Deuteronomy 26:3-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX mss have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, TEV). Perhaps the text reflects dittography of the kaf (כ) at the end of the word with the following preposition כִּי (ki).
2. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
3. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
4. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
5. Deuteronomy 26:4 tn Heb “your hand.”
6. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (ʾavad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
7. Deuteronomy 26:5 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
8. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “father.”
9. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.