Source and scope. This study is based on H. P. Mansfield’s annotations in The Holy Bible with Brief Explanatory Notes (HPB), Deuteronomy section, pp. 41–42. Mansfield’s separately published Expositor on Deuteronomy is a distinct work and is consulted only as a secondary cross-check; this page is not the Expositor. The Masoretic/KJV reading is followed while the Samaritan Pentateuch variant is recorded.
Chapter Overview
After crossing the Jordan, Israel is to make covenant law a public witness: plastered stones carry the law, an altar receives sacrifice, and the tribes assemble in the Shechem region to hear blessing and curse. Twelve representative curses are proclaimed aloud and all the people answer “Amen,” personally affirming the covenant responsibility.
The Law on Plastered Stones — Deuteronomy 27:1–4
Deuteronomy 27:1–3 — Great stones and clear writing
Moses and Israel’s elders command obedience. After crossing the Jordan, Israel is to erect great stones, plaster them and write “all the words of this law” upon them. The exact extent of “this law”—the whole book of Deuteronomy, its central legal code or another defined corpus—is debated. The claim that the whole book certainly fit on the stones is plausible but cannot be demonstrated from this phrase alone.
Deuteronomy 27:2 — “On the day”
The ceremony is linked closely with the crossing. Joshua 8 records its fulfilment after the conquest of Ai rather than literally on the first calendar day after crossing. Hebrew bayyom can mark the occasion or time when something occurs; it need not require a strict same-day chronology.
Deuteronomy 27:4 — Ebal in the Masoretic text; Gerizim in the Samaritan Pentateuch
The Masoretic Text and KJV read Mount Ebal. The Samaritan Pentateuch famously reads Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan holy mountain. This is a major ancient textual variant. This study follows the KJV/Masoretic reading while explicitly recording the Samaritan reading rather than hiding the textual question.
Altar of Whole Stones — Deuteronomy 27:5–8
Deuteronomy 27:5–6 — No iron tool
An altar to Yahweh is to be built of whole, unhewn stones; no iron tool is to be lifted upon them. Exodus 20:25 gives the same principle. The direct requirement is the altar form Yahweh specified; typological applications about human shaping are secondary exposition.
Deuteronomy 27:6–7 — Burnt and peace offerings
Israel offers burnt offerings and peace offerings, eats and rejoices before Yahweh. The covenant sanctions are introduced within worship and fellowship, not as bare legal terror.
Deuteronomy 27:8 — Ba’er hetev
The law is to be written “very plainly”—made clear or well explained. The public witness must be intelligible, not esoteric.
“This Day Thou Art Become the People” — Deuteronomy 27:9–10
Deuteronomy 27:9 — Covenant renewal language
Moses and the Levitical priests call Israel to silence and hearing: “This day thou art become the people of Yahweh thy God.” Israel had long been Yahweh’s covenant people; this marks covenant reaffirmation and the identity of the new generation, not the nation’s literal first creation that day.
Deuteronomy 27:10 — Identity requires obedience
Israel is therefore to obey Yahweh’s voice and do his commandments and statutes.
Gerizim and Ebal — Deuteronomy 27:11–13
Deuteronomy 27:12 — Six tribes for blessing
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin stand by Mount Gerizim for the blessing.
Deuteronomy 27:13 — Six tribes for curse
Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali stand by Mount Ebal for the curse.
Tribal name sentences are secondary typology
Mansfield combines meanings of the twelve tribal names into devotional sentences. These name chains are secondary typology: personal-name etymologies are sometimes transparent and sometimes debated, and Scripture does not say that the two tribal lists encode hidden sentences.
The Levites and Twelve Curses — Deuteronomy 27:14–26
Deuteronomy 27:14 — Levites proclaim
The Levites proclaim the curses to all Israel. Levi is also listed among the tribes associated with Gerizim in verse 12. This need not be a contradiction: officiating Levites or priests can proclaim while the tribal representatives occupy their assigned positions.
Deuteronomy 27:15–19 — Idolatry and vulnerable justice
The curses condemn secretly setting up an image, dishonouring father or mother, moving a landmark, misleading a blind person, and perverting justice for the resident stranger, fatherless or widow.
Deuteronomy 27:20–23 — Sexual violations
The curses name sexual violations involving a father’s wife, an animal, a sister and a mother-in-law. They are presented as covenant prohibitions within ancient Israel’s law.
Deuteronomy 27:24–25 — Secret violence and bribery
The curses address secretly striking or killing a neighbour and taking a bribe to shed innocent blood.
Deuteronomy 27:26 — Uphold the law by doing
The final curse falls on the person who does not yaqim—uphold, establish or confirm—the words of the law by doing them. The standard Masoretic Hebrew does not contain an explicit kol, “all,” in this verse. Galatians 3:10 quotes the fuller Septuagint form, “all things which are written in the book of the law.” Paul’s apostolic argument stresses the Law’s comprehensive demand, but the Hebrew and Greek wording should be distinguished accurately.
All the people say “Amen”
After each curse, all Israel says amen, affirming the justice of the pronounced covenant sanction. The repeated response makes the responsibility personally acknowledged.
Galatians 3:10 — Apostolic Use
Paul quotes the principle of Deuteronomy 27:26 to demonstrate the liability of relying on works of law while failing its comprehensive demand. His quotation follows the Greek/Septuagint wording. This is direct New Testament interpretation, not merely Mansfield’s typology.
Principal Themes
- The exact amount of law written on the stones is uncertain.
- Bayyom need not require the entire ceremony on the first calendar day after crossing Jordan.
- Mount Ebal is the Masoretic/KJV reading; the Samaritan Pentateuch has Mount Gerizim.
- Whole, unhewn stones follow Yahweh’s altar specification.
- “This day” marks covenant renewal, not Israel’s first-ever national creation.
- Tribal name sentences are devotional constructions, not encoded revelation asserted by the text.
- Levitical proclamation can coexist with Levi’s assignment by Gerizim.
- The twelve curses address idolatry, family contempt, injustice, sexual sin and secret violence.
- “Amen” is Israel’s affirmation of the covenant sanctions.
- Galatians 3:10 directly uses the final curse, following the Septuagint wording.