Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 6:1--26:19
Context6:1 Now these are the commandments, 1 statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed 2 6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments 3 that I am giving 4 you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number 5 – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, 6 said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.
6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 7 6:5 You must love 8 the Lord your God with your whole mind, 9 your whole being, 10 and all your strength. 11
6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach 12 them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, 13 as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm 14 and fasten them as symbols 15 on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. 16
6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill, 6:12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. 17 6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name. 6:14 You must not go after other gods, those 18 of the surrounding peoples, 6:15 for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land. 19
6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 20 6:17 Keep his 21 commandments very carefully, 22 as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper 23 and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he 24 promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.
6:20 When your children 25 ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, 26 “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. 27 6:22 And he 28 brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family 29 before our very eyes. 6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors. 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him 30 so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day. 6:25 We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments 31 before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” 32
7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, 33 Girgashites, 34 Amorites, 35 Canaanites, 36 Perizzites, 37 Hivites, 38 and Jebusites, 39 seven 40 nations more numerous and powerful than you – 7:2 and he 41 delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate 42 them. Make no treaty 43 with them and show them no mercy! 7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. 7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 44 cut down their sacred Asherah poles, 45 and burn up their idols. 7:6 For you are a people holy 46 to the Lord your God. He 47 has chosen you to be his people, prized 48 above all others on the face of the earth.
7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. 7:8 Rather it is because of his 49 love 50 for you and his faithfulness to the promise 51 he solemnly vowed 52 to your ancestors 53 that the Lord brought you out with great power, 54 redeeming 55 you from the place of slavery, from the power 56 of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, 57 the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully 58 with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 7:10 but who pays back those who hate 59 him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore 60 those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! 7:11 So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do.
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 61 as he promised 62 your ancestors. 7:13 He will love and bless you, and make you numerous. He will bless you with many children, 63 with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the offspring of your oxen, and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you. 7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness 64 among you or your livestock. 7:15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases that you knew in Egypt; instead he will inflict them on all those who hate you.
7:16 You must destroy 65 all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship 66 their gods, for that will be a snare to you. 7:17 If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I – how can I dispossess them?” 7:18 you must not fear them. You must carefully recall 67 what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, 7:19 the great judgments 68 you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power 69 by which he 70 brought you out – thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear. 7:20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets 71 among them until the very last ones who hide from you 72 perish. 7:21 You must not tremble in their presence, for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a great and awesome God. 7:22 He, 73 the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you. 7:23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic 74 until they are destroyed. 7:24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. 75 Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them. 7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent 76 to the Lord your God. 7:26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath 77 along with it. 78 You must absolutely detest 79 and abhor it, 80 for it is an object of divine wrath.
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 81 I am giving 82 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 83 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 84 8:2 Remember the whole way by which he 85 has brought you these forty years through the desert 86 so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. 87 He did this to teach you 88 that humankind 89 cannot live by bread 90 alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. 91 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out nor did your feet swell all these forty years. 8:5 Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, 92 the Lord your God disciplines you. 8:6 So you must keep his 93 commandments, live according to his standards, 94 and revere him. 8:7 For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of brooks, 95 springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and hills, 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, of olive trees and honey, 8:9 a land where you may eat food 96 in plenty and find no lack of anything, a land whose stones are iron 97 and from whose hills you can mine copper. 8:10 You will eat your fill and then praise the Lord your God because of the good land he has given you.
8:11 Be sure you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. 8:12 When you eat your fill, when you build and occupy good houses, 8:13 when your cattle and flocks increase, when you have plenty of silver and gold, and when you have abundance of everything, 8:14 be sure 98 you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery, 8:15 and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents 99 and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow 100 from a flint rock and 8:16 fed you in the desert with manna (which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you 101 and eventually bring good to you. 8:17 Be careful 102 not to say, “My own ability and skill 103 have gotten me this wealth.” 8:18 You must remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; if you do this he will confirm his covenant that he made by oath to your ancestors, 104 even as he has to this day. 8:19 Now if you forget the Lord your God at all 105 and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated. 8:20 Just like the nations the Lord is about to destroy from your sight, so he will do to you 106 because you would not obey him. 107
9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. 108 9:2 They include the Anakites, 109 a numerous 110 and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?” 9:3 Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he 111 has told you. 9:4 Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 9:5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, 112 that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he 113 made on oath to your ancestors, 114 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9:6 Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn 115 people!
9:7 Remember – don’t ever forget 116 – how you provoked the Lord your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him. 117 9:8 At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there 118 forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger 119 of God, and on them was everything 120 he 121 said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 9:11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. 9:12 And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.” 122 9:13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn 123 lot! 9:14 Stand aside 124 and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, 125 and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”
9:15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it 126 was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. 9:16 When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; 127 you had quickly turned aside from the way he 128 had commanded you! 9:17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down, 129 and shattered them before your very eyes. 9:18 Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him. 9:19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger 130 that threatened to destroy you. But he 131 listened to me this time as well. 9:20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him 132 too. 9:21 As for your sinful thing 133 that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, 134 ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, 135 Massah, 136 and Kibroth-Hattaavah. 137 9:23 And when he 138 sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God 139 and would neither believe nor obey him. 9:24 You have been rebelling against him 140 from the very first day I knew you!
9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, 141 for he 142 had said he would destroy you. 9:26 I prayed to him: 143 O, Lord God, 144 do not destroy your people, your valued property 145 that you have powerfully redeemed, 146 whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength. 147 9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. 9:28 Otherwise the people of the land 148 from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” 149 9:29 They are your people, your valued property, 150 whom you brought out with great strength and power. 151
10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 152 10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words 153 that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia 154 wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 10:4 The Lord 155 then wrote on the tablets the same words, 156 the ten commandments, 157 which he 158 had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he 159 gave them to me. 10:5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made – they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me.
10:6 “During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan 160 to Moserah. 161 There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. 10:7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, 162 and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, 163 a place of flowing streams. 10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi 164 to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings 165 in his name, as they do to this very day. 10:9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance 166 among his brothers; 167 the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. 10:10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, forty days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. 10:11 Then he 168 said to me, “Get up, set out leading 169 the people so they may go and possess 170 the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” 171
10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, 172 to obey all his commandments, 173 to love him, to serve him 174 with all your mind and being, 175 10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving 176 you today for your own good? 10:14 The heavens – indeed the highest heavens – belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he 177 show his loving favor, 178 and he chose you, their descendants, 179 from all peoples – as is apparent today. 10:16 Therefore, cleanse 180 your heart and stop being so stubborn! 181 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 10:18 who justly treats 182 the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 10:19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 10:20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name. 10:21 He is the one you should praise; 183 he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. 10:22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky. 184
11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments 185 at all times. 11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking 186 to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments 187 of the Lord your God, which revealed 188 his greatness, strength, and power. 189 11:3 They did not see 190 the awesome deeds he performed 191 in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, 11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea 192 overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he 193 annihilated them. 194 11:5 They did not see 195 what he did to you in the desert before you reached this place, 11:6 or what he did to Dathan and Abiram, 196 sons of Eliab the Reubenite, 197 when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp 198 and swallowed them, their families, 199 their tents, and all the property they brought with them. 200 11:7 I am speaking to you 201 because you are the ones who saw all the great deeds of the Lord!
11:8 Now pay attention to all the commandments 202 I am giving 203 you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 204 11:9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors 205 and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 11:10 For the land where you are headed 206 is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand 207 like a vegetable garden. 11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy 208 is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 209 11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. 210 He is constantly attentive to it 211 from the beginning to the end of the year. 212 11:13 Now, if you pay close attention 213 to my commandments that I am giving you today and love 214 the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, 215 11:14 then he promises, 216 “I will send rain for your land 217 in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, 218 so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 11:15 I will provide pasture 219 for your livestock and you will eat your fill.”
11:16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! 220 11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt 221 against you and he will close up the sky 222 so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed 223 from the good land that the Lord 224 is about to give you. 11:18 Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, 225 and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols 226 on your forehead. 11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, 227 as you lie down, and as you get up. 11:20 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates 11:21 so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. 228 11:22 For if you carefully observe all of these commandments 229 I am giving you 230 and love the Lord your God, live according to his standards, 231 and remain loyal to him, 11:23 then he 232 will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 11:24 Every place you set your foot 233 will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. 234 11:25 Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.
11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 235 11:27 the blessing if you take to heart 236 the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention 237 to his 238 commandments and turn from the way I am setting before 239 you today to pursue 240 other gods you have not known. 11:29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 241 11:30 Are they not across the Jordan River, 242 toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal 243 near the oak 244 of Moreh? 11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it. 11:32 Be certain to keep all the statutes and ordinances that I am presenting to you today.
12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 245 has given you to possess. 246 12:2 You must by all means destroy 247 all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. 248 12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 249 burn up their sacred Asherah poles, 250 and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place. 12:4 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they worship. 12:5 But you must seek only the place he 251 chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, 252 and you must go there. 12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, 253 your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 12:7 Both you and your families 254 must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he 255 has blessed you. 12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone 256 doing what seems best to him, 12:9 for you have not yet come to the final stop 257 and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River 258 and settle in the land he 259 is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. 260 12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing 261 everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, 262 and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. 263 12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages 264 (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 265 12:13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 12:14 for you may do so 266 only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. 267
12:15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you 268 in all your villages. 269 Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 12:16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he 270 chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites 271 in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. 272 12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.
