Deuteronomy 15:11

15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open ¹  your hand to your fellow Israelites ²  who are needy and poor in your land.

Deuteronomy 21:17

21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ³  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ⁴  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ⁵  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

Deuteronomy 28:55

28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ⁶  you in your villages.

Deuteronomy 33:21

33:21 He has selected the best part for himself,

for the portion of the ruler ⁷  is set aside ⁸  there;

he came with the leaders ⁹  of the people,

he obeyed the righteous laws of the Lord

and his ordinances with Israel.

[15:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”

[15:11]  ² tn Heb “your brother.”

[21:17]  ³ tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.

[21:17]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.”

[28:55]  ⁵ tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

[33:21]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term מְחֹקֵק (mÿkhoqeq; Poel participle of חָקַק, khaqaq, “to inscribe”) reflects the idea that the recorder of allotments (the “ruler”) is able to set aside for himself the largest and best. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 444-45.

[33:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “covered in” (if from the root סָפַן, safan; cf. HALOT 764-65 s.v. ספן qal).

[33:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “heads” (in the sense of chieftains).