19:20 “‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, 4 although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. 5 They must not be put to death, because she was not free.
1 tn Heb “If her hand cannot find the sufficiency of a sheep.” Many English versions render this as “lamb.”
2 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
3 tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”
4 tn Heb “And a man when he lies with a woman the lying of seed.”
5 sn That is, the woman had previously been assigned for marriage to another man but the marriage deal had not yet been consummated. In the meantime, the woman has lost her virginity and has, therefore, lost part of her value to the master in the sale to the man for whom she had been designated. Compensation was, therefore, required (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 130-31).
6 tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”