12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” 273 you may do so as you wish. 274 12:21 If the place he 275 chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he 276 has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages 277 just as you wish. 12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 12:23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself 278 – you must not eat the life with the meat! 12:24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 12:25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight. 279 12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. 280 12:27 You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices 281 you must pour out on his 282 altar while you eat the meat. 12:28 Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
12:29 When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land. 283 12:30 After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.” 12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! 284 For everything that is abhorrent 285 to him, 286 everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!
12:32 (13:1) 287 You 288 must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! 289 13:1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams 290 should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, 291 13:2 and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods” – gods whom you have not previously known – “and let us serve them.” 13:3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, 292 for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him 293 with all your mind and being. 294 13:4 You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. 13:5 As for that prophet or dreamer, 295 he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. 296
13:6 Suppose your own full brother, 297 your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods 298 that neither you nor your ancestors 299 have previously known, 300 13:7 the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth 301 to the other). 13:8 You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him. 13:9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! 302 Your own hand must be the first to strike him, 303 and then the hands of the whole community. 13:10 You must stone him to death 304 because he tried to entice you away from the Lord your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 13:11 Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you. 305
13:12 Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13:13 some evil people 306 have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, 307 saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 308 13:14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 309 13:15 you must by all means 310 slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate 311 with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza 312 and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin 313 forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 13:17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. 314 Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 13:18 Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving 315 you today and doing what is right 316 before him. 317
14:1 You are children 318 of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald 319 for the sake of the dead. 14:2 For you are a people holy 320 to the Lord your God. He 321 has chosen you to be his people, prized 322 above all others on the face of the earth. 14:3 You must not eat any forbidden 323 thing. 14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 14:5 the ibex, 324 the gazelle, 325 the deer, 326 the wild goat, the antelope, 327 the wild oryx, 328 and the mountain sheep. 329 14:6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. 330 14:7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. 331 (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you). 14:8 Also the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves, 332 it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains. 14:9 These you may eat from among water creatures: anything with fins and scales you may eat, 14:10 but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you. 14:11 All ritually clean birds you may eat. 14:12 These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, 333 the vulture, 334 the black vulture, 335 14:13 the kite, the black kite, the dayyah 336 after its species, 14:14 every raven after its species, 14:15 the ostrich, 337 the owl, 338 the seagull, the falcon 339 after its species, 14:16 the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl, 340 14:17 the jackdaw, 341 the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 14:18 the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, the bat, 14:19 and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you – they may not be eaten. 342 14:20 You may eat any clean bird. 14:21 You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages 343 and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. 344
14:22 You must be certain to tithe 345 all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year. 14:23 In the presence of the Lord your God you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, 346 your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the place he chooses to locate his name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 14:24 When he 347 blesses you, if the 348 place where he chooses to locate his name is distant, 14:25 you may convert the tithe into money, secure the money, 349 and travel to the place the Lord your God chooses for himself. 14:26 Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it. 14:27 As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you. 14:28 At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages. 14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.
15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation 350 of debts. 15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; 351 he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, 352 for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.” 15:3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite 353 owes you, you must remit. 15:4 However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord 354 will surely bless 355 you in the land that he 356 is giving you as an inheritance, 357 15:5 if you carefully obey 358 him 359 by keeping 360 all these commandments that I am giving 361 you today. 15:6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.
15:7 If a fellow Israelite 362 from one of your villages 363 in the land that the Lord your God is giving you should be poor, you must not harden your heart or be insensitive 364 to his impoverished condition. 365 15:8 Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend 366 him whatever he needs. 367 15:9 Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude 368 be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite 369 and you do not lend 370 him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. 371 15:10 You must by all means lend 372 to him and not be upset by doing it, 373 for because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you attempt. 15:11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open 374 your hand to your fellow Israelites 375 who are needy and poor in your land.
15:12 If your fellow Hebrew 376 – whether male or female 377 – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant 378 go free. 379 15:13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 15:14 You must supply them generously 380 from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today. 15:16 However, if the servant 381 says to you, “I do not want to leave 382 you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 15:17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. 383 Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). 15:18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice 384 the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
15:19 You must set apart 385 for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 15:20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he 386 chooses. 15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else 387 – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 15:22 You may eat it in your villages, 388 whether you are ritually impure or clean, 389 just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 15:23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
16:1 Observe the month Abib 390 and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month 391 he 392 brought you out of Egypt by night. 16:2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal 393 (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he 394 chooses to locate his name. 16:3 You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt. 16:4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land 395 for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. 396 16:5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages 397 that the Lord your God is giving you, 16:6 but you must sacrifice it 398 in the evening in 399 the place where he 400 chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 16:7 You must cook 401 and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 16:8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. 402
16:9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them 403 from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 16:10 Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks 404 before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering 405 that you will bring, in proportion to how he 406 has blessed you. 16:11 You shall rejoice before him 407 – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, 408 the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. 16:12 Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.
16:13 You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters 409 for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. 410 16:14 You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages. 411 16:15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he 412 chooses, for he 413 will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; 414 so you will indeed rejoice! 16:16 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him 415 empty-handed. 16:17 Every one of you must give as you are able, 416 according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants 417 for each tribe in all your villages 418 that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 419 16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort 420 the words of the righteous. 421 16:20 You must pursue justice alone 422 so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.
16:21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole 423 near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 16:22 You must not erect a sacred pillar, 424 a thing the Lord your God detests. 17:1 You must not sacrifice to him 425 a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive 426 to the Lord your God. 17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages 427 that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God 428 and breaks his covenant 17:3 by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, 429 moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. 430 17:4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing 431 is being done in Israel, 17:5 you must bring to your city gates 432 that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death. 433 17:6 At the testimony of two or three witnesses they must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 17:7 The witnesses 434 must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people 435 are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.
17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, 436 legal claim, 437 or assault 438 – matters of controversy in your villages 439 – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. 440 17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. 17:10 You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. 17:11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. 17:12 The person who pays no attention 441 to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. 17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.
17:14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” 17:15 you must select without fail 442 a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens 443 you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. 444 17:16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, 445 for the Lord has said you must never again return that way. 17:17 Furthermore, he must not marry many 446 wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. 17:18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law 447 on a scroll 448 given to him by the Levitical priests. 17:19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 17:20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom 449 in Israel.
18:1 The Levitical priests 450 – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. 451 18:2 They 452 will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; 453 the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them. 18:3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment 454 from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep – they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 18:4 You must give them the best of your 455 grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks. 18:5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand 456 and serve in his name 457 permanently. 18:6 Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will 458 from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, 459 to the place the Lord chooses 18:7 and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 18:8 He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance. 460
18:9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. 18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, 461 anyone who practices divination, 462 an omen reader, 463 a soothsayer, 464 a sorcerer, 465 18:11 one who casts spells, 466 one who conjures up spirits, 467 a practitioner of the occult, 468 or a necromancer. 469 18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things 470 the Lord your God is about to drive them out 471 from before you. 18:13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. 18:14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.
18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; 472 you must listen to him. 18:16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our 473 God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” 18:17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 18:19 I will personally hold responsible 474 anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet 475 speaks in my name.
18:20 “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized 476 him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 18:21 Now if you say to yourselves, 477 ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’ 478 – 18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my 479 name and the prediction 480 is not fulfilled, 481 then I have 482 not spoken it; 483 the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”
19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he 484 is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities 485 in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. 19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent 486 of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. 19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, 487 if he has accidentally killed another 488 without hating him at the time of the accident. 489 19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else 490 to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax 491 to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose 492 from the handle and strikes 493 his fellow worker 494 so hard that he dies. The person responsible 495 may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. 496 19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, 497 and kill him, 498 though this is not a capital case 499 since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. 19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors 500 and gives you all the land he pledged to them, 501 19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments 502 I am giving 503 you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities 504 to these three. 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood 505 in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. 506 19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else 507 and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, 508 and then flees to one of these cities. 19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger 509 to die. 19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent 510 from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
19:14 You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, 511 which will have been defined 512 in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 513
19:15 A single witness may not testify 514 against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established 515 only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 19:16 If a false 516 witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, 517 19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges 518 who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, 519 19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge 520 evil from among you. 19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. 19:21 You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot. 521
20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry 522 and troops 523 who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. 20:2 As you move forward for battle, the priest 524 will approach and say to the soldiers, 525 20:3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, 20:4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” 526 20:5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, 527 “Who among you 528 has built a new house and not dedicated 529 it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else 530 dedicate it. 20:6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. 20:7 Or who among you 531 has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” 20:8 In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s 532 heart as fearful 533 as his own.” 20:9 Then, when the officers have finished speaking, 534 they must appoint unit commanders 535 to lead the troops.
20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 20:11 If it accepts your terms 536 and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. 537 20:12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 20:13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you 538 and you must kill every single male by the sword. 20:14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you. 20:15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.
20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that 539 the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing 540 to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them 541 – the Hittites, 542 Amorites, 543 Canaanites, 544 Perizzites, 545 Hivites, 546 and Jebusites 547 – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship 548 their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, 549 you must not chop down its trees, 550 for you may eat fruit 551 from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! 552 20:20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, 553 and you may use it to build siege works 554 against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.
21:1 If a homicide victim 555 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 556 and no one knows who killed 557 him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. 558 21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse 559 must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, 560 to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. 561 There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests 562 will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, 563 and to decide 564 every judicial verdict 565 ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse 566 must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 567 21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we 568 witnessed the crime. 569 21:8 Do not blame 570 your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” 571 Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before 572 the Lord.
21:10 When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail 573 and you take prisoners, 21:11 if you should see among them 574 an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, 575 trim her nails, 21:13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, 576 and stay 577 in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations 578 with her and become her husband and she your wife. 21:14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go 579 where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell 580 her; 581 you must not take advantage of 582 her, since you have already humiliated 583 her.
