Exodus 21:13

21:13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, ¹  but it happens by accident, ²  then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

Leviticus 26:40

26:40 However, when ³  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ⁴  by which they also walked ⁵  in hostility against me ⁶ 

Numbers 35:15

35:15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

Numbers 35:25

35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ⁷  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

Numbers 35:28

35:28 because the slayer ⁸  should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.

Isaiah 50:1-2

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ⁹ 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ¹⁰ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ¹¹ 

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹² 

Is my hand too weak ¹³  to deliver ¹⁴  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ¹⁵  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “if he does not lie in wait” (NASB similar).

² tn Heb “and God brought into his hand.” The death is unintended, its circumstances outside human control.

³ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

⁴ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

⁵ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

⁶ tn Heb “with me.”

⁷ tn Heb “in it.”

⁸ tn Heb “he.”

⁹ sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

¹⁰ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

¹¹ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.

¹² sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

¹³ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

¹⁴ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

¹⁵ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”