21:28 4 “If an ox 5 gores a man or a woman so that either dies, 6 then the ox must surely 7 be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. 8
34:26 “The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God.
You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” 9
1 tn The imperfect has the nuance of instruction or injunction again, but it could also be given an obligatory nuance.
2 tn The construction is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long the routine should be followed (see GKC 374 §118.k).
3 tn Or “visible to you” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 366).
4 sn The point that this section of the laws makes is that one must ensure the safety of others by controlling the circumstances.
5 tn Traditionally “ox,” but “bull” would also be suitable. The term may refer to one of any variety of large cattle.
6 tn Heb “and he dies”; KJV “that they die”; NAB, NASB “to death.”
7 tn The text uses סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל (saqol yissaqel), a Qal infinitive absolute with a Niphal imperfect. The infinitive intensifies the imperfect, which here has an obligatory nuance or is a future of instruction.
8 sn On this verse, see C. M. Carmichael, “On Separating Life and Death: An Explanation of Some Biblical Laws,” HTR 69 (1976): 1-7; J. Milgrom, “You Shall Not Boil a Kid in Its Mother’s Milk,” BRev 1 (1985): 48-55; R. J. Ratner and B. Zuckerman, “In Rereading the ‘Kid in Milk’ Inscriptions,” BRev 1 (1985): 56-58; and M. Haran, “Seething a Kid in Its Mother’s Milk,” JJS 30 (1979): 23-35. Here and at 34:26, where this command is repeated, it ends a series of instructions about procedures for worship.
9 sn See the note on this same command in 23:19.