22:1 When you see 4 your neighbor’s 5 ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; 6 you must return it without fail 7 to your neighbor.
18:1 The Levitical priests 8 – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. 9
1 tn Heb “Make very great upon me the bride price and gift.” The imperatives are used in a rhetorical manner. Shechem’s point is that he will pay the price, no matter how expensive it might be.
2 tn The cohortative expresses Shechem’s resolve to have Dinah as his wife.
3 tn Heb “say.”
4 tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
5 tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”
6 tn Heb “hide yourself.”
7 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
8 tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.
9 sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the