading ends here. The Golden Calf

Third reading—Deuteronomy 9:4–29

In the third reading, Moses warned the Israelites not to believe that God had enabled them to possess the land because of their own

virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...

; God was dispossessing the land's current inhabitants for two reasons: because of those nations' wickedness, and to fulfill the oath that God had made to

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

, and

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

. Moses exhorted the Israelites to remember how they had provoked God to anger in the wilderness. At Horeb they so provoked God that God was angry enough to have destroyed them. Moses ascended the mountain, stayed for 40 days and nights, and consumed no bread or water. At the end of the 40 days, God gave Moses two

stone tablets According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law (also Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony; Biblical Hebrew: לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית ''lūḥōṯ habbǝrīṯ'' "tablets of the covenant", לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶ ...

that God had inscribed with the covenant that God had addressed to the Israelites. God told Moses to hurry down, for the people whom Moses brought out of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

had acted wickedly and had made a molten image. God told Moses that God was inclined to destroy them and make of Moses a nation far more numerous than they. Moses started down the mountain with the two tablets in his hands, when he saw how the Israelites had made themselves a molten calf. Moses smashed the two tablets before their eyes, and threw himself down before God, fasting another 40 days and nights. God gave heed to Moses. God was angry enough with Aaron to have destroyed him, so Moses also interceded for Aaron. Moses burned the calf, ground it into dust, and threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain. In the continuation of the reading, Moses reminded the Israelites how they provoked God at Taberah, at

Massah Massah () and Meribah (, also spelled "Mirabah") are place names found in the Hebrew Bible. The Israelites are said to have travelled through Massah and Meribah during the Exodus, although the continuous list of visited stations in Numbers 33 ...

, and at Kibroth-hattaavah. And when God sent them from

Kadesh-barnea Kadesh or Qadesh or Cades (, from the root "holy") is a place-name that occurs several times in the Hebrew Bible, describing a site or sites located south of, or at the southern border of, Canaan and the Kingdom of Judah in the kingdom of Israel. ...

to take possession of the land, they flouted God's command and did not put their trust in God. When Moses lay prostrate before God those 40 days, because God was determined to destroy the Israelites, Moses prayed to God not to annihilate God's own people, whom God freed from Egypt, but to give thought to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and ignore the Israelites' sinfulness, else the Egyptians would say that God was powerless to bring them into the land that God had promised them. The third reading and the fourth open portion end here with the end of chapter 9.

Fourth reading—Deuteronomy 10:1–11

In the fourth reading, God told Moses to carve out two tablets of stone like the first, come up the mountain, and make an ark of wood. God inscribed on the tablets the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

that were on the first tablets that Moses had smashed, and Moses came down from the mountain and deposited the tablets in the Ark. In the continuation of the reading, the Israelites marched to

Moserah The Stations of the Exodus are the locations visited by the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt, according to the Hebrew Bible. In the itinerary given in Numbers 33, forty-two stations are listed, although this list differs slightly ...

, where Aaron died and was buried, and his son

Eleazar Eleazar (; ) or Elazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, from ...

became

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in his stead. From there they marched to Gudgod, and on to Jotbath. God set apart the Levites to carry the Ark of the Covenant, to stand in attendance upon the

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

, and to bless in God's Name, and that was why the Levites were to receive no portion of the land, as God was their portion. The fourth reading and the fifth open portion end with Deuteronomy 10:11.

Fifth reading—Deuteronomy 10:12–11:9

In the fifth reading, Moses exhorted the Israelites to revere God, to walk only in God's paths, to love God, to serve God with all their heart and soul, and to keep God's commandments. Moses noted that although heaven and earth belong to God, God was drawn to love their fathers, so that God chose the Israelites from among all peoples. Moses described God as supreme, great, mighty, and awesome, showing no favor and taking no bribe, but upholding the cause of the fatherless and the

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

, and befriending the stranger. Moses thus instructed the Israelites to befriend the stranger, for they were strangers in Egypt.. Moses exhorted the Israelites to revere God, worship only God, and swear only by God's name, for God was their glory, who performed for them marvelous deeds, and made them as numerous as the

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s. Moses exhorted the Israelites to love God and always keep God's commandments. Moses asked the Israelites to note that they themselves witnessed the signs that God performed in Egypt against Pharaoh, what God did to Egypt's

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, how God rolled upon them the waters of the Sea of Reeds, what God did for them in the wilderness, and what God did to

Dathan Dathan ( ''Dāṯān'') was an Israelite mentioned in the Old Testament as a participant of the Exodus. He was a son of Eliab, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben. Together with his brother Abiram, the Levite Korah and others, he rebelled a ...

and

Abiram Abiram, also spelled Abiron ( "my father is exalted"), is the name of two people in the Old Testament. * One was a member of the Tribe of Reuben, the son of Eliab, who, along with his brother Dathan, joined Korah in the conspiracy against Moses ...

when the earth swallowed them. Moses instructed them therefore to keep all the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

so that they might have the strength to enter and possess the land and long endure on that land flowing with milk and honey. The fifth reading and a closed portion end here. Vehaya Im Shamoah

Sixth reading—Deuteronomy 11:10–21

In the sixth reading, Moses extolled the promised land as a land of hills and valleys that soaks up its water from the

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

s, a land that God looks after. He contrasted this with Egypt, which was dependent on

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

. A closed portion ends here. Then Moses told them words now found in the ''Shema'' prayer: If the Israelites obeyed the commandments, loving God and serving God with heart and soul, God would grant the rain in season and they would gather their grain, wine, and oil. God would provide grass for their cattle and the Israelites would eat their fill. Moses warned them not to be lured away to serve other gods, for God's anger would flare up against them, God would suspend the rain, and they would soon perish from the land. Moses urged them to impress God's words upon their heart, bind them as a sign on their hands, let them serve as a symbol on their foreheads, teach them to their children, and recite them when they stayed at home and when they were away, when they lay down and when they got up. Moses instructed them to inscribe God's words on the doorposts of their houses and on their gates, so that they and their children might endure in the land that God swore to their fathers as long as there is a heaven over the earth. The sixth reading and a closed portion end here.

Seventh reading—Deuteronomy 11:22–25

In the seventh reading, which is also the concluding

maftir Maftir () is the last person called up to the Torah on Shabbat and holiday mornings: this person also reads (or at least recites the blessings over) the ''haftarah'' portion from a related section of the Nevi'im (prophetic books). Informally, t ...

() reading, Moses promised that if the Israelites faithfully kept the law, loving God, walking in all God's ways, and holding fast to God, then God would dislodge the nations then in the land, and every spot on which their feet tread would be theirs, and their territory would extend from the wilderness to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and from the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. Parashat Eikev and a closed portion end here.

Readings according to the triennial cycle

Jews who read the Torah according to the

triennial cycle The Triennial cycle of Torah reading may refer to either * The historical practice in ancient Israel by which the entire Torah was read in serial fashion over a three-year period, or * The practice adopted by many Reform, Conservative, Reconstruct ...

of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:

In ancient parallels

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these ancient sources:

Deuteronomy chapter 9

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

13:22, 28 refer to the "children of Anak" (, ''yelidei ha-anak''); Numbers 13:33 refers to the "sons of Anak" (, ''benei anak''); and Deuteronomy 1:28, 2:10–11, 2:21, and 9:2 refer to the "Anakim" (). John A. Wilson suggested that the Anakim may be related to the ''Iy-‘anaq'' geographic region named in Middle Kingdom Egyptian (19th to 18th century BCE) pottery bowls that had been inscribed with the names of enemies and then shattered as a kind of curse.

Deuteronomy chapter 11

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

3:8, 17; 13:5; and 33:3; Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 13:27 and 14:8; and Deuteronomy 6:3, 11:9, 26:9, 26:15, 27:3, and 31:20 describe the Land of Israel as a land flowing "with milk and honey." Similarly, the Middle Egyptian (early second millennium BCE) tale of Sinuhe Palestine described the Land of Israel or, as the Egyptian tale called it, the land of Yaa: "It was a good land called Yaa. Figs were in it and grapes. It had more wine than water. Abundant was its honey, plentiful its oil. All kind of fruit were on its trees. Barley was there and emmer, and no end of cattle of all kinds."

In inner-Biblical interpretation

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:

Deuteronomy chapter 7

The gradual progression into the

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

, predicted in Deuteronomy 7:12 to take place "little by little" (''m’at m’at''), echoed the same prediction in Exodus 23:29–30. This progression was born out in

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

13:13 and 15:63, which record that the Gerushites, Maachatites, and

Jebusite The Jebusites (; ) were, according to the Book of Joshua and Books of Samuel from the Hebrew Bible, a Canaanite tribe that inhabited Jerusalem, called Jebus () before the conquest initiated by Joshua (, ) and completed by David (). According to s ...

s continued to live in the land of Israel "to this day," and by Joshua 16:10 and 17:11–13, which refer to the Canaanites continuing to live under conditions of

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer (), in – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is now an List of national parks ...

and in the territory of the

tribe of Manasseh According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Ševet Mənašše,'' Tiberian: ''Šēḇeṭ Mănašše'') was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. After the catastrophic Assyrian invasion of 720 BCE, it is counted as one ...

Deuteronomy chapter 9

Deuteronomy 9:1 uses the same words " Shema, Yisrael" as the exhortation in Deuteronomy 6:4. Commentators suggest that the same words are used because "a fresh portion of the exhortation begins here," or because this was "a new discourse, delivered at some distance of time from the former, probably on the next sabbath day."

1 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Israel also including ...

12:25–33 reports a parallel story of golden calves. King

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇʿām''; ), frequently cited Jeroboam son of Nebat, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following a Jeroboam's Revol ...

of the northern Kingdom of Israel made two calves of gold out of a desire to prevent the kingdom from returning to allegiance to the

house of David The Davidic line refers to the descendants of David, who established the House of David ( ) in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. In Judaism, the lineage is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible, as well as on later Jewish tradit ...

and the southern

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

. In Exodus 32:4, the people said of the Golden Calf, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Similarly, in 1 Kings 12:28, Jeroboam told the people of his golden calves, "You have gone up long enough to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Jeroboam set up one of the calves in

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

, and the other in

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...

