Deuteronomy 1:22

1:22 So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.”

Deuteronomy 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹  by describing people who are more numerous ²  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ³  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁴  Anakites ⁵  there.”

Deuteronomy 2:36

2:36 From Aroer, ⁶  which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), ⁷  all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us – the Lord our God gave them all to us.

Deuteronomy 4:42

4:42 Anyone who accidentally killed someone ⁸  without hating him at the time of the accident ⁹  could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

Deuteronomy 6:10

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

Deuteronomy 13:15-16

13:15 you must by all means ¹⁰  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ¹¹  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹²  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ¹³  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Deuteronomy 19:5

19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else ¹⁴  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ¹⁵  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ¹⁶  from the handle and strikes ¹⁷  his fellow worker ¹⁸  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ¹⁹  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 19:9

19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ²¹  I am giving ²²  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ²³  to these three.

Deuteronomy 20:14

20:14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you.

Deuteronomy 20:19-20

20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, ²⁴  you must not chop down its trees, ²⁵  for you may eat fruit ²⁶  from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! ²⁷  20:20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, ²⁸  and you may use it to build siege works ²⁹  against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.

Deuteronomy 21:4

21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ³⁰  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ³¹  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.

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 ³²  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ³³  evil from among you.

[1:28]  ¹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

[1:28]  ³ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

[2:36]  ¹ sn Aroer. Now known as àAraáir on the northern edge of the Arnon river, Aroer marked the southern limit of Moab and, later, of the allotment of the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:9, 16).

[2:36]  ² tn Heb “the city in the wadi.” This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar or, more likely, to Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer…, that is, the city in the wadi.” See D. L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–11 (WBC), 49.

[4:42]  ¹ tn Heb “the slayer who slew his neighbor without knowledge.”

[4:42]  ² tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day).” The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing.

[13:15]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “by all means.” Cf. KJV, NASB “surely”; NIV “certainly.”

[13:15]  ² tn Or “put under divine judgment. The Hebrew word (חֵרֶם, kherem) refers to placing persons or things under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction.Though primarily applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7). See also the note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.

[13:16]  ¹ tn Heb “street.”

[13:16]  ² tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

[19:5]  ¹ tn Heb “his neighbor” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “his friend.”

[19:5]  ² tn Heb “and he raises his hand with the iron.”

[19:5]  ³ tn Heb “the iron slips off.”

[19:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “finds.”

[19:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “his neighbor.”

[19:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person responsible for his friend’s death) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and live.”

[19:9]  ¹ tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

[19:9]  ² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

[19:9]  ³ sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.

[20:19]  ¹ tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”

[20:19]  ² tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).

[20:19]  ³ tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[20:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”

[20:20]  ¹ tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.”

[20:20]  ² tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.

[21:4]  ¹ tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.

[21:4]  ² sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

[22:21]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.