Deuteronomy 13:13
Context13:13 some evil people 1 have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, 2 saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 3
Deuteronomy 17:7
Context17:7 The witnesses 4 must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people 5 are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 21:21
Context21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out 6 wickedness from among you, and all Israel 7 will hear about it and be afraid.
Deuteronomy 24:7
Context24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 8 and regards him as mere property 9 and sells him, that kidnapper 10 must die. In this way you will purge 11 evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 4:3
Context4:3 You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, 12 how he 13 eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor. 14
Deuteronomy 22:21
Context22:21 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 15 in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge 16 evil from among you.


[13:13] 1 tn Heb “men, sons of Belial.” The Hebrew term בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) has the idea of worthlessness, without morals or scruples (HALOT 133-34 s.v.). Cf. NAB, NRSV “scoundrels”; TEV, CEV “worthless people”; NLT “worthless rabble.”
[13:13] 2 tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”
[13:13] 3 tn The translation understands the relative clause as a statement by Moses, not as part of the quotation from the evildoers. See also v. 2.
[17:7] 4 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] 5 tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”
[21:21] 7 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] 8 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.
[24:7] 10 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] 11 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 12 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 13 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
[4:3] 13 tc The LXX and Syriac read “to Baal Peor,” that is, the god worshiped at that place; see note on the name “Beth Peor” in Deut 3:29.
[4:3] 14 tn Heb “the
[4:3] 15 tn Or “
[22:21] 16 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] 17 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.