Exodus 22:23-31

22:23 If you afflict them ¹  in any way ²  and they cry to me, I will surely hear ³  their cry, 22:24 and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless. ⁴ 

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ⁵  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ⁶  to him; do not charge ⁷  him interest. ⁸  22:26 If you do take ⁹  the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down, ¹⁰  22:27 for it is his only covering – it is his garment for his body. ¹¹  What else can he sleep in? ¹²  And ¹³  when he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹⁴  God ¹⁵  or curse the ruler of your people.

22:29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. ¹⁶  You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 22:30 You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.

22:31 “You will be holy ¹⁷  people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. ¹⁸  You must throw it to the dogs.

Exodus 34:11

34:11 “Obey ¹⁹  what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out ²⁰  before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Genesis 15:18-21

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ²¹  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ²²  this land, from the river of Egypt ²³  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land ²⁴  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” ²⁵ 

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

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, ²⁶  Girgashites, ²⁷  Amorites, ²⁸  Canaanites, ²⁹  Perizzites, ³⁰  Hivites, ³¹  and Jebusites, ³²  seven ³³  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Joshua 9:1

The Gibeonites Deceive Israel

9:1 When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan ³⁴  – in the hill country, the lowlands, ³⁵  and all along the Mediterranean coast ³⁶  as far as ³⁷  Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) –

Nehemiah 9:8

9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ³⁸  covenant with him to give his descendants ³⁹  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ⁴⁰  for you are righteous.

[22:23]  ¹ tn The accusative here is the masculine singular pronoun, which leads S. R. Driver to conclude that this line is out of place, even though the masculine singular can be used in places like this (Exodus, 232). U. Cassuto says its use is to refer to certain classes (Exodus, 292).

[22:23]  ² tn Here again and with “cry” the infinitive absolute functions with a diminished emphasis (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[22:23]  ³ tn Here is the normal use of the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense to emphasize the verb: “I will surely hear,” implying, “I will surely respond.”

[22:24]  ⁴ sn The punishment will follow the form of talionic justice, an eye for an eye, in which the punishment matches the crime. God will use invading armies (“sword” is a metonymy of adjunct here) to destroy them, making their wives widows and their children orphans.

[22:25]  ⁵ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ⁶ sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁸ sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).

[22:26]  ⁹ tn The construction again uses the infinitive absolute with the verb in the conditional clause to stress the condition.

[22:26]  ¹⁰ tn The clause uses the preposition, the infinitive construct, and the noun that is the subjective genitive – “at the going in of the sun.”

[22:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his skin.”

[22:27]  ¹² tn Literally the text reads, “In what can he lie down?” The cloak would be used for a covering at night to use when sleeping. The garment, then, was the property that could not be taken and not given back – it was the last possession. The modern idiom of “the shirt off his back” gets at the point being made here.

[22:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it will be.”

[22:28]  ¹⁴ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

[22:28]  ¹⁵ tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

[22:29]  ¹⁶ tn The expressions are unusual. U. Cassuto renders them: “from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses” (Exodus, 294). He adds the Hittite parallel material to show that the people were to bring the offerings on time and not let them overlap, because the firstfruits had to be eaten first by the priest.

[22:31]  ¹⁷ sn The use of this word here has to do with the laws of the sanctuary and not some advanced view of holiness. The ritual holiness at the sanctuary would prohibit eating anything torn to pieces.

[22:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “by wild animals.”

[34:11]  ¹⁹ tn The covenant duties begin with this command to “keep well” what is being commanded. The Hebrew expression is “keep for you”; the preposition and the suffix form the ethical dative, adding strength to the imperative.

[34:11]  ²⁰ tn Again, this is the futur instans use of the participle.

[15:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ²² tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ²³ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  ²⁴ tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  ²⁵ tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.

[7:1]  ²⁶ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ²⁹ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ³⁰ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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.

[9:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan heard.”

[9:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

[9:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all the coast of the Great Sea.” The “Great Sea” was the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

[9:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in front of.”

[9:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

[9:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “seed.”

[9:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “your words.”