21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, 584 and they both 585 bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. 21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance 586 he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other 587 wife’s son who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved 588 wife as firstborn and give him the double portion 589 of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power 590 – to him should go the right of the firstborn.
21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, 591 21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 21:20 They must declare to the elders 592 of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out 593 wickedness from among you, and all Israel 594 will hear about it and be afraid.
21:22 If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse 595 on a tree, 21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury 596 him that same day, for the one who is left exposed 597 on a tree is cursed by God. 598 You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22:1 When you see 599 your neighbor’s 600 ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; 601 you must return it without fail 602 to your neighbor. 22:2 If the owner 603 does not live 604 near you or you do not know who the owner is, 605 then you must corral the animal 606 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 607 has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved. 608 22:4 When you see 609 your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; 610 instead, you must be sure 611 to help him get the animal on its feet again. 612
22:5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, 613 nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive 614 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, 615 you must not take the mother from the young. 616 22:7 You must be sure 617 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 618 around your roof to avoid being culpable 619 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. 620 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. 621 22:12 You shall make yourselves tassels 622 for the four corners of the clothing you wear.
22:13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, 623 and then rejects 624 her, 22:14 accusing her of impropriety 625 and defaming her reputation 626 by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations 627 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 628 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 629 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 630 before the city’s elders. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish 631 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 632 ruined the reputation 633 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 634 in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge 635 evil from among you.
22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with 636 a married woman 637 both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge 638 evil from Israel.
22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 639 her in the city and has sexual relations with 640 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 641 his neighbor’s fiancée; 642 in this way you will purge 643 evil from among you. 22:25 But if the man came across 644 the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped 645 her, then only the rapist 646 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 647 and murders him, 22:27 for the man 648 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 649 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) 650 A man may not marry 651 his father’s former 652 wife and in this way dishonor his father. 653
23:1 A man with crushed 654 or severed genitals 655 may not enter the assembly of the Lord. 656 23:2 A person of illegitimate birth 657 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. 658
23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite 659 may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever 660 do so, 661 23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired 662 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 663 the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves 664 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; 665 you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner 666 in his land. 23:8 Children of the third generation born to them 667 may enter the assembly of the Lord.
23:9 When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure. 668 23:10 If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, 669 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. 670 23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself 671 outside you must dig a hole with the spade 672 and then turn and cover your excrement. 673 23:14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat 674 your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent 675 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. 676 23:16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages 677 he prefers; you must not oppress him.
23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute 678 among the young women 679 of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute 680 among the young men 681 of Israel. 23:18 You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute 682 or the wage of a male prostitute 683 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, 684 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 685 will surely 686 hold you accountable as a sinner. 687 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, 688 but you must not take away any in a container. 689 23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, 690 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 691 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 692 she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects 693 her and then divorces her, 694 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 695 her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. 696 You must not bring guilt on the land 697 which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 698 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 699 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. 700
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 701 and regards him as mere property 702 and sells him, that kidnapper 703 must die. In this way you will purge 704 evil from among you.
24:8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely 705 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 706 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. 707 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. 708 24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 709 24:13 You must by all means 710 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 711 deed by the Lord your God.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 712 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 713 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 714 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, 715 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. 716 24:20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; 717 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; 718 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, 719 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 720 hear the case, they shall exonerate 721 the innocent but condemn 722 the guilty. 25:2 Then, 723 if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, 724 the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 725 25:3 The judge 726 may sentence him to forty blows, 727 but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite 728 with contempt.
25:4 You must not muzzle your 729 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, 730 and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. 731 25:6 Then 732 the first son 733 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 734 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. 735 She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 736 25:10 His family name will be referred to 737 in Israel as “the family 738 of the one whose sandal was removed.” 739
25:11 If two men 740 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, 741 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, 742 a heavy and a light one. 743 25:14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, 744 a large and a small one. 25:15 You must have an accurate and correct 745 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 746 to the Lord your God.
25:17 Remember what the Amalekites 747 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. 748 25:19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he 749 is giving you as an inheritance, 750 you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven 751 – do not forget! 752
26:1 When 753 you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 26:2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he 754 chooses to locate his name. 755 26:3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your 756 God that I have come into the land that the Lord 757 promised 758 to our ancestors 759 to give us.” 26:4 The priest will then take the basket from you 760 and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 26:5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering 761 Aramean 762 was my ancestor, 763 and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, 764 but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 26:6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 26:7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he 765 heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 26:8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, 766 as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 26:9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 26:10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. 767 26:11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, 768 along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.
26:12 When you finish tithing all 769 your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows 770 so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. 771 26:13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering 772 from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. 773 I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 26:14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; 774 I have obeyed you 775 and have done everything you have commanded me. 26:15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors – a land flowing with milk and honey.”
26:16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul. 776 26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 26:18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 26:19 Then 777 he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. 778 You will 779 be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.
[6:1] 1 tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.
[6:1] 2 tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”
[6:2] 3 tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.
[6:2] 4 tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
[6:3] 5 tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[6:3] 6 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).
[6:4] 7 tn Heb “the
[6:5] 8 tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) in this setting communicates not so much an emotional idea as one of covenant commitment. To love the
[6:5] 9 tn Heb “heart.” In OT physiology the heart (לֵב, לֵבָב; levav, lev) was considered the seat of the mind or intellect, so that one could think with one’s heart. See A. Luc, NIDOTTE 2:749-54.
[6:5] 10 tn Heb “soul”; “being.” Contrary to Hellenistic ideas of a soul that is discrete and separate from the body and spirit, OT anthropology equated the “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) with the person himself. It is therefore best in most cases to translate נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) as “being” or the like. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 10-25; D. Fredericks, NIDOTTE 3:133-34.
[6:5] 11 sn For NT variations on the Shema see Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27.
[6:7] 12 tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.
[6:7] 13 tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”
[6:8] 14 sn Tie them as a sign on your forearm. Later Jewish tradition referred to the little leather containers tied to the forearms and foreheads as tefillin. They were to contain the following passages from the Torah: Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut 6:5-9; 11:13-21. The purpose was to serve as a “sign” of covenant relationship and obedience.
[6:8] 15 sn Fasten them as symbols on your forehead. These were also known later as tefillin (see previous note) or phylacteries (from the Greek term). These box-like containers, like those on the forearms, held the same scraps of the Torah. It was the hypocritical practice of wearing these without heartfelt sincerity that caused Jesus to speak scathingly about them (cf. Matt 23:5).
[6:9] 16 sn The Hebrew term מְזוּזֹת (mÿzuzot) refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 443-44.
[6:12] 17 tn Heb “out of the house of slavery” (so NASB, NRSV).
[6:14] 18 tn Heb “from the gods.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
[6:15] 19 tn Heb “lest the anger of the
[6:16] 20 sn The place name Massah (מַסָּה, massah) derives from a root (נָסָה, nasah) meaning “to test; to try.” The reference here is to the experience in the Sinai desert when Moses struck the rock to obtain water (Exod 17:1-2). The complaining Israelites had, thus, “tested” the
[6:17] 21 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[6:17] 22 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”
[6:18] 24 tn Heb “the
[6:21] 26 tn Heb “to your son.”
[6:21] 27 tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The
[6:22] 28 tn Heb “the
[6:22] 29 tn Heb “house,” referring to the entire household.
[6:24] 30 tn Heb “the
[6:25] 31 tn The term “commandment” (מִצְוָה, mitsvah), here in the singular, refers to the entire body of covenant stipulations.
[6:25] 32 tn Heb “as he has commanded us” (so NIV, NRSV).
[7:1] 33 sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
[7:1] 34 sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).
[7:1] 35 sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
[7:1] 36 sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
[7:1] 37 sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
[7:1] 38 sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
[7:1] 39 sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
[7:1] 40 sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.
[7:2] 41 tn Heb “the
[7:2] 42 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”
[7:2] 43 tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”
[7:5] 44 sn Sacred pillars. The Hebrew word (מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) denotes a standing pillar, usually made of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the
[7:5] 45 sn Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
[7:6] 46 tn That is, “set apart.”
[7:6] 47 tn Heb “the
[7:6] 48 tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.
[7:8] 49 tn Heb “the
[7:8] 50 tn For the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) as a term of choice or election, see note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.
[7:8] 51 tn Heb “oath.” This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).
[7:8] 52 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
[7:8] 53 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13).
[7:8] 54 tn Heb “by a strong hand” (NAB similar); NLT “with such amazing power.”
[7:8] 55 sn Redeeming you from the place of slavery. The Hebrew verb translated “redeeming” (from the root פָּדָה, padah) has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the
[7:8] 56 tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NRSV), a metaphor for power or domination.
[7:9] 57 tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”
[7:9] 58 tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).
[7:10] 59 tn For the term “hate” as synonymous with rejection or disobedience see note on the word “reject” in Deut 5:9 (cf. NRSV “reject”).
[7:10] 60 tn Heb “he will not hesitate concerning.”
[7:12] 61 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
[7:12] 62 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
[7:13] 63 tn Heb “will bless the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[7:14] 64 sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very Hebrew word used here (עֲקָרָה, ’aqarah), an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.
[7:16] 65 tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”
[7:16] 66 tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
[7:18] 67 tn Heb “recalling, you must recall.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis. Cf. KJV, ASV “shalt well remember.”
[7:19] 68 tn Heb “testings” (so NAB), a reference to the plagues. See note at 4:34.
[7:19] 69 tn Heb “the strong hand and outstretched arm.” See 4:34.
