Imamat 3:1

Peace Offering Regulations: Animal from the Herd

3:1 “‘Now if his offering is a peace offering sacrifice, ¹  if he presents an offering from the herd, he must present before the Lord a flawless male or a female. ² 

Imamat 4:28

4:28 or his sin that he committed ³  is made known to him, ⁴  he must bring a flawless female goat ⁵  as his offering for the sin ⁶  that he committed.

Imamat 5:8

5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ⁷  must pinch ⁸  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ⁹ 

Imamat 6:16

6:16 Aaron and his sons are to eat what is left over from it. It must be eaten unleavened in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Meeting Tent.

Imamat 6:22

6:22 The high priest who succeeds him ¹⁰  from among his sons must do it. It is a perpetual statute; it must be offered up in smoke as a whole offering to the Lord.

Imamat 8:2

8:2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, the sin offering bull, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

Imamat 8:35

8:35 You must reside at the entrance of the Meeting Tent day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the Lord so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.”

Imamat 10:7

10:7 but you must not go out from the entrance of the Meeting Tent lest you die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they acted according to the word of Moses.

Imamat 10:9

10:9 “Do not drink wine or strong drink, you and your sons with you, when you enter into the Meeting Tent, so that you do not die, which is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, ¹¹ 

Imamat 11:24

Carcass Uncleanness

11:24 “‘By these ¹²  you defile yourselves; anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening,

Imamat 13:33

13:33 then the individual is to shave himself, ¹³  but he must not shave the area affected by the scall, ¹⁴  and the priest is to quarantine the person with the scall for another seven days. ¹⁵ 

Imamat 13:59

Summary of Infection Regulations

13:59 This is the law ¹⁶  of the diseased infection in the garment of wool or linen, or the warp or woof, or any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean. ¹⁷ 

Imamat 15:11

15:11 Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water ¹⁸  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Imamat 16:1

The Day of Atonement

16:1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord ¹⁹  and died,

Imamat 17:3

17:3 “Blood guilt ²⁰  will be accounted to any man ²¹  from the house of Israel ²²  who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, ²³ 

Imamat 17:10

Prohibition against Eating Blood

17:10 “‘Any man ²⁴  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside ²⁵  in their ²⁶  midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, ²⁷ 

Imamat 18:17

18:17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. ²⁸  They are closely related to her ²⁹  – it is lewdness. ³⁰ 

Imamat 18:24-25

Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

18:24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you ³¹  have been defiled with all these things. 18:25 Therefore ³²  the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, ³³  so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants.

Imamat 18:29

18:29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. ³⁴ 

Imamat 19:15

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 “‘You ³⁵  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ³⁶  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ³⁷  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ³⁸ 

Imamat 19:29

19:29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, ³⁹  so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness. ⁴⁰ 

Imamat 20:5-6

20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, ⁴¹  to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. ⁴² 

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums ⁴³ 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ⁴⁴  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ⁴⁵  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Imamat 20:18

20:18 If a man has sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them ⁴⁶  must be cut off from the midst of their people.

Imamat 21:7

21:7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, ⁴⁷  nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, ⁴⁸  for the priest ⁴⁹  is holy to his God. ⁵⁰ 

Imamat 22:2

22:2 “Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings ⁵¹  of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. ⁵²  I am the Lord.

Imamat 22:16

22:16 and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt ⁵³  when they eat their holy offerings, ⁵⁴  for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

Imamat 25:14

25:14 If you make a sale ⁵⁵  to your fellow citizen ⁵⁶  or buy ⁵⁷  from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. ⁵⁸ 

Imamat 25:35

Debt and Slave Regulations

25:35 “‘If your brother ⁵⁹  becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, ⁶⁰  you must support ⁶¹  him; he must live ⁶²  with you like a foreign resident. ⁶³ 

Imamat 25:53

25:53 He must be with the one who bought him ⁶⁴  like a yearly hired worker. ⁶⁵  The one who bought him ⁶⁶  must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

Imamat 26:41

26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ⁶⁷  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ⁶⁸  their iniquity,

Imamat 27:9

Redemption of Vowed Animals

27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented ⁶⁹  to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal ⁷⁰  will be holy.

[3:1]  ¹ sn The peace offering sacrifice primarily enacted and practiced communion between God and man (and between the people of God). This was illustrated by the fact that the fat parts of the animal were consumed on the altar of the Lord but the meat was consumed by the worshipers in a meal before God. This is the only kind of offering in which common worshipers partook of the meat of the animal. When there was a series of offerings that included a peace offering (see, e.g., Lev 9:8-21, sin offerings, burnt offerings, and afterward the peace offerings in vv. 18-21), the peace offering was always offered last because it expressed the fact that all was well between God and his worshiper(s). There were various kinds of peace offerings, depending on the worship intended on the specific occasion. The “thank offering” expressed thanksgiving (e.g., Lev 7:11-15; 22:29-30), the “votive offering” fulfilled a vow (e.g., Lev 7:16-18; 22:21-25), and the “freewill offering” was offered as an expression of devotion and praise to God (e.g., Lev 7:16-18; 22:21-25). The so-called “ordination offering” was also a kind of peace offering that was used to consecrate the priests at their ordination (e.g., Exod 29:19-34; Lev 7:37; 8:22-32). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:1066-73 and 4:135-43.

