Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 21:16-17 
Context21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance 1 he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other 2 wife’s son who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved 3 wife as firstborn and give him the double portion 4 of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power 5 – to him should go the right of the firstborn.
1 tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”
2 tn Heb “the hated.”
3 tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.
4 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).
5 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.”
