Ulangan 7:16

Exhortation to Destroy Canaanite Paganism

7:16 You must destroy ¹  all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship ²  their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Ulangan 13:11-16

13:11 Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you. ³ 

Punishment of Community Idolatry

13:12 Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13:13 some evil people ⁴  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ⁵  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ⁶  13:14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, ⁷  13:15 you must by all means ⁸  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ⁹  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹⁰  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ¹¹  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Ulangan 19:13

19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent ¹²  from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

Ulangan 19:21

19:21 You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot. ¹³ 

Ulangan 25:12

25:12 then you must cut off her hand – do not pity her.

[7:16]  ¹ tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”

[7:16]  ² tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[13:11]  ³ sn Some see in this statement an argument for the deterrent effect of capital punishment (Deut 17:13; 19:20; 21:21).

[13:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”

[13:13]  ⁵ tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”

[13:13]  ⁶ tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.

[13:14]  ⁷ tc Theodotian adds “in Israel,” perhaps to broaden the matter beyond the local village.

[13:15]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “by all means.” Cf. KJV, NASB “surely”; NIV “certainly.”

[13:15]  ⁹ tn Or “put under divine judgment. The Hebrew word (חֵרֶם, kherem) refers to placing persons or things under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction.Though primarily applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7). See also the note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.

[13:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “street.”

[13:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

[19:13]  ¹² sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).

[19:21]  ¹³ sn This kind of justice is commonly called lex talionis or “measure for measure” (cf. Exod 21:23-25; Lev 24:19-20). It is likely that it is the principle that is important and not always a strict application. That is, the punishment should fit the crime and it may do so by the payment of fines or other suitable and equitable compensation (cf. Exod 22:21; Num 35:31). See T. S. Frymer-Kensky, “Tit for Tat: The Principle of Equal Retribution in Near Eastern and Biblical Law,” BA 43 (1980): 230-34.