Ulangan 29:11

29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ¹  foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water –

Ulangan 29:17

29:17 You have seen their detestable things ²  and idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold.) ³ 

Ulangan 10:1

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ⁴ 

Ulangan 10:3

10:3 So I made an ark of acacia ⁵  wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

Ulangan 4:28

4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

Ulangan 28:36

28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ⁶  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

Ulangan 28:64

28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Ulangan 19:5

19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else ⁷  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ⁸  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ⁹  from the handle and strikes ¹⁰  his fellow worker ¹¹  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ¹²  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ¹³ 

Ulangan 16:21

Examples of Legal Cases

16:21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole ¹⁴  near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself.

Ulangan 21:22

Disposition of a Criminal’s Remains

21:22 If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse ¹⁵  on a tree,

Ulangan 20:20

20:20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, ¹⁶  and you may use it to build siege works ¹⁷  against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.

Ulangan 27:15

27:15 ‘Cursed is the one ¹⁸  who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent ¹⁹  to the Lord, the work of the craftsman ²⁰  – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ²¹ 

Ulangan 21:23

21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury ²²  him that same day, for the one who is left exposed ²³  on a tree is cursed by God. ²⁴  You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Ulangan 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ²⁵  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ²⁶ 

Ulangan 23:13

23:13 You must have a spade among your other equipment and when you relieve yourself ²⁷  outside you must dig a hole with the spade ²⁸  and then turn and cover your excrement. ²⁹ 

Ulangan 20:19

20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, ³⁰  you must not chop down its trees, ³¹  for you may eat fruit ³²  from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! ³³ 

Ulangan 22:6

22:6 If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them, ³⁴  you must not take the mother from the young. ³⁵ 

[29:11]  ¹ tn Heb “your.”

[29:17]  ² tn The Hebrew term שִׁקּוּץ (shiquts) refers to anything out of keeping with the nature and character of Yahweh and therefore to be avoided by his people Israel. It is commonly used with or as a synonym for תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “detestable, abhorrent”; 2 Kgs 23:13; Jer 16:18; Ezek 5:11; 7:20; 11:18, 21; see note on the term “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:243-46.

[29:17]  ³ tn The Hebrew text includes “which were with them.” Verses 16-17 constitute a parenthetical comment.

[10:1]  ⁴ tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.

[10:3]  ⁵ sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.

[28:36]  ⁶ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

[19:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “his neighbor” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “his friend.”

[19:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he raises his hand with the iron.”

[19:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the iron slips off.”

[19:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “finds.”

[19:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his neighbor.”

[19:5]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person responsible for his friend’s death) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and live.”

[16:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “an Asherah, any tree.”

[16:21]  sn Sacred Asherah pole. This refers to a tree (or wooden pole) dedicated to the worship of Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. See also Deut 7:5.

[21:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “him.”

[20:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.”

[20:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.

[27:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.

[27:15]  ¹⁹ tn 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.

[27:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”

[27:15]  ²¹ tn Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.

[21:23]  ²² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”

[21:23]  ²³ tn 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.”

[21:23]  ²⁴ sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).

[12:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ²⁶ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[23:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “sit.” This expression is euphemistic.

[23:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “with it”; the referent (the spade mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “what comes from you,” a euphemism.

[20:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”

[20:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).

[20:19]  ³² tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[20:19]  ³³ tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”

[22:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”

[22:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.