Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 22:1--25:19
Context22:1 When you see 1 your neighbor’s 2 ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; 3 you must return it without fail 4 to your neighbor. 22:2 If the owner 5 does not live 6 near you or you do not know who the owner is, 7 then you must corral the animal 8 at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him. 22:3 You shall do the same to his donkey, his clothes, or anything else your neighbor 9 has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved. 10 22:4 When you see 11 your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; 12 instead, you must be sure 13 to help him get the animal on its feet again. 14
22:5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, 15 nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive 16 to the Lord your God.
22:6 If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, 17 you must not take the mother from the young. 18 22:7 You must be sure 19 to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
22:8 If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail 20 around your roof to avoid being culpable 21 in the event someone should fall from it.
22:9 You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled. 22 22:10 You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together. 22:11 You must not wear clothing made with wool and linen meshed together. 23 22:12 You shall make yourselves tassels 24 for the four corners of the clothing you wear.
22:13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, 25 and then rejects 26 her, 22:14 accusing her of impropriety 27 and defaming her reputation 28 by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations 29 with her I discovered she was not a virgin!” 22:15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity 30 for the elders of the city at the gate. 22:16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected 31 her. 22:17 Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out 32 before the city’s elders. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish 33 him. 22:19 They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation 34 ruined the reputation 35 of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
22:20 But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, 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 36 in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge 37 evil from among you.
22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with 38 a married woman 39 both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge 40 evil from Israel.
22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 41 her in the city and has sexual relations with 42 her, 22:24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated 43 his neighbor’s fiancée; 44 in this way you will purge 45 evil from among you. 22:25 But if the man came across 46 the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped 47 her, then only the rapist 48 must die. 22:26 You must not do anything to the young woman – she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person 49 and murders him, 22:27 for the man 50 met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
22:28 Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes 51 her and they are discovered. 22:29 The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
22:30 (23:1) 52 A man may not marry 53 his father’s former 54 wife and in this way dishonor his father. 55
23:1 A man with crushed 56 or severed genitals 57 may not enter the assembly of the Lord. 58 23:2 A person of illegitimate birth 59 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. 60
23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite 61 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever 62 do so, 63 23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired 64 Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed 65 the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves 66 you. 23:6 You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come. 23:7 You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; 67 you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner 68 in his land. 23:8 Children of the third generation born to them 69 may enter the assembly of the Lord.
23:9 When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure. 70 23:10 If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, 71 he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately. 23:11 When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.
23:12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. 72 23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself 73 outside you must dig a hole with the spade 74 and then turn and cover your excrement. 75 23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat 76 your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent 77 among you and turn away from you.
23:15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 78 23:16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages 79 he prefers; you must not oppress him.
23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute 80 among the young women 81 of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute 82 among the young men 83 of Israel. 23:18 You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute 84 or the wage of a male prostitute 85 into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.
23:19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, 86 whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. 23:20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess. 23:21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he 87 will surely 88 hold you accountable as a sinner. 89 23:22 If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful. 23:23 Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering. 23:24 When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, 90 but you must not take away any in a container. 91 23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, 92 but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.
24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive 93 in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 24:2 When she has left him 94 she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects 95 her and then divorces her, 96 gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry 97 her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. 98 You must not bring guilt on the land 99 which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 100 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 101 the wife he has married.
24:6 One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. 102
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 103 and regards him as mere property 104 and sells him, that kidnapper 105 must die. In this way you will purge 106 evil from among you.
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 107 all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. 24:9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam 108 along the way after you left Egypt.
24:10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security. 109 24:11 You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security. 110 24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 111 24:13 You must by all means 112 return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just 113 deed by the Lord your God.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 114 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 115 24:15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
24:16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children 116 do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.
24:17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this. 24:19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, 117 you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. 118 24:20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; 119 the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; 120 they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.
25:1 If controversy arises between people, 121 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 122 hear the case, they shall exonerate 123 the innocent but condemn 124 the guilty. 25:2 Then, 125 if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, 126 the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 127 25:3 The judge 128 may sentence him to forty blows, 129 but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite 130 with contempt.
25:4 You must not muzzle your 131 ox when it is treading grain.
25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, 132 and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. 133 25:6 Then 134 the first son 135 she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she 136 must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 25:8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 25:9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. 137 She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 138 25:10 His family name will be referred to 139 in Israel as “the family 140 of the one whose sandal was removed.” 141
25:11 If two men 142 get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals, 143 25:12 then you must cut off her hand – do not pity her.
25:13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, 144 a heavy and a light one. 145 25:14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, 146 a large and a small one. 25:15 You must have an accurate and correct 147 stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. 25:16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent 148 to the Lord your God.