, and the people went to worship before the calf in Dan. In Deuteronomy 9:27 and Exodus 32:13, Moses called on God to ''remember'' God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to deliver the Israelites from God's wrath after the incident of the Golden Calf. Similarly, God remembered

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

to deliver him from the flood in

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

8:1; God promised to remember God's covenant not to destroy the Earth again by flood in Genesis 9:15–16; God remembered Abraham to deliver Lot from the destruction of

Sodom and Gomorrah In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah () were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah are repeatedly invoked throughout the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical texts, and the New Testament as symbols of sin, di ...

in Genesis 19:29; God remembered

Rachel Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...

to deliver her from childlessness in Genesis 30:22; God remembered God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage in Exodus 2:24 and 6:5–6; God promised to "remember" God's covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham to deliver the Israelites and the Land of Israel in Leviticus 26:42–45; the Israelites were to blow upon their trumpets to be remembered and delivered from their enemies in Numbers 10:9;

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

called on God to deliver him from the

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

16:28; Hannah prayed for God to remember her and deliver her from childlessness in

1 Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

1:11 and God remembered Hannah's prayer to deliver her from childlessness in 1 Samuel 1:19;

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Kingdom of Judah, Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Stephen L Harris, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "G ...

called on God to remember Hezekiah's faithfulness to deliver him from sickness in 2 Kings 20:3 and

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

38:3;

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

called on God to remember God's covenant with the Israelites to not condemn them in

14:21; Jeremiah called on God to remember him and think of him, and avenge him of his persecutors in Jeremiah 15:15; God promises to remember God's covenant with the Israelites and establish an everlasting covenant in

Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

16:60; God remembers the cry of the humble in

Zion Zion (; ) is a placename in the Tanakh, often used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole. The name is found in 2 Samuel (), one of the books of the Tanakh dated to approximately the mid-6th century BCE. It o ...

to avenge them in

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

9:13;

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

called upon God to remember God's compassion and mercy in Psalm 25:6; Asaph called on God to remember God's congregation to deliver them from their enemies in Psalm 74:2; God remembered that the Israelites were only human in Psalm 78:39; Ethan the Ezrahite called on God to remember how short Ethan's life was in Psalm 89:48; God remembers that humans are but dust in Psalm 103:14; God remembers God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Psalm 105:8–10; God remembers God's word to Abraham to deliver the Israelites to the Land of Israel in Psalm 105:42–44; the Psalmist calls on God to remember him to favor God's people, to think of him at God's salvation, that he might behold the prosperity of God's people in Psalm 106:4–5; God remembered God's covenant and repented according to God's mercy to deliver the Israelites in the wake of their rebellion and iniquity in Psalm 106:4–5; the Psalmist calls on God to remember God's word to God's servant to give him hope in Psalm 119:49; God remembered us in our low estate to deliver us from our adversaries in Psalm 136:23–24;

Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...

called on God to remember him to deliver him from God's wrath in

14:13;

Nehemiah Nehemiah (; ''Nəḥemyā'', "Yahweh, Yah comforts") is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period as the governor of Yehud Medinata, Persian Judea under Artaxer ...

prayed to God to remember God's promise to Moses to deliver the Israelites from exile in Nehemiah 1:8; and Nehemiah prayed to God to remember him to deliver him for good in

13:14–31.

Deuteronomy chapter 10

Deuteronomy 10:8 assigns the Levites the duties of bearing the Ark of the Covenant, to stand before God to minister to God, and to bless in God's name. Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy 33:10 reports that Levites taught the law. Deuteronomy 17:9–10 reports that they served as judges. 1 Chronicles 23:3–5 reports that of 38,000 Levite men age 30 and up, 24,000 were in charge of the work of the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, 6,000 were officers and magistrates, 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 praised God with instruments and song. 1 Chronicles 15:16 reports that King David installed Levites as singers with musical instruments,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

s, and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s, and 1 Chronicles 16:4 reports that David appointed Levites to minister before the Ark, to invoke, to praise, and to extol God, and 2 Chronicles 5:12 reports that at the inauguration of

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

's Temple, Levites sang dressed in fine

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

, holding cymbals, harps, and lyres, to the east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blew trumpets. 2 Chronicles 20:19 reports that Levites of the sons of

Kohath According to the Torah, Kehath (, ''Qəhāṯ'') or Kohath was the second of the sons of Levi and the patriarchal founder of the Kehathites, one of the four main divisions of the Levites in biblical times. In some apocryphal texts, such as the '' ...

and of the sons of

Korah Korah ( ''Qōraḥ''; ''Qārūn''), son of Izhar, is an individual who appears in the Biblical Book of Numbers of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and four different verses in the Quran, known for leading a rebellion against Moses. Some olde ...

extolled God in song. Eleven Psalms identify themselves as of the

Korahites The Korahites ( ''Qārəḥî'' also בני קרח ''bənê Qōraḥ'', "sons of Korah") in the Bible were that portion of the Kohathites that descended from the Sons of Korah. They were an important branch of the singers of the Kohathite division ...

The question of Deuteronomy 10:12, "What does the Lord your God require of you?" parallels

Micah Micah (; ) is a given name. Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "He who is like God”. The name is sometimes found with theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in '' Yah'' and in ''Yahweh'' result ...

6:8, "It has been told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord does require of you." The exhortation of Deuteronomy 10:12 and 11:22 to "walk in God's ways" reflects a recurring theme also present in Deuteronomy 5:30, 8:6, 19:9, 26:17, 28:9, and 30:16. The metaphor of an uncircumcised heart in Deuteronomy 10:16 also appears in Leviticus 26:41, Jeremiah 4:4 and 9:26, and Ezekiel 44:9. Deuteronomy 10:17–19 admonishes the Israelites not to wrong the stranger, "for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (See also Exodus 22:20; 23:9; Leviticus 19:33–34; Deuteronomy 1:16; 24:14–15, 17–22; and 27:19.) Similarly, in

Amos Amos or AMOS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray * Amos (band), an American Christian rock band * ''Amos'' (film), a 1985 American made-for-television drama film * Amos (guitar), a 1958 Gibson Fl ...

3:1, the 8th century BCE

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

anchored his pronouncements in the covenant community's

history, saying, "Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt." Steven s schwarzschild

Deuteronomy 10:18 reports that God "executes justice for the fatherless and widow." God's justice is a recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible (, ''Tanakh''). In Genesis 18:25, Abraham asked, "Shall not the

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of all the earth do justly?" In

9:5, the Psalmist tells God, "You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat upon the throne as the righteous Judge." Psalm 33:5 reports that God "loves righteousness and justice." In Psalm 89:14, the Psalmist tells God, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne." Psalm 103:6 says that God "executes righteousness, and acts of justice for all who are oppressed"; Psalm 140:13 (Psalm 140:12 in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

) says that God "will maintain the cause of the poor, and the right of the needy"; and Psalm 146:7 says that God "executes justice for the oppressed." And Isaiah 28:17 quotes God saying, "I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet."

Steven Schwarzschild Steven S. Schwarzschild (1924–1989) was a rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and editor. Biography Schwarzschild was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and grew up in Berlin. He escaped to the United States with his family in 1939. He received ...

concluded that "God's primary attribute of action . . . is justice" and "Justice has widely been said to be the moral value which singularly characterizes Judaism." Albireo a

In Deuteronomy 10:22, Moses reported that God had made the Israelites as numerous as the stars. In Genesis 15:5, God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven. Similarly, in Genesis 22:17, God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore. In Genesis 26:4, God reminded Isaac that God had promised Abraham that God would make his heirs as numerous as the stars. In Genesis 32:13, Jacob reminded God that God had promised that Jacob's descendants would be as numerous as the sands. In Exodus 32:13, Moses reminded God that God had promised to make the Patriarch's descendants as numerous as the stars. In Deuteronomy 1:10, Moses reported that God had multiplied the Israelites until they were then as numerous as the stars. And Deuteronomy 28:62 foretold that the Israelites would be reduced in number after having been as numerous as the stars.

Deuteronomy chapter 11

Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18, two verses recited together in the ''Shema'', both exhort one to bind the instruction as a sign on one's hand and let them serve as a symbol on one's forehead. In turn,

Proverbs A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...

6:20–22 and 7:2–3 echo the ''Shema''. As Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18 call on listeners to bind the instruction as signs on their hands and let them serve as symbols on their foreheads, Proverbs 3:3 calls on them to bind the teachings about their throats and write them on the tablets of their minds, Proverbs 6:21 calls on them to tie them over their hearts always and bind them around their throats, and Proverbs 7:3 calls on them to bind them on their fingers and write them on the tablets of their minds. Similarly, Proverbs 1:9 likens instruction to a graceful wreath upon one’s head and a necklace about one’s throat, and in Jeremiah 31:33 God puts God’s teaching into their inmost being and inscribes it upon their hearts.

In early nonrabbinic interpretation

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources:

Deuteronomy chapter 8

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

saw in Deuteronomy 8:12–17 accusations against "the self-loving man." Philo cited

Cain Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. How ...

as an example of one who (in Genesis 4:3) showed his gratitude to God too slowly. Philo taught that we should hurry to please God without delay. Thus Deuteronomy 23:22 enjoins, "If you vow a vow, you shall not delay to perform it." Philo explained that a vow is a request to God for good things, and Deuteronomy 23:22 thus enjoins that when one has received them, one must offer gratitude to God as soon as possible. Philo divided those who fail to do so into three types: (1) those who forget the benefits that they have received, (2) those who pridefully see themselves and not God as the authors of what they receive, and (3) those who realize that God caused what they received, but still say that they deserved it, because they are worthy to receive God's favor. Philo taught that Scripture opposes all three. Philo wrote that Deuteronomy 8:12–14 replies to the first group who forget, "Take care, lest when you have eaten and are filled, and when you have built fine houses and inhabited them, and when your flocks and your herds have increased, and when your silver and gold, and all that you possess is multiplied, you be lifted up in your heart, and forget the Lord your God." Philo taught that one does not forget God when one remembers one's own nothingness and God's exceeding greatness. Philo interpreted Deuteronomy 8:17 to reprove those who look upon themselves as the cause of what they have received, telling them: "Say not my own might, or the strength of my right hand has acquired me all this power, but remember always the Lord your God, who gives you the might to acquire power." And Philo read Deuteronomy 9:4–5 to address those who think that they deserve what they have received, saying, "You do not enter into this land to possess it because of your righteousness, or because of the holiness of your heart; but, in the first place, because of the iniquity of these nations, since God has brought on them the destruction of wickedness; and in the second place, that He may establish the covenant that He swore to our Fathers." Philo interpreted the term "covenant" figuratively to mean God's graces. Thus Philo concluded that if we discard forgetfulness, ingratitude, and self-love, we will no longer through delay miss attaining the genuine worship of God, but we shall meet God, having prepared ourselves to do what God commands us.