[7:19] 70 tn Heb “the
[7:20] 71 tn The meaning of the term translated “hornets” (צִרְעָה, tsir’ah) is debated. Various suggestions are “discouragement” (HALOT 1056-57 s.v.; cf. NEB, TEV, CEV “panic”; NCV “terror”) and “leprosy” (J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 360, n. 33; cf. NRSV “the pestilence”), as well as “hornet” (BDB 864 s.v.; cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). The latter seems most suitable to the verb שָׁלַח (shalakh, “send”; cf. Exod 23:28; Josh 24:12).
[7:20] 72 tn Heb “the remnant and those who hide themselves.”
[7:22] 73 tn Heb “the
[7:23] 74 tn Heb “he will confuse them (with) great confusion.” The verb used here means “shake, stir up” (see Ruth 1:19; 1 Sam 4:5; 1 Kgs 1:45; Ps 55:2); the accompanying cognate noun refers to confusion, unrest, havoc, or panic (1 Sam 5:9, 11; 14:20; 2 Chr 15:5; Prov 15:16; Isa 22:5; Ezek 7:7; 22:5; Amos 3:9; Zech 14:13).
[7:24] 75 tn Heb “you will destroy their name from under heaven” (cf. KJV); NRSV “blot out their name from under heaven.”
[7:25] 76 tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abhorrent; detestable”) describes anything detestable to the
[7:26] 77 tn Heb “come under the ban” (so NASB); NRSV “be set apart for destruction.” The same phrase occurs again at the end of this verse.
[7:26] 79 tn This Hebrew verb (שָׁקַץ, shaqats) is essentially synonymous with the next verb (תָעַב, ta’av; cf. תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah; see note on the word “abhorrent” in v. 25), though its field of meaning is more limited to cultic abomination (cf. Lev 11:11, 13; Ps 22:25).
[7:26] 80 tn Heb “detesting you must detest and abhorring you must abhor.” Both verbs are preceded by a cognate infinitive absolute indicating emphasis.
[8:1] 81 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
[8:1] 82 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
[8:1] 83 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
[8:1] 84 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
[8:2] 85 tn Heb “the
[8:2] 86 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
[8:3] 87 tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).
[8:3] 88 tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.
[8:3] 89 tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).
[8:3] 90 tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).
[8:3] 91 sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).
[8:5] 92 tn Heb “just as a man disciplines his son.” The Hebrew text reflects the patriarchal idiom of the culture.
[8:6] 93 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[8:6] 94 tn Heb “by walking in his ways.” The “ways” of the Lord refer here to his moral standards as reflected in his commandments. The verb “walk” is used frequently in the Bible (both OT and NT) for one’s moral and ethical behavior.
[8:9] 96 tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. NASB, NCV, NLT) or “bread” in particular (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[8:9] 97 sn A land whose stones are iron. Since iron deposits are few and far between in Palestine, the reference here is probably to iron ore found in mines as opposed to the meteorite iron more commonly known in that area.
[8:14] 98 tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.
[8:15] 99 tn Heb “flaming serpents”; KJV, NASB “fiery serpents”; NAB “saraph serpents.” This figure of speech (metonymy) probably describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (שָׂרָף, saraf).
[8:15] 100 tn Heb “the one who brought out for you water.” In the Hebrew text this continues the preceding sentence, but the translation begins a new sentence here for stylistic reasons.
[8:16] 101 tn Heb “in order to humble you and in order to test you.” See 8:2.
[8:17] 102 tn For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 17 in the translation and the words “be careful” supplied to indicate the connection.
[8:17] 103 tn Heb “my strength and the might of my hand.”
[8:18] 104 tc Smr and Lucian add “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the standard way of rendering this almost stereotypical formula (cf. Deut 1:8; 6:10; 9:5, 27; 29:13; 30:20; 34:4). The MT’s harder reading presumptively argues for its originality, however.
[8:19] 105 tn Heb “if forgetting, you forget.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis; the translation indicates this with the words “at all” (cf. KJV).
[8:20] 106 tn Heb “so you will perish.”
[8:20] 107 tn Heb “listen to the voice of the
[9:1] 108 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
[9:2] 109 sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.
[9:2] 110 tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).
[9:3] 111 tn Heb “the
[9:5] 112 tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the
[9:5] 113 tn Heb “the
[9:6] 115 tn Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).
[9:7] 116 tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (zekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (’al-tishÿkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.
[9:7] 117 tn Heb “the
[9:9] 118 tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[9:10] 119 sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).
[9:10] 120 tn Heb “according to all the words.”
[9:10] 121 tn Heb “the
[9:12] 122 tc Heb “a casting.” The MT reads מַסֵּכָה (massekhah, “a cast thing”) but some
[9:13] 123 tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.
[9:14] 124 tn Heb “leave me alone.”
[9:14] 125 tn Heb “from under heaven.”
[9:15] 126 tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
[9:16] 127 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
[9:16] 128 tn Heb “the
[9:17] 129 tn The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
[9:19] 130 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” Although many English versions translate as two terms, this construction is a hendiadys which serves to intensify the emotion (cf. NAB, TEV “fierce anger”).
[9:19] 131 tn Heb “the
[9:20] 132 tn Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[9:21] 133 tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
[9:21] 134 tn Heb “burned it with fire.”
[9:22] 135 sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the
[9:22] 136 sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.
[9:22] 137 sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).
[9:23] 138 tn Heb “the
[9:23] 139 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
[9:24] 140 tn Heb “the
[9:25] 141 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
[9:25] 142 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 143 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 144 tn Heb “Lord
[9:26] 145 tn Heb “your inheritance”; NLT “your special (very own NRSV) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.
[9:26] 146 tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
[9:26] 147 tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
[9:28] 148 tc The MT reads only “the land.” Smr supplies עַם (’am, “people”) and LXX and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:28] 149 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
[9:29] 150 tn Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26.
[9:29] 151 tn Heb “an outstretched arm.”
[10:1] 152 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
[10:2] 153 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
[10:3] 154 sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
[10:4] 155 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[10:4] 156 tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.
[10:4] 157 tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”
[10:4] 158 tn Heb “the
[10:4] 159 tn Heb “the
[10:6] 160 sn Beeroth Bene-Yaaqan. This Hebrew name could be translated “the wells of Bene-Yaaqan” or “the wells of the sons of Yaaqan,” a site whose location cannot be determined (cf. Num 33:31-32; 1 Chr 1:42).
[10:6] 161 sn Moserah. Since Aaron in other texts (Num 20:28; 33:38) is said to have died on Mount Hor, this must be the Arabah region in which Hor was located.
[10:7] 162 sn Gudgodah. This is probably the same as Haggidgad, which is also associated with Jotbathah (Num 33:33).
[10:7] 163 sn Jotbathah. This place, whose Hebrew name can be translated “place of wadis,” is possibly modern Ain Tabah, just north of Eilat, or Tabah, 6.5 mi (11 km) south of Eilat on the west shore of the Gulf of Aqaba.
[10:8] 164 sn The
[10:8] 165 sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.
[10:9] 166 sn Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the
[10:9] 167 tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.
[10:11] 168 tn Heb “the
[10:11] 169 tn Heb “before” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NRSV “at the head of.”
[10:11] 170 tn After the imperative these subordinated jussive forms (with prefixed vav) indicate purpose or result.
[10:11] 171 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 15, 22).
[10:12] 172 tn Heb “the
[10:12] 173 tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”
[10:12] 174 tn Heb “the
[10:12] 175 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
[10:13] 176 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
[10:15] 177 tn Heb “the
[10:15] 178 tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the
[10:15] 179 tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.
[10:16] 180 tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).
[10:16] 181 tn Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.
[10:18] 182 tn Or “who executes justice for” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “gives justice to.”
[10:21] 183 tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).
[10:22] 184 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[11:1] 185 tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow – חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsot).
[11:2] 186 tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[11:2] 187 tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.
[11:2] 188 tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.
[11:2] 189 tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
[11:3] 190 tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.
[11:3] 191 tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.
[11:4] 192 tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.
[11:4] 193 tn Heb “the
[11:4] 194 tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.
[11:5] 195 tn See note on these same words in v. 3.
[11:6] 196 sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1-3, 31-35).
[11:6] 197 tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”
[11:6] 198 tn Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.
[11:6] 199 tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”
[11:6] 200 tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”
[11:7] 201 tn On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. 3.
[11:8] 202 tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
[11:8] 203 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
[11:8] 204 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
[11:9] 205 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 21).
[11:10] 206 tn Heb “you are going there to possess it”; NASB “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; NRSV “that you are crossing over to occupy.”
[11:10] 207 tn Heb “with your foot” (so NASB, NLT). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.
[11:11] 208 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
[11:11] 209 tn Heb “rain of heaven.”
[11:12] 210 tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.
[11:12] 211 tn Heb “the eyes of the
[11:12] 212 sn From the beginning to the end of the year. This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. 14.
[11:13] 213 tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”
[11:13] 214 tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהַב (’ahav) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).
[11:13] 215 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
[11:14] 216 tn The words “he promises” do not appear in the Hebrew text but are needed in the translation to facilitate the transition from the condition (v. 13) to the promise and make it clear that the Lord is speaking the words of vv. 14-15.
[11:14] 217 tn Heb “the rain of your land.” In this case the genitive (modifying term) indicates the recipient of the rain.
[11:14] 218 sn The autumn and the spring rains. The “former” (יוֹרֶה, yoreh) and “latter” (מַלְקוֹשׁ, malqosh) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.
[11:15] 219 tn Heb “grass in your field.”
[11:16] 220 tn Heb “Watch yourselves lest your heart turns and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
[11:17] 221 tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”
[11:17] 222 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[11:17] 223 tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”
[11:17] 224 tn Heb “the
[11:18] 225 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
[11:18] 226 tn On the Hebrew term טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “reminders”), cf. Deut 6:4-9.
