You shall remember: see 15.15.

For redeemed see 7.8.

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 .

Beat: this would be done with a stick, to knock down the olives.

You shall not go over the boughs again: they were not to go back and knock down the olives that did not fall off the first time.

At the end of this verse the Septuagint adds the command that is given in verse 22.

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 .

With the beginning of a new section, Moses should be reintroduced as the speaker.

The occasion for this law is a dispute, that is, a legal controversy between two Israelites that must be settled in court by the judges (see 1.16).

Between men: it is better to say “two Israelites” (Good News Translation) or “two Israelite men.”

Decide between them: for the procedure to be followed, see similar cases in 17.8-13; 19.17-18. A more natural way of stating this is “the judges decide that one [of the two men] is guilty.” It should be understood from this that the other one is innocent.

Acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty: the Hebrew text uses two pairs of cognate phrases, that is, phrases consisting of a verb and an adjective formed from the same Hebrew root. Good News Translation combines the final two clauses as follows: “one is declared innocent and the other guilty.” We may also translate “the judges decide that one [of the two men] is guilty and the other is innocent.”

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 the guilty man deserves to be beaten: this is a serious offense, and the guilty person is to be flogged, that is, beaten with a whip made of leather thongs, or perhaps with a rod. In languages that do not use the passive voice, we may say, for example, “If the judges order them to beat [or, whip] the guilty man.”

The judge shall cause him to lie down: the judge will have the man lie prone, that is, face down on the ground. The Septuagint keeps the plural “the judges” from the previous verse (so also Contemporary English Version).

In his presence: to make sure the punishment is carried out exactly as he ordered. Another way to express this is “in front of him.”

A number of stripes in proportion to his offense: this would be according to the judge’s decision. Stripes may be also expressed as “lashes,” “strokes,” or “blows,” or even “times,” as in “the number of times that he is to be hit with the whip.”

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 .

Forty stripes may be given him: in no case could the judge order more than forty lashes to be given to the guilty person. In later times the maximum was reduced to thirty-nine lashes (see 2 Cor 11.24) to make sure that the limit in this law was not exceeded. Another way to express this is “They may not hit him more than forty times with the whip.”

Your brother: that is, your fellow-Israelite. Revised English Bible “your neighbor” is not correct in this context.

Degraded in your sight: the sense is that a fellow-Israelite should not be publicly humiliated or “made to lose face in front of the other Israelites.”

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 son whom she bears: even though the Septuagint has “the first child,” translators should make it clear that this is a male child.

Shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead: here, of course, his brother is the father’s brother. The meaning is that the baby boy will be given his (dead) uncle’s name, not the name of his actual father. Contemporary English Version has “and their first son will be the legal son of the dead man.”

His name may not be blotted out: that is, the family line or name of the dead man will not cease to exist (so Good News Translation), but continue in a normal way.

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 .

Verses 7-10 describe the procedure to be followed if the dead man’s brother does not wish to fulfil his duty as a brother-in-law.

Go up to the gate to the elders: see similar language in 21.19. For elders see 5.23.

Does not wish to take his brother’s wife: or “refuses to marry the widow” (Contemporary English Version).

Refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name: perpetuate is the same Hebrew verb “make stand” that is used in verse 6 (“succeed to”). Good News Translation has “he refuses to give his brother a descendant among the people of Israel.”

Not perform the duty of a husband’s brother: the same language as used in verse 5.

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 .

Deut 25.8

Then the elders of his city shall call him: in this way the actions of the man and their consequences for the family are made public.

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 .