15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation 1 of debts.
14:1 You are children 2 of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald 3 for the sake of the dead.
16:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood, 4
nor let there be a secret 5 place for my cry.
24:7 For her blood was in it;
she poured it on an exposed rock;
she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.
1 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּת (shÿmittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”
2 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”
3 sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.
4 sn Job knows that he will die, and that his death, signified here by blood on the ground, will cry out for vindication.
5 tn The word is simply “a place,” but in the context it surely means a hidden place, a secret place that would never be discovered (see 18:21).