Imamat 20:22

Exhortation to Holiness and Obedience

20:22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations, ¹  so that ²  the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence there does not vomit you out.

Ezra 9:11

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ³  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ⁴  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

Ratapan 1:17

The Prophet Speaks:

פ (Pe)

1:17 Zion spread out her hands,

but there is no one to comfort her.

The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob;

his neighbors ⁵  have become his enemies.

Jerusalem has become

like filthy garbage ⁶  in their midst. ⁷ 

[20:22]  ¹ tn Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).

[20:22]  ² tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[9:11]  ³ tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[1:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “his neighbors,” which refers to the surrounding nations.

[1:17]  ⁶ tn The noun II נִדָּה (niddah, “unclean thing”) has three basic categories of meaning: (1) biological uncleanness: menstruation of a woman (Lev 12:2, 5; 15:19-33 [9x]; Num 19:9, 13, 20; 31:23; Ezek 18:6; 22:10; 36:17); (2) ceremonial uncleanness: moral impurity and idolatry (Lev 20:21; 2 Chr 29:5; Ezra 9:11; Zech 13:1); and (3) physical uncleanness: filthy garbage (Lam 1:17; Ezek 7:19, 20).

[1:17]  ⁷ tc The MT reads בֵּינֵיהֶם (bÿnehem, “in them” = “in their midst”). The BHS editors suggest that this is a textual corruption for בְּעֵינֵיהֶם (be’enehem, “in their eyes” = “in their view”). The ע (ayin) might have dropped out due to orthographic confusion.

[1:17]  tn Or “in their eyes.” See the preceding tc note.