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 “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.
2 tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.
sn Divine judgment refers to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in his omniscience, he knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant.
3 tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.
sn The divine curse. See note on this phrase in Deut 2:34.
4 tn Heb “city of men.”
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).”