Deuteronomy 27:4

4 quando ergo transieritis Iordanem erige lapides quos ego hodie praecipio vobis in monte Hebal et levigabis calce

Deuteronomy 27:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 27:4

And therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan
Some time after they had passed that river:

[that] ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in
Mount Ebal;
a mountain near Shechem in Samaria, and was, as Benjamin of Tudela says F18, dry as stones and rocks itself, and perhaps had its name, as some think F19, from the root in the Arabic language which signifies to strip a tree of its leaves, and a derivative from it, white stones and a mountain in which such are found. Hither the stones commanded to be set up were to be brought, and fixed here; from whence it is not certain; it may be from some part of the mountain. Here the Samaritan version has Gerizim instead of Ebal, which is generally thought to be a wilful corruption of the Samaritans, in favour of their temple built at Gerizim:

and thou shall plaster them with plaster;
as before directed, ( Deuteronomy 27:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Itinerar. p. 40.
F19 Reland. Dissert. 3. de Monte Gerizim, p. 128. See Castel. Lexic. Heptaglott col 2642.

Deuteronomy 27:4 In-Context

2 cumque transieritis Iordanem in terram quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi eriges ingentes lapides et calce levigabis eos
3 ut possis in eis scribere omnia verba legis huius Iordane transmisso ut introeas terram quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi terram lacte et melle manantem sicut iuravit patribus tuis
4 quando ergo transieritis Iordanem erige lapides quos ego hodie praecipio vobis in monte Hebal et levigabis calce
5 et aedificabis ibi altare Domino Deo tuo de lapidibus quos ferrum non tetigit
6 et de saxis informibus et inpolitis et offeres super eo holocausta Domino Deo tuo
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.