The book of Deuteronomy.
The fifth book of the Pentateuch.
Attributed author(s).
Moses, Joshua.
Text(s) available.
None on site.
CCEL: Deuteronomy (Hebrew only).
Swete LXX (Greek only).
Bible
Gateway (English only).
HTML Bible: Deuteronomy (Hebrew and English).
HTML Bible: Deuteronomy
(Latin Vulgate only).
Zhubert (Greek and English).
Kata Pi BHS: Deuteronomy (Hebrew and English).
Kata Pi LXX: Deuteronomy (Greek and English).
Kata Pi LXX: Ode (song of Moses).
Sacred Texts: Deuteronomy (polyglot).
Sacred Texts: Ode (song of Moses).
Useful links.
Deuteronomy at the OT Gateway.
Deuteronomy in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
EJW (Peter Kirby).
Pentateuch at Kata Pi (Oesterly
and Robinson).
Deuteronomy from the Plymouth Brethren.
Introduction to Deuteronomy (David Malick).
Outline of Deuteronomy (David Malick).
The Structured Torah (Moshe Kline).
The Primary History (Genesis-2 Kings)
(Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre).
Ten Themes of the Deuteronomistic History
(notes on M. Weinfeld).
Responsibilities of Fatherhood
(J. Hampton Keathley III).
From Manasseh to the Deuteronomic Reform
(Gerald A. Larue).
Bakhtin Revisits Deuteronomy (David A. Bergen).
The Beautiful Captive Woman (Pearl Elman).
Ethics as Deconstruction (Sheffield Academic Press).
Jewish tradition attributes the Pentateuch (that is, the books of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) to Moses.
Our English title is of Greek derivation (δευτερονομιον)
and means second law, indicating the regiving of the law before going
into the promised land.
The book was originally written in Hebrew, but the ancient Greek
translation known as the Septuagint
(abbreviated LXX) is also a very important witness to the text.
Peter Kirby (Early Jewish Writings).
Peter Kirby surveys scholars writing on the book of Deuteronomy:
Samuel Sandmel writes: "The signs of the postexilic period are unmistakable.
Israel is spoken of not as usual as an 'am, a nation, a people, but rather
as a qahal, a congregation. The entity is a reduced community, no longer
extending from Dan in the north to Beer Sheba in the south. Ammonite and Moabite
may not join it, but Edomites and Egyptians may; we are past the time of the
first missionary movement. The religious purity of the congregation is to be
maintained; over and over again there occurs the formula, 'You shall cleanse
the evil from the midst of your people.' Evil things, 'abominations,' are not
to be tolerated; indeed, to abominate (Hebrew ta'ab) takes on the meaning,
'to exclude from the congregation.' The attitude towards heathens is most severe,
and the worst of all transgressions is apostasy from Yahve. Yet on the other
hand, an extensive humanitarianism is to be found in many of the laws and much
of the exhortation." (The Hebrew Scriptures, pp. 414-415)
Richard D. Nelson writes: "The original book of Deuteronomy seems to have
consisted of the reform-oriented law code proper (chaps. 12-26), framed by an
introductory exhortation (chaps. 5-11) and some concluding chapters that directed
the law at the readers of the book (chaps. 27-30). There is no agreement whether
an even earlier and shorter form of the book once existed. A puzzle feature
of Deuteronomy is its alteration between second-person singular and plural address.
The plural portions often seem to be somewhat later than the singular portions,
but there is no completely satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon."
(Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 209)
Jay G. Williams writes: "It is this emphasis [on one central shrine],
in particular, which has led scholars to identify Deuteronomy as the scroll
of the law found in the Temple during the reign of King Josiah in the seventh
century. According to II Kings 22-23 this scroll led Josiah to initiate a reform
of the religion of Judah which, in particular, involved the destruction of all
places of sacrifice except the Temple in Jerusalem. Since only Deuteronomy,
of all the books of the Torah, calls for such a reform and since it is inconceivable
that such an important book of the law would have been lost after Josiah's time,
it is likely that the identification of Deuteronomy as the discovered scroll
is correct. The fact that Deuteronomy often reflects both the language and the
thought of the eighth century prophets helps to confirm this identification."
(Understanding the Old Testament, p. 137)
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