Text -- Exodus 23:5 (NET)

23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Exo 23:5

¹ tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him” – refrain from leaving your enemy without help.

² tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (’azav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).

³ sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.