In classical Rabbinic interpretation

The parashah is discussed in the

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...

from the era of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

Deuteronomy chapter 7

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

likened the second word of Deuteronomy 7:12, , ''eikev'' ("if" or "because"), to the word ''akeivai'' ("footsteps") in Psalm 49:6, which the midrash interpreted to mean: "Why should I fear in the days of evil? The iniquity of my footsteps encompasses me." The midrash taught that people sometimes fail to observe minor commandments, thus trampling those commandments beneath their heels. The midrash thus taught that the Psalmist feared the

day of judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

because he may have trampled minor commandments. Figures Balaam blessing the Israelites

Another midrash played on two possible meanings of the second word of Deuteronomy 7:12, , ''eikev'', "as a consequence" and "the end." Israel asked God when God would grant reward for the observance of commandments. God replied that when people observe commandments, they enjoy some fruits now, but God will give them their full reward in the ''end'', after death. Another midrash played on two possible meanings of the second word of Deuteronomy 7:12, , ''eikev'', "as a consequence" and "heel." The midrash interpreted the words "upon Edom I cast my shoe" in Psalms 60:10 and 108:10 to mean that God says that when Israel repents, then God will tread with God's heel, so to speak, on Israel's enemy Edom. And the midrash taught, in the words of Deuteronomy 7:12, that "it shall come to pass, because (''eikev'') you hearken." Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥmani interpreted the words "that the Lord your God shall keep for you" in Deuteronomy 7:12, teaching that all the good that Israel enjoys in this world results from the blessings with which

Balaam Balaam (;; ; ), son of Beor, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner who lived in Pethor, a place identified with the ancient city of Pitru, thought to have been located between the region of Iraq and norther ...

blessed Israel, but the blessings with which the

Patriarchs The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ...

blessed Israel are reserved for the time to come, as signified by the words, "that the Lord your God shall keep for you." A midrash interpreted the

Priestly Blessing The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction (; translit. ''birkat kohanim''), also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands (Hebrew ''nesiat kapayim''), rising to the platform (Hebrew ''aliyah ledukhan''), ''dukhenen'' (Yiddish fro ...

of Numbers 6:24, "The Lord . . . keep you," to pray that God would keep the covenant that God made with Israel's forefathers, as Deuteronomy 7:12 says, "The Lord your God shall keep with you the covenant . . . ." Rabbi Bibi ben Giddal said that

Simeon the Just Simeon the Righteous or Simeon the Just ( ''Šimʿōn Haṣṣaddīq'') was a Jewish High Priest during the Second Temple period. He is also referred to in the Mishnah, where he is described as one of the last members of the Great Assembly. Biogr ...

taught that the law prohibited a Jew from robbing a non-Jew, although a Jew could take possession of a non-Jew's lost article.

Rav Huna Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist and Exilarch who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; he was born about 216 CE (212 CE according to Gratz) and died in 296–297 ...

read Deuteronomy 7:16 to prohibit a Jew from robbing a non-Jew, because Deuteronomy 7:16 provided that the Israelites were to take from the enemies that God would deliver to them in time of war, thus implying that the Israelites could not take from non-Jews in time of peace, when God had not delivered them into the Israelites' hands. In Exodus 23:28, God promised to "send the hornet () before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite, and the Hittite, from before you," and in Deuteronomy 7:20, Moses promised that "the Lord your God will send the hornet () among them." But a

baraita ''Baraita'' ( "external" or "outside"; pl. ''bārayāṯā'' or in Hebrew ''baraitot''; also baraitha, beraita; Ashkenazi pronunciation: berayse) designates a tradition in the Oral Torah of Rabbinical Judaism that is not incorporated in the Mi ...

taught that the hornet did not pass over the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

with the Israelites. Rabbi

Simeon ben Lakish Shimon ben Lakish (; ''Shim‘on bar Lakish'' or ''bar Lakisha''), better known by his nickname Reish Lakish (c. 200 — c. 275), was an amora who lived in the Roman province of Judaea in the third century. He was said to be born in Bosra, east ...

reconciled the two sources, explaining that the hornet stood on the eastern bank of the Jordan and shot its venom over the river at the Canaanites. The venom blinded the Canaanites' eyes above and castrated them below, as Amos 2:9 says, "Yet destroyed I the

Amorite The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC ...

before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath."

Rav Papa Rav Pappa () (c. 300 – died 375) was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fifth generation of amoraim. Biography He was a student of Rava and Abaye. After the death of his teachers he founded a school at Naresh, a city near Sura, in which he officiat ...

offered an alternative explanation, saying that there were two hornets, one in the time of Moses and the other in the time of

. The former did not pass over the Jordan, but the latter did. Simeon Solomon - Shadrach Meshach Abednego

Chapter 3 of tractate ''

Avodah Zarah ''Avodah Zarah'' (Hebrew: , or "foreign worship", meaning " idolatry" or "strange service") is the name of a tractate of the Talmud, located in '' Nezikin'', the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with damages. The main topic of the tractate ...

'' in the Mishnah,

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of deriving no benefit from idols using Deuteronomy 7:25–26. The Rabbis told the story that God,

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

, and

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

conspired to keep Daniel out of the fiery furnace. God said: "Let Daniel depart, lest people say that Ḥananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were delivered through Daniel's merit instead of their own." Daniel said: "Let me go, so that I will not become a fulfillment of the words (in Deuteronomy 7:25), 'the graven images of their gods you shall burn with fire.'" And Nebuchadnezzar said: "Let Daniel depart, lest people say that the king has burned his god in fire." The

Mekhilta Mekhilta (, IPA /məˈχiltɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation"; corresponding to the Mishnaic Hebrew ' 'measure', 'rule'), is used to denote a compilation of exegesis in Judaism, attributed to or written by any of several authors. The ...

of Rabbi Ishmael used Deuteronomy 7:25 to help interpret the commandment not to covet in Exodus 20:14. The Mekhilta asked whether the commandment not to covet in Exodus 20:14 applied so far as to prohibit merely expressing one's desire for one's neighbor's things in words. But the Mekhilta noted that Deuteronomy 7:25 says, "You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself." And the Mekhilta reasoned that just as in Deuteronomy 7:25 the word "covet" applies only to prohibit the carrying out of one's desire into practice, so also Exodus 20:14 prohibits only the carrying out of one's desire into practice. The

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...

deduced from the command of Deuteronomy 7:26, "you shall not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be a cursed thing like it," that whatever one might bring into being out of an idolatrous thing would have the same cursed status. Rabbi Joḥanan in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai noted the word "abomination" in common in both Deuteronomy 7:26 and Proverbs 16:5 and deduced that people who are haughty of spirit are as though they worshiped idols.

Deuteronomy chapter 8

The Mishnah taught that first fruits were brought only from the

Seven Species The Seven Species (, ''Shiv'at HaMinim'') are seven agricultural products—two grains and five fruits—that are listed in the Hebrew Bible as being special products of the Land of Israel. The seven species listed are wheat, barley, grape, Ficu ...

(''Shiv'at Ha-Minim'') that Deuteronomy 8:8 noted to praise the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive-oil, and date-honey. But first fruits could not be brought from dates grown on hills, or from valley-fruits, or from olives that were not of the choice kind. In the Babylonian Talmud, Rav Judah taught that the commandment to recite the Grace after Meals (, ''

Birkat Hamazon Birkat Hamazon ( "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew language, Hebrew blessings that Halakha, Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at le ...

'') derives from Deuteronomy 8:10, "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your God." Similarly, the Tosefta taught that the invitation to the Grace after Meals derives from the words of Deuteronomy 8:10, "And you should eat, and be satisfied, and bless"; the first blessing of the Grace after Meals derives from the words of Deuteronomy 8:10, "the Lord, your God"; the blessing about the Land derives from the words of Deuteronomy 8:10, "for the land"; the blessing about Jerusalem derives from the words of Deuteronomy 8:10, "the good" (as Deuteronomy 3:25 refers to "this good mountain and Lebanon"); and the fourth blessing about the Good and Who does good derives from the words of Deuteronomy 8:10, "that He (God) has given you." Chapter 7 of

Tractate Berakhot Berakhot (, lit. "Blessings") is the first tractate of ''Seder Zeraim'' ("Order of Seeds") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the rules of prayers, particularly the Shema and the Amidah, and blessings for various circumstan ...

in the Mishnah, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the Grace after Meals in Deuteronomy 8:10. The Mishnah taught that if one has before one many types of food, Rabbi Judah taught that if there is one of the seven species for which the Land of Israel was praised among them, one recites the blessing over that first. But the Sages taught that one recites first a blessing over whichever of them one wants. The Mishnah taught that women and minors were exempt from the obligations to recite the ''Shema'' prayer and wear ''tefillin'', but are obligated in prayer, the ''mezuzah'', and Grace after Meals. The Mishnah taught that if a man is impure due to a seminal emission, he recites a blessing after eating food which, after partaking, one is obligated to recite a blessing, but he does not recite a blessing before. Rabbi Judah, however, taught that he recites the blessings before and after. Rabbi Awira told—sometimes in the name of

Rabbi Ammi Rabbi Ammi, Aimi, Immi (Hebrew: רבי אמי) is the name of several Jewish Talmudists, known as amoraim, who lived in the Land of Israel and Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud the first form only is used; in the Jerusalem Talmud all three forms ...

, and sometimes in the name of

Rabbi Assi Assi II (Assa, Issi, Jesa, Josah, Jose, ) was a Jewish Talmudist of the 3rd and 4th centuries (third generation of amoraim) who lived in the Land of Israel. He is known by the name of Yessa in the Jerusalem Talmud. He should not be confused wit ...

—that the

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s asked God whether God was not showing favor to Israel. And God asked the angels how God could not show favor to Israel, when Deuteronomy 8:10 required them to bless God when they had eaten and were satisfied, but the Israelites bless God even when they have eaten only the quantity of an olive or an egg. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from Deuteronomy 8:14 that people who are haughty of spirit are as though they had denied the fundamental principle of God's existence. And Naḥman bar Yitzchak found in Deuteronomy 8:14 a prohibition for haughtiness of spirit. For Rabbi Abin said in the name of Rabbi Ilai that wherever it is stated "Beware, lest" (as it does in Deuteronomy 8:11) the reference is to a prohibition. In Deuteronomy 8:14, the heart becomes proud. A midrash catalogued the wide range of additional capabilities of the heart reported in the Hebrew Bible. The heart speaks,

Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...

. sees, hears, walks, falls, stands, rejoices, cries, is comforted, is troubled, becomes hardened, grows faint, grieves, fears, can be broken, rebels, invents, cavils, overflows, devises, desires, goes astray, lusts, is refreshed, can be stolen, is humbled, is enticed, errs, trembles, is awakened, loves, hates, envies, is searched, is rent, meditates, is like a fire, is like a stone, turns in repentance, becomes hot, dies, melts, takes in words, is susceptible to fear, gives thanks, covets, becomes hard, makes merry, acts deceitfully, speaks from out of itself, loves bribes, writes words, plans, receives commandments, acts with pride, makes arrangements, and aggrandizes itself. Deuteronomy 8-18

The

Pesikta de-Rav Kahana Pesikta de-Rav Kahana () is a collection of aggadic midrash which exists in two editions, those of Salomon Buber (Lyck, 1868) and Bernard Mandelbaum (1962). It is cited by Nathan ben Jehiel and Rashi. The name The Jewish Babylonian Aramaic t ...

cited Deuteronomy 8:14 for the proposition that God's fate and Israel's fate are intertwined. According to

Bar Kappara Bar Kappara () was a Jewish scholar of the late second and early third century CE (i.e., during the period between the tannaim and amoraim). He was active in Caesarea Maritima, the capital of the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, from around 18 ...

