Ulangan 15:17

15:17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. ¹  Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).

Ulangan 23:3

23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite ²  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever ³  do so, ⁴ 

Ulangan 29:29

29:29 Secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants ⁵  forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

Ulangan 32:7

32:7 Remember the ancient days;

bear in mind ⁶  the years of past generations. ⁷ 

Ask your father and he will inform you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

[15:17]  ¹ sn When the bondslave’s ear was drilled through to the door, the door in question was that of the master’s house. In effect, the bondslave is declaring his undying and lifelong loyalty to his creditor. The scar (or even hole) in the earlobe would testify to the community that the slave had surrendered independence and personal rights. This may be what Paul had in mind when he said “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17).

[23:3]  ² sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).

[23:3]  ³ tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.

[23:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[29:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV “children.”

[32:7]  ⁶ tc The Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read 2nd person masculine singular whereas the MT has 2nd person masculine plural. The former is preferred, the latter perhaps being a misreading (בִּינוּ [binu] for בִּינָה [binah]). Both the preceding (“remember”) and following (“ask”) imperatives are singular forms in the Hebrew text.

[32:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “generation and generation.” The repetition of the singular noun here singles out each of the successive past generations. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3b.