Discovery BoxExodus 34:16
Context34:16 and you then take 1 his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.
Numbers 25:1-2
Context25:1 2 When 3 Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality 4 with the daughters of Moab. 25:2 These women invited 5 the people to the sacrifices of their gods; then the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 6
Deuteronomy 21:11-13
Context21:11 if you should see among them 7 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, 8 trim her nails, 21:13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, 9 and stay 10 in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations 11 with her and become her husband and she your wife.
Deuteronomy 21:1
Context21:1 If a homicide victim 12 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 13 and no one knows who killed 14 him,
Deuteronomy 11:1-2
Context11:1 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments 15 at all times. 11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking 16 to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments 17 of the Lord your God, which revealed 18 his greatness, strength, and power. 19
Nehemiah 13:23
Context13:23 Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
Psalms 106:35
Context106:35 They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways. 20
Jeremiah 10:2
Context10:2 The Lord says,
“Do not start following pagan religious practices. 21
Do not be in awe of signs that occur 22 in the sky
even though the nations hold them in awe.
[34:16] 1 tn In the construction this verb would follow as a possible outcome of the last event, and so remain in the verbal sequence. If the people participate in the festivals of the land, then they will intermarry, and that could lead to further involvement with idolatry.
[25:1] 2 sn Chapter 25 tells of Israel’s sins on the steppes of Moab, and God’s punishment. In the overall plan of the book, here we have another possible threat to God’s program, although here it comes from within the camp (Balaam was the threat from without). If the Moabites could not defeat them one way, they would try another. The chapter has three parts: fornication (vv. 1-3), God’s punishment (vv. 4-9), and aftermath (vv. 10-18). See further G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 105-21; and S. C. Reif, “What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 (1971): 200-206.
[25:1] 3 tn This first preterite is subordinated to the next as a temporal clause; it is not giving a parallel action, but the setting for the event.
[25:1] 4 sn The account apparently means that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. Why the men submitted to such a temptation at this point is hard to say. It may be that as military heroes the men took liberties with the women of occupied territories.
[25:2] 3 tn The verb simply says “they called,” but it is a feminine plural. And so the women who engaged in immoral acts with Hebrew men invited them to their temple ritual.
[25:2] 4 sn What Israel experienced here was some of the debased ritual practices of the Canaanite people. The act of prostrating themselves before the pagan deities was probably participation in a fertility ritual, nothing short of cultic prostitution. This was a blatant disregard of the covenant and the Law. If something were not done, the nation would have destroyed itself.
[21:11] 4 tn Heb “the prisoners.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
[21:12] 5 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] 6 tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”
[21:13] 7 tn Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”
[21:13] 8 tn Heb “go unto,” a common Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations.
[21:1] 7 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] 8 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[21:1] 9 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
[11:1] 8 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] 9 tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[11:2] 10 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] 11 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] 12 tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
[106:35] 10 tn Heb “their deeds.”
[10:2] 11 tn Heb “Do not learn the way of the nations.” For this use of the word “ways” (דֶּרֶךְ, derekh) compare for example Jer 12:16 and Isa 2:6.
[10:2] 12 tn Heb “signs.” The words “that occur” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