, God told Israel that the time of God's redemption (when God would release God's right hand, which was restrained while Israel is in exile) was in Israel's hand, and the time of Israel's redemption was in God's hand. As the time of God's redemption (and action) was in Israel's hand, therefore, Israel should heed the words of Deuteronomy 8:14, "let not your heart grow haughty so that you forget the Lord your God." And that the time of Israel's redemption was in God's hand was seen in Psalm 137:5, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, My right hand will forget." To Rabbi Dosa, this verse meant that God said that if God forgot Jerusalem, God's right hand would forget how to perform miracles (and God would thus cease to be God). A midrash taught that God told the Israelites that during all the 40 years that they spent in the wilderness, God did not make it necessary for them to escape. Rather, God cast their enemies down before them. As Deuteronomy 8:15 reports, there were numerous

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s, fiery serpents, and

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

s in the wilderness, but God did not allow them to harm the Israelites. Thus, God told Moses to write down in Numbers 33 the stages by which Israel journeyed in the wilderness, so that they would know the miracles that God had done for them. The

Sifre Sifre (; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of '' Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. ...

compared the admonition of Deuteronomy 11:26–30, "I set before you this day a blessing and a curse," to a person sitting at a crossroads with two paths ahead. One of the paths began with clear ground but ended in thorns. The other began with thorns but ended in clear ground. The person would tell passersby that the path that appeared clear would be fine for two or three steps, but end in thorns, and the path that began with thorns would be difficult for two or three steps, but end in clear ground. So, said the Sifre, Moses told Israel that one might see the wicked flourish in this world for a short time, but in the end, they will have occasion to regret. And the righteous who are distressed in this world will in the end have occasion for rejoicing, as Deuteronomy 8:16 says, "that He might prove you, to do you good at the end."

Deuteronomy chapter 9

Rabbi Tanhuma taught that Moses prostrated himself before the Israelites and said to them the words of Deuteronomy 9:1, "''You'' are to pass over the Jordan," noting that ''he'' would not. Moses gave the Israelites the opportunity to pray for him, but they did not. The midrash compared this to a king who had many children by a noble lady. The lady was undutiful to him, and he decided to divorce her. He told her that he was going to marry another wife. She asked who, and he told her. She summoned her children and told them that their father intended to divorce her and marry the other woman, and asked the children if they could bear being subjected to her. She thought that perhaps they would understand what she meant and would intercede with their father on her behalf, but they did not understand. As they did not understand, she commanded them only for their own sake to be mindful of the honor of their father. So it was with Moses. When God told him in Deuteronomy 3:27, "You shall not go over this Jordan," Moses spoke to the Israelites and stressed the words in Deuteronomy 9:1, "''You'' are to pass over." A baraita taught that because of God's displeasure with the Israelites, the north wind did not blow on them in any of the 40 years during which they wandered in the wilderness.

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

attributed God's displeasure to the Golden Calf, although the

Tosafot The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot () are Middle Ages, medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors o ...

attributed it to the incident of the spies in Numbers 13. Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai taught that because the generation of the Flood transgressed the Torah that God gave humanity after Moses had stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (as reported in Exodus 24:18 and 34:28 and Deuteronomy 9:9–11, 18, 25; and 10:10), God announced in Genesis 7:4 that God would "cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights." Noting that in Deuteronomy 9:9, Moses said, "And I ''sat'' (, ''va-eisheiv'') on the mount," and in Deuteronomy 10:10, Moses said, "And I ''stood'' in the mount,

Rav ''Rav'' (or ''Rab'', Modern Hebrew: ) is the Hebrew generic term for a person who teaches Torah or is a Jewish spiritual guide or a rabbi. For example, Pirkei Avot (in the Talmud) states (1:6) that: The term ''rav'' is also Hebrew for ''rabbi ...

taught that Moses stood when he learned (from God) and sat while he reviewed what he had learned (by himself). Rabbi Ḥanina taught that Moses neither sat nor stood but bowed. Rabbi Joḥanan taught that "sat" (, ''va-eisheiv'') here meant only "stayed," as it does in Deuteronomy 1:46, which says, "And you ''stayed'' (, ''teshbu'') in Kadesh many days." Rava taught that Moses learned the easy things standing and the hard ones sitting. Tissot Moses Destroys the Tables of the Ten Commandments

Tissot Moses Destroys the Tables of the Ten Commandments

A midrash explained why Moses broke the stone tablets. When the Israelites committed the sin of the Golden Calf, God sat in judgment to condemn them, as Deuteronomy 9:14 says, "Let Me alone, that I may destroy them," but God had not yet condemned them. So Moses took the tablets from God to appease God's wrath. The midrash compared the act of Moses to that of a king's marriage-broker. The king sent the broker to secure a wife for the king, but while the broker was on the road, the woman corrupted herself with another man. The broker (who was entirely innocent) took the marriage document that the king had given the broker to seal the marriage and tore it, reasoning that it would be better for the woman to be judged as an unmarried woman than as a wife. Moses dore

In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses foretold that "A prophet will the Lord your God raise up for you . . . ''like me''," and Rabbi Joḥanan thus taught that prophets would have to be, like Moses, strong, wealthy, wise, and meek. Strong, for Exodus 40:19 says of Moses, "he spread the tent over the tabernacle," and a Master taught that Moses himself spread it, and Exodus 26:16 reports, "Ten

cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah ...

s shall be the length of a board." Similarly, the strength of Moses can be derived from Deuteronomy 9:17, in which Moses reports, "And I took the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them," and it was taught that the tablets were six handbreadths in length, six in breadth, and three in thickness. Wealthy, as Exodus 34:1 reports God's instruction to Moses, "Carve yourself two tablets of stone," and the Rabbis interpreted the verse to teach that the chips would belong to Moses. Wise, for Rav and Samuel both said that 50 gates of understanding were created in the world, and all but one were given to Moses, for Psalm 8:6 said of Moses, "You have made him a little lower than God." Meek, for Numbers 12:3 reports, "Now the man Moses was very meek." The

Avot of Rabbi Natan Avot of Rabbi Natan, also known as Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (ARN) (), the first and longest of the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era (c.700–900 CE). It is a commentary on an early form of the ...

read the listing of places in Deuteronomy 1:1 to allude to how God tested the Israelites with ten trials in the Wilderness, including that of the Golden Calf in Deuteronomy 9:16, and they failed them all. The words "In the wilderness" alludes to the Golden Calf, as Exodus 32:8 reports. "On the plain" alludes to how they complained about not having water, as Exodus 17:3 reports. "Facing Suf" alludes to how they rebelled at the Sea of Reeds (or some say to the idol that Micah made). Rabbi Judah cited Psalms 106:7, "They rebelled at the Sea of Reeds." "Between Paran" alludes to

the Twelve Spies The Twelve Spies, as recorded in the Book of Numbers, were a group of Israelites, Israelite chieftains, one from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Twelve Tribes, who were dispatched by Moses to scout out the Land of Canaan for 40 days as a futu ...

, as Numbers 13:3 says, "Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran." "And Tophel" alludes to the frivolous words (, ''tiphlot'') they said about the

. "Lavan" alludes to Koraḥ's mutiny. "Ḥatzerot" alludes to the quails. And in Deuteronomy 9:22, it says, "At Tav'erah, and at Masah, and at Kivrot HaTa'avah." And "Di-zahav" alludes to when Aaron said to them: "Enough (, ''dai'') of this golden (, ''zahav'') sin that you have committed with the Calf!" But Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov said it means "Terrible enough (, ''dai'') is this sin that Israel was punished to last from now until the resurrection of the dead." Similarly, the school of

Rabbi Yannai Rabbi Yannai (or Rabbi Jannai; ) was an ''Amoraim, amora'' who lived in the 3rd century, and of the first generation of the ''Amoraim'' of the Land of Israel. Biography Genesis Rabbah says he is descended from Eli (biblical figure), Eli the priest ...

interpreted the place name Di-zahab () in Deuteronomy 1:1 to refer to one of the Israelites' sins that Moses recounted in the opening of his address. The school of Rabbi Yannai deduced from the word Di-zahab that Moses spoke insolently towards heaven. The school of Rabbi Yannai taught that Moses told God that it was because of the silver and gold (, ''zahav'') that God showered on the Israelites until they said "Enough" (, ''dai'') that the Israelites made the Golden Calf. They said in the school of Rabbi Yannai that a lion does not roar with excitement over a basket of straw but over a basket of meat. Rabbi Oshaia likened it to the case of a man who had a lean but large-limbed cow. The man gave the cow good feed to eat, and the cow started kicking him. The man deduced that it was feeding the cow good feed that caused the cow to kick him. Rabbi

Ḥiyya bar Abba Ḥiyya bar Abba (), Ḥiyya bar Ba (), or Ḥiyya bar Wa () was a third-generation amoraic sage of the Land of Israel, of priestly descent, who flourished at the end of the third century. Biography In both Talmuds he is frequently called me ...

likened it to the case of a man who had a son and bathed him, anointed him, gave him plenty to eat and drink, hung a purse round his neck, and set him down at the door of a brothel. How could the boy help sinning? Rav Aha the son of

said in the name of Rav

Sheshet Rav Sheshet () was an amora of the third generation of the Talmudic academies in Babylonia (then Asoristan, now Lower Mesopotamia, Iraq). His name is sometimes read Shishat or Bar Shishat. Biography He was a colleague of Rav Nachman, with whom ...

that this bears out the popular saying that a full stomach leads to a bad impulse. As

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; ), also known as Osee (), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BC prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writing ...

