25:1 If controversy arises between people, 2 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 3 hear the case, they shall exonerate 4 the innocent but condemn 5 the guilty.
32:5 His people have been unfaithful 7 to him;
they have not acted like his children 8 – this is their sin. 9
They are a perverse 10 and deceitful generation.
32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,
to gods they had not known;
to new gods who had recently come along,
gods your ancestors 11 had not known about.
33:10 They will teach Jacob your ordinances
and Israel your law;
they will offer incense as a pleasant odor,
and a whole offering on your altar.
1 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
2 tn Heb “men.”
3 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
5 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
6 tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”
7 tc The 3rd person masculine singular שָׁחַת (shakhat) is rendered as 3rd person masculine plural by Smr, a reading supported by the plural suffix on מוּם (mum, “defect”) as well as the plural of בֵּן (ben, “sons”).
tn Heb “have acted corruptly” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); NRSV “have dealt falsely.”
8 tn Heb “(they are) not his sons.”
9 tn Heb “defect” (so NASB). This highly elliptical line suggests that Israel’s major fault was its failure to act like God’s people; in fact, they acted quite the contrary.
10 tn Heb “twisted,” “crooked.” See Ps 18:26.
11 tn Heb “your fathers.”