23:9 “You must not oppress 1 a foreigner, since you know the life 2 of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
25:35 “‘If your brother 4 becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, 5 you must support 6 him; he must live 7 with you like a foreign resident. 8
3:5 “I 16 will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, 17 and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, 18 who refuse to help 19 the immigrant 20 and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.
1 tn The verb means “to crush.” S. R. Driver notes that in this context this would probably mean with an unfair judgment in the courts (Exodus, 239).
2 tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”
3 tn Heb “And when a sojourner sojourns.”
4 tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”).
5 tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”
6 tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”
7 tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5).
8 tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).
9 tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”
10 tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”
11 tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.
12 tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”
13 tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”
14 tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.
15 tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”
16 tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the
17 tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”
18 tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”
19 tn Heb “those who turn aside.”
20 tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”