Ulangan 13:9

13:9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! ¹  Your own hand must be the first to strike him, ²  and then the hands of the whole community.

Ulangan 23:3

23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite ³  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever ⁴  do so, ⁵ 

Ulangan 33:3

33:3 Surely he loves the people; ⁶ 

all your holy ones ⁷  are in your power. ⁸ 

And they sit ⁹  at your feet,

each receiving ¹⁰  your words.

[13:9]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail” (cf. NIV “you must certainly put him to death”).

[13:9]  ² tn Heb “to put him to death,” but this is misleading in English for such an action would leave nothing for the others to do.

[23:3]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[33:3]  ⁶ tc Heb “peoples.” The apparent plural form is probably a misunderstood singular (perhaps with a pronominal suffix) with enclitic mem (ם). See HALOT 838 s.v. עַם B.2.

[33:3]  ⁷ tc Heb “his holy ones.” The third person masculine singular suffix of the Hebrew MT is problematic in light of the second person masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדֶךָ (bÿyadekha, “your hands”). The LXX versions by Lucian and Origen read, therefore, “the holy ones.” The LXX version by Theodotion and the Vulgate, however, presuppose third masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדָיו (bÿyadayv, “his hands”), and thus retain “his holy ones.” The efforts to bring pronominal harmony into the line is commendable but unnecessary given the Hebrew tendency to be untroubled by such grammatical inconsistencies. However, the translation harmonizes the first pronoun with the second so that the referent (the Lord) is clear.

[33:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “hands.” For the problem of the pronoun see note on the term “holy ones” earlier in this verse.

[33:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term תֻּכּוּ (tuku, probably Pual perfect of תָּכָה, takhah) is otherwise unknown. The present translation is based on the reference to feet and, apparently, receiving instruction in God’s words (cf. KJV, ASV). Other options are as follows: NIV “At your feet they all bow down” (cf. NCV, CEV); NLT “They follow in your steps” (cf. NAB, NASB); NRSV “they marched at your heels.”

[33:3]  ¹⁰ tn The singular verbal form in the Hebrew text (lit. “he lifts up”) is understood in a distributive manner, focusing on the action of each individual within the group.