[11:19] 227 tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”
[11:21] 228 tn Heb “like the days of the heavens upon the earth,” that is, forever.
[11:22] 229 tn Heb “this commandment.” See note at Deut 5:30.
[11:22] 230 tn Heb “commanding you to do it.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation and “to do it” has been left untranslated.
[11:22] 231 tn Heb “walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV); TEV “do everything he commands.”
[11:23] 232 tn Heb “the
[11:24] 233 tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.
[11:24] 234 tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”
[11:26] 235 sn A blessing and a curse. Every extant treaty text of the late Bronze Age attests to a section known as the “blessings and curses,” the former for covenant loyalty and the latter for covenant breach. Blessings were promised rewards for obedience; curses were threatened judgments for disobedience. In the Book of Deuteronomy these are fully developed in 27:1–28:68. Here Moses adumbrates the whole by way of anticipation.
[11:27] 236 tn Heb “listen to,” that is, obey.
[11:28] 237 tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.
[11:28] 238 tn Heb “the commandments of the
[11:28] 239 tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
[11:28] 240 tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).
[11:29] 241 sn Mount Gerizim…Mount Ebal. These two mountains are near the ancient site of Shechem and the modern city of Nablus. The valley between them is like a great amphitheater with the mountain slopes as seating sections. The place was sacred because it was there that Abraham pitched his camp and built his first altar after coming to Canaan (Gen 12:6). Jacob also settled at Shechem for a time and dug a well from which Jesus once requested a drink of water (Gen 33:18-20; John 4:5-7). When Joshua and the Israelites finally brought Canaan under control they assembled at Shechem as Moses commanded and undertook a ritual of covenant reaffirmation (Josh 8:30-35; 24:1, 25). Half the tribes stood on Mt. Gerizim and half on Mt. Ebal and in antiphonal chorus pledged their loyalty to the
[11:30] 242 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[11:30] 243 sn Gilgal. From a Hebrew verb root גָלַל (galal, “to roll”) this place name means “circle” or “rolling,” a name given because God had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (Josh 5:9). It is perhaps to be identified with Khirbet el-Metjir, 1.2 mi (2 km) northeast of OT Jericho.
[11:30] 244 tc The MT plural “oaks” (אֵלוֹנֵי, ’eloney) should probably be altered (with many Greek texts) to the singular “oak” (אֵלוֹן, ’elon; cf. NRSV) in line with the only other occurrence of the phrase (Gen 12:6). The Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J. read mmrá, confusing this place with the “oaks of Mamre” near Hebron (Gen 13:18). Smr also appears to confuse “Moreh” with “Mamre” (reading mwr’, a combined form), adding the clarification mwl shkm (“near Shechem”) apparently to distinguish it from Mamre near Hebron.
[12:1] 246 tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the
[12:2] 247 tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”
[12:2] 248 sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.
[12:3] 249 sn Sacred pillars. These are the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.
[12:3] 250 sn Sacred Asherah poles. The Hebrew term (plural) is אֲשֵׁרִים (’asherim). See note on the word “(leafy) tree” in v. 2, and also Deut 7:5.
[12:5] 251 tn Heb “the
[12:5] 252 tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.
[12:6] 253 tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”
[12:7] 254 tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.
[12:7] 255 tn Heb “the
[12:10] 258 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[12:10] 259 tn Heb “the
[12:10] 260 tn In the Hebrew text vv. 10-11 are one long, complex sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides this into two sentences.
[12:11] 261 tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”
[12:11] 262 tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”
[12:11] 263 tn Heb “the
[12:12] 264 tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”
[12:12] 265 sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.
[12:14] 266 tn Heb “offer burnt offerings.” The expression “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
[12:14] 267 sn This injunction to worship in a single and central sanctuary – one limited and appropriate to the thrice-annual festival celebrations (see Exod 23:14-17; 34:22-24; Lev 23:4-36; Deut 16:16-17) – marks a departure from previous times when worship was carried out at local shrines (cf. Gen 8:20; 12:7; 13:18; 22:9; 26:25; 35:1, 3, 7; Exod 17:15). Apart from the corporate worship of the whole theocratic community, however, worship at local altars would still be permitted as in the past (Deut 16:21; Judg 6:24-27; 13:19-20; 1 Sam 7:17; 10:5, 13; 2 Sam 24:18-25; 1 Kgs 18:30).
[12:15] 268 tn Heb “only in all the desire of your soul you may sacrifice and eat flesh according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given to you.”
[12:15] 269 tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB; likewise in vv. 17, 18).
[12:18] 270 tn Heb “the
[12:18] 271 tn See note at Deut 12:12.
[12:18] 272 tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”
[12:20] 273 tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”
[12:20] 274 tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”
[12:21] 275 tn Heb “the
[12:21] 276 tn Heb “the
[12:21] 277 tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in your own community.”
[12:23] 278 sn The blood is life itself. This is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which the cause or means (the blood) stands for the result or effect (life). That is, life depends upon the existence and circulation of blood, a truth known empirically but not scientifically tested and proved until the 17th century
[12:25] 279 tc Heb “in the eyes of the
[12:26] 280 tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.
[12:27] 281 sn These other sacrifices would be so-called peace or fellowship offerings whose ritual required a different use of the blood from that of burnt (sin and trespass) offerings (cf. Lev 3; 7:11-14, 19-21).
[12:27] 282 tn Heb “on the altar of the
[12:29] 283 tn Heb “dwell in their land” (so NASB). In the Hebrew text vv. 29-30 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides it into two.
[12:31] 284 tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the
[12:31] 285 tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.
[12:31] 286 tn Heb “every abomination of the
[12:32] 287 sn Beginning with 12:32, the verse numbers through 13:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 12:32 ET = 13:1 HT, 13:1 ET = 13:2 HT, 13:2 ET = 13:3 HT, etc., through 13:18 ET = 13:19 HT. With 14:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
[12:32] 288 tn This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions – one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural – which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. The MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (plural) you (plural) must be careful to do; you (singular) must not add to it nor should you (singular) subtract form it.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few Smr
[12:32] 289 sn Do not add to it or subtract from it. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) This work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).
[13:1] 290 tn Heb “or a dreamer of dreams” (so KJV, ASV, NASB). The difference between a prophet (נָבִיא, navi’) and one who foretells by dreams (חֹלֵם אוֹ, ’o kholem) was not so much one of office – for both received revelation by dreams (cf. Num 12:6) – as it was of function or emphasis. The prophet was more a proclaimer and interpreter of revelation whereas the one who foretold by dreams was a receiver of revelation. In later times the role of the one who foretold by dreams was abused and thus denigrated as compared to that of the prophet (cf. Jer 23:28).
[13:1] 291 tn The expression אוֹת אוֹ מוֹפֵת (’ot ’o mofet) became a formulaic way of speaking of ways of authenticating prophetic messages or other works of God (cf. Deut 28:46; Isa 20:3). The NT equivalent is the Greek term σημεῖον (shmeion), a sign performed (used frequently in the Gospel of John, cf. 2:11, 18; 20:30-31). They could, however, be counterfeited or (as here) permitted to false prophets by the
[13:3] 292 tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.
[13:3] 293 tn Heb “the
[13:3] 294 tn Heb “all your heart and soul” (so NRSV, CEV, NLT); or “heart and being” (NCV “your whole being”). See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
[13:5] 295 tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.
[13:5] 296 tn Heb “your midst” (so NAB, NRSV). The severity of the judgment here (i.e., capital punishment) is because of the severity of the sin, namely, high treason against the Great King. Idolatry is a violation of the first two commandments (Deut 5:6-10) as well as the spirit and intent of the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
[13:6] 297 tn Heb “your brother, the son of your mother.” In a polygamous society it was not rare to have half brothers and sisters by way of a common father and different mothers.
[13:6] 298 tn In the Hebrew text these words are in the form of a brief quotation: “entice you secretly saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods.’”
[13:6] 299 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 17).
[13:6] 300 tn Heb “which you have not known, you or your fathers.” (cf. KJV, ASV; on “fathers” cf. v. 18).
[13:7] 301 tn Or “land” (so NIV, NCV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “land” or “earth.”
[13:9] 302 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail” (cf. NIV “you must certainly put him to death”).
[13:9] 303 tn Heb “to put him to death,” but this is misleading in English for such an action would leave nothing for the others to do.
[13:10] 304 sn Execution by means of pelting the offender with stones afforded a mechanism whereby the whole community could share in it. In a very real sense it could be done not only in the name of the community and on its behalf but by its members (cf. Lev 24:14; Num 15:35; Deut 21:21; Josh 7:25).
[13:11] 305 sn Some see in this statement an argument for the deterrent effect of capital punishment (Deut 17:13; 19:20; 21:21).
[13:13] 306 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] 307 tc The LXX and Tg read “your” for the MT’s “their.”
[13:13] 308 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.
[13:14] 309 tc Theodotian adds “in Israel,” perhaps to broaden the matter beyond the local village.
[13:15] 310 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “by all means.” Cf. KJV, NASB “surely”; NIV “certainly.”
[13:15] 311 tn Or “put under divine judgment. The Hebrew word (חֵרֶם, kherem) refers to placing persons or things under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction.Though primarily applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7). See also the note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
[13:16] 313 tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).
[13:17] 314 tn Or “anything that has been put under the divine curse”; Heb “anything of the ban” (cf. NASB). See note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
[13:18] 315 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
[13:18] 316 tc The LXX and Smr add “and good” to bring the phrase in line with a familiar cliché (cf. Deut 6:18; Josh 9:25; 2 Kgs 10:3; 2 Chr 14:1; etc.). This is an unnecessary and improper attempt to force a text into a preconceived mold.
