21:16 “Whoever kidnaps someone 5 and sells him, 6 or is caught still holding him, 7 must surely be put to death.
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.
24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive 12 in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.
1 sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.
2 tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).
3 tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “a stealer of a man,” thus “anyone stealing a man.”
6 sn The implication is that it would be an Israelite citizen who was kidnapped and sold to a foreign tribe or country (like Joseph). There was always a market for slaves. The crime would be in forcibly taking the individual away from his home and religion and putting him into bondage or death.
7 tn Literally “and he is found in his hand” (KJV and ASV both similar), being not yet sold.
8 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.
9 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
10 tn Heb “that thief.”
11 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
12 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).
13 tn Heb “multiplied you.”
14 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.