Deuteronomy 12:5

12:5 But you must seek only the place he ¹  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ²  and you must go there.

Deuteronomy 12:11

12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ³  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ⁴  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ⁶  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 21:4

21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ⁸  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ⁹  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.

Deuteronomy 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ¹⁰  or severed genitals ¹¹  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ¹² 

Psalms 132:13-14

132:13 Certainly ¹³  the Lord has chosen Zion;

he decided to make it his home. ¹⁴ 

132:14 He said, ¹⁵  “This will be my resting place forever;

I will live here, for I have chosen it. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 14:32

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹⁷ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Isaiah 62:1

The Lord Takes Delight in Zion

62:1 “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent;

for the sake of Jerusalem ¹⁸  I will not be quiet,

until her vindication shines brightly ¹⁹ 

and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

Isaiah 62:7

62:7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, ²⁰ 

until he makes Jerusalem the pride ²¹  of the earth.

Jeremiah 33:15-16

33:15 In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant ²²  of David.

“‘He will do what is just and right in the land. 33:16 Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety ²³  and Jerusalem ²⁴  will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called “The Lord has provided us with justice.” ²⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

² tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.

³ tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

⁴ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁶ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

⁷ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

⁸ 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.

⁹ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

¹⁰ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

¹¹ 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.”

¹² 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.

¹³ tn Or “for.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “he desired it for his dwelling place.”

¹⁵ tn The words “he said” are added in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

¹⁶ tn Heb “for I desired it.”

¹⁷ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

¹⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁹ tn Heb “goes forth like brightness.”

²⁰ tn “Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; note the following line.

²¹ tn Heb “[the object of] praise.”

²² tn Heb “sprig” or “shoot.”

²³ tn For the translation of this term in this context see the parallel context in 23:6 and consult the translator’s note there.

²⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²⁵ tn Heb “And this is what will be called to it: ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”