Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 23:15--24:7
Context23:15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 1 23:16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages 2 he prefers; you must not oppress him.
23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute 3 among the young women 4 of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute 5 among the young men 6 of Israel. 23:18 You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute 7 or the wage of a male prostitute 8 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, 9 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 10 will surely 11 hold you accountable as a sinner. 12 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, 13 but you must not take away any in a container. 14 23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, 15 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 16 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 17 she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects 18 her and then divorces her, 19 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 20 her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. 21 You must not bring guilt on the land 22 which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 23 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 24 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. 25
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 26 and regards him as mere property 27 and sells him, that kidnapper 28 must die. In this way you will purge 29 evil from among you.
[23:15] 1 tn The Hebrew text includes “from his master,” but this would be redundant in English style.
[23:17] 3 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] 5 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] 7 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] 8 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] 9 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] 10 tn Heb “the
[23:21] 11 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by “surely.”
[23:21] 12 tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you”; NIV, NCV, NLT “be guilty of sin.”
[23:24] 13 tn Heb “grapes according to your appetite, your fullness.”
[23:24] 14 tn Heb “in your container”; NAB, NIV “your basket.”
[23:25] 15 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] 16 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] 18 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[24:3] 19 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
[24:4] 20 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
[24:4] 21 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] 22 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
[24:5] 23 tn Heb “go out with.”
[24:5] 24 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
[24:6] 25 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] 26 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] 27 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 28 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 29 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
