Deuteronomy 17:7

17:7 The witnesses ¹  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ²  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 19:19

19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ³  evil from among you.

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 ⁴  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ⁵  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 ⁶  his neighbor’s fiancée; ⁷  in this way you will purge ⁸  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ⁹  and regards him as mere property ¹⁰  and sells him, that kidnapper ¹¹  must die. In this way you will purge ¹²  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 24:1

24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive ¹³  in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ 

Hebrews 12:14-15

Do Not Reject God’s Warning

12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, ¹⁵  for without it no one will see the Lord. 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up ¹⁶  and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

¹ 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).

² tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

³ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).

⁴ 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.”

⁵ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.

⁶ tn Heb “humbled.”

⁷ tn Heb “wife.”

⁸ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

¹¹ tn Heb “that thief.”

¹² tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.

¹³ tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).

¹⁴ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).

¹⁵ sn The references to peace and holiness show the close connection between this paragraph and the previous one. The pathway toward “holiness” and the need for it is cited in Heb 12:10 and 14. More importantly Prov 4:26-27 sets up the transition from one paragraph to the next: It urges people to stay on godly paths (Prov 4:26, quoted here in v. 13) and promises that God will lead them in peace if they do so (Prov 4:27 [LXX], quoted in v. 14).

¹⁶ tn Grk “that there not be any root of bitterness,” but referring figuratively to a person who causes trouble (as in Deut 29:17 [LXX] from which this is quoted).