[13:18] 317 tn Heb “in the eyes of the
[14:1] 318 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”
[14:1] 319 sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.
[14:2] 321 tn Heb “The
[14:2] 322 tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.
[14:3] 323 tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “forbidden; abhorrent”) describes anything detestable to the
[14:5] 324 tn The Hebrew term אַיָּל (’ayyal) may refer to a type of deer (cf. Arabic ’ayyal). Cf. NAB “the red deer.”
[14:5] 325 tn The Hebrew term צְבִי (tsÿvi) is sometimes rendered “roebuck” (so KJV).
[14:5] 326 tn The Hebrew term יַחְמוּר (yakhmur) may refer to a “fallow deer”; cf. Arabic yahmur (“deer”). Cf. NAB, NIV, NCV “roe deer”; NEB, NRSV, NLT “roebuck.”
[14:5] 327 tn The Hebrew term דִּישֹׁן (dishon) is a hapax legomenon. Its referent is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope (cf. NEB “white-rumped deer”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “ibex”).
[14:5] 328 tn The Hebrew term תְּאוֹ (tÿ’o; a variant is תּוֹא, to’) could also refer to another species of antelope. Cf. NEB “long-horned antelope”; NIV, NRSV “antelope.”
[14:5] 329 tn The Hebrew term זֶמֶר (zemer) is another hapax legomenon with the possible meaning “wild sheep.” Cf. KJV, ASV “chamois”; NEB “rock-goat”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “mountain sheep.”
[14:6] 330 tn The Hebrew text includes “among the animals.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[14:7] 331 tn The Hebrew term שָׁפָן (shafan) may refer to the “coney” (cf. KJV, NIV) or hyrax (“rock badger,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
[14:8] 332 tc The MT lacks (probably by haplography) the phrase וְשֹׁסַע שֶׁסַע פַּרְסָה (vÿshosa’ shesa’ parsah, “and is clovenfooted,” i.e., “has parted hooves”), a phrase found in the otherwise exact parallel in Lev 11:7. The LXX and Smr attest the longer reading here. The meaning is, however, clear without it.
[14:12] 333 tn NEB “the griffon-vulture.”
[14:12] 334 tn The Hebrew term פֶּרֶס (peres) describes a large vulture otherwise known as the ossifrage (cf. KJV). This largest of the vultures takes its name from its habit of dropping skeletal remains from a great height so as to break the bones apart.
[14:12] 335 tn The Hebrew term עָזְנִיָּה (’ozniyyah) may describe the black vulture (so NIV) or it may refer to the osprey (so NAB, NRSV, NLT), an eagle-like bird subsisting mainly on fish.
[14:13] 336 tn The Hebrew term is דַּיָּה (dayyah). This, with the previous two terms (רָאָה [ra’ah] and אַיָּה [’ayyah]), is probably a kite of some species but otherwise impossible to specify.
[14:15] 337 tn Or “owl.” The Hebrew term בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה (bat hayya’anah) is sometimes taken as “ostrich” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but may refer instead to some species of owl (cf. KJV “owl”; NEB “desert-owl”; NIV “horned owl”).
[14:15] 338 tn The Hebrew term תַּחְמָס (takhmas) is either a type of owl (cf. NEB “short-eared owl”; NIV “screech owl”) or possibly the nighthawk (so NRSV, NLT).
[14:15] 339 tn The Hebrew term נֵץ (nets) may refer to the falcon or perhaps the hawk (so NEB, NIV).
[14:16] 340 tn The Hebrew term תִּנְשֶׁמֶת (tinshemet) may refer to a species of owl (cf. ASV “horned owl”; NASB, NIV, NLT “white owl”) or perhaps even to the swan (so KJV); cf. NRSV “water hen.”
[14:17] 341 tn The Hebrew term קָאַת (qa’at) may also refer to a type of owl (NAB, NIV, NRSV “desert owl”) or perhaps the pelican (so KJV, NASB, NLT).
[14:19] 342 tc The MT reads the Niphal (passive) for expected Qal (“you [plural] must not eat”); cf. Smr, LXX. However, the harder reading should stand.
[14:21] 343 tn Heb “gates” (also in vv. 27, 28, 29).
[14:21] 344 sn Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. This strange prohibition – one whose rationale is unclear but probably related to pagan ritual – may seem out of place here but actually is not for the following reasons: (1) the passage as a whole opens with a prohibition against heathen mourning rites (i.e., death, vv. 1-2) and closes with what appear to be birth and infancy rites. (2) In the other two places where the stipulation occurs (Exod 23:19 and Exod 34:26) it similarly concludes major sections. (3) Whatever the practice signified it clearly was abhorrent to the
[14:22] 345 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “be certain.”
[14:23] 346 tn This refers to wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (יַיִן, yayin) in its mature sense.
[14:24] 347 tn Heb “the
[14:24] 348 tn The Hebrew text includes “way is so far from you that you are unable to carry it because the.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because they are redundant.
[14:25] 349 tn Heb “bind the silver in your hand.”
[15:1] 350 tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּת (shÿmittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”
[15:2] 351 tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.
[15:2] 352 tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”
[15:3] 353 tn Heb “your brother.”
[15:4] 354 tc After the phrase “the
[15:4] 355 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “surely.” Note however, that the use is rhetorical, for the next verse attaches a condition.
[15:4] 356 tn Heb “the
[15:4] 357 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess.”
[15:5] 358 tn Heb “if listening you listen to the voice of.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “carefully.” The idiom “listen to the voice” means “obey.”
[15:5] 359 tn Heb “the
[15:5] 360 tn Heb “by being careful to do.”
[15:5] 361 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB); NAB “which I enjoin you today.”
[15:7] 362 tn Heb “one of your brothers” (so NASB); NAB “one of your kinsmen”; NRSV “a member of your community.” See the note at v. 2.
[15:7] 364 tn Heb “withdraw your hand.” Cf. NIV “hardhearted or tightfisted” (NRSV and NLT similar).
[15:7] 365 tn Heb “from your needy brother.”
[15:8] 366 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before both verbs. The translation indicates the emphasis with the words “be sure to” and “generously,” respectively.
[15:8] 367 tn Heb “whatever his need that he needs for himself.” This redundant expression has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[15:9] 369 tn Heb “your needy brother.”
[15:9] 370 tn Heb “give” (likewise in v. 10).
[15:9] 371 tn Heb “it will be a sin to you.”
[15:10] 372 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “by all means.”
[15:10] 373 tc Heb “your heart must not be grieved in giving to him.” The LXX and Orig add, “you shall surely lend to him sufficient for his need,” a suggestion based on the same basic idea in v. 8. Such slavish adherence to stock phrases is without warrant in most cases, and certainly here.
[15:11] 374 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “make sure.”
[15:11] 375 tn Heb “your brother.”
[15:12] 376 sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ’ivriy) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ’apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.
[15:12] 377 tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”
[15:12] 378 tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.
[15:12] 379 tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”
[15:14] 380 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “generously.”
[15:16] 381 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the indentured servant introduced in v. 12) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[15:16] 382 tn Heb “go out from.” The imperfect verbal form indicates the desire of the subject here.
[15:17] 383 sn When the bondslave’s ear was drilled through to the door, the door in question was that of the master’s house. In effect, the bondslave is declaring his undying and lifelong loyalty to his creditor. The scar (or even hole) in the earlobe would testify to the community that the slave had surrendered independence and personal rights. This may be what Paul had in mind when he said “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
[15:18] 384 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁנֶה (mishneh, “twice”) could mean “equivalent to” (cf. NRSV) or, more likely, “double” (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). The idea is that a hired worker would put in only so many hours per day whereas a bondslave was available around the clock.
[15:19] 385 tn Heb “sanctify” (תַּקְדִּישׁ, taqdish), that is, put to use on behalf of the
[15:20] 386 tn Heb “the Lord.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons. See note on “he” in 15:4.
[15:21] 387 tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”
[15:22] 388 tn Heb “in your gates.”
[15:22] 389 tc The LXX adds ἐν σοί (en soi, “among you”) to make clear that the antecedent is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.
[16:1] 390 sn The month Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.
[16:1] 391 tn Heb “in the month Abib.” The demonstrative “that” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[16:1] 392 tn Heb “the
[16:2] 393 tn Heb “sacrifice the Passover” (so NASB). The word “animal” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[16:2] 394 tn Heb “the
[16:4] 395 tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”
[16:4] 396 tn Heb “remain all night until the morning” (so KJV, ASV). This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[16:6] 398 tn Heb “the Passover.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.
[16:6] 399 tc The MT reading אֶל (’el, “unto”) before “the place” should, following Smr, Syriac, Targums, and Vulgate, be omitted in favor of ב (bet; בַּמָּקוֹם, bammaqom), “in the place.”
[16:6] 400 tn Heb “the
[16:7] 401 tn The rules that governed the Passover meal are found in Exod 12:1-51, and Deut 16:1-8. The word translated “cook” (בָּשַׁל, bashal) here is translated “boil” in other places (e.g. Exod 23:19, 1 Sam 2:13-15). This would seem to contradict Exod 12:9 where the Israelites are told not to eat the Passover sacrifice raw or boiled. However, 2 Chr 35:13 recounts the celebration of a Passover feast during the reign of Josiah, and explains that the people “cooked (בָּשַׁל, bashal) the Passover sacrifices over the open fire.” The use of בָּשַׁל (bashal) with “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) suggests that the word could be used to speak of boiling or roasting.
[16:8] 402 tn The words “on that day” are not in the Hebrew text; they are supplied in the translation for clarification (cf. TEV, NLT).
