Ulangan 19:1--26:19
Konteks19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he 1 is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities 2 in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. 19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent 3 of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. 19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, 4 if he has accidentally killed another 5 without hating him at the time of the accident. 6 19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else 7 to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax 8 to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose 9 from the handle and strikes 10 his fellow worker 11 so hard that he dies. The person responsible 12 may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. 13 19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, 14 and kill him, 15 though this is not a capital case 16 since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. 19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors 17 and gives you all the land he pledged to them, 18 19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments 19 I am giving 20 you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities 21 to these three. 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood 22 in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. 23 19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else 24 and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, 25 and then flees to one of these cities. 19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger 26 to die. 19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent 27 from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
19:14 You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, 28 which will have been defined 29 in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 30
19:15 A single witness may not testify 31 against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established 32 only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 19:16 If a false 33 witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, 34 19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges 35 who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, 36 19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge 37 evil from among you. 19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. 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. 38
20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry 39 and troops 40 who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. 20:2 As you move forward for battle, the priest 41 will approach and say to the soldiers, 42 20:3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, 20:4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” 43 20:5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, 44 “Who among you 45 has built a new house and not dedicated 46 it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else 47 dedicate it. 20:6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. 20:7 Or who among you 48 has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” 20:8 In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s 49 heart as fearful 50 as his own.” 20:9 Then, when the officers have finished speaking, 51 they must appoint unit commanders 52 to lead the troops.
20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 20:11 If it accepts your terms 53 and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. 54 20:12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 20:13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you 55 and you must kill every single male by the sword. 20:14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you. 20:15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.
20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that 56 the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing 57 to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them 58 – the Hittites, 59 Amorites, 60 Canaanites, 61 Perizzites, 62 Hivites, 63 and Jebusites 64 – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship 65 their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, 66 you must not chop down its trees, 67 for you may eat fruit 68 from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! 69 20:20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, 70 and you may use it to build siege works 71 against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.
21:1 If a homicide victim 72 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 73 and no one knows who killed 74 him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. 75 21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse 76 must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, 77 to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. 78 There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests 79 will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, 80 and to decide 81 every judicial verdict 82 ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse 83 must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 84 21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we 85 witnessed the crime. 86 21:8 Do not blame 87 your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” 88 Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before 89 the Lord.
21:10 When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail 90 and you take prisoners, 21:11 if you should see among them 91 an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, 92 trim her nails, 21:13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, 93 and stay 94 in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations 95 with her and become her husband and she your wife. 21:14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go 96 where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell 97 her; 98 you must not take advantage of 99 her, since you have already humiliated 100 her.
21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, 101 and they both 102 bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. 21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance 103 he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other 104 wife’s son who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved 105 wife as firstborn and give him the double portion 106 of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power 107 – to him should go the right of the firstborn.
21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, 108 21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 21:20 They must declare to the elders 109 of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out 110 wickedness from among you, and all Israel 111 will hear about it and be afraid.
21:22 If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse 112 on a tree, 21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury 113 him that same day, for the one who is left exposed 114 on a tree is cursed by God. 115 You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22:1 When you see 116 your neighbor’s 117 ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; 118 you must return it without fail 119 to your neighbor. 22:2 If the owner 120 does not live 121 near you or you do not know who the owner is, 122 then you must corral the animal 123 at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him. 22:3 You shall do the same to his donkey, his clothes, or anything else your neighbor 124 has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved. 125 22:4 When you see 126 your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; 127 instead, you must be sure 128 to help him get the animal on its feet again. 129
22:5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, 130 nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive 131 to the Lord your God.
22:6 If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, 132 you must not take the mother from the young. 133 22:7 You must be sure 134 to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
22:8 If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail 135 around your roof to avoid being culpable 136 in the event someone should fall from it.
22:9 You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled. 137 22:10 You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together. 22:11 You must not wear clothing made with wool and linen meshed together. 138 22:12 You shall make yourselves tassels 139 for the four corners of the clothing you wear.
