Deuteronomy 21:15-17

Laws Concerning Children

21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, ¹  and they both ²  bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. 21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance ³  he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other ⁴  wife’s son who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ⁵  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ⁶  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ⁷  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

Deuteronomy 21:1

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21:1 If a homicide victim ⁸  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ⁹  and no one knows who killed ¹⁰  him,

Deuteronomy 5:1-2

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ¹¹  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! 5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

Deuteronomy 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹²  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ¹³ 

[21:15]  ¹ tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.

[21:15]  ² tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[21:16]  ³ tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”

[21:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “the hated.”

[21:17]  ⁵ tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.

[21:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (piy shÿnayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).

[21:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ’on; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the first fruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”

[21:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).

[21:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[29:1]  ¹² sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ¹³ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).