2:1 Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea 3 just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.
2:8 So we turned away from our relatives 9 the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, 10 from Elat 11 and Ezion Geber, 12 and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.
2:24 Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, 13 and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war!
22:22 If a man is caught having sexual relations with 34 a married woman 35 both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge 36 evil from Israel.
24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into 38 the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to 39 the wife he has married.
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, 40 and regards him as mere property 41 and sells him, that kidnapper 42 must die. In this way you will purge 43 evil from among you.
1 tn Heb “would be a prey.”
2 sn Do not know good from bad. This is a figure of speech called a merism (suggesting a whole by referring to its extreme opposites). Other examples are the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9), the boy who knows enough “to reject the wrong and choose the right” (Isa 7:16; 8:4), and those who “cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). A young child is characterized by lack of knowledge.
3 tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.
4 tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).
5 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
6 tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.
7 tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”
10 tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”
11 sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.
12 sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.
13 sn Heshbon is the name of a prominent site (now Tell Hesba„n, about 7.5 mi [12 km] south southwest of Amman, Jordan). Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30). Heshbon is also mentioned in Deut 1:4.
14 sn Aroer. Now known as àAraáir on the northern edge of the Arnon river, Aroer marked the southern limit of Moab and, later, of the allotment of the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:9, 16).
15 tn Heb “the city in the wadi.” This enigmatic reference may refer to Ar or, more likely, to Aroer itself. Epexegetically the text might read, “From Aroer…, that is, the city in the wadi.” See D. L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1–11 (WBC), 49.
16 tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (the Hebrew term is שָׁוְא) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.
17 tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”
18 tn Heb “the
19 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
20 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
21 tn Heb “the
22 tn Heb “do not listen to,” that is, do not obey.
23 tn Heb “the commandments of the
24 tn Heb “am commanding” (so NASB, NRSV).
25 tn Heb “walk after”; NIV “by following”; NLT “by worshiping.” This is a violation of the first commandment, the most serious of the covenant violations (Deut 5:6-7).
26 tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the
27 tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.
28 tn Heb “every abomination of the
29 tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
30 tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”
31 tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).
32 tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (bi’artah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר, ba’ar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.
33 tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannish’arim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.
34 tn Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.
35 tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
36 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
37 tn Heb “hired against you.”
38 tn Heb “go out with.”
39 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
40 tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.
41 tn Or “and enslaves him.”
42 tn Heb “that thief.”
43 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.
44 sn See Exod 17:8-16.
45 tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”