22:13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, 140 and then rejects 141 her, 22:14 accusing her of impropriety 142 and defaming her reputation 143 by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations 144 with her I discovered she was not a virgin!” 22:15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity 145 for the elders of the city at the gate. 22:16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected 146 her. 22:17 Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out 147 before the city’s elders. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish 148 him. 22:19 They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation 149 ruined the reputation 150 of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
22:20 But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, 22:21 the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing 151 in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge 152 evil from among you.
22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with 153 a married woman 154 both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge 155 evil from Israel.
22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 156 her in the city and has sexual relations with 157 her, 22:24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated 158 his neighbor’s fiancée; 159 in this way you will purge 160 evil from among you. 22:25 But if the man came across 161 the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped 162 her, then only the rapist 163 must die. 22:26 You must not do anything to the young woman – she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person 164 and murders him, 22:27 for the man 165 met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
22:28 Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes 166 her and they are discovered. 22:29 The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
22:30 (23:1) 167 A man may not marry 168 his father’s former 169 wife and in this way dishonor his father. 170
23:1 A man with crushed 171 or severed genitals 172 may not enter the assembly of the Lord. 173 23:2 A person of illegitimate birth 174 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. 175
23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite 176 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever 177 do so, 178 23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired 179 Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed 180 the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves 181 you. 23:6 You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come. 23:7 You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; 182 you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner 183 in his land. 23:8 Children of the third generation born to them 184 may enter the assembly of the Lord.
23:9 When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure. 185 23:10 If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, 186 he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately. 23:11 When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.
23:12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. 187 23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself 188 outside you must dig a hole with the spade 189 and then turn and cover your excrement. 190 23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat 191 your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent 192 among you and turn away from you.
23:15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 193 23:16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages 194 he prefers; you must not oppress him.
23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute 195 among the young women 196 of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute 197 among the young men 198 of Israel. 23:18 You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute 199 or the wage of a male prostitute 200 into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.
23:19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, 201 whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. 23:20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess. 23:21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he 202 will surely 203 hold you accountable as a sinner. 204 23:22 If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful. 23:23 Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering. 23:24 When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, 205 but you must not take away any in a container. 206 23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, 207 but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.
24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive 208 in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 24:2 When she has left him 209 she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects 210 her and then divorces her, 211 gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry 212 her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. 213 You must not bring guilt on the land 214 which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 215 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 216 the wife he has married.
24:6 One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. 217
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 218 and regards him as mere property 219 and sells him, that kidnapper 220 must die. In this way you will purge 221 evil from among you.
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 222 all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. 24:9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam 223 along the way after you left Egypt.
24:10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security. 224 24:11 You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security. 225 24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 226 24:13 You must by all means 227 return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just 228 deed by the Lord your God.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 229 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 230 24:15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
24:16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children 231 do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.
24:17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this. 24:19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, 232 you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. 233 24:20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; 234 the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; 235 they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.
25:1 If controversy arises between people, 236 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 237 hear the case, they shall exonerate 238 the innocent but condemn 239 the guilty. 25:2 Then, 240 if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, 241 the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 242 25:3 The judge 243 may sentence him to forty blows, 244 but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite 245 with contempt.
25:4 You must not muzzle your 246 ox when it is treading grain.
25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, 247 and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. 248 25:6 Then 249 the first son 250 she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she 251 must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 25:8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 25:9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. 252 She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 253 25:10 His family name will be referred to 254 in Israel as “the family 255 of the one whose sandal was removed.” 256
25:11 If two men 257 get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals, 258 25:12 then you must cut off her hand – do not pity her.
25:13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, 259 a heavy and a light one. 260 25:14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, 261 a large and a small one. 25:15 You must have an accurate and correct 262 stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. 25:16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent 263 to the Lord your God.
25:17 Remember what the Amalekites 264 did to you on your way from Egypt, 25:18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. 265 25:19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he 266 is giving you as an inheritance, 267 you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven 268 – do not forget! 269
26:1 When 270 you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 26:2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he 271 chooses to locate his name. 272 26:3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your 273 God that I have come into the land that the Lord 274 promised 275 to our ancestors 276 to give us.” 26:4 The priest will then take the basket from you 277 and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 26:5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering 278 Aramean 279 was my ancestor, 280 and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, 281 but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 26:6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 26:7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he 282 heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 26:8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, 283 as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 26:9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 26:10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. 284 26:11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, 285 along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.