13:6 says, "When they were fed they became full, they were filled and their heart was exalted; therefore they have forgotten Me." A midrash recounted how at first (after the incident of the Golden Calf), God pronounced a decree against Aaron, as Deuteronomy 9:20 says, "The Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed (, ''le-hashmid'') him." And Rabbi Joshua of Siknin taught in the name of Rabbi Levi that "destruction" (, ''hashmadah'') means extinction of offspring, as in Amos 2:9, which says, "And I destroyed (, ''va-ashmid'') his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath." But, as Rabbi

Joshua ben Levi Joshua ben Levi or Yehoshua ben Levi (220 – 250 CE) was an amora—a scholar of Jewish law during the period in which the Gemara was codified—who lived in the Land of Israel in the first half of the third century. He lived and taught in the ...

taught, prayer effects half atonement. So when Moses prayed on Aaron's behalf, God annulled half the decree. Aaron's two sons

Nadab and Abihu In the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Nadab () and Avihu () were the two oldest sons of Aaron. According to Third reading—Leviticus 9:24–10:11, Leviticus 10, they offered a sacrifice with "foreign fire" before Yahweh, dis ...

died, and Aaron's two other sons remained. Thus, Leviticus 8:1–2 says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Take Aaron and his sons'" (implying that they were to be saved from death). The

Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (, 'Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer'; abbreviated , 'PRE') is an aggadic-midrashic work of Torah exegesis and retellings of biblical stories. Traditionally, the work is attributed to the tanna Eliezer ben Hurcanus and his scho ...

expounded on the exchange between God and Moses in Deuteronomy 9:26–29. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that after the incident of the Golden Calf, God told Moses that the Israelites had forgotten God's might and had made an idol. Moses replied to God that while the Israelites had not yet sinned, God had called them "''My'' people," as in Exodus 7:4, God had said, "And I will bring forth ''My'' hosts, ''My'' people." But Moses noted that once the Israelites had sinned, God told Moses (in Exodus 32:7), "Go, get down, for ''your'' people have corrupted themselves." Moses told God that the Israelites were indeed God's people, and God's inheritance, as Deuteronomy 9:29 reports Moses saying, "Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance."

Deuteronomy chapter 10

A midrash likened God to a

bridegroom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and grooms ...

, Israel to a

bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed. When marrying, if the bride's future spouse is a man, he is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, ...

, and Moses, in Deuteronomy 10:1, to the scribe who wrote the document of betrothal. The midrash noted that the Rabbis taught that documents of betrothal and marriage are written only with the consent of both parties, and the bridegroom pays the scribe's fee. The midrash then taught that God betrothed Israel at Sinai, reading Exodus 19:10 to say, "And the Lord said to Moses: 'Go to the people and betroth them today and tomorrow.'" The midrash taught that in Deuteronomy 10:1, God commissioned Moses to write the document, when God directed Moses, "Carve two tables of stone." And Deuteronomy 31:9 reports that Moses wrote the document, saying, "And Moses wrote this law." The midrash then taught that God compensated Moses for writing the document by giving him a lustrous countenance, as Exodus 34:29 reports, "Moses did not know that the skin of his face sent forth beams." A midrash taught that God imposed on Moses the job of carving the two Tablets in Deuteronomy 10:1 in recompense for Moses having grown angry and breaking the first set of Tablets in Exodus 32:19. The Rabbis taught that Deuteronomy 10:1 bears out Ecclesiastes 3:5, "A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together." The Rabbis taught that Ecclesiastes 3:5 refers to Moses. For there was a time for Moses to cast away the Tablets in Exodus 32:19, and a time for him to restore them to Israel in Deuteronomy 10:1. The Rabbis explained that God commanded Moses to carve ''two'' Tablets in Deuteronomy 10:1 because the two Tablets were to act as witnesses between God and Israel. The two Tablets corresponded to the two witnesses whom Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 require to testify to a cause, to two groomsmen, to bridegroom and bride, to heaven and earth, to this world and the

World To Come The world to come, age to come, heaven on Earth, and the Kingdom of God are eschatology, eschatological phrases reflecting the belief that the World (theology), current world or Dispensation (period), current age is flawed or cursed and will be r ...

. Reading the words, "which you broke, and you shall put them," in Deuteronomy 10:2, Rav Joseph noted that the verse employs superfluous words to describe the Tablets. Rav Joseph reasoned that the two mentionings of the Tablets teaches that both the Tablets and the fragments of the Tablets that Moses broke were deposited in the Ark. Rav Joseph deduced from this that a scholar who has forgotten his learning through no fault of his own (through old age, sickness, or trouble, but not through willful neglect) is still due respect (by analogy to the broken pieces of the tablets that the Israelites nonetheless treated with sanctity). Resh Lakish deduced from the interjection of the apparently parenthetical words, "which you broke," in Deuteronomy 10:2 that God was thereby saying to Moses that Moses did well to break them. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer explained how the Levites came to minister before God, as directed in Deuteronomy 10:8. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer taught that Jacob wished to ford the Jabbok River and was detained there by an angel, who asked Jacob whether Jacob had not told God (in Genesis 28:22), "Of all that you shall give me I will surely give a tenth to You." So Jacob gave a tenth of all the cattle that he had brought from

Paddan Aram Paddan Aram or Padan-aram () was a biblical region referring to the northern plain of Aram-Naharaim. Paddan Aram in Aramaic means ''the field of Aram'', a name that distinguishes the flatland from the mountainous regions to the north and east. In t ...

. Jacob had brought some 5,500 animals, so his

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

came to 550 animals. Jacob again tried to ford the Jabbok but was hindered again. The angel once again asked Jacob whether Jacob had not told God (in Genesis 28:22), "Of all that you shall give me I will surely give a tenth to You." The angel noted that Jacob had sons, and that Jacob had not given a tithe of them. So Jacob set aside the four firstborn sons (whom the law excluded from the tithe) of each of the four mothers, and eight sons remained. He began to count from

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...

, and included

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

, and continued the count from the beginning. And so

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

was reckoned as the tenth son, and thus the tithe, holy to God, as Leviticus 27:32 says, "The tenth shall be holy to the Lord." So the angel

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

descended and took Levi and brought him up before the Throne of Glory and told God that Levi was God's lot. And God blessed him, that the sons of Levi should minister on earth before God, as directed in Deuteronomy 10:8 like the ministering angels in heaven. Rabbi Hanina deduced from Deuteronomy 10:12 that everything is in the hand of Heaven except the fear of Heaven, for Deuteronomy 10:12 says: "What does the Lord your God ask of you, but only to fear the Lord your God." The Gemara asked whether the fear of Heaven was such a little thing that Deuteronomy 10:12 says "only." Rabbi Ḥanina said in the name Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai that God has in God's treasury nothing but a store of the fear of Heaven, as Isaiah 33:6 says: "The fear of the Lord is His treasure," and thus the fear of Heaven must be a great thing. The Gemara responded that for Moses, the fear of Heaven was a small thing, for he had it. Rabbi Ḥanina illustrated with a parable: If a man is asked for a big article and he has it, it seems like a small article to him; if he is asked for a small article and he does not have it, it seems like a big article to him. The Sifre interpreted the "ways" of God referred to in Deuteronomy 10:12 (as well as Deuteronomy 5:30, 8:6, 11:22, 19:9, 26:17, 28:9, and 30:16) by making reference to Exodus 34:6–7, "The Lord, the Lord, God of mercy and grace, slow to wrath and abundant in mercy and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving transgression, offense, and sin, and cleansing . . . ." Thus, the Sifre read Joel 3:5, “All who will be called by the name of the Lord shall be delivered,” to teach that just as Exodus 34:6 calls God “merciful and gracious,” we, too, should be merciful and gracious. And just as Psalm 11:7 says, “The Lord is righteous,” we, too, should be righteous. Rav Awira (or some say Rabbi Joshua ben Levi) taught that the Evil Inclination has seven names. God called it "Evil" in Genesis 8:21, saying, "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Moses called it "the

Uncircumcised Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

" in Deuteronomy 10:16, saying, "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart." David called it "Unclean" in Psalm 51:12; Solomon called it "the Enemy" in Proverbs 25:21–22;

called it "the Stumbling-Block" in Isaiah 57:14;

called it "Stone" in Ezekiel 36:26; and Joel called it "the Hidden One" in Joel 2:20.

Rav Zeira Rabbi Zeira (), known before his ''semikhah'' as Rav Zeira () and known in the Jerusalem Talmud as Rabbi Ze'era (), was a Jewish Talmudist of the third generation of ''Amoraim'' who lived in the Land of Israel. Biography He was born in Babyloni ...

counted five kinds of ''

orlah The prohibition on ''orlah'' fruit (lit. "uncircumcised" fruit) is a command found in the Bible not to eat fruit produced by a tree during the first three years after planting. In rabbinical writings, the ''orlah'' prohibition () is counted a ...

'' (things uncircumcised) in the world: (1) uncircumcised ears (as in Jeremiah 6:10), (2) uncircumcised lips (as in Exodus 6:12), (3) uncircumcised hearts (as in Deuteronomy 10:16 and Jeremiah 9:26), (4) uncircumcised flesh (as in Genesis 17:14), and (5) uncircumcised trees (as in Leviticus 19:23). Rav Zeira taught that all the nations are uncircumcised in each of the first four ways, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart, in that their hearts do not allow them to do God's will. And Rav Zeira taught that in the future, God will take away from Israel the uncircumcision of their hearts, and they will not harden their stubborn hearts anymore before their Creator, as Ezekiel 36:26 says, "And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh," and Genesis 17:11 says, "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin." Michelangelo Buonarroti 027

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said that the men of the Great Assembly were so called because they restored the crown of the divine attributes—the enumeration of God's praise—to its ancient completeness. For in Deuteronomy 10:17, Moses called God "the great, the mighty, and the awesome." Then when Jeremiah saw foreigners despoiling the Temple, he asked where God's awesome deeds were, and thus in Jeremiah 32:18, he omitted "awesome." And then when Daniel saw foreigners enslaving the Israelites, he asked where God's mighty deeds were, and thus in

9:4, he omitted the word "mighty." But the men of the Great Assembly came and said that these circumstances showed God's mighty deeds, because God suppressed God's wrath, extending longsuffering to the wicked. And these circumstances showed God's awesome powers, for but for the fear of God, how could the single nation of Israel survive among the many nations. The Gemara asked how Jeremiah and Daniel could alter words established by Moses. Rabbi

said that since Jeremiah and Daniel knew that God insists on truth, they did not want to ascribe false attributions to God. Rabbi Eliezer the Great taught that the Torah warns against wronging a stranger in 36, or others say 46, places (including Deuteronomy 10:17–19). The Gemara went on to cite Rabbi Nathan's interpretation of Exodus 22:20, "You shall neither wrong a stranger, nor oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt," to teach that one must not taunt one's neighbor about a flaw that one has oneself. The Gemara taught that thus a proverb says: If there is a case of hanging in a person's family history, do not say to the person, "Hang up this fish for me." Reading the words, "love the stranger, in giving him food and clothing," in Deuteronomy 10:18, Akilas the proselyte asked

Rabbi Eliezer Eliezer ben Hurcanus (or Hyrcanus) () was one of the most prominent Judean ''tannaitic'' Sages of 1st- and 2nd-century Judaism, a disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai,Avot of Rabbi Natan 14:5 and a colleague of Gamaliel II (whose sister, I ...

whether food and clothing constituted all the benefit of

conversion to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

. Rabbi Eliezer replied that food and clothing are no small things, for in Genesis 28:20, Jacob prayed to God for "bread to eat, and clothing to put on," while God comes and offers it to the convert on a platter. Akilas then visited

Rabbi Joshua Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšūaʿ ben Ḥănanyā''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the eighth-most-frequently mentioned sage in th ...

