Since, in the enlarged territory, some Israelites would be living a great distance from the one place of worship, permission is given them to eat at home. This repeats essentially verse 15.

The place … put his name there: see verses 5, 11.

Any of your herd or your flock: that is, “any of your cattle or sheep” (see Good News Translation). God has given these animals to the Israelites (see verse 15).

As I have commanded you: Moses is the speaker, and he is setting forth these rules and regulations.

You may eat within your towns as much as you desire: as in verse 15.

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 .

Swine: or, more familiarly, “pigs.” See also Lev 11.7; Pro 11.27; Isa 65.4; 66.3, 17 (also in the New Testament).

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 .

Instructions are given on how to celebrate Passover.

The passover sacrifice: that is, the animal offered in sacrifice, to celebrate the Passover Festival. For alternative ways to translate passover, see the previous verse.

From the flock or the herd: see 15.19.

The place which the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there: see 12.5; 14.23. Originally Passover was a family festival, celebrated in the home.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Go to the one place where Yahweh your [or, inclusive “our”] God chooses for you to worship him, and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle while you are celebrating the Passover Festival. In this way you will honor Yahweh.

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 .

The first fruits of your grain, and of your wine and of your oil refers to the “first share” (Good News Translation), or “first part” (Contemporary English Version), of the grain harvest and the other products. See the same agricultural products in 7.13.

The first of the fleece of your sheep: this is the only place where the wool from the first shearing of the sheep is included as part of the priests’ dues. In some languages this will be rendered as “the first part of the hair that you cut from your sheep.”

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 .

Your eye shall not pity: see verse 13, and 13.8.

Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot: this should be expressed as concisely as possible, but the meaning should be quite clear. It should be stated generally and impersonally, in the manner of laws; for example, “One life shall be taken to pay for another life, one eye for another eye…,” and so forth. This legislation appears also in Exo 21.23-25; Lev 24.19-20.

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 .

If you have no delight in her: that is, “if she doesn’t please you any longer,” “if you lose your desire for her,” or “if you no longer want to have sex with her.”

You shall let her go: the Hebrew verb is used in the context of divorce in 22.19, 29 (Contemporary English Version “you can divorce her”). Other ways to express “divorce her” are “send her away,” or perhaps “return her to her own people.”

Where she will: this is important; she’s a free (Israelite) woman, and no restrictions are placed on her freedom to go anywhere she wants to.

You shall not sell her for money: in Hebrew the verb form is emphatic.

You shall not treat her as a slave: the Hebrew verb is used only here and in 24.7, and its precise meaning is disputed. Revised English Bible has “treat her harshly,” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “enslave her,” and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje “mistreat her.” Some commentators take the meaning to be “treat her as merchandise.” It seems best to follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation here. For slave see 5.6.

You have humiliated her: as Good News Translation makes clear, this refers to his having had intercourse with her; she had no choice in the matter and was forced to have sex with him. Contemporary English Version has “But you have slept with her as your wife.”

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 .

In the Hebrew text this verse is 23.1, which means that the verse numbers of chapter 23 in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are one ahead of the numbers in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew chapter and verse numbers will be written within square brackets as a reminder to those who need to use this system.

For this case see 27.20; Lev 18.7-8; 20.11.

His father’s wife: not his mother, but his stepmother, most likely one of his father’s several wives.

Uncover her who is his father’s: this translates the Hebrew “uncover his father’s skirt,” meaning to invade the privacy of the father’s marriage. “To cover with the skirt” means to get married (Ruth 3.9; Ezek 16.8). This is not in addition to the first rule, as Revised Standard Version nor suggests; rather it is an explanation of it, as Good News Translation renders it. See also New Revised Standard Version: “A man shall not marry his father’s wife, thereby violating his father’s rights.” Good News Translation is a good alternative model for the verse.

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 .

This sets the procedure to be followed if the dead man’s brother tells the town’s elders that he will not perform his duty.

In the presence of the elders: or “while the town leaders watch” (Contemporary English Version).

Pull his sandal off his foot: the symbolic meaning of this act is not clear. If we need to say which foot, we can say “his right foot.” See the procedure described in Ruth 4.7-9. The Hebrew sandal refers to footwear tied with straps.

Spit in his face: this, of course, is a highly insulting act.

Shall answer: this is a formal statement. In English it may be expressed as “shall declare” or “shall state.”

So shall it be done: this does not refer to some future happening; it is the public humiliating insult which has just been inflicted on the man. Other ways of expressing this are “This is what happens” (Good News Translation) or “That’s what happens” (Contemporary English Version).

The man who does not build up his brother’s house: here house means “family,” and the meaning is that, by refusing to produce a son for his brother, the man is allowing the brother’s family name to disappear. Both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are good models for translation.

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 .