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1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day;

5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.

8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of heaven:

12 A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22 For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23 Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

29 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.

[22] Leviticus 22:31, Deuteronomy 6:1-2.

[22] The commandments must be kept by doing them, and cannot be kept in any other way. Omitting this phrase is a mistranslation of the hebrew – Rashi writes “h.שמר תשמרון [IF] YE SHALL DILIGENTLY OBSERVE [ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS] — The repetition of the verb implies an admonition to be very much on one’s guard: to be careful in respect to one’s study of the Torah that it should not be forgotten (cf. Sifrei Devarim 48:2).” Also see Leviticus 22:31 (and xref) and for a detailed commentary please see sermon notes for Deuteronomy 6 (and in 7 too).

h.וידעתם היום AND KNOW YE THIS DAY — Set your heart to know and comprehend, and to accept my reproof.

h.כי לא את בניכם FOR NOT WITH YOUR CHILDREN am I now speaking who might say, “We do not know nor have we seen all this” (all that God did for you, and what He did to Egypt, and for you in the wilderness, and to Dathan and Abiram, as related in vv. 2—6).

h.בקרב כל ישראל [AND THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM UP] IN THE MIDST OF ALL ISRAEL — Wherever one of them fled the earth was riven beneath him and swallowed him up. This is the view of R. Judah. Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: But is it not already stated, (Numbers 16:32) “And the earth opened its mouth”, and it does not state “its mouths”? Whereupon he (R. Judah) asked him: “But how, then, can I explain the words: “in the midst of all Israel” (if there was but one spot at which they were swallowed up, as you suggest Scripture states by the word פיה, “its mouth”)? He replied to him: you can reconcile the two texts by assuming that the earth became a declivity, — something like a funnel, — and wherever it was that one of them happened to be, he rolled down until he reached the place where the fissure was (cf. Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 752).

h.ואת כל היקום אשר ברגליהם AND ALL THE SUBSTANCE THAT WAS AT THEIR FEET — This means a man’s money, that places him on his feet (Sanhedrin 110a).

h.כי עיניכם הראת BUT YOUR EYES HAVE SEEN — This is to be connected with the verse mentioned above (v. 2), thus: (2) For not with your children am I speaking who do not know, but with you whose eyes have seen, etc.

h.לא כארץ מצרים הוא [THE LAND WHITHER THOU GOEST …] IS NOT AS THE LAND OF EGYPT, but it is better than it. He mentions Egypt because this assurance was made to Israel on their departure from Egypt, for they said: Perhaps we shall not come to a land as good and beautiful as this. — One might, however, think that Scripture is here speaking to its (the Land’s) disparagement, and that he states the following to them: It is not as the land of Egypt — but it is worse than it! It, however, states, (Numbers 13:22; see Rashi thereon) “And Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt etc.”. One person built both of them: Ham built Zoan for Mizrajim (Egypt), his son, and Hebron for Canaan, another son. The usual way is that a man first builds the better city, and afterwards builds the inferior one, because what is not good enough for the first he puts into the second, and, besides, the better is usually first. Thus you may learn that Hebron was a finer city than Zoan. Now Egypt is superior to all other lands, for it is stated of it, (Genesis 13:10) “Like the garden of the Lord, viz., like the land of Egypt”, and Zoan was the best city in Egypt, because it was the seat of royalty, for thus does it state, (Isaiah 30:4) “For in Zoan were its princes”; Hebron was the worst city in Canaan, — for this reason, indeed, they set it apart for a place of burial, — and yet it was finer than Zoan (cf. Sifrei Devarim 37:1-3). — In the Talmud, Treatise Ketuboth 112a, they derived this in another manner: Is it likely that a man would first build a house for his younger son (here Canaan), and afterwards for his elder son (Mizrajim)? But the meaning of שבע שנים נבנתה וכו׳ is that it (Hebron) was furnished (built up) with all excellencies seven times better than Zoan.

h.אשר יצאתם משם [THE LAND OF EGYPT] FROM WHICH YE WENT FORTH — even the district of Raamses in which ye dwelt and which was in the beat part of the land Egypt, as it is said, (Genesis 47:11) “[And Joseph placed his father and his brethren] in the best part of the land, [in the land of Raamses]” — even that is not as good as the land of Israel (cf. Sifrei Devarim 38:7).

h.והשקית ברגלך [LIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT] WHICH THOU DIDST WATER WITH THY FOOT — The land of Egypt was such that you had to bring water from the Nile through your foot (i.e. you had to go to the Nile to bring water) to irrigate it — you had to rise from your sleep and to toil. Then again, the lowlying parts alone drank (were irrigated by the Nile) and not the higher land, and you had to take up water from the lower to the higher parts: but this land (Canaan), למטר השמים תשתה מים DRINKETH WATER OF THE RAIN OF HEAVEN — You may sleep soundly on your beds, and the Holy One, blessed be He, waters both low and high districts, both what is exposed and what is not exposed alike (Sifrei Devarim 38:2).

h.כגן הירק AS A GARDEN OF HERBS, which has not enough from rain alone, and one has to water it through the foot and shoulder (one has to run about to bring water which one has to carry on one’s shoulder).

h.ארץ הרים ובקעת [THE LAND WHITHER THOU ART PASSING IS] A LAND OF HILLS AND VALLEYS — The mountain is better than the plain because in the plain, in an area that takes a Kor of seed, you can sow only a Kor, but in the mountain the summit of which is an area that takes a Kor, from it you have areas for five Kors of seed: four from its four slopes and one on its summit (Sifrei Devarim 39:3).

h.ובקעת — these are the plain lands.

h.אשר ה' אלהיך דרש אתה [A LAND] WHICH THE LORD THY GOD CARETH FOR — But does He not care for all lands, as it said, (Job 38:26) “[Who hath cleft a way for the lightning of the thunder …] to cause rain even on a land where no man is“? But, if one can say so of God, He cares for that land alone, but through the care which He bestows on it, He cares also for all other lands with it (Sifrei Devarim 40:1).

h.תמיד עיני ה' אלהיך בה THE EYES OF THE LORD THY GOD ARE ALWAYS UPON IT, to see what it requires, and to make new dispensations for it, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad, as is stated in Treatise Rosh Hashanah 17b.

h.מרשית השנה FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR [TO THE END OF THE YEAR] — At the beginning of the year it is decided by God what will be right up to the end of it (Rosh Hashanah 8a).

h.והיה אם שמע AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IF YE WILL HEARKEN — The word והיה is to be connected with what is said above (v. 11): “it drinketh water of the rain of heaven”.

h.שמע תשמעו lit: AND IT WILL COME TO PASS IF HEARKENING YE WILL HEARKEN — If you hearken to the old (if you hear again what you have already learnt, i.e. if you repeatedly study the old lessons), you will hearken to the new (you will the more easily gain new knowledge) (Sukkah 46b; cf. Rashi on Exodus 19:5). Similar is the meaning of אם שכח תשכח (Deuteronomy 8:19): If you have begun to forget, your end will be that you will forget all of it. So, too, is written in a certain Scroll: If thou forgettest Me one day, I will forget thee two days (cf. Sifrei Devarim 48:8; Jerusalem Talmud end of Berakhot).

h.מצוה אתכם היום [MY COMMANDMENTS WHICH I] COMMAND YOU THIS DAY — This suggests that they should ever be to you as new commandments, as though you had heard them for the first time on that day (Sifrei Devarim 58).

h.לאהבה את ה׳ TO LOVE THE LORD — This means that you should not say: Well, I will learn, but in order that I may become rich, in order that I may obtain the title Rabbi, in order that I may receive a prize, — but whatever you do, do it out of love for God (Sifrei Devarim 41:23), and ultimately the honour which you desire will certainly come (Nedarim 62a).

h.ולעבדו בכל לבבכם AND TO SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART — i.e. to serve Him with a service that is in the heart: that is prayer, for prayer is termed service (עבודה), as it is said, (Daniel 6:17) “Thy God whom thou servest continually”. But was there service (i.e. sacrificial service, the technical term for which is עבודה) in Babylon? But the term is used because he offered prayer there, as it is said, (Daniel 6:11) “Now his windows were open [in his upper chamber towards Jerusalem and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed]”. And so, too, it states in the case of David (Psalms 141:2): “Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee” (incense being part of the sacrificial service) (Sifrei Devarim 41:25-27).

h.בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם [TO LOVE THE LORD] WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL — But has it not already admonished us to love God, by the words (6:5) “[Thou shall love the Lord thy God] with all thy heart and with all thy soul”? But that was an admonition addressed to each and every individual (“with all thy heart”), whilst here it is an admonition addressed to them as a community (“with all your heart”) (Sifrei Devarim 41:29).

h.ונתתי מטר ארצכם I WILL GIVE THE RAIN OF YOUR LAND [IN ITS SEASON] — You will then have done what devolved upon you, I, too, shall do what devolves upon Me (Sifrei Devarim 41:29; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 26:15).

h.בעתו [RAIN …] IN ITS SEASON — i.e. at night time, so that it may not cause you any trouble. — Another explanation of בעתו IN ITS SEASON is: on Sabbath (Friday) nights when everyone is usually at home (cf. Sifrei Devarim 42:2; Taanit 23a; see Rashi on Leviticus 26:4).

h.יורה THE FIRST RAIN — This is the rain that falls after the sowing-time, which thoroughly drenches (מרוה) the soil and the seed (Sifrei Devarim 42:4; Taanit 6a).

h.מלקוש THE LATTER RAIN is the rain that descends just before the harvest time to make the grain full (ripe) on its stalk. The term מלקוש refers to something that is late, just as in the Targum we translate והיה העטפים ללבן (Genesis 30:42; see Rashi thereon) “those born late were Laban’s” by לקשיא. — Another explanation: The reason why it is called מלקוש is because it falls at the same period upon the ears (מלילות) and the stalks (קש) (i.e. just before the harvest) (Taanit 6a).

h.ואספת דגנך AND THOU SHALT GATHER IN THY CORN means: and thou shalt gather it into thy house, and not thy enemies, just as it is said, (Isaiah 62:8—9) “[The Lord hath sworn … ], surely I will no more give thy corn [to be food for thine enemies], but they that have gathered it shall eat it”; and not as it is said, (Judges 6:3) “And so it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites came up [and destroyed the produce of the land]” (Sifrei Devarim 42:10).

h.ונתתי עשב בשדך AND I WILL GIVE GRASS IN THY FIELD [FOR THY CATTLE] in thy field: so that you will not need to lead them to distant pasture grounds. Another explanation: it means that you will be able to cut your grain all the rainy season and cast it before thy cattle as fodder, and if you withdraw your hand from it (stop doing this) only thirty days before the harvest, it will not give you less of its corn than if you had not fed your cattle with it (as is implied by ואכלת ושבעת, you will eat to the full) (Sifrei Devarim 43:2).

h.ואכלת ושבעת AND THOU SHALT EAT AND BE SATISFIED — This is quite another (a separate) blessing; it means that a blessing will be on the bread within the stomach (see Rashi on Leviticus 25:19). השמרו לכם

h.TAKE HEED [THAT YOUR HEART MISLEAD YOU NOT] — when you have eaten and are full, take heed to yourselves that you kick not against God; for usually no man rebels against the Holy One, blessed be He, except out of satiety, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 8:12—14) “Lest thou eat and art full … and thy herds and flocks increase”. What is stated after this? “And thy heart be lifted up and thou forget [the Lord thy God]” (Sifrei Devarim 43:7).

h.וסרתם AND YE TURN ASIDE, to depart from the Torah, and through this, ועבדתם אלהים אחרים YE WILL SERVE OTHER GODS, for so soon as a man departs from the Torah he goes and clings to idol-worship. Similarly did David say, (I Samuel 26:19) “For they have driven me out this day, that I should not cleave to the inheritance of the Lord (the Torah) saying, Go, serve other gods”. But who had really said thus to him?! But he meant: Since I am driven out so that I can no longer occupy myself with the Torah, I am nearly exposed to the danger of serving other gods (Sifrei Devarim 43:14).

h.אלהים אחרים OTHER GODS — i.e. gods that are other (alien) to those who worship them: one calls to it, and it does not answer him; consequently it becomes to him like a stranger (Sifrei Devarim 43:17).

h.את יבולה [THE GROUND WILL NOT GIVE] ITS יבול — it will not yield even as much as what you have brought (יבול) to it (even the same quantity of seed you have sown in it), just as it is said, (Hag. 1:6) “You sow much, but bring in little” (Sifrei Devarim 43:28; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 26:20).

h.ואבדתם מהרה AND YE SHALL PERISH QUICKLY — In addition to all the other sufferings I will banish you from the soil which made you sin (Sifrei Devarim 43:29). A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king who sent his son to the banqueting hall and earnestly charged him, “Do not eat more than you need, in order that you may come home clean!” The son, however, took no notice of this; he ate and drank more than he needed, and vomited it up and befouled all the company. They took him by his hands and feet and cast him out of the palace (Sifrei Devarim 43:23).

h.מהרה [AND YE SHALL PERISH] QUICKLY — I will give you no respite. But if you ask: Was not respite given to the generation of the flood, as it is said, (Genesis 6:3) “His days shall be (i.e. a respite shall be given him for) one hundred and twenty years”? Then I reply: The generation of flood had no one from whom to learn, but you have someone from whom to learn (Sifrei Devarim 43:31).

h.ושמתם את דברי AND YE SHALL PLACE MY WORDS [UPON YOUR HEART] — Even after you have been banished make yourselves distinctive by means of My commands: lay Tephillin, attach Mezuzoth to your doorposts, so that these shall not be novelties to you when you return. Similarly does it state, (Jeremiah 31:21) “Set thee up distinguishing marks” (Sifrei Devarim 43:34).

h.לדבר בם [AND YE SHALL TEACH THEM UNTO YOUR CHILDREN,] TO SPEAK OF THEM — From the moment when your son knows how to speak, teach him the text (Deuteronomy 33:4) “Moses commanded us the Torah as a possession of the congregation of Jacob” — so that this should be the means of teaching him to speak (Sukkah 42a). From this they (the Rabbis) derived their teaching: When the babe begins to speak, his father should speak with him in the Holy Tongue, and should instruct him in the Torah. If he does not do this, it is as though he buries him, as it is said here, “And ye shall teach them unto your children to speak of them, etc.”,

h.למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם IN ORDER THAT YOUR DAYS MAY BE INCREASED AND THE DAYS OF YOUR CHILDREN — We may learn from this that if you do so, then they will be increased, but if not, they will not be increased, for the statements of the Torah may be expounded so as to derive from the negative the positive, and from the positive, the negative (Sifrei Devarim 46).

h.לתת להם [THE LAND WHICH THE LORD SWARE UNTO YOUR FATHERS] TO GIVE TO THEM — It is not written here “to give to you”, but “to give to them”. From this we are able to derive that the tenet of the “Resurrection of the Dead” is of Biblical origin (more lit., is from the Torah) (Sifrei Devarim 47:2).

h.שמר תשמרון [IF] YE SHALL DILIGENTLY OBSERVE [ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS] — The repetition of the verb implies an admonition to be very much on one’s guard: to be careful in respect to one’s study of the Torah that it should not be forgotten (cf. Sifrei Devarim 48:2).

h.ללכת בכל דרכיו TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS — He is merciful, be thou merciful; He bestows lovingkindness, bestow thou lovingkindness (Sifrei Devarim 49:1).

h.ולדבקה בו AND TO CLEAVE TO HIM — Is it possible to say this? Is He not “a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24)? But it means: cleave to the scholars and sages, and I will account it unto you as though you cleave to Him (Sifrei Devarim 49:2).

h.הוריש ה׳ THEN THE LORD WILL DRIVE OUT [ALL THESE NATIONS FROM BEFORE YOU] — If you do what devolves upon you, “I” will do what devolves upon Me (Sifrei Devarim 49:3; cf. Rashi on v. 14).

h.ועצמים מכם [YE SHALL POSSESS NATIONS] MIGHTIER THAN YOURSELVES — You are mighty, but they are mightier than you; for if this does not mean to suggest that the Israelites are mighty, what superiority is it that he ascribes to the Amorites by saying “mightier than yourselves”? But the meaning must be: you are mightier than other nations and they are mightier than you (cf. Sifrei Devarim 50:3).

h.לא יתיצב איש וגו׳ NO MAN SHALL STAND [BEFORE YOU] — I have here the statement only regarding a man! Whence may I derive that the same applies to a nation or a family or a woman with her witchcraft? Because it states: לא יתיצב, “there shall be no standing before you” — under any circumstances. — If this be so, why does it speak of a man? It means a man, be he even as Og, king of Bashan (Sifrei Devarim 52:1; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 3:11).