, who taught that "bread" refers to the Torah (as in Proverbs 9:5, Wisdom—the Torah—says, "Come, eat of my bread"), while "clothing" means the Torah scholar's cloak. A person privileged to study the Torah is thus privileged to perform God's precepts. Moreover, converts' daughters could marry into the priesthood, so that their descendants could offer burnt offerings on the altar. The midrash offered another interpretation: "Bread" refers to the

showbread Showbread (), in the King James Version shewbread, in a Biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. An alternativ ...

, while "clothing" refers to the priestly vestments. The midrash offered yet another interpretation: "Bread" refers to

challah Challah or hallah ( ; , ; 'c'''hallot'', 'c'''halloth'' or 'c'''hallos'', ), also known as berches in Central Europe, is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat ...

, while "clothing" refers to the first shearings of the sheep, both of which belong to the priests. Le cerf - Stag - Gallica - ark 12148-btv1b2300253d-f11

A midrash read Deuteronomy 10:19 to say, "Love therefore the convert," and read it together with Psalm 146:8–9, which the midrash read as, "The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord preserves the converts." The midrash taught that God loves those who love God, and thus God loves the righteous, because their worth is due neither to heritage nor to family. The midrash compared God's great love of converts to a king who had a flock of goats, and once a stag came in with the flock. When the king was told that the stag had joined the flock, the king felt an affection for the stag and gave orders that the stag have good pasture and drink and that no one beat him. When the king's servants asked him why he protected the stag, the king explained that the flock have no choice, but the stag did. The king accounted it as a merit to the stag that had left behind the whole of the broad, vast wilderness, the abode of all the beasts, and had come to stay in the courtyard, in like manner, God provided converts with special protection, for God exhorted Israel not to harm them, as Deuteronomy 10:19 says, "Love therefore the convert," and Exodus 23:9 says, "And a convert shall you not oppress." Philippoteaux The Numbering of the Israelites

Philippoteaux The Numbering of the Israelites

The Gemara deduced from Deuteronomy 10:20 that it is a positive commandment to fear God. A midrash taught that the Israelites were counted on ten occasions: (1) when they went down to Egypt (as reported in Deuteronomy 10:22), (2) when they went up out of Egypt, (3) at the first census in Numbers, (4) at the second census in Numbers, (5) once for the banners, (6) once in the time of Joshua for the division of the Land of Israel, (7) once by

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

, (8) a second time by Saul, (9) once by David, and (10) once in the time of

Ezra Ezra ( fl. fifth or fourth century BCE) is the main character of the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an important Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen'') in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, t ...

Northrop A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

Deuteronomy chapter 11

The Gemara reported a number of Rabbis' accounts of how the Land of Israel did indeed flow with "milk and honey," as described in Exodus 3:8 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, Leviticus 20:24, Numbers 13:27 and 14:8; and Deuteronomy 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; and 31:20. Once when Rami bar Ezekiel visited

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak ( ) or Bene Beraq, is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1,752 acre ...

, he saw goats grazing under fig trees while honey was flowing from the figs, and milk dripped from the goats mingling with the fig honey, causing him to remark that it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. Rabbi Jacob ben Dostai said that it is about three miles from

Lod Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

Ono ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * ...

, and once he rose up early in the morning and waded all that way up to his ankles in fig honey. Resh Lakish said that he saw the flow of the milk and honey of

Sepphoris Sepphoris ( ; ), known in Arabic as Saffuriya ( ) and in Hebrew as Tzipori ( ''Ṣīppōrī'')Palmer (1881), p115/ref> is an archaeological site and former Palestinian village located in the central Galilee region of Israel, north-northwe ...

extend over an area of sixteen miles by sixteen miles. Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that he saw the flow of the milk and honey in all the Land of Israel and the total area was equal to an area of twenty-two

parasang The parasang, also known as a farsakh (from Arabic), is a historical Iranian peoples, Iranian unit of Walking distance measure, walking distance, the length of which varied according to terrain and speed of travel. The European equivalent is the ...

s by six parasangs. Already at the time of the Mishnah, Deuteronomy 11:13–21 constituted the second part of a standard ''Shema'' prayer that the priests recited daily, following Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and preceding Numbers 15:37–41. The first three chapters of tractate Berakhot in the Mishnah, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud and the first two chapters of tractate Berakhot in the Tosefta interpreted the laws of reciting the ''Shema''. Rabbi Joshua ben Korhah taught that the ''Shema'' prayer puts Deuteronomy 6:4–9 before Deuteronomy 11:13–21 so that those who say the prayer should first accept upon themselves the yoke of Heaven's sovereignty and then take upon themselves the yoke of the commandments. And Deuteronomy 11:13–21 comes before Numbers 15:37–41 because Deuteronomy 11:13–21 applies both day and night (since it mentions all the commandments), whereas Numbers 15:37–41 is applicable only to the day (since it mentions only the precept of the fringes, which is not obligatory at night). Reading Deuteronomy 11:13, "To love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart," a baraita equated service of the heart with prayer. And that Deuteronomy 11:14 mentions rain immediately thereafter indicates that it is appropriate to pray for rain. The Mishnah taught that the absence of one of the two portions of scripture in the

mezuzah A ''mezuzah'' ( "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew language, Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews affix in a small case to the doorposts of their homes. These verses are the Biblical pa ...

—Deuteronomy 6:4–8 and 11:13–21—invalidates the other, and indeed even one imperfect letter can invalidates the whole. Discussions of the laws of the ''mezuzah'' in Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20 appear at Babylonian Talmud Menachot 31b–34b. The Mishnah taught that the absence of one of the four portions of scripture in the Tefillin—Exodus 13:1–10 and 11–16 and Deuteronomy 6:4–8 and 11:13–21—invalidates the others, and indeed even one imperfect letter can invalidate the whole. The Rabbis in a baraita questioned what was to be learned from the words of Deuteronomy 11:14: "And you shall gather in your corn and wine and oil."

Rabbi Ishmael Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha Nachmani (Hebrew: רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע), often known as Rabbi Yishmael and sometimes given the title "Ba'al HaBaraita" (Hebrew: בעל הברייתא, “Master of the Outside Teaching”), was a rabbi of ...

replied that since Joshua 1:8 says, "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night," one might think that one must take this injunction literally (and study Torah every waking moment). Therefore, Deuteronomy 11:14 directs one to "gather in your corn," implying that one should combine Torah study with a worldly occupation. Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai questioned that, however, asking if a person plows in plowing season, sows in sowing season, reaps in reaping season, threshes in threshing season, and winnows in the season of wind, when would one find time for Torah? Rather, Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai taught that when Israel performs God's will, others perform its worldly work, as Isaiah 61:5–6 says, "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, aliens shall be your plowmen and vine-trimmers; while you shall be called ‘Priests of the Lord,' and termed ‘Servants of our God.'" And when Israel does not perform God's will, it has to carry out its worldly work by itself, as Deuteronomy 11:14 says, "And you shall gather in your corn." And not only that, but the Israelites would also do the work of others, as Deuteronomy 28:48 says, "And you shall serve your enemy whom the Lord will let loose against you. He will put an iron yoke upon your neck until He has wiped you out."

Abaye Abaye () was an amora of the fourth generation of the Talmudic academies in Babylonia. He was born about the close of the third century and died in 337. Biography Abaye, according to Talmudic tradition, was the head of the Pumbedita Academy unt ...

observed that many had followed Rabbi Ishmael's advice to combine secular work and Torah study and it worked well, while others have followed the advice of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai to devote themselves exclusively to Torah study and not succeeded. Rava would ask the Rabbis (his disciples) not to appear before him during

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

(when corn ripened) and

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

(when people pressed grapes and olives) so that they might not be anxious about their food supply during the rest of the year. Rav Judah taught in the name of Rav that one is forbidden to eat before giving food to one's animals, as Deuteronomy 11:15 says, "And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle," and only after that does Deuteronomy 11:15 say, "you shall eat and be satisfied." The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael deduced from Deuteronomy 11:16–17, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived . . . and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you," that the Land of Israel was one of three things given conditionally—along with the Temple and the kingdom of David—but thus excepting the Torah and the covenant with Aaron, which were unconditional. The Rabbis taught in a baraita that Deuteronomy 11:18 says of the Torah, "So you fix (, ''ve-samtem'') these My words in your heart and in your soul." The Rabbis taught that one should read the word ''samtem'' rather as ''sam tam'' (meaning "a perfect remedy"). The Rabbis thus compared the Torah to a perfect remedy. The Rabbis compared this to a man who struck his son a strong blow, and then put a compress on the son's wound, telling his son that so long as the compress was on his wound, he could eat and drink at will, and bathe in hot or cold water, without fear. But if the son removed the compress, his skin would break out in sores. Even so, did God tell Israel that God created the Evil Inclination (, ''

yetzer hara In Judaism, () is a term for humankind's congenital inclination to do evil. The concept is prominent in rabbinic texts and in the works of the Syriac poet Narsai. The term itself is drawn from the phrase "the inclination of the heart of man is ...

''), but also created the Torah as its antidote. God told Israel that if they occupied themselves with the Torah, they would not be delivered into the hand of the Evil Inclination, as Genesis 4:7 says: "If you do well, shall you not be exalted?" But if Israel did not occupy themselves with the Torah, they would be delivered into the hand of the Evil Inclination, as Genesis 4:7 says: "sin couches at the door." Moreover, the Rabbis taught, the Evil Inclination is altogether preoccupied to make people sin, as Genesis 4:7 says: "and to you shall be his desire." Yet if one wishes, one can rule over the Evil Inclination, as Genesis 4:7 says: "and you shall rule over him." The Rabbis taught in a baraita that the Evil Inclination is hard to bear, since even God its Creator called it evil, as in Genesis 8:21, God says, "the desire of man's heart is evil from his youth." Rav Isaac taught that a person's Evil Inclination renews itself against that person daily, as Genesis 6:5 says, "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil ''every day''." And Rabbi Simeon ben Levi (or others say Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish) taught that a person's Evil Inclination gathers strength against that person daily and seeks to slay that person, as Psalm 37:32 says, "The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him." And if God were not to help a person, one would not be able to prevail against one's Evil Inclination, for as Psalm 37:33 says, "The Lord will not leave him in his hand." Akiva

Rabbi Tarfon Rabbi Tarfon or Tarphon (, from the Greek Τρύφων ''Tryphon'' literally "one who lives in luxury" Trifon), a Kohen, was a member of the third generation of the Mishnah sages, who lived in the period between the destruction of the Second Te ...