[16:9] 403 tn Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.
[16:10] 404 tn The Hebrew phrase חַג שָׁבֻעוֹת (khag shavu’ot) is otherwise known in the OT (Exod 23:16) as קָצִיר (qatsir, “harvest”) and in the NT as πεντηχοστή (penthcosth, “Pentecost”).
[16:10] 405 tn Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”
[16:10] 406 tn Heb “the
[16:11] 407 tn Heb “the
[16:13] 409 tn The Hebrew phrase חַג הַסֻּכֹּת (khag hassukot, “festival of huts” or “festival of shelters”) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is now preferable to the traditional “tabernacles” (KJV, ASV, NIV) in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. Clearer is the English term “shelters” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but this does not reflect the temporary nature of the living arrangement. This feast was a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt, suggesting that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.
[16:13] 410 tn Heb “when you gather in your threshing-floor and winepress.”
[16:14] 411 tn Heb “in your gates.”
[16:15] 412 tn Heb “the
[16:15] 413 tn Heb “the
[16:15] 414 tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”
[16:16] 415 tn Heb “the
[16:17] 416 tn Heb “a man must give according to the gift of his hand.” This has been translated as second person for stylistic reasons, in keeping with the second half of the verse, which is second person rather than third.
[16:18] 417 tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.
[16:18] 419 tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”
[16:19] 420 tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”
[16:19] 421 tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”
[16:20] 422 tn Heb “justice, justice.” The repetition is emphatic; one might translate as “pure justice” or “unadulterated justice” (cf. NLT “true justice”).
[16:21] 423 tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.”
[16:22] 424 sn Sacred pillar. This refers to the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.
[17:1] 425 tn Heb “to the
[17:1] 426 tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
[17:2] 428 tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the
[17:3] 429 tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.
[17:3] 430 tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[17:4] 431 tn Heb “an abomination” (תּוֹעֵבָה); see note on the word “offensive” in v. 1.
[17:5] 433 tn Heb “stone them with stones so that they die” (KJV similar); NCV “throw stones at that person until he dies.”
[17:7] 434 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] 435 tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”
[17:8] 436 tn Heb “between blood and blood.”
[17:8] 437 tn Heb “between claim and claim.”
[17:8] 438 tn Heb “between blow and blow.”
[17:8] 440 tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.
[17:12] 441 tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).
[17:15] 442 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “without fail.”
[17:15] 443 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not referring to siblings (cf. NIV “your brother Israelites”; NLT “a fellow Israelite”). The same phrase also occurs in v. 20.
[17:15] 444 tn Heb “your brothers.” See the preceding note on “fellow citizens.”
[17:16] 445 tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).
[17:17] 446 tn Heb “must not multiply” (cf. KJV, NASB); NLT “must not take many.”
[17:18] 447 tn Or “instruction.” The LXX reads here τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (to deuteronomion touto, “this second law”). From this Greek phrase the present name of the book, “Deuteronomy” or “second law” (i.e., the second giving of the law), is derived. However, the MT’s expression מִשְׁנֶה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (mishneh hattorah hazzo’t) is better rendered “copy of this law.” Here the term תּוֹרָה (torah) probably refers only to the book of Deuteronomy and not to the whole Pentateuch.
[17:18] 448 tn The Hebrew term סֵפֶר (sefer) means a “writing” or “document” and could be translated “book” (so KJV, ASV, TEV). However, since “book” carries the connotation of a modern bound book with pages (an obvious anachronism) it is preferable to render the Hebrew term “scroll” here and elsewhere.
[17:20] 449 tc Heb “upon his kingship.” Smr supplies כִּסֵא (kise’, “throne”) so as to read “upon the throne of his kingship.” This overliteralizes what is a clearly understood figure of speech.
[18:1] 450 tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.
[18:1] 451 sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the
[18:2] 452 tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).
[18:2] 453 tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”
[18:3] 454 tn Heb “judgment”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “the priest’s due.”
[18:4] 455 tn Heb “the firstfruits of your…” (so NIV).
[18:5] 456 tc Smr and some Greek texts add “before the
[18:5] 457 tn Heb “the name of the
[18:6] 458 tn Heb “according to all the desire of his soul.”
[18:6] 459 tn Or “sojourning.” The verb used here refers to living temporarily in a place, not settling down.
[18:8] 460 tn Presumably this would not refer to a land inheritance, since that was forbidden to the descendants of Levi (v. 1). More likely it referred to some family possessions (cf. NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV) or other private property (cf. NLT “a private source of income”), or even support sent by relatives (cf. TEV “whatever his family sends him”).
[18:10] 461 tn Heb “who passes his son or his daughter through the fire.” The expression “pass…through the fire” is probably a euphemism for human sacrifice (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT). See also Deut 12:31.
[18:10] 462 tn Heb “a diviner of divination” (קֹסֵם קְסָמִים, qosem qÿsamim). This was a means employed to determine the future or the outcome of events by observation of various omens and signs (cf. Num 22:7; 23:23; Josh 13:22; 1 Sam 6:2; 15:23; 28:8; etc.). See M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE 3:945-51.
[18:10] 463 tn Heb “one who causes to appear” (מְעוֹנֵן, mÿ’onen). Such a practitioner was thought to be able to conjure up spirits or apparitions (cf. Lev 19:26; Judg 9:37; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 2:6; 57:3; Jer 27:9; Mic 5:11).
[18:10] 464 tn Heb “a seeker of omens” (מְנַחֵשׁ, mÿnakhesh). This is a subset of divination, one illustrated by the use of a “divining cup” in the story of Joseph (Gen 44:5).
[18:10] 465 tn Heb “a doer of sorcery” (מְכַשֵּׁף, mikhashef). This has to do with magic or the casting of spells in order to manipulate the gods or the powers of nature (cf. Lev 19:26-31; 2 Kgs 17:15b-17; 21:1-7; Isa 57:3, 5; etc.). See M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE 2:735-38.
[18:11] 466 tn Heb “a binder of binding” (חֹבֵר חָבֶר, khover khaver). The connotation is that of immobilizing (“binding”) someone or something by the use of magical words (cf. Ps 58:6; Isa 47:9, 12).
[18:11] 467 tn Heb “asker of a [dead] spirit” (שֹׁאֵל אוֹב, sho’el ’ov). This is a form of necromancy (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6; 1 Sam 28:8, 9; Isa 8:19; 19:3; 29:4).
[18:11] 468 tn Heb “a knowing [or “familiar”] [spirit]” (יִדְּעֹנִי, yiddÿ’oniy), i.e., one who is expert in mantic arts (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam 28:3, 9; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 8:19; 19:3).
[18:11] 469 tn Heb “a seeker of the dead.” This is much the same as “one who conjures up spirits” (cf. 1 Sam 28:6-7).
[18:12] 470 tn Heb “these abhorrent things.” The repetition is emphatic. For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the same term used earlier in the verse has been translated “detestable” here.
[18:12] 471 tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.
[18:15] 472 tc The MT expands here on the usual formula by adding “from among you” (cf. Deut 17:15; 18:18; Smr; a number of Greek texts). The expansion seems to be for the purpose of emphasis, i.e., the prophet to come must be not just from Israel but an Israelite by blood.
[18:16] 473 tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”
[18:19] 474 tn Heb “will seek from him”; NAB “I myself will make him answer for it”; NRSV “will hold accountable.”
[18:19] 475 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet mentioned in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:20] 476 tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[18:21] 477 tn Heb “in your heart.”
[18:21] 478 tn Heb “know the word which the Lord has not spoken.” The issue here is not understanding the meaning of the message, but distinguishing a genuine prophetic word from a false one.
[18:22] 479 tn Heb “the
[18:22] 480 tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”
[18:22] 481 tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”
[18:22] 482 tn Heb “the
[18:22] 483 tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”
[19:1] 484 tn Heb “the
[19:2] 485 sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
[19:4] 487 tn Heb “and this is the word pertaining to the one who kills who flees there and lives.”
[19:4] 488 tn Heb “who strikes his neighbor without knowledge.”
[19:4] 489 tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing. Cf. NAB “had previously borne no malice”; NRSV “had not been at enmity before.”
[19:5] 490 tn Heb “his neighbor” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “his friend.”
[19:5] 491 tn Heb “and he raises his hand with the iron.”
[19:5] 492 tn Heb “the iron slips off.”
[19:5] 494 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[19:5] 495 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person responsible for his friend’s death) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[19:6] 497 tn Heb “and overtake him, for the road is long.”
[19:6] 498 tn Heb “smite with respect to life,” that is, fatally.
[19:6] 499 tn Heb “no judgment of death.”
[19:8] 501 tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.
[19:9] 502 tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
[19:9] 503 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”
[19:9] 504 sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.
[19:10] 505 tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).
[19:10] 506 tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”
[19:11] 507 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[19:11] 508 tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”
[19:12] 509 tn The גֹאֵל הַדָּם (go’el haddam, “avenger of blood”) would ordinarily be a member of the victim’s family who, after due process of law, was invited to initiate the process of execution (cf. Num 35:16-28). See R. Hubbard, NIDOTTE 1:789-94.
[19:13] 510 sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).
[19:14] 511 tn Heb “border.” Cf. NRSV “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker.”
[19:14] 512 tn Heb “which they set off from the beginning.”
[19:14] 513 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.” This phrase has been left untranslated to avoid redundancy.
[19:15] 514 tn Heb “rise up” (likewise in v. 16).
[19:15] 515 tn Heb “may stand.”
[19:16] 516 tn Heb “violent” (חָמָס, khamas). This is a witness whose motivation from the beginning is to do harm to the accused and who, therefore, resorts to calumny and deceit. See I. Swart and C. VanDam, NIDOTTE 2:177-80.
