Deuteronomy 19:13

19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent ¹  from Israel, so that it may go well with 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 ²  evil from among you.

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 21:21

21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out ⁵  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ⁶  will hear about it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ⁷  and regards him as mere property ⁸  and sells him, that kidnapper ⁹  must die. In this way you will purge ¹⁰  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 17:12

17:12 The person who pays no attention ¹¹  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 22:21-22

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 ¹²  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ¹³  evil from among you.

22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with ¹⁴  a married woman ¹⁵  both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge ¹⁶  evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 13:5

13:5 As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹⁷  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. ¹⁸ 

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 ¹⁹  his neighbor’s fiancée; ²⁰  in this way you will purge ²¹  evil from among you.

¹ sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).

² 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).

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.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

⁷ tn Heb “that thief.”

⁸ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.

⁶ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

⁷ 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.”

⁸ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.

⁸ tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.

⁹ tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

⁹ tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.

¹⁰ 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).

¹⁰ tn Heb “humbled.”

¹¹ tn Heb “wife.”

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