Deuteronomy 13:5

13:5 As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

Deuteronomy 17:7

17:7 The witnesses ³  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ⁴  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 19:20

19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.

Deuteronomy 21:20-21

21:20 They must declare to the elders ⁵  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 ⁶  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ⁷  will hear about it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 22:21

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 ⁸  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ⁹  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 22:24

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 ¹⁰  his neighbor’s fiancée; ¹¹  in this way you will purge ¹²  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ¹³  and regards him as mere property ¹⁴  and sells him, that kidnapper ¹⁵  must die. In this way you will purge ¹⁶  evil from among you.

¹ tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.

² tn Heb “your midst” (so NAB, NRSV). The severity of the judgment here (i.e., capital punishment) is because of the severity of the sin, namely, high treason against the Great King. Idolatry is a violation of the first two commandments (Deut 5:6-10) as well as the spirit and intent of the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

³ tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.

⁸ 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.”

⁹ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.

¹⁰ tn Heb “humbled.”

¹¹ tn Heb “wife.”

¹² tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “that thief.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.