Deuteronomy 4:11

4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ² 

Deuteronomy 5:23

5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me.

Deuteronomy 9:15

9:15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it ³  was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

Deuteronomy 17:7

17:7 The witnesses ⁴  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ⁵  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 ⁶  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ⁷  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, ⁸  and regards him as mere property ⁹  and sells him, that kidnapper ¹⁰  must die. In this way you will purge ¹¹  evil from among you.

¹ tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

² tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

³ tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁵ 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).

⁶ tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ 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.

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.