translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “men.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”


text: Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”


text: Heb “and it will be.”


text: Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”


text: Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2 ) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.


text: Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”


text: Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.


text: Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”


text: Heb “and it will be that.”


text: Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.


text: Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.


text: Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”


text: Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”


text: Heb “house.”


text: Cf. NIV, NCV “The Family of the Unsandaled.”


text: Heb “a man and his brother.”


text: Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man. The level of specificity given this term in modern translations varies: “private parts” (NAB, NIV, CEV); “genitals” (NASB, NRSV, TEV); “sex organs” (NCV); “testicles” (NLT).


text: Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.


text: Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.


text: Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.


text: Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”


text: The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” ( תּוֹעֵבָה , to ’ evah ) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25 .


text: Heb “what Amalek” (so NAB, NRSV). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19 . Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).


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


text: The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”


text: Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם ( shamayim ) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.