26:12 When you finish tithing all 286 your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows 287 so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. 288 26:13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering 289 from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. 290 I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 26:14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; 291 I have obeyed you 292 and have done everything you have commanded me. 26:15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.”
26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 293 26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 26:18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 26:19 Then 294 he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. 295 You will 296 be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.
[19:1] 1 tn Heb “the
[19:2] 2 sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
[19:4] 4 tn Heb “and this is the word pertaining to the one who kills who flees there and lives.”
[19:4] 5 tn Heb “who strikes his neighbor without knowledge.”
[19:4] 6 tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing. Cf. NAB “had previously borne no malice”; NRSV “had not been at enmity before.”
[19:5] 7 tn Heb “his neighbor” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “his friend.”
[19:5] 8 tn Heb “and he raises his hand with the iron.”
[19:5] 9 tn Heb “the iron slips off.”
[19:5] 11 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[19:5] 12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person responsible for his friend’s death) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[19:6] 14 tn Heb “and overtake him, for the road is long.”
[19:6] 15 tn Heb “smite with respect to life,” that is, fatally.
[19:6] 16 tn Heb “no judgment of death.”
[19:8] 18 tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.
[19:9] 19 tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
[19:9] 20 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”
[19:9] 21 sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.
[19:10] 22 tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).
[19:10] 23 tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”
[19:11] 24 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[19:11] 25 tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”
[19:12] 26 tn The גֹאֵל הַדָּם (go’el haddam, “avenger of blood”) would ordinarily be a member of the victim’s family who, after due process of law, was invited to initiate the process of execution (cf. Num 35:16-28). See R. Hubbard, NIDOTTE 1:789-94.
[19:13] 27 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).
[19:14] 28 tn Heb “border.” Cf. NRSV “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker.”
[19:14] 29 tn Heb “which they set off from the beginning.”
[19:14] 30 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.” This phrase has been left untranslated to avoid redundancy.
[19:15] 31 tn Heb “rise up” (likewise in v. 16).
[19:15] 32 tn Heb “may stand.”
[19:16] 33 tn Heb “violent” (חָמָס, khamas). This is a witness whose motivation from the beginning is to do harm to the accused and who, therefore, resorts to calumny and deceit. See I. Swart and C. VanDam, NIDOTTE 2:177-80.
[19:16] 34 tn Or “rebellion.” Rebellion against God’s law is in view (cf. NAB “of a defection from the law”).
[19:17] 35 tn The appositional construction (“before the
[19:18] 36 tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).
[19:19] 37 tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).
[19:21] 38 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.
[20:1] 39 tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
[20:2] 41 sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).
[20:2] 42 tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.”
[20:4] 43 tn Or “to save you” (so KJV, NASB, NCV); or “to deliver you.”
[20:5] 44 tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).
[20:5] 45 tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).
[20:5] 46 tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חָנֻכָּה, khanukah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61).
[20:5] 47 tn Heb “another man.”
[20:7] 48 tn Heb “Who [is] the man.”
[20:8] 49 tn Heb “his brother’s.”
[20:9] 51 tn The Hebrew text includes “to the people,” but this phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[20:9] 52 tn Heb “princes of hosts.”
[20:11] 53 tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”
[20:11] 54 tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).
[20:13] 55 tn Heb “to your hands.”
[20:16] 56 tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”
[20:16] 57 tn Heb “any breath.”
[20:17] 58 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”
[20:17] sn The Hebrew verb refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. See also the note on the phrase “the divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
[20:17] 59 sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
[20:17] 60 sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
[20:17] 61 sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
[20:17] 62 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
[20:17] 63 sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
[20:17] 64 tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).
[20:17] sn Jebusite. These people inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
[20:18] 65 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
[20:19] 66 tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”
[20:19] 67 tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).
[20:19] 68 tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[20:19] 69 tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”
[20:20] 70 tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.”
[20:20] 71 tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.
[21:1] 72 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
[21:1] 73 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:1] 74 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
[21:2] 75 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
[21:3] 76 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:4] 77 tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
[21:4] 78 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.
