23:12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. 10 23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself 11 outside you must dig a hole with the spade 12 and then turn and cover your excrement. 13 23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat 14 your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent 15 among you and turn away from you.
23:15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 16
1 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”
2 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.
3 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”
4 sn Sacred pillars. The Hebrew word (מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) denotes a standing pillar, usually made of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the
5 sn Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
6 tn Heb “the
7 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”
8 tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”
9 tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).
10 tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.” This expression is euphemistic.
11 tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.
12 tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.
14 tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”
15 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE 3:528-30.
16 tn The Hebrew text includes “from his master,” but this would be redundant in English style.
17 tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”
18 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
19 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).
20 tn The Hebrew text includes “with your eyes,” but this is redundant in English and is left untranslated.