Genesis 44:15

44:15 Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? ¹  Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” ² 

Genesis 30:27

30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, ³  for I have learned by divination ⁴  that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”

Leviticus 19:26

Blood, Hair, and Body

19:26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. ⁵  You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. ⁶ 

Leviticus 19:1

Religious and Social Regulations

19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

Leviticus 20:1-2

Prohibitions against Illegitimate Family Worship

20:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel ⁷  who gives any of his children ⁸  to Molech ⁹  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ¹⁰ 

Leviticus 21:6

21:6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane ¹¹  the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, ¹²  the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. ¹³ 

[44:15]  ¹ tn Heb “What is this deed you have done?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. A literal translation seems to contradict the following statement, in which Joseph affirms that he is able to divine such matters. Thus here the emotive force of the question has been reflected in the translation, “What did you think you were doing?”

[44:15]  ² tn Heb “[is] fully able to divine,” meaning that he can find things out by divination. The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis, stressing his ability to do this.

[30:27]  ³ tn The words “please stay here” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[30:27]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the Lord has blessed me” (cf. NEB). See J. Finkelstein, “An Old Babylonian Herding Contract and Genesis 31:38f.,” JAOS 88 (1968): 34, n. 19.

[19:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “You shall not eat on the blood.” See the extensive remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 319-20, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 132-33. The LXX has “on the mountains,” suggesting that this is a prohibition against illegitimate places and occasions of worship, not the eating of blood.

[19:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “You shall not practice divination and you shall not practice soothsaying”; cf. NRSV “practice augury or witchcraft.” For suggestions regarding the practices involved see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 133, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 320.

[20:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

[20:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.

[20:2]  ⁹ tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).

[21:6]  ¹¹ sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.

[21:6]  ¹² sn Regarding the Hebrew term for “gifts,” see the note on Lev 1:9 above (cf. also 3:11 and 16 in combination with the word for “food” that follows in the next phrase here).

[21:6]  ¹³ tc Smr and all early versions have the plural adjective “holy” rather than the MT singular noun “holiness.”