¹sn Do not cut yourselves or make your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.
²tn Or “set apart.”
³tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
⁴tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term hL*g%s= describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3.224.
sn The Hebrew term translated “select” (and the whole verse) is reminiscent of the classic covenant text (Exod 19:4-6) which describes Israel’s entry into covenant relationship with the Lord. Israel must resist paganism and its trappings precisely because she is a holy people elected by the Lord from among the nations to be his instrument of world redemption (cf. Deut 7:6; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).
⁵tn The Hebrew word hb*u@oT (“forbidden; abhorrent”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
⁶tn The Hebrew term lY`a^ may refer to a type of deer (cf. Arabic àayya„l).
<sup>7</sup>tn The Hebrew term yb!x= is sometimes rendered “roebuck”
<sup>8</sup>tn The Hebrew term rWmj=y~ may refer to a “fallow deer”; cf. Arabic yah£mu„r, “deer.” Cf. NIV “roe deer”; NEB, NRSV “roebuck.”
<sup>9</sup>tn The Hebrew term /v)yD] is a hapax legomenon. Its referent is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope (cf. NEB “white-rumped deer”; NIV, NRSV “ibex”).
<sup>10</sup>tn The Hebrew term oaT= (a variant is aoT) could also refer to another species of antelope. Cf. NEB “long-horned antelope”; NIV, NRSV “antelope.”
<sup>11</sup>tn The Hebrew term rm#z# is another hapax legomenon with the possible meaning “wild sheep.” Cf. NEB “rock-goat”; NIV, NRSV “mountain sheep.”
<sup>12</sup>tn The Hebrew text includes “among the animals.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
<sup>13</sup>tn The Hebrew term /p*v* may refer to the coney or hyrax (rock badger).
<sup>14</sup>tc The MT lacks (probably by haplography) the phrase hs*r=P^ us^v# us^v)w+ (“and is clovenfooted,” i.e., “has parted hooves”), a phrase found in the otherwise exact parallel in Lev 11:7. The LXX and SP attest the longer reading here. The meaning is, however, clear without it.
<sup>15</sup>tn NEB “the griffon-vulture.”
<sup>16</sup>tn The Hebrew term sr#P# describes a large vulture otherwise known as the ossifrage. This largest of the vultures takes its name from its habit of dropping skeletal remains from a great height so as to break the bones apart.
<sup>17</sup>tn The Hebrew term hY`n]z+u* may describe the black vulture (so NIV) or it may refer to the osprey (so NRSV), an eagle-like bird subsisting mainly on fish.
¹⁸tn The Hebrew term is hY`D^ (D^Y`h). This, with the previous two terms (ha*r` and hY`a^), is probably a kite of some species but otherwise impossible to specify.
¹⁹tn Or “owl.” The Hebrew term hn`u&Y^h^ tb^ is traditionally taken as “ostrich” (so NASB, NRSV), but may refer instead to some species of owl (cf. NEB “desert-owl”; NIV “horned owl”).
²⁰tn The Hebrew term sm*j=T^ is either a type of owl (cf. NEB “short-eared owl”; NIV “screech owl”) or possibly the nighthawk (so NRSV).
²¹tn The Hebrew term Jn} may refer to the falcon or perhaps the hawk (so NEB, NIV).
²²tn The Hebrew term tm#v#n+T! may refer to a species of owl or perhaps to the swan. Cf. NRSV “water hen.”
²³tn The Hebrew term ta^q* may also refer to a type of owl (NIV, NRSV “desert owl”) or perhaps the pelican (so NASB).
²⁴tc The MT reads the Niphal (passive) for expected Qal (“you [plural] must not eat”); cf. SP, LXX. However, the lectio difficilior should stand.
²⁵tn Heb “gates” (also in vv. 27, 28, 29).
²⁶sn Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. This strange prohibition—one whose rationale is unclear but probably related to pagan ritual—may seem out of place here but actually is not for the following reasons: (1) the passage as a whole opens with a prohibition against heathen mourning rites (i.e., death, vv. 1-2) and closes with what appear to be birth and infancy rites. (2) In the other two places where the stipulation occurs (Exod 23:19 and Exod 34:26) it similarly concludes major sections. (3) Whatever the practice signified it clearly was abhorrent to the Lord and fittingly concludes the topic of various breaches of purity and holiness as represented by the ingestion of unclean animals (vv. 3-21). See C. M. Carmichael, “On Separating Life and Death: An Explanation of Some Biblical Laws,” HTR 69 (1976): 1-7; J. Milgrom, “You Shall Not Boil a Kid In Its Mother’s Milk,” BRev 1 (1985): 48-55; R. J. Ratner and B. Zuckerman, “In Rereading the ‘Kid in Milk’ Inscriptions,” BRev 1 (1985): 56-58; and M. Haran, “Seething a Kid in its Mother’s Milk,” JJS 30 (1979): 23-35.
²⁷tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “be certain.”
²⁸tn This refers to wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (/y]y^) in its mature sense.
²⁹tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “He” in 14:2.
³⁰tn The Hebrew text includes “way is so far from you that you are unable to carry it because the.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because they are redundant.
³¹tn Heb “bind the silver in your hand.”