John Calvin on Deuteronomy 29:7-9

7. And when ye came unto this place. This, a third instance (of God’s goodness), because He had smitten the first enemies, who encountered them to impede their passage, and thus had already begun to bring them into a place of rest. For inasmuch as the two tribes and a half had here chosen their home, they might behold as in a mirror that the possession of the promised land awaited them. Hence, then, Moses concludes that they were under obligation to keep the law, and exhorts them to shew their gratitude by faithful and sincere obedience. The object, therefore, of the recital is, to procure reverent attention to his doctrine; since the word שכל, תשכילו; A. V., that ye may prosper. S.M., ut prudenter agatis; but he adds, the Hebrews, explain this word by הצליחו, “that ye may prosper.” The Hiphil of שכל, says Simon’s Lexicon, is to act prudently, and by a metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent, to proceed prosperously. — W. shakal, in Hiphil, means to act successfully as well as prudently. I have set down both readings, since they are alike suitable to the sense. For we have seen in chapter 4, that this was the people’s only wisdom to obey God’s statutes; nor was their prosperity to be expected from any other source except God’s blessing, which is everywhere promised to the Israelites, if they keep the law.

Deuteronomy 8

Deuteronomy 8:7-10

7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

7. Quia Jehova Deus tuus introducit to in terram bonam, terram ubi torrentes, aquarum fontes, et abyssi erumpentes per valles et colles.

8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive and honey;

8. Terram frumenti, et hordei, vitis et ficus, et malogranati: terram oleae oliviferae, et mellis.

9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

9. Terram in qua non comedes panem in penuria, nee ulla re indigebis: terram cujus lapides sunt ferrum, et e cujus montibus effodies aes.

10. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

10. Comedes igitur, et satiaberis: et tunc benedices Jehovae Deo tuo in terra illa quam dedit tibi.

DEUTERONOMY 11

A REPETITION OF THE SAME DECLARATION

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

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:

10. Terra enim quam tu ingrederis ut possideas eam, non est sicut terra Aegypti, ex qua egressi estis, in qua seminabas semen tuum, et irrigabas pede tuo, ut hortum oleris.

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

11. At terra ad quam vos transibitis ut possideatis eam, terra montium et vallium est: de pluvia coeli bibes aquam.

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.

12. Est terra quam Jehova Deus tuus requirit: semper sunt oculi Jehovae Dei tui in ca, a principio anni usque ad extremum anni.