Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:2

And if … or if …: here the people are told what to do if the owner of the animal lives a long way off or is unknown. The directions are quite clear, and there are no particular problems with the structure of the discourse or the meaning of the words. By saying “its owner,” Good News Translation (also Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) neatly handles the problem of trying to translate your brother. In languages like English, that differentiate between the neuter it (the animal) and the masculine he (the owner), there is no problem in making it clear which is referred to. But where there is no neuter form, a translator must make sure that there is no confusion in determining who or what the pronouns refer to.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• If the owner of the animal lives too far away, or if you [singular] don’t know who owns it, take the animal home with you. When its owner comes looking for it, give it back to him.

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:3

And so you shall do: this verse expands the instructions to apply to a fellow Israelite’s ass, garment, or anything else he may have lost (any lost thing of your brother’s). For ass or “donkey” see 5.14.

You may not withhold your help: using the same verb used in verse 1. Good News Translation expresses this clause at the beginning of the verse, with “Do the same thing,” referring back to help in verse 1. Contemporary English Version has “Do whatever you can to help.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:4

By the way: meaning “along the road” (Contemporary English Version). The animal’s owner is there, trying to lift it up.

You shall help him to lift them up again: The Hebrew is emphatic, with the double use of the verb, “helping lift up … you shall help.” Good News Translation has “help him get the animal to its feet again.” We may also translate in a way similar to the Hebrew, with “You shall help him lift the animal up so that it stands on its feet again.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:5

This law deals with transvestism, that is, using clothes normally worn by members of the other sex. It is called an abomination, which seems to link it up with customs associated with pagan cults. For the word abomination itself see 7.24; 18.12. In Lev 18.22 and 20.13 the same word is applied to homosexual behavior.

Anything that pertains to a man: this seems to include other things besides clothes, such as adornments and weapons. But in parallel with a woman’s garment, it probably means simply a man’s clothes.

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:6 - 22:7

The underlying purpose in these instructions is not just humanitarian concern for other forms of life, but the preservation of a food source. A mother bird will lay more eggs and produce more young.

That it may go well with you, and that you may live long: this probably means more than a long life as such. It means the people will live for many generations in the Promised Land (see discussion at 6.2). Good News Translation gives a helpful model for this verse; so also does Contemporary English Version: “… Let her go free, and the LORD will bless you with a long and successful life.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8

A parapet for your roof: a parapet is a railing placed at the edges of the flat roof. The roof was reached by outside steps, and people would gather there to relax and visit; see Josh 2.6; 2 Kgs 4.10. In some languages a parapet will be expressed as “a low wall.”

The guilt of blood: responsibility for someone’s death (see 19.10; 21.8). Good News Translation has “then you will not be responsible if….”

If any one fall from it: that is, “… fall to his or her death”; in this context the word blood carries the sense of a violent death. The last part of the verse may also be expressed as “Then if someone falls off the roof and is killed, it won’t be your fault” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:9

The three instructions in verses 9-11 have to do with what is regarded as an unnatural mixing of two different forms of creation (see the parallel in Lev 19.19).

Sow your vineyard with two kinds of seeds: this means sowing some sort of crop in the rows between the grapevines. So Good News Translation has “Do not plant any crop in the same field with your grapevines.” For vineyard see 6.11.

Lest the whole yield be forfeited to the sanctuary: as the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, this translates the causative form of the Hebrew verb “be holy.” The meaning is that in this case both the crops and the wine belong to the LORD and will go to the Temple. There are various translations possible: “… may not be used” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “everything would be dedicated to the LORD” (Bible en français courant, BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum), “you will not be allowed to use…” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), or even “you must bring to the place of worship everything you harvest from the vineyard” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:10

The reason for the law prohibiting plowing with an ox and an ass yoked together is not clear. The ox was considered to be a “clean” animal, the ass “unclean” (14.1-8). Another way to express this is “Do not hitch an ox and a donkey together when you plow the ground.”

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 .