4:15 Be very careful, 3 then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire.
21:1 If a homicide victim 9 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 10 and no one knows who killed 11 him,
32:20 He said, “I will reject them, 18
I will see what will happen to them;
for they are a perverse generation,
children 19 who show no loyalty.
33:26 There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, 20
who rides through the sky 21 to help you,
on the clouds in majesty.
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 “give great care to your souls.”
4 sn Levi has no allotment or inheritance. As the priestly tribe, Levi would have no land allotment except for forty-eight towns set apart for their use (Num 35:1-8; Josh 21:1-42). But theirs was a far greater inheritance, for the
5 tn That is, among the other Israelite tribes.
6 sn The blood is life itself. This is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which the cause or means (the blood) stands for the result or effect (life). That is, life depends upon the existence and circulation of blood, a truth known empirically but not scientifically tested and proved until the 17th century
7 tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).
8 tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”
9 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
10 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”
14 tn Heb “enter the assembly of the
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.
17 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
18 tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”
19 tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”
20 sn Jeshurun is a term of affection referring to Israel, derived from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁר (yashar, “be upright”). See note on the term in Deut 32:15.
21 tn Or “(who) rides (on) the heavens” (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT). This title depicts Israel’s God as sovereign over the elements of the storm (cf. Ps 68:33). The use of the phrase here may be polemical; Moses may be asserting that Israel’s God, not Baal (called the “rider of the clouds” in the Ugaritic myths), is the true divine king (cf. v. 5) who controls the elements of the storm, grants agricultural prosperity, and delivers his people from their enemies. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 151 (1994): 275.
22 tc Smr and some LXX