7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 3 as he promised 4 your ancestors.
21:1 If a homicide victim 12 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 13 and no one knows who killed 14 him,
21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, 15
22:8 If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail 16 around your roof to avoid being culpable 17 in the event someone should fall from it.
22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 18 her in the city and has sexual relations with 19 her,
25:1 If controversy arises between people, 24 they should go to court for judgment. When the judges 25 hear the case, they shall exonerate 26 the innocent but condemn 27 the guilty.
1 sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.
2 tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.
3 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
4 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
5 tc Theodotian adds “in Israel,” perhaps to broaden the matter beyond the local village.
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the indentured servant introduced in v. 12) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “go out from.” The imperfect verbal form indicates the desire of the subject here.
8 tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”
9 tn Heb “fathers.”
10 tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).
12 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).
13 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
15 tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”
16 tn Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”
17 tn Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
18 tn Heb “finds.”
19 tn Heb “lies with.”
20 tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
21 tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
22 tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
23 tn Heb “nocturnal happening.” The Hebrew term קָרֶה (qareh) merely means “to happen” so the phrase here is euphemistic (a “night happening”) for some kind of bodily emission such as excrement or semen. Such otherwise normal physical functions rendered one ritually unclean whether accidental or not. See Lev 15:16-18; 22:4.
24 tn Heb “men.”
25 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
27 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
28 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 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.
30 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
31 tn Heb “the commandments of the
32 tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
33 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”
34 tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).
35 tn Heb “according to all.”
36 tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.