Deuteronomy 21:1-19
herd <01241> [an.]
wadi ... flowing water .............. wadi <05158 0386> [a rough valley.]
As the word {nachal} signifies both a torrent, and the valley or glen through which it flows, {nachal aithan} may be rendered a rapid torrent. Many torrents in Judea are dry during a great part of the year; when not only their banks but their beds may be ploughed, and yield a crop. Hence there is no impropriety in specifying that such a place should be one that "is neither cared nor sown;" while the circumstance that the elders were to wash their hands over the heifer, whose head had been struck off into the stream, confirms this interpretation. The spot of ground where this sacrifice was made must be uncultivated, because it was considered as a sacrifice for the atonement of murder, and, consequently, would pollute the land.
break the ... neck <06202> [shall strike.]
Lord <03068> [for them.]
<06310> [by their word.]
<06310> [word. Heb. mouth.]
wash ... hands <03027 07364> [wash their hands.]
Washing the hands was anciently a symbolical action, denoting that the person was innocent of the crime in question.
accountable ....... innocent <05414 05355> [lay not.]
people .................... person <05971> [unto thy people. Heb. in the midst.]
purge <01197> [shalt thou.]
do <06213> [when thou shalt.]
out <03318> [thou goest.]
wish <02836> [desire.]
take <03947> [that.]
shave <01548> [and she shall.]
This was in token of renouncing her religion, and becoming a proselyte to that of the Jews. This is still a custom in the East: when a Christian turns Mohammedan, his head is shaved, and he is carried through the city, crying, {la eelah eela allah wemochammed resoolu 'llahee,} "There is no God but the God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God."
nails <06856 06213> [pare her nails. or, suffer to grow. Heb. make, or dress.]
{W‰ƒsethah eth tzipparneyha,} "and she shall make her nails;" i.e., probably neither paring nor letting them grow, but dressing or beautifying them as the Eastern women still do by tinging them with the leaves of an odoriferous plant called {alhenna,} which Hasselquist (p. 246) informs us, "grows in India and in upper and lower Egypt, flowering from May to August. The leaves are pulverized and made into a paste with water: they bind this paste on the nails of their hands and feet, and keep it on all night. This gives them a deep yellow, which is greatly admired by Eastern nations. The colour lasts for three or four weeks before there is occasion to renew it. The custom is so ancient in Egypt, that I have seen the nails of mummies dyed in this manner."
lamenting <01058> [and bewail.]
let ... go .......... sell ...... take advantage <07971 04376 06014> [thou shalt.]
have ... humiliated <0834 06031> [because thou.]
two wives <0802 08147> [two wives.]
give <05414> [by giving.]
has <04672> [that he hath. Heb. that is found with him. the beginning.]
right <04941> [the right.]
stubborn <05637> [have a stubborn.]
attention <06963 08085> [obey the voice.]
discipline <03256> [when they.]
attention <08085> [will not.]
bring <03318> [and bring.]
