translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DEU

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.


text: Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”


text: Heb “hide yourself.”


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”


text: Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).


text: Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.


text: Heb “and you do not know him.”


text: Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1 ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “your brother” (also in v. 4 ).


text: Heb “you must not hide yourself.”


text: Heb “you must not see.” See note at 22:1 .


text: Heb “and (must not) hide yourself from them.”


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “be sure.”


text: Heb “help him to lift them up.” In keeping with English style the singular is used in the translation, and the referent (“the animal”) has been specified for clarity.


text: Heb “a man’s clothing.”


text: The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה ( to ’ evah , “offense”) speaks of anything that runs counter to ritual or moral order, especially (in the OT) to divine standards. Cross-dressing in this covenant context may suggest homosexuality, fertility cult ritual, or some other forbidden practice.


text: Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”


text: Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.


text: The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”


text: Or “a parapet” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “a battlement”; NLT “a barrier.”


text: Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”


text: Heb “set apart.” The verb קָדַשׁ ( qadash ) in the Qal verbal stem (as here) has the idea of being holy or being treated with special care. Some take the meaning as “be off-limits, forfeited,” i.e., the total produce of the vineyard, both crops and grapes, have to be forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. Exod 29:37; 30:29 ; Lev 6:18, 27 ; Num 16:37-38 ; Hag 2:12 ).


text: The Hebrew term שַׁעַטְנֵז ( sha ’ atnez ) occurs only here and in Lev 19:19 . HALOT 1610-11 s.v. takes it to be a contraction of words ( שַׁשׁ [ shash , “headdress”] + עַטְנַז [’ atnaz , “strong”]). BDB 1043 s.v. שַׁעַטְנֵז offers the translation “mixed stuff” (cf. NEB “woven with two kinds of yarn”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “woven together”). The general meaning is clear even if the etymology is not.


text: Heb “twisted threads” ( גְּדִלִים , gÿdilim ) appears to be synonymous with צִיצִת ( tsitsit ) which, in Num 15:38 , occurs in a passage instructing Israel to remember the covenant. Perhaps that is the purpose of the tassels here as well. Cf. KJV, ASV “fringes”; NAB “twisted cords.”


text: Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.


text: Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15 . Cf. NAB “comes to dislike”; NASB “turns against”; TEV “decides he doesn’t want.”


text: Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”


text: Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”


text: Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.


text: Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15 .


text: Heb “they will spread the garment.”


text: Heb “discipline.”


text: Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.


text: Heb “brought forth a bad name.”


text: The Hebrew term נְבָלָה ( nÿvalah ) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7 ; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10 ; Jer 29:23 ). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”


text: Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21 .


text: Heb “lying with” (so KJV, NASB), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.


text: Heb “a woman married to a husband.”


text: Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21 .


text: Heb “finds.”


text: Heb “lies with.”


text: Heb “humbled.”


text: Heb “wife.”


text: Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28 .


text: Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” ( חָזַק , khazaq ) makes clear.


text: Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”


text: Heb “his neighbor.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”


text: Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so ASV, NASB). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. NAB, NIV “dishonor his father’s bed”).