25:17 Remember what the Amalekites 149 did to you on your way from Egypt, 25:18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. 150 25:19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he 151 is giving you as an inheritance, 152 you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven 153 – do not forget! 154
[22:1] 1 tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
[22:1] 2 tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”
[22:1] 3 tn Heb “hide yourself.”
[22:1] 4 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
[22:2] 5 tn Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).
[22:2] 6 tn Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.
[22:2] 7 tn Heb “and you do not know him.”
[22:2] 8 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:3] 9 tn Heb “your brother” (also in v. 4).
[22:3] 10 tn Heb “you must not hide yourself.”
[22:4] 11 tn Heb “you must not see.” See note at 22:1.
[22:4] 12 tn Heb “and (must not) hide yourself from them.”
[22:4] 13 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “be sure.”
[22:4] 14 tn Heb “help him to lift them up.” In keeping with English style the singular is used in the translation, and the referent (“the animal”) has been specified for clarity.
[22:5] 15 tn Heb “a man’s clothing.”
[22:5] 16 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “offense”) speaks of anything that runs counter to ritual or moral order, especially (in the OT) to divine standards. Cross-dressing in this covenant context may suggest homosexuality, fertility cult ritual, or some other forbidden practice.
[22:6] 17 tn Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”
[22:6] 18 tn Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.
[22:7] 19 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”
[22:8] 20 tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”
[22:8] 21 tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
[22:9] 22 tn Heb “set apart.” The verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) in the Qal verbal stem (as here) has the idea of being holy or being treated with special care. Some take the meaning as “be off-limits, forfeited,” i.e., the total produce of the vineyard, both crops and grapes, have to be forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. Exod 29:37; 30:29; Lev 6:18, 27; Num 16:37-38; Hag 2:12).
[22:11] 23 tn The Hebrew term שַׁעַטְנֵז (sha’atnez) occurs only here and in Lev 19:19. HALOT 1610-11 s.v. takes it to be a contraction of words (שַׁשׁ [shash, “headdress”] + עַטְנַז [’atnaz, “strong”]). BDB 1043 s.v. שַׁעַטְנֵז offers the translation “mixed stuff” (cf. NEB “woven with two kinds of yarn”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “woven together”). The general meaning is clear even if the etymology is not.
[22:12] 24 tn Heb “twisted threads” (גְּדִלִים, gÿdilim) appears to be synonymous with צִיצִת (tsitsit) which, in Num 15:38, occurs in a passage instructing Israel to remember the covenant. Perhaps that is the purpose of the tassels here as well. Cf. KJV, ASV “fringes”; NAB “twisted cords.”
[22:13] 25 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.
[22:13] 26 tn Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15. Cf. NAB “comes to dislike”; NASB “turns against”; TEV “decides he doesn’t want.”
[22:14] 27 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
[22:14] 28 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
[22:14] 29 tn Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.
[22:15] 30 sn In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 302-3.
[22:16] 31 tn Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[22:17] 32 tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
[22:18] 33 tn Heb “discipline.”
[22:19] 34 tn Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.
[22:19] 35 tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
[22:21] 36 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] 37 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
[22:22] 38 tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.
[22:22] 39 tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
[22:22] 40 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:23] 42 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:24] 45 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:25] 46 tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
[22:25] 47 tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
[22:25] 48 tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
[22:26] 49 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[22:27] 50 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:28] 51 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:30] 52 sn Beginning with 22:30, the verse numbers through 23:25 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:30 ET = 23:1 HT, 23:1 ET = 23:2 HT, 23:2 ET = 23:3 HT, etc., through 23:25 ET = 23:26 HT. With 24:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
[22:30] 53 tn Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”
[22:30] 54 sn This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his stepmother while his father was still married to her.
[22:30] 55 tn Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so ASV, NASB). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. NAB, NIV “dishonor his father’s bed”).
[23:1] 56 tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”
[23:1] 57 tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”
[23:1] 58 sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.
[23:2] 59 tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”
[23:2] 60 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:3] 61 sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).
[23:3] 62 tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.
[23:3] 63 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:4] 64 tn Heb “hired against you.”
[23:5] 65 tn Heb “the
[23:5] 66 tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.
[23:8] 69 sn Concessions were made to the Edomites and Egyptians (as compared to the others listed in vv. 1-6) because the Edomites (i.e., Esauites) were full “brothers” of Israel and the Egyptians had provided security and sustenance for Israel for more than four centuries.
[23:9] 70 tn Heb “evil.” The context makes clear that this is a matter of ritual impurity, not moral impurity, so it is “evil” in the sense that it disbars one from certain religious activity.
[23:10] 71 tn Heb “nocturnal happening.” The Hebrew term קָרֶה (qareh) merely means “to happen” so the phrase here is euphemistic (a “night happening”) for some kind of bodily emission such as excrement or semen. Such otherwise normal physical functions rendered one ritually unclean whether accidental or not. See Lev 15:16-18; 22:4.
