Ezekiel 8:10

8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ¹  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ²  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ³ 

Ezekiel 8:14

8:14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed ⁴  women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ⁶  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ⁷  were about twenty-five ⁸  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁹  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ¹⁰  toward the east!

Ezekiel 16:44-47

16:44 “‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 16:46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north ¹¹  of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south ¹²  of you, was Sodom ¹³  with her daughters. 16:47 Have you not copied their behavior ¹⁴  and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time ¹⁵  you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were!

Leviticus 18:3

18:3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, ¹⁶  and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; ¹⁷  you must not ¹⁸  walk in their statutes.

Leviticus 18:24-28

Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

18:24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you ¹⁹  have been defiled with all these things. 18:25 Therefore ²⁰  the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, ²¹  so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 18:26 You yourselves must obey ²²  my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, ²³  18:27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, ²⁴  and the land has become unclean. 18:28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it ²⁵  just as it has vomited out the nations ²⁶  that were before you.

Deuteronomy 12:30-31

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! ²⁷  For everything that is abhorrent ²⁸  to him, ²⁹  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ³⁰  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. ³¹ 

Deuteronomy 16:3

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.

Deuteronomy 16:10-11

16:10 Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks ³²  before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering ³³  that you will bring, in proportion to how he ³⁴  has blessed you. 16:11 You shall rejoice before him ³⁵  – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, ³⁶  the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.

Deuteronomy 16:2

16:2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal ³⁷  (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he ³⁸  chooses to locate his name.

Deuteronomy 17:11

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.

Deuteronomy 18:12

18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things ³⁹  the Lord your God is about to drive them out ⁴⁰  from before you.

Deuteronomy 21:2

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ⁴¹ 

Deuteronomy 21:2

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ⁴² 

Deuteronomy 13:9

13:9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! ⁴³  Your own hand must be the first to strike him, ⁴⁴  and then the hands of the whole community.

Deuteronomy 28:3

28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ⁴⁵ 

Deuteronomy 33:2-9

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ⁴⁶  to Israel ⁴⁷  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ⁴⁸  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ⁴⁹ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ⁵⁰  to them.

33:3 Surely he loves the people; ⁵¹ 

all your holy ones ⁵²  are in your power. ⁵³ 

And they sit ⁵⁴  at your feet,

each receiving ⁵⁵  your words.

33:4 Moses delivered to us a law, ⁵⁶ 

an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

33:5 The Lord ⁵⁷  was king over Jeshurun, ⁵⁸ 

when the leaders of the people assembled,

the tribes of Israel together. ⁵⁹ 

Blessing on Reuben

33:6 May Reuben live and not die,

and may his people multiply. ⁶⁰ 

Blessing on Judah

33:7 And this is the blessing ⁶¹  to Judah. He said,

Listen, O Lord, to Judah’s voice,

and bring him to his people.

May his power be great,

and may you help him against his foes.

Blessing on Levi

33:8 Of Levi he said:

Your Thummim and Urim ⁶²  belong to your godly one, ⁶³ 

whose authority you challenged at Massah, ⁶⁴ 

and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah. ⁶⁵ 

33:9 He said to his father and mother, “I have not seen him,” ⁶⁶ 

and he did not acknowledge his own brothers

or know his own children,

for they kept your word,

and guarded your covenant.

Deuteronomy 1:14

1:14 You replied to me that what I had said to you was good.

Psalms 106:35-39

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways. ⁶⁷ 

106:36 They worshiped ⁶⁸  their idols,

which became a snare to them. ⁶⁹ 

106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ⁷⁰ 

106:38 They shed innocent blood –

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed. ⁷¹ 

106:39 They were defiled by their deeds,

and unfaithful in their actions. ⁷² 

Jeremiah 10:2

10:2 The Lord says,

“Do not start following pagan religious practices. ⁷³ 

Do not be in awe of signs that occur ⁷⁴  in the sky

even though the nations hold them in awe.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ² tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ³ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[8:14]  ⁴ tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”

[8:14]  ⁵ sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.

[8:16]  ⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ⁷ sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

[8:16]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  ⁹ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the sun god.”

[16:46]  ¹¹ tn Heb “left.”

[16:46]  ¹² tn Heb “right.”

[16:46]  ¹³ sn Sodom was the epitome of evil (Deut 29:23; 32:32; Isa 1:9-10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24; Jude 7).

[16:47]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “walked in their ways.”

[16:47]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew expression has a temporal meaning as illustrated by the use of the phrase in 2 Chr 12:7.

[18:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “As the work [or “deed”] of the land of Egypt, which you were dwelling in it, you must not do.”

