Deuteronomy 1:33

1:33 the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.

Deuteronomy 15:12

Release of Debt Slaves

15:12 If your fellow Hebrew ¹  – whether male or female ²  – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant ³  go free. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 15:22

15:22 You may eat it in your villages, ⁵  whether you are ritually impure or clean, ⁶  just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex.

Deuteronomy 17:5

17:5 you must bring to your city gates ⁷  that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 21:12

21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, ⁹  trim her nails,

Deuteronomy 25:18

25:18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 30:17

30:17 However, if you ¹¹  turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,

Deuteronomy 33:27

33:27 The everlasting God is a refuge,

and underneath you are his eternal arms; ¹² 

he has driven out enemies before you,

and has said, “Destroy!”

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¹ sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ’ivriy) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ’apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.

² tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”

³ tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”

⁵ tn Heb “in your gates.”

⁶ tc The LXX adds ἐν σοί (en soi, “among you”) to make clear that the antecedent is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.

⁷ tn Heb “gates.”

⁸ tn Heb “stone them with stones so that they die” (KJV similar); NCV “throw stones at that person until he dies.”

⁹ sn This requirement for the woman to shave her head may symbolize the putting away of the old life and customs in preparation for being numbered among the people of the Lord. The same is true for the two following requirements.

¹⁰ sn See Exod 17:8-16.

¹¹ tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.

¹² tn Heb “and from under, arms of perpetuity.” The words “you” and “his” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Some have perceived this line to be problematic and have offered alternative translations that differ significantly from the present translation: “He spread out the primeval tent; he extended the ancient canopy” (NAB); “He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old” (NRSV). These are based on alternate meanings or conjectural emendations rather than textual variants in the mss and versions.