[19:16] 517 tn Or “rebellion.” Rebellion against God’s law is in view (cf. NAB “of a defection from the law”).
[19:17] 518 tn The appositional construction (“before the
[19:18] 519 tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).
[19:19] 520 tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).
[19:21] 521 sn This kind of justice is commonly called lex talionis or “measure for measure” (cf. Exod 21:23-25; Lev 24:19-20). It is likely that it is the principle that is important and not always a strict application. That is, the punishment should fit the crime and it may do so by the payment of fines or other suitable and equitable compensation (cf. Exod 22:21; Num 35:31). See T. S. Frymer-Kensky, “Tit for Tat: The Principle of Equal Retribution in Near Eastern and Biblical Law,” BA 43 (1980): 230-34.
[20:1] 522 tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
[20:2] 524 sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).
[20:2] 525 tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.”
[20:4] 526 tn Or “to save you” (so KJV, NASB, NCV); or “to deliver you.”
[20:5] 527 tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).
[20:5] 528 tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).
[20:5] 529 tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חָנֻכָּה, khanukah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61).
[20:5] 530 tn Heb “another man.”
[20:7] 531 tn Heb “Who [is] the man.”
[20:8] 532 tn Heb “his brother’s.”
[20:9] 534 tn The Hebrew text includes “to the people,” but this phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[20:9] 535 tn Heb “princes of hosts.”
[20:11] 536 tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”
[20:11] 537 tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).
[20:13] 538 tn Heb “to your hands.”
[20:16] 539 tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”
[20:16] 540 tn Heb “any breath.”
[20:17] 541 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”
[20:17] 542 sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
[20:17] 543 sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
[20:17] 544 sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
[20:17] 545 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
[20:17] 546 sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
[20:17] 547 tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).
[20:18] 548 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
[20:19] 549 tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”
[20:19] 550 tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).
[20:19] 551 tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[20:19] 552 tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”
[20:20] 553 tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.”
[20:20] 554 tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.
[21:1] 555 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
[21:1] 556 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:1] 557 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
[21:2] 558 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
[21:3] 559 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:4] 560 tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
[21:4] 561 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.
[21:5] 562 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
[21:5] 563 tn Heb “in the name of the
[21:5] 564 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
[21:5] 565 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
[21:6] 566 tn Heb “slain [one].”
[21:6] 567 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
[21:7] 568 tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).
[21:7] 569 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:8] 570 tn Heb “Atone for.”
[21:8] 571 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
[21:9] 572 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
[21:10] 573 tn Heb “gives him into your hands.”
[21:11] 574 tn Heb “the prisoners.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
[21:12] 575 sn This requirement for the woman to shave her head may symbolize the putting away of the old life and customs in preparation for being numbered among the people of the
[21:13] 576 tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”
[21:13] 577 tn Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”
[21:13] 578 tn Heb “go unto,” a common Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations.
[21:14] 579 sn Heb “send her off.” The Hebrew term שִׁלַּחְתָּה (shillakhtah) is a somewhat euphemistic way of referring to divorce, the matter clearly in view here (cf. Deut 22:19, 29; 24:1, 3; Jer 3:1; Mal 2:16). This passage does not have the matter of divorce as its principal objective, so it should not be understood as endorsing divorce generally. It merely makes the point that if grounds for divorce exist (see Deut 24:1-4), and then divorce ensues, the husband could in no way gain profit from it.
[21:14] 580 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by the words “in any case.”
[21:14] 581 tn The Hebrew text includes “for money.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:14] 582 tn Or perhaps “must not enslave her” (cf. ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); Heb “[must not] be tyrannical over.”
[21:14] 583 sn You have humiliated her. Since divorce was considered rejection, the wife subjected to it would “lose face” in addition to the already humiliating event of having become a wife by force (21:11-13). Furthermore, the Hebrew verb translated “humiliated” here (עָנָה, ’anah), commonly used to speak of rape (cf. Gen 34:2; 2 Sam 13:12, 14, 22, 32; Judg 19:24), likely has sexual overtones as well. The woman may not be enslaved or abused after the divorce because it would be double humiliation (see also E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy [NAC], 291).
[21:15] 584 tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.
[21:15] 585 tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
[21:16] 586 tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”
[21:16] 587 tn Heb “the hated.”
[21:17] 588 tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.
[21:17] 589 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] 590 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.”
[21:18] 591 tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”
[21:20] 592 tc The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.
[21:21] 593 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] 594 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.
[21:23] 596 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”
[21:23] 597 tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”
[21:23] 598 sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).
[22:1] 599 tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
[22:1] 600 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] 601 tn Heb “hide yourself.”
[22:1] 602 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
[22:2] 603 tn Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).
[22:2] 604 tn Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.
[22:2] 605 tn Heb “and you do not know him.”
[22:2] 606 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:3] 607 tn Heb “your brother” (also in v. 4).
[22:3] 608 tn Heb “you must not hide yourself.”
[22:4] 609 tn Heb “you must not see.” See note at 22:1.
[22:4] 610 tn Heb “and (must not) hide yourself from them.”
[22:4] 611 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “be sure.”
[22:4] 612 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] 613 tn Heb “a man’s clothing.”
[22:5] 614 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] 615 tn Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”
[22:6] 616 tn Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.
[22:7] 617 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”
[22:8] 618 tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”
[22:8] 619 tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
[22:9] 620 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] 621 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] 622 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] 623 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.
[22:13] 624 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] 625 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
[22:14] 626 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
[22:14] 627 tn Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.
[22:15] 628 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] 629 tn Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[22:17] 630 tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
[22:18] 631 tn Heb “discipline.”
[22:19] 632 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] 633 tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
[22:21] 634 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] 635 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
[22:22] 636 tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.
[22:22] 637 tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
[22:22] 638 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:23] 640 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:24] 643 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
[22:25] 644 tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
[22:25] 645 tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
[22:25] 646 tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
[22:26] 647 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
[22:27] 648 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:28] 649 tn Heb “lies with.”
[22:30] 650 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] 651 tn Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”
[22:30] 652 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] 653 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] 654 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] 655 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] 656 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] 657 tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”
[23:2] 658 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:3] 659 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] 660 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] 661 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
[23:4] 662 tn Heb “hired against you.”
[23:5] 663 tn Heb “the
[23:5] 664 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.
[23:7] 666 tn Heb “sojourner.”
[23:8] 667 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] 668 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] 669 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] 670 tn Heb “so that one may go outside there.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 671 tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.
[23:13] 672 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] 673 tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.
[23:14] 674 tn Heb “give [over] your enemies.”
[23:14] 675 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] 676 tn The Hebrew text includes “from his master,” but this would be redundant in English style.
[23:17] 678 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] 679 tn Heb “daughters.”
[23:17] 680 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] 682 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] 683 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] 684 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] 685 tn Heb “the
[23:21] 686 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by “surely.”
[23:21] 687 tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you”; NIV, NCV, NLT “be guilty of sin.”
[23:24] 688 tn Heb “grapes according to your appetite, your fullness.”
[23:24] 689 tn Heb “in your container”; NAB, NIV “your basket.”
[23:25] 690 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] 691 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).
[24:2] 692 tn Heb “his house.”
[24:3] 693 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
[24:3] 694 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
[24:4] 695 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
[24:4] 696 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] 697 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
[24:5] 698 tn Heb “go out with.”
[24:5] 699 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
[24:6] 700 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] 701 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] 702 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
[24:7] 703 tn Heb “that thief.”
[24:7] 704 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
[24:8] 705 tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
[24:9] 706 sn What the
[24:10] 707 tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
[24:11] 708 tn Heb “his pledge.”
[24:12] 709 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] 710 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
[24:13] 711 tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).
[24:14] 712 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
[24:14] 713 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[24:16] 714 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the KJV, read “children” here.
[24:19] 715 tn Heb “in the field.”
[24:19] 716 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] 717 tn Heb “knock down after you.”
[24:21] 718 tn Heb “glean after you.”
[25:1] 720 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:1] 721 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
[25:1] 722 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
[25:2] 723 tn Heb “and it will be.”
[25:2] 724 tn Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”
[25:2] 725 tn Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”
[25:3] 726 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:3] 727 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] 728 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
[25:4] 729 tn Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.
[25:5] 730 tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”
[25:5] 731 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] 732 tn Heb “and it will be that.”
[25:6] 733 tn Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.
[25:7] 734 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] 735 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] 736 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] 737 tn Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
[25:10] 739 tn Cf. NIV, NCV “The Family of the Unsandaled.”
[25:11] 740 tn Heb “a man and his brother.”
[25:11] 741 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] 742 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] 743 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] 744 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] 745 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
[25:16] 746 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] 747 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] 748 sn See Exod 17:8-16.
[25:19] 749 tn Heb “ the
[25:19] 750 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
[25:19] 751 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[25:19] 752 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.
[26:1] 753 tn Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
[26:2] 754 tn Heb “the
[26:2] 755 sn The place where he chooses to locate his name. This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first the tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple. See Deut 12:1-14 and especially the note on the word “you” in v. 14.
[26:3] 756 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX
[26:3] 757 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
[26:3] 758 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
[26:3] 759 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
[26:4] 760 tn Heb “your hand.”
[26:5] 761 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
[26:5] 762 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
[26:5] 764 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
[26:7] 765 tn Heb “the
[26:8] 766 tn Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[26:10] 767 tn Heb “the
[26:11] 768 tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).
[26:12] 769 tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[26:12] 770 tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).
[26:13] 772 tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the
[26:13] 773 tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:14] 774 sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.
[26:14] 775 tn Heb “the
[26:16] 776 tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”
[26:19] 777 tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).
[26:19] 778 tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”
[26:19] 779 tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.