Rabbi Akiva Akiva ben Joseph (Mishnaic Hebrew: ; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a '' tanna'' of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second. Rabbi Akiva was a leadin ...

, and Rabbi

Jose the Galilean Jose the Galilean (, ''Rabbi Yose HaGelili''), d. 15 Av (month), Av, was a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries Common Era, CE. He was one of the Tannaim, the rabbis whose work was compiled in the Mishna. Biography Neither the name ...

were reclining at a meal in the house of Aris in

Lydda Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The ci ...

when the question was presented to them of which is more important, learning or action. Rabbi Tarfon said action, Rabbi Akiva said learning, and then all responded that learning is more important, for learning brings about action. Rabbi Jose the Galilean argued that learning is more important, for the religious duty to learn the Torah came before the religious duty to separate dough–offering by 40 years, the obligation to separate tithes by 44 years, the obligation of the years of release by 61 years, and the obligation of the Jubilee Year by 103 years. And the Sifre taught that just as a more severe penalty pertains to neglect of learning than to neglect of doing required deeds, so a more abundant reward attaches to learning than to the doing of required deeds, for Deuteronomy 11:19 says, "And you shall teach them your children, talking of them," and Deuteronomy 11:21 follows immediately, saying, "That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children." Rabban

Gamaliel Gamaliel the Elder (; also spelled Gamliel; ''Rabban Gamlīʾēl hazZāqēn''; ''Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros''), or Rabban Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century CE. He was the son of Simeon ben Hillel a ...

cited Deuteronomy 11:21 as an instance where the Torah alludes to life after death. The Gemara related that sectarians asked Rabban Gamaliel where Scripture says that God will resurrect the dead. Rabban Gamaliel answered them from the Torah, the Prophets (, ''

Nevi'im The (; ) is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the () and (). The Nevi'im are divided into two groups. The Former Prophets ( ) consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings ...

''), and the Writings (, ''

Ketuvim The (; ) is the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, after the ("instruction") and the "Prophets". In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa". In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Books ...

''), yet the sectarians did not accept his proofs. From the Torah, Rabban Gamaliel cited Deuteronomy 31:16, "And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers and rise up gain'" But the sectarians replied that perhaps Deuteronomy 31:16 reads, "and the people will rise up." From the Prophets, Rabban Gamaliel cited Isaiah 26:19, "Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out its dead." But the sectarians rejoined that perhaps Isaiah 26:19 refers to the dead whom Ezekiel resurrected in Ezekiel 27. From the Writings, Rabban Gamaliel cited Song 7:9, "And the roof of your mouth, like the best wine of my beloved, that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak." (As the Rabbis interpreted Song of Songs as a dialogue between God and Israel, they understood Song of Songs 7:9 to refer to the dead, whom God will cause to speak again.) But the sectarians rejoined that perhaps Song of Songs 7:9 means merely that the lips of the departed will move. For Rabbi Joḥanan said that if a legal ruling is said in any person's name in this world, the person's lips speak in the grave, as Song of Songs 7:9 says, "causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." Thus, Rabban Gamaliel did not satisfy the sectarians until he quoted Deuteronomy 11:21, "which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them." Rabban Gamaliel noted that God swore to give the land not "to you" (the Israelites whom Moses addressed) but "to them" (the Patriarchs, who had long since died). Others say that Rabban Gamaliel proved it from Deuteronomy 4:4, "But you who did cleave to the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day." And (the superfluous use of "this day" implies that) just as you are all alive today, so shall you all live again in the World To Come. A midrash asked to which commandment Deuteronomy 11:22 refers when it says, "For if you shall diligently keep all ''this commandment'' that I command you, to do it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him, then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves." Rabbi Levi said that "this commandment" refers to the recitation of the ''Shema'' Deuteronomy 6:4–9, but the Rabbis said that it refers to the Sabbath, which is equal to all the precepts of the Torah. Interpreting the words "to walk in all His ways" in Deuteronomy 11:22, the Sifre taught that to walk in God's ways means to be (in the words of Exodus 34:6) "merciful and gracious." Similarly, Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, asked what Deuteronomy 13:5 means in the text, "You shall walk after the Lord your God." How can a human being walk after God, when Deuteronomy 4:24 says, " e Lord your God is a devouring fire"? Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, explained that the command to walk after God means to walk after the attributes of God. As God clothes the naked—for Genesis 3:21 says, "And the Lord God made for

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

and for his wife coats of skin and clothed them"—so should we also clothe the naked. God visited the sick—for Genesis 18:1 says, "And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of

Mamre Mamre (; ), full name "Oaks of Mamre", refers to an ancient religious site originally focused on a single holy tree growing "since time immemorial" at Hebron in Canaan.Niesiolowski-Spano (2016). At its first location, Khirbet Nimra, a pagan tre ...

" (after

was circumcised in Genesis 17:26)—so should we also visit the sick. God comforted mourners—for Genesis 25:11 says, "And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed

his son"—so should we also comfort mourners. God buried the dead—for Deuteronomy 34:6 says, "And He buried him in the valley"—so should we also bury the dead.

In medieval Jewish interpretation

The parashah is discussed in these

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Jewish sources: Rashi woodcut cropped

Deuteronomy chapter 8

read the words of Deuteronomy 8:2, "whether you would keep His commandments," to indicate that God was testing whether the Israelites would suspect God or question God's ways. Psalterium-Ibn-Ezra

Reading the words of Deuteronomy 8:2, "in order to afflict you,"

Rashbam Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as the "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi". Biography He was born in the vicinity of ...

noted that it is a form of affliction when one has no bread in one's basket, and one's life is dependent on bread arriving miraculously from heaven every day. Baḥya ibn Paquda read Deuteronomy 8:3, "That He might make known to you that man does not live by bread alone," to teach that those who trust in God have their sustenance assured by any of the means available in the world.

Abraham ibn Ezra Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...

offered that the words of Deuteronomy 8:3, "and suffered you to hunger," might refer to before the coming of the manna, or, alternatively, that the manna itself afflicted the Israelites, because it was light and did not satisfy their desires. But Ibn Ezra rejected this explanation, arguing that the verse most probably refers to other desires that the Israelites could not fulfill in the wilderness. Nahmanides painting

Ibn Ezra read Deuteronomy 8:5 to promise that God would reward the Israelites by bringing them into the Land, because they obeyed God, even though in order to chasten them, God afflicted them with thirst and hunger. Reading "so the Lord your God chastens you" in Deuteronomy 8:5,

Naḥmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...

suggested that God afflicted the Israelites at first with the wilderness and the trial of the manna so that later the goodness of the Land and its fruits would be pleasing to them. Reading Deuteronomy 8:10, "When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless God, your Lord,"

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

taught that it is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless God after eating satisfying food. Maimonides taught that the Torah requires one to recite grace when one eats to the point of satiation, as implied by the language, "When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless." The Sages, however, ordained that one should recite grace after eating an amount of bread equal to the size of an olive.

Saadia Gaon Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate. Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...

read the words of Deuteronomy 8:13–14, "And your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God," to teach that if all goes well and runs smoothly for those engaged in the accumulation of money, then they are apt to put their entire trust in money and forget to make mention of their Master and deny their Provider. Reading Deuteronomy 8:14,

Hezekiah ben Manoah Hezekiah ben Manoah, or Hezekiah bar Manoah, was a French rabbi and Bible commentator of the 13th century. He is generally known by the title of his commentary, Chizkuni (). In memory of his father, who lost his right hand through his steadfastness ...

(the Hizkuni) lamented that the phenomenon of becoming haughty is tragically all too common. Reading Deuteronomy 8:14, Baḥya ben Asher taught that pride is the principal cause of forgetting essentials. Due to the abundance of affluence, peace, and tranquility, a person's heart can become haughty and smug, and the evil urge (, ''yetzer hara'') can find it easy to provoke a person to follow the heart without restraint. When that happens, Heaven's concerns become marginal. In Deuteronomy 8:17, "and you say in your heart: ‘My strength and the power of my hand has gotten me this wealth,'" Baḥya ben Asher read Moses to warn of the possibility that arrogance can lead one to ascribe affluence to one's own lucky stars. And reading Deuteronomy 8:18, "you shall remember the Lord your God," Baḥya ben Asher taught that God alone is the Source of good fortune, because God has given people the strength to perform deeds of valor, and has handed people the power to overcome bad fortune in their stars.

read Moses to warn the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:14 that they might forget that they were slaves with downcast hearts, forget the affliction and the hunger that they experienced in the wilderness, and forget that God sustained them nonetheless. But Ibn Ezra read the words "But you shall remember" in Deuteronomy 8:18 to teach that if the thought "My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth" should enter one's mind, then one should remember the One Who gives one power. Baḥya ibn Paquda read the words of Deuteronomy 8:16, "to benefit you in your end," to refer to the promise of compensation in the World To Come. Baḥya suggested that this principle, in turn, might provide one possible reason for why some righteous people are prevented from obtaining their livelihood without effort and must instead exert themselves for it and be tested by it. Reading the words of Deuteronomy 8:18, "But you must remember the Lord your God, for it is He that gives you strength to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your forefathers, as it is this day," Baḥya ibn Paquda taught that people should not think that their livelihood depends on a particular means and that if those means fail, then their livelihood will not come from a different means. Rather, people should trust in God and know that all means are equal for God. God can provide using whatever means and at any time and however God wishes. As the numeric value (

gematria In numerology, gematria (; or , plural or ) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word, or phrase by reading it as a number, or sometimes by using an alphanumeric cipher. The letters of the alphabets involved have standar ...

) of the word "power" (, ''koach'') in Deuteronomy 8:18 is 28,

Jacob ben Asher Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270–1340), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Yaakov ben haRosh, was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Author of the ''Turim''"), after his main work, the ''A ...

