Deuteronomy 21:23

21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury ¹  him that same day, for the one who is left exposed ²  on a tree is cursed by God. ³  You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 21:2

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 21:6

21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ⁵  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 21:9

21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ⁷  the Lord.

Galatians 3:13

3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming ⁸  a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) ⁹ 

[21:23]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”

[21:23]  ² tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”

[21:23]  ³ sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).

[21:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[21:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.

[21:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).

[3:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.

[3:13]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.