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Deuteronomy KJV

Deuteronomy KJV: King James Version

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15

Really beautiful. One of the great speeches in all of literature. I'm a sucker for long-form speeches like this, where a person just lays out everything they think in an organized manner. There's also neat ancient near-eastern structural and genre things going on here, in terms of how contracts and covenants worked.

Did Moses write it? I don't know. Not sure if it matters. Like Ecclesiastes, this is more likely a book written in the sytle of Moses. Some of the grammar and vocabulary are very late-Hebrew, denoting the post-Babylonian period; which could indicate either editorial changes or late-authorship (and late-authorship could be based on long-standing oral traditions of things Moses said), but neither changes the effect of the book.

Basically, Deuteronomy is a neat book, and the KJV translation is really beautiful.


Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
June 25, 2023