(the Baal Ha-Turim) saw an allusion to Joshua, who led the Israelites for 28 years. And the Baal Ha-Turim saw a connection with the reference to Joshua in Numbers 27:16–17, "‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd,'" as those two verses contain 28 words in Hebrew. Maimonides-2

Deuteronomy chapter 10

Maimonides and the

siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...

report that the Levites would recite the Psalm for the Day in the Temple. Rashi taught that it was on the first day of

Elul Elul (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ) is the twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the Jewish religious year, religious year in the Hebrew calendar. It is a m ...

that God told Moses, in the words of Exodus 34:2, “In the morning you shall ascend Mount Sinai,” to receive the second tablets, and Moses spent 40 days there, as reported in Deuteronomy 10:10, "And I remained upon the mountain just as the first days." And on

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

, God was placated toward Israel and told Moses, in the words of Numbers 14:20, "I have forgiven, as you have spoken." Citing Deuteronomy 10:12, 10:19, and 11:13, Baḥya ibn Paquda taught that to love God and to love the stranger are leading examples of a duties of the heart. Reading the description of God by Moses in Deuteronomy 10:17–18, "For the Lord your God is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who . . . upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow," Baḥya ibn Paquda argued we can see that God possesses these attributes from the evidence of God's deeds towards God's creations and from the wisdom and power that God's deeds reflect. But Baḥya cautioned that one must be careful not to take descriptions of God's attributes literally or in a physical sense. Rather, one must know that they are metaphors, geared to what we are capable of grasping with our powers of understanding, because of our urgent need to know God. But God is infinitely greater and loftier than all of these attributes. Maimonides read Deuteronomy 10:20, "and you will cling to God," to set forth a positive commandment to cleave to the wise and their disciples to learn from their deeds. Maimonides reported that the Sages questioned whether it is possible for person to cling to the Divine Presence (as Deuteronomy 10:20 seems to command). They resolved this difficulty by interpreting this commandment to mean that one should cleave to the wise and their disciples. Therefore, Maimonides taught, one should try to marry into the family of a Torah Sage and encourage one's child to marry a Torah Sage, eat and drink with Sages, do business on behalf of Sages, and associate with them in all possible ways, as Deuteronomy 11:22 says "to cling to od" Similarly, the Sages directed, "Sit in the dust of their feet and drink in their words thirstily."

Deuteronomy chapter 11

Maimonides cited Deuteronomy 11:13 to teach that it is a positive Torah commandment to pray every day, for Exodus 23:25 states: "You shall serve God, your Lord," and tradition teaches that this service is prayer, as Deuteronomy 11:13 says, "And serve Him with all your heart," and the Sages taught that the service of the heart is prayer.

In modern interpretation

The parashah is discussed in these modern sources:

Deuteronomy chapter 7

Harold Fisch argued that

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

echoed the command of Deuteronomy 7:18, "you shall well remember," in the ghost's admonition to

Prince Hamlet Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping King Claudius, Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At ...

, "Remember me," in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' 1:5:98.

Robert Oden Robert Allen Oden Jr. (; born September 11, 1946) was the president of Kenyon College from 1995 to 2002, and president of Carleton College from 2002 to 2010. He was also a significant professor in the early years of The Teaching Company, contributi ...

taught that the idea that spoils of

holy war A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent t ...

were devoted to God (, '' cherem'') evident in Leviticus 27:28–29, Numbers 18:14, and Deuteronomy 7:26 was revelatory of (1) as "to the victor belong the spoils," then since God owned the spoils, then God must have been the victor and not any human being, and (2) the sacred and religiously obligatory nature of holy war, as participants gained no booty as a motivation for participation.

Deuteronomy chapter 8

Moshe Alshich Moshe Alshich , also spelled Alshech, (1508–1593), known as the ''Alshich Hakadosh (the Holy)'', was a prominent rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Life The Alshich was born in 1508 in the ...

noted that Deuteronomy 8:14 appears to repeat Deuteronomy 8:11, "Be careful lest you forget the Lord your God." Alshich explained that the evil urge (, ''yetzer hara'') works repetitively to subvert a person's character. The evil urge knows that it is easier to subvert successful people into believing in the success of their own efforts than to convince people of average means that they do not need God. Alshich taught that Deuteronomy 8:11–19 thus reflects the way that the evil urge works. The process of moving away from serving God can be gradual, almost imperceptibly slow. It can start not by failing to observe the commandments, but by failing to see them as God's will. Thus Deuteronomy 8:11 reflects that one can observe the commandments only for the sake of obtaining the reward that the Torah promises. Deuteronomy 8:12 reflects the next step that one might eat and be satisfied without giving credit to God. After this, as Deuteronomy 8:17 reports, one might give oneself credit for one's success. Still later, in Deuteronomy 8:19, one might give credit to idols. Moses thus warns against the insidious, indirect way that the evil urge attacks. Rabbi

Samson Raphael Hirsch Samson Raphael Hirsch (; June 20, 1808 – December 31, 1888) was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the '' Torah im Derech Eretz'' school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed ''neo-Orthodoxy'', hi ...

read the word "power" (, ''koach'') in Deuteronomy 8:18 to comprehend everything that makes up one's creative personality and capacity to earn—intelligence, skill, foresight, health—and explained that this comes not from the food that one eats but directly from God. And the external circumstances that bring about success depend on God alone. Hirsch taught that the very smallest part of one's good fortune can be ascribed to one's own merit, and more is due to the merit of one's ancestors, whose virtues God rewards with their descendants' good fortune. Reading Deuteronomy 8:11–18,

Nechama Leibowitz Nechama Leibowitz (; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997) was Israel Prize laureate and Israeli Bible scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study. Biography Nechama Leibowitz was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Riga two ...

wrote that people in their blindness tend to detect the guiding hand of Providence only when manifested in visible miracles, as the Israelites witnessed in the wilderness. People fail to see the hidden miracles performed for them continually when the world around them seems to be going on as usual. For this reason, the formulators of the liturgy obliged Jews to give thanks three times daily (in the final benedictions of the ''

Amidah The ''Amidah'' (, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' during each of the three services prayed on week ...

'' prayer) "for Your miracles that are with us every day and for Your wonders and Your bounties that are at all times, evening, morning, and noon." Carl Sagan Planetary Society

Deuteronomy chapter 10

In Deuteronomy 10:22, Moses reported that God had made the Israelites as numerous as the stars, echoing Genesis 15:5, in which God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, and Genesis 22:17, in which God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore.

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

reported that there are more stars in the universe than sands on all the beaches on the Earth.

Deuteronomy chapter 11

Nathan MacDonald A British biblical scholar, Nathan MacDonald (born 1975) currently serves as Reader in the Interpretation of the Old Testament at Cambridge University as well as Fellow and College Lecturer in theology at St John's College, Cambridge. Much of his ...

reported some dispute over the meaning of the description of the Land of Israel as a "land flowing with milk and honey," as in Exodus 3:8 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, Leviticus 20:24, Numbers 13:27 and 14:8]; and Deuteronomy 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; and 31:20. MacDonald wrote that the term for milk (, ''chalav'') could easily be the word for "fat" (, ''chelev''), and the word for honey (, ''devash'') could indicate not bees' honey but a sweet syrup made from fruit. The expression evoked a general sense of the bounty of the land and suggested an ecological richness exhibited in several ways, not just with milk and honey. MacDonald noted that the expression was always used to describe a land that the people of Israel had not yet experienced, and thus characterized it as always a future expectation. Donald Englert suggested that "water with your foot" in Deuteronomy 11:10 may have been a euphemism for urination.

Walter Brueggemann Walter Albert Brueggemann (March 11, 1933 – June 5, 2025) was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociop ...

argued that the "if-then" structure of Deuteronomy 11:13–17, a trademark rhetorical feature of the Deuteronomic tradition, makes clear that the gift of the land was not an automatic given but a consequence of obedience. The double "if-then" of Deuteronomy 11:13–17 linked land and obedience, making the gift of the land conditional. First, Deuteronomy 11:13–15 says the positive "if-then"—stating the "if" of obedience in familiar cadences bespeaking total commitment in two standard verbs ("love" and "serve") plus the formula from the ''Shema'' in Deuteronomy 6:4. The "then," the consequence of obedience, is abundant rain in every season that will cause the land to produce everything needed, made explicit through three phrases—first, "grain, wine, oil," a common triad to signal a rich, productive economy (see Hosea 2:8, 22]); second, the pasture land for cattle on which the agrarian economy depended (see Psalms 50:10, 104:14); and third, the rhetoric of satiation from Deuteronomy 6:11. Then Deuteronomy 11:16–17 follows with the negative "if-then"—the "if" being the nullification in Deuteronomy 11:16 of the ''Shema'' of Deuteronomy 6:4, the compromise of covenantal identity by embracing other gods who seem better at giving rain while making lesser demands. And the negative "then" being drought, as rain is God's gift (see Job 38:25–30; Leviticus 26:19–20; Deuteronomy 28:23–24;

4:7–8; and Psalm 107:35–38). Brueggemann wrote that because of the urgency of obedience, Deuteronomy 11:18–21 returns to the educational accent of Deuteronomy 6:4–9, urging the internalizing of passionate covenantal conviction among the young through the mandate to produce signs, emblems, conversations, and marked doorposts and gates.

Commandments

According to

Sefer ha-Chinuch ''Sefer ha-Chinuch'' (, "Book of Education") is a rabbinic text which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was written in 13th-century Spain by an anonymous "Levite of Barcelona". Content The work's enumeration of th ...

, there are 6 positive and 2 negative

commandments Commandment may refer to: * The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, ...

in the parashah. *Not to derive benefit from any ornamentation of an idol *Not to take any object from idolatry into our possession, to derive benefit from it *The precept of blessing the Almighty for the food we receive *The precept of love for converts to Judaism *The precept of reverent awe for the Eternal Lord. *The precept of prayer to the Almighty *The mitzvah of associating with Torah scholars and adhering to them *That whoever needs to take an oath should swear by the Name of the Eternal Lord

In the liturgy

In the Blessing after Meals (''

''), Jews sometimes quote Deuteronomy 8:10, the Scriptural basis for the Blessing after Meals, immediately before the invitation (''zimun''), and quote it again at the close of the second blessing (for the Land of Israel). The opening sentence of the ''Amidah'' prayer quotes Moses's characterization of God in Deuteronomy 10:17 as "the great, the mighty, and the awesome." Isaiah-Michelangelo

The

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to reco ...

, in the ''magid'' section of the

Seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

, quotes Deuteronomy 10:22. Deuteronomy 11:13–21 is the second of three blocks of verses in the ''Shema'', a central prayer in Jewish prayer services. Jews combine Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37–41 to form the core of ''K'riat Shema'', recited in the evening (, ''

Ma'ariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'', or ''Arbit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or at night. It consists primarily of the evening '' Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two ...

'') and morning (, ''

Shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning '' tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components of ''Shacharit''. E ...

'') prayer services.Reuven Hammer. ''Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals'', pages 30–31, 112–13, 282–83. Menachem Davis, editor, ''The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals with an Interlinear Translation'', pages 95–97, 331–33, 605–06.

Haftarah

The

haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', ) "parting," "taking leave" (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros''), is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pr ...

for the parashah is Isaiah 49:14–51:3. The haftarah is the second in the cycle of seven haftarot of consolation after

Tisha B'Av Tisha B'Av ( ; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism. A commemoration of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusal ...

, leading up to

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...