[23:12] 72 tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 73 tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 74 tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[23:13] 75 tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.
[23:14] 76 tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”
[23:14] 77 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing”; NLT “any shameful thing.” The expression עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers specifically to sexual organs and, by extension, to any function associated with them. There are some aspects of human life that are so personal and private that they ought not be publicly paraded. Cultically speaking, even God is offended by such impropriety (cf. Gen 9:22-23; Lev 18:6-12, 16-19; 20:11, 17-21). See B. Seevers, NIDOTTE 3:528-30.
[23:15] 78 tn The Hebrew text includes “from his master,” but this would be redundant in English style.
[23:17] 80 tn The Hebrew term translated “sacred prostitute” here (קְדֵשָׁה [qÿdeshah], from קַדֵשׁ [qadesh, “holy”]; cf. NIV “shrine prostitute”; NASB “cult prostitute”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “temple prostitute”) refers to the pagan fertility cults that employed female and male prostitutes in various rituals designed to evoke agricultural and even human fecundity (cf. Gen 38:21-22; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7; Hos 4:14). The Hebrew term for a regular, noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute is זוֹנָה (zonah).
[23:17] 81 tn Heb “daughters.”
[23:17] 82 tn The male cultic prostitute was called קָדֵשׁ (qadesh; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” earlier in this verse). The colloquial Hebrew term for a “secular” male prostitute (i.e., a sodomite) is the disparaging epithet כֶּלֶב (kelev, “dog”) which occurs in the following verse (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).
[23:18] 84 tn Here the Hebrew term זוֹנָה (zonah) refers to a noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” in v. 17.
[23:18] 85 tn Heb “of a dog.” This is the common Hebrew term for a noncultic (i.e., “secular”) male prostitute. See note on the phrase “sacred male prostitute” in v. 17.
[23:19] 86 tn Heb “to your brother” (likewise in the following verse). Since this is not limited to actual siblings, “fellow Israelite” is used in the translation (cf. NAB, NASB “countrymen”).
[23:21] 87 tn Heb “the
[23:21] 88 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by “surely.”
[23:21] 89 tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you”; NIV, NCV, NLT “be guilty of sin.”
[23:24] 90 tn Heb “grapes according to your appetite, your fullness.”
[23:24] 91 tn Heb “in your container”; NAB, NIV “your basket.”
[23:25] 92 sn For the continuation of these practices into NT times see Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.
[24:1] 93 tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).
[24:3] 95 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[24:3] 96 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
[24:4] 97 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
[24:4] 98 sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
[24:4] 99 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
[24:5] 100 tn Heb “go out with.”
[24:5] 101 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
[24:6] 102 sn Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.
[24:7] 103 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] 104 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 105 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 106 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
[24:8] 107 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
[24:9] 108 sn What the
[24:10] 109 tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
[24:11] 110 tn Heb “his pledge.”
[24:12] 111 tn Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37). Cf. NAB “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; NRSV “in the garment given you as the pledge.”
[24:13] 112 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
[24:13] 113 tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).
[24:14] 114 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
[24:14] 115 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[24:16] 116 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the KJV, read “children” here.
[24:19] 117 tn Heb “in the field.”
[24:19] 118 tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).
[24:20] 119 tn Heb “knock down after you.”
[24:21] 120 tn Heb “glean after you.”
[25:1] 122 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:1] 123 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
[25:1] 124 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
[25:2] 125 tn Heb “and it will be.”
[25:2] 126 tn Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”
[25:2] 127 tn Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”
[25:3] 128 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:3] 129 tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.
[25:3] 130 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
[25:4] 131 tn Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.
[25:5] 132 tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”
[25:5] 133 sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).
[25:6] 134 tn Heb “and it will be that.”
[25:6] 135 tn Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.
[25:7] 136 tn Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[25:9] 137 sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, NIDOTTE 2:544.
[25:9] 138 tn Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
[25:10] 139 tn Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
[25:10] 141 tn Cf. NIV, NCV “The Family of the Unsandaled.”
[25:11] 142 tn Heb “a man and his brother.”
[25:11] 143 tn Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man. The level of specificity given this term in modern translations varies: “private parts” (NAB, NIV, CEV); “genitals” (NASB, NRSV, TEV); “sex organs” (NCV); “testicles” (NLT).
[25:13] 144 tn Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
[25:13] 145 tn Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.
[25:14] 146 tn Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
[25:15] 147 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
[25:16] 148 tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
[25:17] 149 tn Heb “what Amalek” (so NAB, NRSV). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19. Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[25:18] 150 sn See Exod 17:8-16.
[25:19] 151 tn Heb “ the
[25:19] 152 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
[25:19] 153 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[25:19] 154 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.
