Judges 11:31

11:31 then whoever is the first to come through ¹  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ²  will belong to the Lord and ³  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Leviticus 27:28-29

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord ⁴  from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 27:29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated ⁵  must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

Deuteronomy 12:31

12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! ⁶  For everything that is abhorrent ⁷  to him, ⁸  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Isaiah 66:3

66:3 The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; ⁹ 

the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; ¹⁰ 

the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; ¹¹ 

the one who offers incense also praises an idol. ¹² 

They have decided to behave this way; ¹³ 

they enjoy these disgusting practices. ¹⁴ 

[11:31]  ¹ tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotse’, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.

[11:31]  ² tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.

[11:31]  ³ tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.

[27:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. 21 above).

[27:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”

[12:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

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

[12:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.

[66:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “one who slaughters a bull, one who strikes down a man.” Some understand a comparison here and in the following lines. In God’s sight the one who sacrifices is like (i.e., regarded as) a murderer or one whose worship is ritually defiled or idolatrous. The translation above assumes that the language is not metaphorical, but descriptive of the sinners’ hypocritical behavior. (Note the last two lines of the verse, which suggests they are guilty of abominable practices.) On the one hand, they act pious and offer sacrifices; but at the same time they commit violent crimes against men, defile their sacrifices, and worship other gods.

[66:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one who sacrifices a lamb, one who breaks a dog’s neck.” Some understand a comparison, but see the previous note.

[66:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “one who offers an offering, pig’s blood.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line.

[66:3]  ¹² tn Heb “one who offers incense as a memorial offering, one who blesses something false.” Some understand a comparison, but see the note at the end of the first line. אָוֶן (’aven), which has a wide variety of attested nuances, here refers metonymically to an idol. See HALOT 22 s.v. and BDB 20 s.v. 2.

[66:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “also they have chosen their ways.”

[66:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their being [or “soul”] takes delight in their disgusting [things].”