[18:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and as the work [or “deed”] of the land of Canaan which I am bringing you to there, you must not do.” The participle “I am bringing” is inceptive; the Lord is “about to” bring them into the land of Canaan, as opposed to their having dwelt previously in the land of Egypt (see the first part of the verse).

[18:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and you shall not walk.”

[18:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.

[18:25]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.

[18:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

[18:26]  ²² tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.

[18:26]  ²³ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner”; NIV “The native-born and the aliens”; NAB “whether natives or resident aliens.”

[18:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”

[18:28]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”

[18:28]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads the singular “nation” and is followed by ASV, NASB, NRSV; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).

[12:31]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

[12:31]  ²⁸ tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.

[12:31]  ²⁹ tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.

[12:2]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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.

[16:10]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”

[16:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “sacrifice the Passover” (so NASB). The word “animal” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[18:12]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.

[21:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[21:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[13:9]  ⁴³ 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]  ⁴⁴ 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.

[28:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[33:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ⁴⁷ tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ⁴⁹ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ⁵⁰ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[33:3]  ⁵¹ tc Heb “peoples.” The apparent plural form is probably a misunderstood singular (perhaps with a pronominal suffix) with enclitic mem (ם). See HALOT 838 s.v. עַם B.2.

[33:3]  ⁵² tc Heb “his holy ones.” The third person masculine singular suffix of the Hebrew MT is problematic in light of the second person masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדֶךָ (bÿyadekha, “your hands”). The LXX versions by Lucian and Origen read, therefore, “the holy ones.” The LXX version by Theodotion and the Vulgate, however, presuppose third masculine singular suffix on בְּיָדָיו (bÿyadayv, “his hands”), and thus retain “his holy ones.” The efforts to bring pronominal harmony into the line is commendable but unnecessary given the Hebrew tendency to be untroubled by such grammatical inconsistencies. However, the translation harmonizes the first pronoun with the second so that the referent (the Lord) is clear.

[33:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “hands.” For the problem of the pronoun see note on the term “holy ones” earlier in this verse.

[33:3]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew term תֻּכּוּ (tuku, probably Pual perfect of תָּכָה, takhah) is otherwise unknown. The present translation is based on the reference to feet and, apparently, receiving instruction in God’s words (cf. KJV, ASV). Other options are as follows: NIV “At your feet they all bow down” (cf. NCV, CEV); NLT “They follow in your steps” (cf. NAB, NASB); NRSV “they marched at your heels.”

[33:3]  ⁵⁵ tn The singular verbal form in the Hebrew text (lit. “he lifts up”) is understood in a distributive manner, focusing on the action of each individual within the group.

[33:4]  ⁵⁶ tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) here should be understood more broadly as instruction.

[33:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “he was king.” The present translation avoids the sudden shift in person and the mistaken impression that Moses is the referent by specifying the referent as “the Lord.”

[33:5]  ⁵⁸ sn Jeshurun is a term of affection referring to Israel, derived from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁר (yashar, “be upright”). See note on the term in Deut 32:15.

[33:5]  ⁵⁹ sn The following blessing is given to the tribes in order, although the tribe of Simeon is curiously missing from the list.

[33:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and [not] may his men be few” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

[33:7]  ⁶¹ tn The words “the blessing” are supplied in the translation for clarity and stylistic reasons.

[33:8]  ⁶² sn Thummim and Urim. These terms, whose meaning is uncertain, refer to sacred stones carried in a pouch on the breastplate of the high priest and examined on occasion as a means of ascertaining God’s will or direction. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6. See also C. Van Dam, NIDOTTE 1:329-31.

[33:8]  ⁶³ tn Heb “godly man.” The reference is probably to Moses as representative of the whole tribe of Levi.

[33:8]  ⁶⁴ sn Massah means “testing” in Hebrew; the name is a wordplay on what took place there. Cf. Exod 17:7; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-9.

[33:8]  ⁶⁵ sn Meribah means “contention, argument” in Hebrew; this is another wordplay on the incident that took place there. Cf. Num 20:13, 24; Ps 106:32.

[33:9]  ⁶⁶ sn This statement no doubt alludes to the Levites’ destruction of their own fellow tribesmen following the golden calf incident (Exod 32:25-29).

[106:35]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “their deeds.”

[106:36]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “served.”

[106:36]  ⁶⁹ sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.

[106:37]  ⁷⁰ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.

[106:38]  ⁷¹ sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.

[106:39]  ⁷² tn Heb “and they committed adultery in their actions.” This means that they were unfaithful to the Lord (see Ps 73:27).

[10:2]  ⁷³ 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]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “signs.” The words “that occur” are supplied in the translation for clarity.