[21:5] 79 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
[21:5] 80 tn Heb “in the name of the
[21:5] 81 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
[21:5] 82 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
[21:6] 83 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:6] 84 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
[21:7] 85 tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).
[21:7] 86 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:8] 88 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
[21:9] 89 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
[21:10] 90 tn Heb “gives him into your hands.”
[21:11] 91 tn Heb “the prisoners.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
[21:12] 92 sn This requirement for the woman to shave her head may symbolize the putting away of the old life and customs in preparation for being numbered among the people of the
[21:13] 93 tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”
[21:13] 94 tn Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”
[21:13] 95 tn Heb “go unto,” a common Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations.
[21:14] 96 sn Heb “send her off.” The Hebrew term שִׁלַּחְתָּה (shillakhtah) is a somewhat euphemistic way of referring to divorce, the matter clearly in view here (cf. Deut 22:19, 29; 24:1, 3; Jer 3:1; Mal 2:16). This passage does not have the matter of divorce as its principal objective, so it should not be understood as endorsing divorce generally. It merely makes the point that if grounds for divorce exist (see Deut 24:1-4), and then divorce ensues, the husband could in no way gain profit from it.
[21:14] 97 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by the words “in any case.”
[21:14] 98 tn The Hebrew text includes “for money.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:14] 99 tn Or perhaps “must not enslave her” (cf. ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); Heb “[must not] be tyrannical over.”
[21:14] 100 sn You have humiliated her. Since divorce was considered rejection, the wife subjected to it would “lose face” in addition to the already humiliating event of having become a wife by force (21:11-13). Furthermore, the Hebrew verb translated “humiliated” here (עָנָה, ’anah), commonly used to speak of rape (cf. Gen 34:2; 2 Sam 13:12, 14, 22, 32; Judg 19:24), likely has sexual overtones as well. The woman may not be enslaved or abused after the divorce because it would be double humiliation (see also E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy [NAC], 291).
[21:15] 101 tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.
[21:15] 102 tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
[21:16] 103 tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”
[21:16] 104 tn Heb “the hated.”
[21:17] 105 tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.
[21:17] 106 tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (piy shÿnayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).
[21:17] 107 tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ’on; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the first fruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”
[21:18] 108 tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”
[21:20] 109 tc The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.
[21:21] 110 tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (bi’artah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר, ba’ar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.
[21:21] 111 tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannish’arim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.
[21:23] 113 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”
[21:23] 114 tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”
[21:23] 115 sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).
[22:1] 116 tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
[22:1] 117 tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”
[22:1] 118 tn Heb “hide yourself.”
[22:1] 119 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
[22:2] 120 tn Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).
[22:2] 121 tn Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.
[22:2] 122 tn Heb “and you do not know him.”
[22:2] 123 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:3] 124 tn Heb “your brother” (also in v. 4).
[22:3] 125 tn Heb “you must not hide yourself.”
[22:4] 126 tn Heb “you must not see.” See note at 22:1.
[22:4] 127 tn Heb “and (must not) hide yourself from them.”
[22:4] 128 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “be sure.”
[22:4] 129 tn Heb “help him to lift them up.” In keeping with English style the singular is used in the translation, and the referent (“the animal”) has been specified for clarity.
[22:5] 130 tn Heb “a man’s clothing.”
[22:5] 131 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “offense”) speaks of anything that runs counter to ritual or moral order, especially (in the OT) to divine standards. Cross-dressing in this covenant context may suggest homosexuality, fertility cult ritual, or some other forbidden practice.
[22:6] 132 tn Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”
[22:6] 133 tn Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.
[22:7] 134 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”
[22:8] 135 tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”
[22:8] 136 tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
[22:9] 137 tn Heb “set apart.” The verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) in the Qal verbal stem (as here) has the idea of being holy or being treated with special care. Some take the meaning as “be off-limits, forfeited,” i.e., the total produce of the vineyard, both crops and grapes, have to be forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. Exod 29:37; 30:29; Lev 6:18, 27; Num 16:37-38; Hag 2:12).
