It will be helpful to reintroduce Moses as the speaker at the beginning of this new section.

He shall not … be charged with any business: it is impossible to think that the man would not have to work for a living for a whole year. Contemporary English Version interprets “public duties” as only “forced labor,” but other types of work are also possible. So “do any other work for the government [or, town]” is another possible rendering. Alternative translation models for the first part of this verse may be:

• Moses said to the people of Israel, “If a man has been married less than a year, they cannot send him off to war or make him do other work for the government.”

• … “If a man has just taken a wife, he cannot be sent off to fight Israel’s enemies or be forced to work for the town.”

He shall be free at home one year: that is, exempt from all public responsibilities.

To be happy with his wife: the Masoretic form of the Hebrew text has the causative form of the verb, “to make his wife happy” (Septuagint, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible and others). The Hebrew consonants, however, may be given other vowels, making the verb mean “be happy with his wife,” as Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible translate. It seems better to stay with the Masoretic text; a translation may give the alternative in a footnote, as Good News Translation does.

Whom he has taken: this information is redundant, and may be omitted.

scv 24:6

Take … in pledge: an Israelite could not charge a fellow-Israelite any interest on a loan. In order to make sure that the loan would be repaid, however, the lender would take an object of value from the borrower and keep it until the loan had been repaid. This item would serve as a pledge, that is, a promise on the part of the borrower that the loan would be repaid.

A mill: this refers to the small mill in every household with which the housewife would grind the grain every day in order to make bread. It consisted of two stones; it was enough to take away the upper millstone to render the mill ineffective.

An alternative translation model for the first part of this verse is:

• When you lend money to a fellow Israelite, you are allowed to keep something of his as a guarantee that he will pay back the money. But don’t take either of the two stones used for grinding grain.

He would be taking a life in pledge: without the mill the family’s health would be in danger. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model: “they need those millstones for grinding grain into flour to make bread.” However, if the information about grinding grain has been put into the previous sentence, we may say something like “they [he] use that flour for making bread to eat.”

scv 24:7

Is found stealing one of his brethren: as elsewhere, brethren means fellow-Israelites. To steal here means to “abduct by force” or “kidnap,” and translators should use a term that clearly shows that the person has been abducted or taken away against his or her will. See the parallel passage in Exo 21.16.

The people of Israel are the same people as the brethren in the previous phrase, and in many languages the Revised Standard Version literal rendering of the Hebrew will be unnatural style. It will be simpler to translate as “to kidnap a fellow-Israelite” (see also Good News Translation).

Treats him as a slave: the same verb is used here that appears in 21.14 and nowhere else in the Old Testament. Here it seems to mean to keep him as his own slave. For slave see 5.6.

Or sells him: this is the other possibility. The kidnapper may try to sell his fellow-Israelite to someone else who will keep him as a slave.

That thief should die: such a person is to be executed.

So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you: see 13.5.

scv 24:8

Leprosy: it is known that the disease referred to by the Hebrew word is not what is called leprosy today. It was some kind of unsightly skin disease, such as “modern psoriasis or favus” (Mayes); few modern translations use the word “leprosy.” Something like “a dreaded skin disease” (Good News Translation) can be used, or else a footnote, such as New International Version gives for “leprous disease”: “The Hebrew word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.” In Lev 13.47-59 the word is used for mildew, or mold, on clothing or leather objects, and in Lev 14.33-53 it is used of mildew on houses. It was considered to make the clothing, the leather objects, or the houses ritually impure, and they would have to be made clean (see Lev 13–14).

All that the Levitical priests shall direct you: for Levitical priests see 17.9. Here direct means “teach,” “instruct.”

As I commanded them: Moses is speaking, and the text makes it appear that he is talking about the kind of instructions found in Leviticus 13–14:10-11

You shall not go into his house: in this case the lender is not to intimidate the borrower—who would be a poorer person—by forcing his way into his house and demanding the object to be given as a pledge. Rather he is to wait at the door for his fellow-Israelite (your neighbor) to bring the object out to him.

Fetch his pledge: in many languages it will be necessary to make it clear here that what is pledged is a piece of clothing (verse 13); for example, “Don’t go into the house to get the garment he is going to give you as security” (Good News Translation) or “… to give you to guarantee that he will pay the money back.”

Bring the pledge out to you: or “bring it [the garment] out to you.”

An alternative translation model for verses 10 and 11 may be:

• Moses said to the people of Israel, “When you lend a fellow Israelite some money, do not go into his house to get the garment that he is going to give to you as a guarantee that he will pay back the money. Instead, wait outside and he will bring out the garment you have agreed on.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .