לא תספו YE SHALL NOT ADD — For instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab And to place five fringes on one’s garment. Thus, too, must we explain the following words ולא תגרעו, Ye shall not diminish [from it]" (Sifrei Devarim 82:4).

ושמרתם AND YE SHALL BE ON THE WATCH [TO DO] — This refers to the study of the laws (Sifrei Devarim 58),

ועשיתם — this must be explained according to what it implies: AND YE SHALL DO.

כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם וגו׳ FOR THIS IS YOUR WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING [IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLES] — i.e. through this ye will be accounted wise and understanding men in the eyes of the peoples.

חקים ומשפטים צדיקים STATUTES AND RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS — i.e. proper and acceptable ones.

רק השמר לך … פן תשכח את הדברים ONLY TAKE HEED TO THYSELF … LEST THOU FORGET THE THINGS — But only then when you do not forget them but will do them in their correct manner, will you be accounted wise and understanding men, but if you do them in an incorrect manner through forgetfulness, you will be accounted foolish.

יום אשר עמדת THE DAY THAT THOU STOODEST — This is to be connected with the preceding verse thus: [The things] which thine eyes saw … on the day that thou stoodest … at Horeb, — where thou didst perceive the thunder and lightning.

יִלְמְדוּן — The Targum is יֵלְפוּן, “They shall learn" (more lit., the action reverts to themselves), while —

יְלַמֵּדוּן the Targum is יְאַלְפוּן, “They shall teach" (more lit., the action reverts to others).

ואתי צוה, ה' ללמד אתכם AND THE LORD COMMANDED ME TO TEACH YOU, the Oral Law.

סמל means “form”.

ופן תשא עיניך AND LEST THOU LIFT UP THINE EYES to ponder on the matter, and to set your heart to go astray after them.

אשר חלק ה׳ WHICH THE LORD ASSIGNED to give light to them (to all peoples) (Megillah 9b). — Another explanation: which God assigned to them as deities; He did not prevent them from going astray after them, but He allowed them to err (to slip) through vain speculations, in order to drive them out from the world. Similarly it states, (Psalms 36:3) "He (God) made him err (slip) through his eyes (i.e. through what his eyes behold) until his iniquity be found and he be hated” (Avodah Zarah 55a).

מכור — a כור is a vessel in which one refines gold.

התאנף means, HE WAS FILLED WITH WRATH.

על דבריכם means, "on your account”, "because of your doings”.

כי אנכי מת וגו' אינני עבר BUT I MUST DIE [IN THIS LAND], I MUST NOT PASS OVER [THE JORDAN] — Since he was to die, how could he pass over? But he meant: I must die and even my bones will not pass over (Sifrei Bamidbar 135).

תמונת כל means, THE LIKENESS OF ANYTHING.

אשר צוך WHICH THE LORD [THY GOD] COMMANDED THEE — i.e. which He commanded you not to make.

אל קנא A JEALOUS GOD — jealous to take vengeance, in O. F. emportment; glowing in his anger to exact punishment from those who worship idols (cf. Rashi on Numbers 25:11).

ונושנתם AND YE SHALL HAVE BEEN LONG [IN THE LAND] — He gave them a vague intimation that they would be exiled from it at the end of 852 years, according to the numerical value of the word ונושנתם, but He sent them into exile earlier, at the end of 850 years. He did this two years earlier than the numerical value of ונושנתם, in order that the prophecy should not be fulfilled in them “that ye shall utterly perish” (v. 26). This is the meaning of what is said, (Daniel 9:14) “And the Lord hastened in regard to the evil, and He brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is צדיק” — i.e., He acted charitably (צדקה) with us, in that He brought it (the evil) two years before its assigned time (Sanhedrin 38a; Gittin 88a).

העידתי בכם I CALL AS WITNESSES AGAINST YOU [THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH] — Behold I summon them to be witnesses that I have warned you.

ועבדתם שם אלהים AND THERE YE SHALL SERVE GODS — Understand this as the Targum does: And there ye shall serve peoples who serve idols, for since you serve those who serve them (idols) it will be as though you serve them.

לא ירפך means, He will not let loose of thee so as not to hold thee fast by His hands. The expression לא ירפך is an expression signifying: He will not cause something (our Hiphil) — He will not give thee any looseness, i.e. He will not separate you from Him. Similar is (Song 3:4) “I hold him fast, and I will not let him loose (אַרְפֶּנוּ )”, which is not vowelled אֶרְפֶּנוּ (which is Kal and an impossible form of the root רפה “to be loose”). Always the expression “letting slack (רפה)” in the Hiphil refers to one who causes looseness to others or to one who causes it to himself. For example (2 Kings 4:2) הרפה לה means, “give her looseness”; (Deuteronomy 9:14) הרף ממני means, “Give looseness to thyself from off me”.

לימים ראשנים is the same as על ימים ראשנים [ASK NOW] REGARDING THE FORMER DAYS.

ולמקצה השמים AND FROM ONE END OF HEAVEN — i.e. and also ask of all the creatures from one end to the other end of heaven. This is its plain sense, but a Midrashic explanation is: it teaches us regarding Adam's height, that it reached from earth to heaven, and that this is the very same measurement as from one end of heaven to the other (Sanhedrin 38b).

הנהיה כדבר הגדול הזה [ASK] … WHETHER THERE HATH BEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS GREAT THING — And what is the great thing? What is stated in the two following verses: השמע עם וגו׳ DID EVER A PEOPLE HEAR, etc., and

הנסה אלהים which means, HAS ANY GOD DONE MIRACLES (לבוא לקחת לו גוי וגו׳ ,(נס TO GO AND TAKE HIM A NATION [FROM THE MIDST OF A NATION] etc. — All these letters ה are interrogative prefixes, and therefore they are vowelled with Chataph Patach: הֲנהיה, הֲנשמע, הֲשמע, הֲנסה.

במסות BY TRIALS — through trials imposed upon Him He showed them His mighty deeds, as e.g., (Exodus 8:5) “Boast yourself over Me”, whether I am able to do so: here you have a trial (putting God to the proof).

באתת i.e. BY SIGNS to confirm that he is the messenger of the Omnipresent, as e.g., (Exodus 4:2) “What is that in your hand?"

ובמפתים these are WONDERS: — that He brought upon them (the Egyptians) wondrous plagues.

ובמלחמה AND BY WAR, at the Red Sea, as it is said, (Exodus 14:25) “For the Lord fought for them".

הראת — Understand this as the Targum has it: Thou hast been shown. When the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah, He rent open to them the seven heavens, and just as he rent open the higher regions so did He rend open the lower, so that they saw that He was alone (sole God). On this account it is stated, "Thou hast been shown that thou mayest know [that the Lord is God, there is none besides Him]" (Pesikta Rabbati 20 towards the end).

ותחת כי אהב AND BECAUSE HE LOVED — i.e., and all this was because He loved thy fathers.

ויוצאך בפניו AND HE BROUGHT THEE OUT BEFORE HIM — like a man who leads his son before him, as it is said, (Exodus 14:19) “And the angel of the Lord that went [before them] moved and went behind them" (see Rashi on that verse). — Another explanation of ויוצאך בפניו AND HE BROUGHT THEE FORTH IN HIS PRESENCE: — i.e. in the presence of his fathers, as it is said, (Psalms 78:12; see Rashi on that verse), “In the presence of their fathers He did wonders". Do not be surprised that it refers to them (the fathers) in the singular number (by בפניו), for you see it has already written about them in the singular number, viz., “And he chose his seed after him" (instead of “their seed after them").

ממך מפניך — Invert it (the order of the words) and then explain it accordingly: to dispossess from before thee (מפניך) nations greater and mightier than thee (ממך)

כיום הזה AS AT THIS DAY — i.e., As you see today.

אז יבדיל — The imperfect form יבדיל instead of הבדיל is to be thus explained (cf. Rashi on Exodus 15:1): He set his attention to be zealous for the matter, — to set them apart. And although they were not to serve as cities of refuge until those of Canaan proper (the western side of the Jordan) were set apart for that purpose, Moses said, Any duty that it is possible for me to perform I will perform (Makkot 10a).

בעבר הירדן מזרחה שמש ON THE SIDE OF THE JORDAN TOWARDS THE SUN-RISING — i.e. on that side which is on the east of Jordan (not the side of the Jordan that is east of Canaan proper).

מזרחה שמש — Because it (the word מזרחה) is in the construct state the ר is vowelled with Chataph (vocal Sheva), the meaning being, “the rising of the sun", i.e., the place of the sun's rising.

וזאת התורה AND THIS IS THE LAW — this which he was about to set forth after this chapter.

אלה העדות … אשר דבר THESE ARE THE TESTIMONIES … WHICH [MOSES] SPAKE — Those are the very same testimonies which he spoke when they came forth from Egypt; and he again repeated it (this law) to them in the plains of Moab.

אשר בעבר הירדן WHO WERE BEYOND THE JORDAN — On the east side of Jordan, because the other side was on the west. [This means on the side opposite the western side.]