What the book is
Deuteronomy is the fifth and last book of the Law. Israel is camped on the plains of Moab, across the Jordan from the land God promised, and Moses, who will not cross with them, speaks to the people one last time. He retells their story from Sinai to the border, sets out the covenant and its laws again for a new generation, and urges them to be faithful when they have settled in the land. Its heart is the Shema, the words Jewish prayer has recited every morning and evening ever since:
Hear, Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
You are to love the LORD your God with your whole heart, with your whole being, and with all your strength.
Jesus called this the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30), and he answered the devil in the wilderness three times with words from Deuteronomy.
Who wrote it, and when
The book says that Moses spoke these words and wrote down “this law” (31:9, 24), and Jewish and Christian tradition has held that he wrote it; its last chapter, which tells of his death and burial, has always been read as added by another hand. Many scholars think instead that the book took shape centuries later, and connect it with the “book of the law” found in the temple in the reign of King Josiah, in 622 BC (2 Kings 22–23), whose reforms follow its laws closely; they see it as completed during or after the exile. Others hold that it preserves Moses’ own words and covenant, shaped for later generations. The draft takes no side; these questions do not change how a sentence is translated.
How the book is laid out
- Moses’ first speech (1–4): the journey from Horeb, the failure at Kadesh, the victories east of the Jordan, and a call to obey.
- The second speech: the covenant (5–11): the Ten Commandments again, the Shema, and warnings not to forget the LORD in the land.
- The laws (12–26): one place of worship, festivals, kings, priests and prophets, justice, war, family and neighbour, firstfruits and tithes.
- Blessings and curses (27–28): the ceremony at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.
- The third speech (29–30): the covenant renewed in Moab, and “choose life”.
- Moses’ last days (31–34): Joshua appointed, the song of Moses, the blessing of the tribes, and his death on Mount Nebo.
How Open Word Bible translates Deuteronomy
The name. Deuteronomy means “second law”. The ancient Greek translation rendered the phrase “a copy of this law” in 17:18 as “this second law”, and the name stuck; a decision there explains that the Hebrew means a copy of the law, not a new one.
The Shema (6:4). “Hear, Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The Hebrew has no verbs, and it can be read in several ways: “the LORD is our God, the LORD alone”, or “the LORD our God is one LORD”. The draft marks the decision uncertain and gives the other readings in a footnote.
The divine name. God’s personal name appears hundreds of times in Deuteronomy. The text writes it “the LORD” in small capitals, and a reader setting shows “Yahweh” instead. See the divine name and “The fear of the LORD”, a phrase Deuteronomy uses often.
A prophet like Moses (18:15). “The LORD your God will raise up a prophet for you like me.” The wording is of one prophet; it can mean each true prophet in turn, and it was also read of one prophet still to come, as the New Testament reads it of Jesus (Acts 3:22). The decision explains both, marks the decision uncertain, and footnotes them.
The sons of God (32:8). In the song of Moses, the Most High fixed the borders of the peoples “according to the number of the Israelites”. A Hebrew copy of Deuteronomy found at Qumran reads “the sons of God”, and the Greek translation “the angels of God”. The draft follows the standard Hebrew text, marks the decision uncertain, and gives both readings in the footnote.
Who buried Moses? (34:6). “He buried him”, says the Hebrew, without naming the subject: most likely the LORD himself. The footnote gives the other readings, among them some ancient witnesses’ “they buried him”.