[22:11] 138 tn The Hebrew term שַׁעַטְנֵז (sha’atnez) occurs only here and in Lev 19:19. HALOT 1610-11 s.v. takes it to be a contraction of words (שַׁשׁ [shash, “headdress”] + עַטְנַז [’atnaz, “strong”]). BDB 1043 s.v. שַׁעַטְנֵז offers the translation “mixed stuff” (cf. NEB “woven with two kinds of yarn”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “woven together”). The general meaning is clear even if the etymology is not.
[22:12] 139 tn Heb “twisted threads” (גְּדִלִים, gÿdilim) appears to be synonymous with צִיצִת (tsitsit) which, in Num 15:38, occurs in a passage instructing Israel to remember the covenant. Perhaps that is the purpose of the tassels here as well. Cf. KJV, ASV “fringes”; NAB “twisted cords.”
[22:13] 140 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.
[22:13] 141 tn Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15. Cf. NAB “comes to dislike”; NASB “turns against”; TEV “decides he doesn’t want.”
[22:14] 142 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
[22:14] 143 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
[22:14] 144 tn Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.
[22:15] 145 sn In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 302-3.
[22:16] 146 tn Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[22:17] 147 tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
[22:18] 148 tn Heb “discipline.”
[22:19] 149 tn Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.
[22:19] 150 tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
[22:21] 151 tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nÿvalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”
[22:21] 152 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
[22:22] 153 tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.
[22:22] 154 tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
[22:22] 155 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:23] 157 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:24] 160 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:25] 161 tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
[22:25] 162 tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
[22:25] 163 tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
[22:26] 164 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[22:27] 165 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:28] 166 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:30] 167 sn Beginning with 22:30, the verse numbers through 23:25 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:30 ET = 23:1 HT, 23:1 ET = 23:2 HT, 23:2 ET = 23:3 HT, etc., through 23:25 ET = 23:26 HT. With 24:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
[22:30] 168 tn Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”
[22:30] 169 sn This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his stepmother while his father was still married to her.
[22:30] 170 tn Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so ASV, NASB). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. NAB, NIV “dishonor his father’s bed”).
[23:1] 171 tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”
[23:1] 172 tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”
[23:1] 173 sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.
[23:2] 174 tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”
[23:2] 175 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:3] 176 sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).
[23:3] 177 tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.
[23:3] 178 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:4] 179 tn Heb “hired against you.”
[23:5] 180 tn Heb “the
[23:5] 181 tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.
[23:7] 183 tn Heb “sojourner.”
[23:8] 184 sn Concessions were made to the Edomites and Egyptians (as compared to the others listed in vv. 1-6) because the Edomites (i.e., Esauites) were full “brothers” of Israel and the Egyptians had provided security and sustenance for Israel for more than four centuries.
[23:9] 185 tn Heb “evil.” The context makes clear that this is a matter of ritual impurity, not moral impurity, so it is “evil” in the sense that it disbars one from certain religious activity.
[23:10] 186 tn Heb “nocturnal happening.” The Hebrew term קָרֶה (qareh) merely means “to happen” so the phrase here is euphemistic (a “night happening”) for some kind of bodily emission such as excrement or semen. Such otherwise normal physical functions rendered one ritually unclean whether accidental or not. See Lev 15:16-18; 22:4.
[23:12] 187 tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 188 tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 189 tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[23:13] 190 tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.
[23:14] 191 tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”
[23:14] 192 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE 3:528-30.
[23:15] 193 tn The Hebrew text includes “from his master,” but this would be redundant in English style.
[23:17] 195 tn The Hebrew term translated “sacred prostitute” here (קְדֵשָׁה [qÿdeshah], from קַדֵשׁ [qadesh, “holy”]; cf. NIV “shrine prostitute”; NASB “cult prostitute”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “temple prostitute”) refers to the pagan fertility cults that employed female and male prostitutes in various rituals designed to evoke agricultural and even human fecundity (cf. Gen 38:21-22; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7; Hos 4:14). The Hebrew term for a regular, noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute is זוֹנָה (zonah).
[23:17] 196 tn Heb “daughters.”
[23:17] 197 tn The male cultic prostitute was called קָדֵשׁ (qadesh; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” earlier in this verse). The colloquial Hebrew term for a “secular” male prostitute (i.e., a sodomite) is the disparaging epithet כֶּלֶב (kelev, “dog”) which occurs in the following verse (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).
