24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 5 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 6 the wife he has married.
1 tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).
2 tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).
3 tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חָנֻכָּה, khanukah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61).
4 tn Heb “another man.”
5 tn Heb “go out with.”
6 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).