Leviticus 18:16

18:16 You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. ¹ 

Leviticus 20:21

20:21 If a man has sexual intercourse with ²  his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; ³  they will be childless.

Deuteronomy 25:5-6

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, ⁴  and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁵  25:6 Then ⁶  the first son ⁷  she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel.

Deuteronomy 25:2

25:2 Then, ⁸  if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, ⁹  the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 12:7

12:7 Both you and your families ¹¹  must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he ¹²  has blessed you.

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, ¹³  has given you to possess. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 21:19

21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city.

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. ¹⁵ 

Deuteronomy 26:18-19

26:18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 26:19 Then ¹⁶  he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. ¹⁷  You will ¹⁸  be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Proverbs 28:1

28:1 The wicked person flees when there is no one pursuing, ¹⁹ 

but the righteous person is as confident ²⁰  as a lion.

Isaiah 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ²¹  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ²² 

Mark 6:18

6:18 For John had repeatedly told ²³  Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ²⁴ 

Acts 24:24-25

Paul Speaks Repeatedly to Felix

24:24 Some days later, when Felix ²⁵  arrived with his wife Drusilla, ²⁶  who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak ²⁷  about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁸  24:25 While Paul ²⁹  was discussing ³⁰  righteousness, self-control, ³¹  and the coming judgment, Felix ³²  became ³³  frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, ³⁴  I will send for you.”

[18:16]  ¹ sn Regarding the last clause, see the notes on vv. 7 and 10 above.

[20:21]  ² tn Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

[20:21]  ³ sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.

[25:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”

[25:5]  ⁵ sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).

[25:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it will be that.”

[25:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.

[25:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will be.”

[25:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”

[25:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”

[12:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.

[12:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ 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.

[21:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[26:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).

[26:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”

[26:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.

[28:1]  ¹⁹ sn The line portrays the insecurity of a guilty person – he flees because he has a guilty conscience, or because he is suspicious of others around him, or because he fears judgment.

[28:1]  ²⁰ tn The verb בָּטַח (batakh) means “to trust; to be secure; to be confident.” Cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “bold.”

[8:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ²² tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[6:18]  ²³ tn The imperfect tense verb is here rendered with an iterative force.

[6:18]  ²⁴ sn It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife. This was a violation of OT law (Lev 18:16; 20:21). In addition, both Herod Antipas and Herodias had each left marriages to enter into this union.

[24:24]  ²⁵ sn See the note on Antonius Felix in 23:24.

[24:24]  ²⁶ sn It is possible that Drusilla, being Jewish, was the source of Felix’s knowledge about the new movement called Christianity. The youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I and sister of Agrippa II, she would have been close to 20 years old at the time. She had married the king of a small region in Syria but divorced him at the age of 16 to marry Felix. This was her second marriage and Felix’s third (Josephus, Ant. 19.9.1 [19.354], 20.7.2 [20.141-144]). As a member of Herod’s family, she probably knew about the Way.

[24:24]  ²⁷ tn The word “speak” is implied; BDAG 32 s.v. ἀκούω 1.c has “ἤκουσεν αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς…πίστεως he heard him speak about faith Ac 24:24.”

[24:24]  ²⁸ tn Or “Messiah Jesus”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:25]  ²⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “speaking about.”

[24:25]  ³¹ tn Grk “and self-control.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[24:25]  ³² sn See the note on Felix in 23:26.

[24:25]  ³³ tn Grk “becoming.” The participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[24:25]  ³⁴ tn Or “when I find time.” BDAG 639 s.v. μεταλαμβάνω 2 has “καιρὸν μ. have an opportunity = find time…Ac 24:25.”