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.
9 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.
10 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
11 tn Heb “that thief.”
12 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
13 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).
17 tn Heb “multiplied you.”
18 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.