25:1 If controversy arises between people, 5 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 6 hear the case, they shall exonerate 7 the innocent but condemn 8 the guilty.
1 tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).
2 tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”
3 sn Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unavenged murder unless and until vengeance occurred. Only this would restore spiritual and moral equilibrium (Num 35:33).
4 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
5 tn Heb “men.”
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
8 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”