Deuteronomy 17:7

17:7 The witnesses ¹  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ²  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 17:12

17:12 The person who pays no attention ³  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.

Deuteronomy 19:19

19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ⁴  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 21:21

21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out ⁵  wickedness from among you, and all Israel ⁶  will hear about it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 22:21

22:21 the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing ⁷  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ⁸  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 22:24

22:24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated ⁹  his neighbor’s fiancée; ¹⁰  in this way you will purge ¹¹  evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ¹²  and regards him as mere property ¹³  and sells him, that kidnapper ¹⁴  must die. In this way you will purge ¹⁵  evil from among you.

Ecclesiastes 11:10

11:10 Banish ¹⁶  emotional stress ¹⁷  from your mind. ¹⁸ 

and put away pain ¹⁹  from your body; ²⁰ 

for youth ²¹  and the prime of life ²²  are fleeting. ²³ 

[17:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[17:7]  ² tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

[19:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).

[21:21]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (bi’artah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר, ba’ar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.

[21:21]  ⁶ tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannish’arim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.

[22:21]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nÿvalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”

[22:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.

[22:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “humbled.”

[22:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wife.”

[22:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.

[24:7]  ¹² 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.

[24:7]  ¹³ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

[24:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that thief.”

[24:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.

[11:10]  ¹⁶ tn The verb סוּר (sur, “to remove”) normally depicts a concrete action of removing a physical object from someone’s presence (HALOT 748 s.v. סור 1). Here, it is used figuratively (hypocatastasis) of the emotional/psychological action of banishing unnecessary emotional stress from one’s mind. The Hiphil usage means “to remove; to abolish; to keep away; to turn away; to push aside” (HALOT 748 s.v. 1). The English versions render this term in a variety of ways, none of which is very poetic: “remove” (KJV, RSV, ASV, NASB); “turn aside” (YLT); “ward off” (NAB); and “banish” (NEB, MLB, NIV, NRSV, NJPS, Moffatt).

[11:10]  ¹⁷ tn The root “vexation” (כַּעַס, ka’as) has a broad range of meanings: “anger” (Deut 4:25; 9:18), “irritation” (Deut 32:21), “offend” (2 Kgs 23:26; Neh 3:37), “vexation” or “frustration” (Ezek 20:28), “grief” (1 Sam 1:6), and “worry” (Ps 112:10; Eccl 7:9); cf. HALOT 491 s.v. כַּעַס. Here, it refers in general to unnecessary emotional stress and anxiety that can deprive a person of the legitimate enjoyment of life and its temporal benefits.

[11:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your heart.”

[11:10]  ¹⁹ tn In light of the parallelism, רָעָה (ra’ah) does not refer to ethical evil, but to physical injury, pain, deprivation or suffering (e.g., Deut 31:17, 21; 32:23; 1 Sam 10:19; Neh 1:3; 2:17; Pss 34:20; 40:13; 88:4; 107:26; Eccl 12:1; Jer 2:27; Lam 3:38); see HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4.b; BDB 949 s.v. רָעָה 2. This sense is best captured as “pain” (NASB, RSV, NRSV, MLB, Moffatt) or “the troubles [of your body]” (NEB, NIV), rather than “evil” (KJV, ASV, YLT, Douay) or “sorrow” (NJPS).

[11:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your flesh.”

[11:10]  ²¹ tn Or “childhood.”

[11:10]  ²² tn Or “youth”; Heb “black hair” or “the dawn [of life].” The feminine noun הַשַּׁחֲרוּת (hashakharut) is a hapax legomenon, occurring only here. There is debate whether it is from שָׁחֹר (shakhor) which means “black” (i.e. black hair, e.g., Lev 13:31, 37; Song 5:11; HALOT 1465 s.v. שׁחר; BDB 1007 s.v. שָׁחֹר and שָׁחַר) or שַׁחַר (shakhar) which means “dawn” (e.g., Gen 19:15; Job 3:9; Song 6:10; HALOT 1466–67 s.v. שָׁחַר). If this term is from שָׁחֹר it is used in contrast to gray hair that characterizes old age (e.g., Prov 16:31; 20:29). This would be a figure (metonymy of association) for youthfulness. On the other hand, if the term is from שַׁחַר it connotes the “dawn of life” or “prime of life.” This would be a figure (hypocatastasis) for youthfulness. In either case, the term is a figure for “youth” or “prime of life,” as the parallel term הַיַּלְדוּת (hayyaldut, “youth” or “childhood”) indicates. The term is rendered variously in the English versions: “black hair” (NJPS); “the dawn of youth” (NAB); “the dawn of life” (ASV, MLB, RSV, NRSV); “the prime of life” (NEB, NASB); “vigor” (NIV); “youth” (KJV); and “manhood” (Moffatt). The plural forms of הַשַּׁחֲרוּת and הַיַּלְדוּת are examples of the plural of state or condition that a person experiences for a temporary period of time, e.g., זְקֻנִים (zÿqunim, “old age”); נְעוּרִים (nÿ’urim, “youth”); and עֲלוּמִים (’alumim, “youthfulness”); see IBHS 121 §7.4.2b.

[11:10]  ²³ tn The term הֶבֶל (hevel, “vanity”) often connotes the temporal idea “fleeting” (e.g., Prov 31:30; Eccl 3:19; 6:12; 7:15; 9:9). This nuance is suggested here by the collocation of “youth” (הַיַּלְדוּת, hayyaldut) and “the prime of life” (הַשַּׁחֲרוּת, hashakharut).