Deuteronomy 7:8

7:8 Rather it is because of his ¹  love ²  for you and his faithfulness to the promise ³  he solemnly vowed ⁴  to your ancestors ⁵  that the Lord brought you out with great power, ⁶  redeeming ⁷  you from the place of slavery, from the power ⁸  of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 21:17

21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ⁹  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ¹⁰  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ¹¹  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

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¹ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on “He” in 7:6.

² tn For the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) as a term of choice or election, see note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

³ tn Heb “oath.” This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).

⁴ tn Heb “swore on oath.”

⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13).

⁶ tn Heb “by a strong hand” (NAB similar); NLT “with such amazing power.”

⁷ sn Redeeming you from the place of slavery. The Hebrew verb translated “redeeming” (from the root פָּדָה, padah) has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the Lord as ransom in exchange for deliverance from bondage and death (Exod 12:1-14). Later, the firstborn sons of Israel, represented by the Levites, became the ransom (Num 3:11-13). These were all types of the redemption effected by the death of Christ who described his atoning work as “a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28; cf. 1 Pet 1:18).

⁸ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NRSV), a metaphor for power or domination.

⁹ tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.

¹⁰ tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (piy shÿnayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).

¹¹ tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ’on; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the first fruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”