h.פחדם ומוראכם THE DREAD OF YOU AND THE FEAR OF YOU [THE LORD WILL PLACE UPON ALL THE LAND] — Is not, however, פחד the same as מורא? But פחדכם, “the dread of you”, refers to peoples near by, and מוראכם, “the fear of you” to those far away, for פחד denotes “sudden terror”, and מורא denotes apprehension enduring for many days (Sifrei Devarim 52:2; cf. Rashi on Sotah 20b and Niddah 71a; see also Rashi on Exodus 15:16 and Note p. 241 there).

h.כאשר דבר לכם AS HE HATH SAID TO YOU — And where did He say this? In Exodus 23:27: “I will send My terror before thee” (Sifrei Devarim 52:4).

h.ראה אנכי… ברכה וקללה BEHOLD I [SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY] A BLESSING AND A CURSE — those which are later to be recited on Mount Gerizim and on Mount Ebal respectively (cf. v. 29).

h.את הברכה [I SET BEFORE YOU] THE BLESSING — with the condition that you should obey (אשר תשמעו‎).

h.מן הדרך אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם היום ללכת וגו׳ [IF YE DEPART] FROM THE WAY WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY, TO GO [AFTER OTHER GODS] etc. — You thus learn that he who serves idols departs from the entire path of life that Israel has been commanded. From this passage they (the Rabbis) taught the well-known dictum that he who acknowledges the divinity of an idol is as though he denied the Torah in its entirety (Sifrei Devarim 54:4).

h.ונתת את הברכה THEN THOU SHALT PUT THE BLESSING [UPON MOUNT GERIZIM] — Understand this as the Targum renders it: ית מברכיא those who pronounce the blessing.

h.על הר גרזים means “towards Mount Gerizim”: they (the Levites) turned their faces towards it and began with a formula of blessing: “Blessed be the man that doth not make any graven or molten image etc.”. For each of the paragraphs beginning with the expression ארור as set forth in the chapter (Deuteronomy 27), they first recited in a converse form, beginning with the expression ברוך, “Blessed be etc.” and only afterwards did they turn their faces towards Mount Ebal and began to recite the corresponding curse (Sifrei Devarim 55:2; Sotah 32a; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 27).

h.הלא המה ARE THEY NOT [AT THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN … ]? — He gave geographical indications regarding them (the mountains).

h.אחרי [AT THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN,] AFTER — This means: behind the passage of the Jordan much further on in a distance, for that is the force of the expression אחרי, because wherever the term אחרי (in contradistinction to אחר; cf. Rashi on Genesis 15:1) is used it signifies “greatly separated” (Genesis Rabbah 44:5; cf. Sifrei Devarim 56:1; Sotah 33b).

h.דרך מבוא השמש [AT THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN, FAR DISTANT FROM IT] ON THE WAY OF THE SETTING OF THE SUN — i.e. beyond the Jordan towards the West. The accents in the verse prove that they (the word אחרי and the phrase דרך מבוא השמש) are two unconnected phrases since they bear two separate accents of a different character, viz., the word אחרי is marked by a Pashta (a disjunctive accent), and the word דרך is marked by a משפל (our Yetib), and also has a Dagesh. If, however, אחרי דרך formed one phrase, the word אחרי should be marked by a conjunctive accent, a שופר הפוך (our Mahpach) and דרך by a Pashta, while the ד of דרך would be ‘‘weak” (i.e. have no Dagesh; cf. Rashi on Joshua 7:15).

h.מול הגלגל means, distant from Gilgal (not near Gilgal).

h.אלוני מורה [BESIDE] THE TEREBINTHS OF MOREH — This is Shechem, for it states, (Genesis 12:6): “unto the place of Shechem, unto the terebinth of Moreh” (Sifrei Devarim 56:1; Sotah 33b; cf. Rashi on that verse).

h.כי אתם עברים את הירדן וגו׳ FOR YE SHALL PASS OVER THE JORDAN etc., — The miracles that will be wrought for you during your crossing of the Jordan shall be an omen for you that you will indeed come into and inherit the land (cf. Sifrei Devarim 57).