[23:18] 199 tn Here the Hebrew term זוֹנָה (zonah) refers to a noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” in v. 17.
[23:18] 200 tn Heb “of a dog.” This is the common Hebrew term for a noncultic (i.e., “secular”) male prostitute. See note on the phrase “sacred male prostitute” in v. 17.
[23:19] 201 tn Heb “to your brother” (likewise in the following verse). Since this is not limited to actual siblings, “fellow Israelite” is used in the translation (cf. NAB, NASB “countrymen”).
[23:21] 202 tn Heb “the
[23:21] 203 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by “surely.”
[23:21] 204 tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you”; NIV, NCV, NLT “be guilty of sin.”
[23:24] 205 tn Heb “grapes according to your appetite, your fullness.”
[23:24] 206 tn Heb “in your container”; NAB, NIV “your basket.”
[23:25] 207 sn For the continuation of these practices into NT times see Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.
[24:1] 208 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).
[24:2] 209 tn Heb “his house.”
[24:3] 210 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[24:3] 211 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
[24:4] 212 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
[24:4] 213 sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
[24:4] 214 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
[24:5] 215 tn Heb “go out with.”
[24:5] 216 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
[24:6] 217 sn Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.
[24:7] 218 tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.
[24:7] 219 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 220 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 221 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
[24:8] 222 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
[24:9] 223 sn What the
[24:10] 224 tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
[24:11] 225 tn Heb “his pledge.”
[24:12] 226 tn Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37). Cf. NAB “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; NRSV “in the garment given you as the pledge.”
[24:13] 227 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
[24:13] 228 tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).
[24:14] 229 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
[24:14] 230 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[24:16] 231 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the KJV, read “children” here.
[24:19] 232 tn Heb “in the field.”
[24:19] 233 tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).
[24:20] 234 tn Heb “knock down after you.”
[24:21] 235 tn Heb “glean after you.”
[25:1] 237 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:1] 238 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
[25:1] 239 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
[25:2] 240 tn Heb “and it will be.”
[25:2] 241 tn Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”
[25:2] 242 tn Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”
[25:3] 243 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:3] 244 tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.
[25:3] 245 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
[25:4] 246 tn Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.
[25:5] 247 tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”
[25:5] 248 sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).
[25:6] 249 tn Heb “and it will be that.”
[25:6] 250 tn Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.
[25:7] 251 tn Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[25:9] 252 sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, NIDOTTE 2:544.
[25:9] 253 tn Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
[25:10] 254 tn Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
[25:10] 256 tn Cf. NIV, NCV “The Family of the Unsandaled.”
[25:11] 257 tn Heb “a man and his brother.”
[25:11] 258 tn Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man. The level of specificity given this term in modern translations varies: “private parts” (NAB, NIV, CEV); “genitals” (NASB, NRSV, TEV); “sex organs” (NCV); “testicles” (NLT).
[25:13] 259 tn Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
[25:13] 260 tn Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.
[25:14] 261 tn Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
[25:15] 262 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
[25:16] 263 tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
[25:17] 264 tn Heb “what Amalek” (so NAB, NRSV). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19. Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[25:18] 265 sn See Exod 17:8-16.
[25:19] 266 tn Heb “ the
[25:19] 267 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
[25:19] 268 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[25:19] 269 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.
[26:1] 270 tn Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
[26:2] 271 tn Heb “the
[26:2] 272 sn The place where he chooses to locate his name. This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first the tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple. See Deut 12:1-14 and especially the note on the word “you” in v. 14.
[26:3] 273 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX
[26:3] 274 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
[26:3] 275 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
[26:3] 276 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
[26:4] 277 tn Heb “your hand.”
[26:5] 278 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
[26:5] 279 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
[26:5] 281 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
[26:7] 282 tn Heb “the
[26:8] 283 tn Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[26:10] 284 tn Heb “the
[26:11] 285 tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).
[26:12] 286 tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[26:12] 287 tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).
[26:13] 289 tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the
[26:13] 290 tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:14] 291 sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.
[26:14] 292 tn Heb “the
[26:16] 293 tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”
[26:19] 294 tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).
[26:19] 295 tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”
[26:19] 296 tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.
