22:20 “Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord 1 alone must be utterly destroyed. 2
22:21 “You must not wrong 3 a foreigner 4 nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
1 tn Heb “not to Yahweh.”
2 tn The verb חָרַם (kharam) means “to be devoted” to God or “to be banned.” The idea is that it would be God’s to do with as he liked. What was put under the ban was for God alone, either for his service or for his judgment. But it was out of human control. Here the verb is saying that the person will be utterly destroyed.
3 tn Or “oppress.”
4 tn Or “alien,” both here and in 23:9. This individual is a resident foreigner; he lives in the land but, aside from provisions such as this, might easily be without legal rights.