Genesis 21:33

21:33 Abraham ¹  planted a tamarisk tree ²  in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, ³  the eternal God.

Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ⁴  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁵  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁶  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁷  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁸  you.”

Genesis 22:13

22:13 Abraham looked up ⁹  and saw ¹⁰  behind him ¹¹  a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he ¹²  went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Genesis 31:54

31:54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice ¹³  on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. ¹⁴  They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 12:1

The Central Sanctuary

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, ¹⁷  has given you to possess. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 14:23

14:23 In the presence of the Lord your God you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, ¹⁹  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.

Deuteronomy 14:2

14:2 For you are a people holy ²⁰  to the Lord your God. He ²¹  has chosen you to be his people, prized ²²  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 16:4

16:4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land ²³  for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. ²⁴ 

Deuteronomy 17:10

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.

Deuteronomy 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ²⁵  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ²⁶  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 28:4

28:4 Your children ²⁷  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

Ezekiel 20:28

20:28 I brought them to the land which I swore ²⁸  to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings.

Ezekiel 22:9

22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. ²⁹  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ³⁰  they commit obscene acts among you. ³¹ 

[21:33]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:33]  ² sn The planting of the tamarisk tree is a sign of Abraham’s intent to stay there for a long time, not a religious act. A growing tree in the Negev would be a lasting witness to God’s provision of water.

[21:33]  ³ tn Heb “he called there in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[22:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁵ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁶ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ⁷ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[22:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “lifted his eyes.”

[22:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to what Abraham saw and invites the audience to view the scene through his eyes.

[22:13]  ¹¹ tc The translation follows the reading of the MT; a number of Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac, and Samaritan Pentateuch read “one” (אֶחָד, ’ekhad) instead of “behind him” (אַחַר, ’akhar).

[22:13]  ¹² tn Heb “Abraham”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:54]  ¹³ tn The construction is a cognate accusative with the verb, expressing a specific sacrifice.

[31:54]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bread, food.” Presumably this was a type of peace offering, where the person bringing the offering ate the animal being sacrificed.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days which you live in the land.” This adverbial statement modifies “to obey,” not “to possess,” so the order in the translation has been rearranged to make this clear.

[14:23]  ¹⁹ tn This refers to wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (יַיִן, yayin) in its mature sense.

[14:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “set apart.”

[14:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[14:2]  ²² 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.

[16:4]  ²³ tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”

[16:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “remain all night until the morning” (so KJV, ASV). This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[28:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[20:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “which I lifted up my hand.”

[22:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

[22:9]  ³¹ sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.