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Samaritan Deuteronomy

Samaritan Penteteuch

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Chapter 27

1 And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandment which I command you today. 2 And on the day you cross the Jordan to the land which Shema your God gives you, you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross, so that you may go in to the land which Shema your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Shema, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on [Mount] Ārgarizem,⁠ and you shall plaster them with plaster. 5 And there you shall build an altar to Shema your God, an altar of stones; you shall use no iron [tool] on them. 6 You shall build the altar to Shema your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burned offerings on it to Shema your God. 7 And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there, and you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God. 8 And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

9 And Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: “Pay attention and listen, Israel: Today you have become a holy people to Shema your God. 10 You shall therefore obey the voice of Shema your God, and keep his commandments and his decrees, which I command you today.” 11 And Moses instructed the people the same day, saying: 12 “These shall stand to bless the people on [Mount] Ārgarizem, when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites shall answer, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15 ‘The man who makes a carved or cast-metal image, detestable things to Shema, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret is cursed.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ 16 ‘Anyone who degrades his father or his mother is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 17 ‘Anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 18 ‘Anyone who misleads a blind man on the road is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 19 ‘Anyone who perverts the justice [due] to the orphan, the foreign resident, and the widow is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 20 ‘Anyone who has sex with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt, is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 21 ‘Anyone who has sex with any animal is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 22 ‘Anyone who has sex with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 23 ‘Anyone who has sex with his mother-in-law is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 24 ‘Anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25 ‘Anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26 ‘Anyone who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them is cursed.’⁠ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Texts in conversation

Compare Samaritan Deuteronomy 27:26 and Galatians 3:10

Samaritan · New Testament

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Summary

The Samaritan version of Deuteronomy 27 ends its curses on anyone who fails to keep all of the Torah, a word missing from Hebrew Deuteronomy. Paul's quotation in Galatians has it too, and Jerome later accused Jewish scribes of cutting it on purpose.

Passages

Samaritan Deuteronomy 27:26

Samaritan · Samaritan Penteteuch
24 ‘Anyone who strikes down his neighbor in secret is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25 ‘Anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26 ‘Anyone who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them is cursed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
130–120 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Samaritan Deuteronomy

Galatians 3:10

New Testament
10 For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law because the righteous one will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them.
48–55 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Galatians

References

“... For example, when commenting on the Gal. 3:10 citation of Deut 27:26a, Jerome accepted the SP variant over the proto-MT. The MT here reads: [...] Cursed is the one who does not uphold the words of this law to do them [...] In contrast, the SP reads: [...] Cursed is the one who does not uphold all the words of this law to do them [...] Here the SP is closer to the citation of this verse in Galatians: [...] Cursed is everyone who does not keep all which is written in the book of the law to do them. Jerome here accepts the Samaritan reading and criticises the Jews for deliberately removing ‘all’ in order to limit the scope of their obligation to the law (Waltke 1965, 5). ...”
Philip Mark Reid, “A Preliminary Investigation into the Samaritan Pentateuch as an Intralingual Translation” (MA diss., University of the Free State, 2021), 13.
“... For example, Morin believed that the MT intentionally left out a word in Deut 27:26. Jerome had already picked up a clue to the missing word from Paul who, citing the verse in Gal 3:10, adds the word pas: “Cursed be everyone who does not stand by all that is written in the book of law and do it.” Appropriately, in Morin’s thinking, the LXX likewise reads “all the words in the law” in the Deuteronomy passage. Whether or not the LXX preserves the original text, it seems likely to most scholars today that Paul quotes from the LXX in Gal 3. Some scholars suggest that the Samaritan textual tradition may have played an active role in the New Testament community, and that citations usually attributed to the LXX may well be Greek translations of the SP in the many instances at which the LXX and SP read the same. ...”
Robert T. Anderson and Terry Giles, The Samaritan Pentateuch: An Introduction to Its Origin, History, and Significance for Biblical Studies (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), 155.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Samaritan Deuteronomy 27:26 and Galatians 3:10

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