translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET translator note

text: 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 ).


text: The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”


text: Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”


text: Heb “slain [one].”


text: The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi ( נַחַל , nakhal ) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.


text: Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”


text: Heb “in the name of the Lord .” See note on Deut 10:8 . The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “by their mouth.”


text: Heb “every controversy and every blow.”


text: Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.


text: Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).


text: Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Atone for.”


text: Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”


text: Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).


text: Heb “gives him into your hands.”


text: Heb “the prisoners.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”


text: Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”


text: Heb “go unto,” a common Hebrew euphemism for sexual relations.


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by the words “in any case.”


text: The Hebrew text includes “for money.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Or perhaps “must not enslave her” (cf. ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); Heb “[must not] be tyrannical over.”


text: Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא ( sane ’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33 ; Mal 1:2-3 . Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.


text: Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”


text: Heb “the hated.”


text: See note on the word “other” in v. 15 .


text: 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 ).


text: 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.”


text: Heb “and he does not listen to them.”


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21 . However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8 ) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.


text: The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה ( bi ’ artah ), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9 ), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָעַר , ba ’ ar , “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.


text: Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים ( hannish ’ arim , “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל ( yisra ’ el , “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20 . However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.


text: Heb “him.”


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”


text: Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”