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “if a male if a female, perfect he shall present it before the Lord.” The “or” in the present translation (and most other English versions) is not present in the Hebrew text here, but see v. 6 below.

[4:28]  ³ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned is made known to him”; cf. NCV “when that person learns about his sin.”

[4:28]  ⁴ tn Lev 4:27b-28a is essentially the same as 4:22b-23a (see the notes there).

[4:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “a she-goat of goats, a female without defect”; NAB “an unblemished she-goat.”

[4:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “on his sin.”

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

[5:8]  ⁸ sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

[5:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

[6:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And the anointed priest under him.”

[10:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a perpetual statute for your generations”; NAB “a perpetual ordinance”; NRSV “a statute forever”; NLT “a permanent law.” The Hebrew grammar here suggests that the last portion of v. 9 functions as both a conclusion to v. 9 and an introduction to vv. 10-11. It is a pivot clause, as it were. Thus, it was a “perpetual statute” to not drink alcoholic beverages when ministering in the tabernacle, but it was also a “perpetual statue” to distinguish between holy and profane and unclean and clean (v. 10) as well as to teach the children of Israel all such statutes (v. 11).

[11:24]  ¹² tn Heb “and to these.”

[13:33]  ¹³ tn The shaving is done by the one who has the infection. Although KJV, ASV have the passive “he shall be shaven” here, most modern English versions have the reflexive “shall shave himself” (so NAB).

[13:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but the scall shall he not shave” (so KJV, ASV); NIV “except for the diseased area.”

[13:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the scall a second seven days.”

[13:59]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew term translated “law” (תוֹרָה, torah) introduces here a summary or colophon for all of Lev 13. Similar summaries are found in Lev 7:37-38; 11:46-47; 14:54-57; and 15:32-33.

[13:59]  ¹⁷ tn These are declarative Piel forms of the verbs טָהֵר (taher) and טָמֵא (tame’) respectively (cf. the notes on vv. 3 and 6 above).

[15:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And all who the man with the discharge touches in him and his hands he has not rinsed in water.”

[16:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in their drawing near to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here relies on the use of this expression for the very “presence” of God in Exod 33:14-15 and in the Lev 9:24-10:2 passage, where the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe referred to here is narrated.

[17:3]  ²⁰ tn The complex wording of vv. 3-4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5-7; 7:26-27, etc.; cf. vv. 10-16 below for more details).

[17:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on Lev 15:2.

[17:3]  ²² tn The original LXX adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).

[17:3]  ²³ tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

[17:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or every) man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

[17:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:10]  ²⁶ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I will give my faces against [literally “in”] the soul/person/life [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, feminine] who eats the blood and I will cut it [i.e., that נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] off from the midst of its people.” The uses of נֶפֶשׁ in this and the following verse are most significant for the use of animal blood in Israel’s sacrificial system. Unfortunately, it is a most difficult word to translate accurately and consistently, and this presents a major problem for the rendering of these verses (see, e.g., G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 244-45). No matter which translation of נֶפֶשׁ one uses here, it is important to see that both man and animal have נֶפֶשׁ and that this נֶפֶשׁ is identified with the blood. See the further remarks on v. 11 below. On the “cutting off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above. In this instance, God takes it on himself to “cut off” the person (i.e., extirpation).

[18:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The LXX and Syriac have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.

[18:17]  ²⁹ tc Heb “they are her flesh.” The LXX reads “your” here (followed by NRSV). If the LXX reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”

[18:17]  ³⁰ tn The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. HALOT 272 s.v. I זִמָּה 2, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9). Recent English versions differ on how they handle this: NAB “would be shameful”; CEV “would make you unclean”; NIV “wickedness”; NLT “horrible wickedness”; NRSV “depravity”; TEV “incest.”

[18:24]  ³¹ tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.

[18:25]  ³² tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.

[18:25]  ³³ tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

[18:29]  ³⁴ sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

[19:15]  ³⁵ tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.

[19:15]  ³⁶ tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”

[19:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”

[19:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”

[19:29]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to make her practice harlotry.” Some recent English versions regard this as religious or temple prostitution (cf. TEV, CEV).

[19:29]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and the land become full of lewdness.” Regarding the term “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

[20:5]  ⁴¹ tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.

[20:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

[20:6]  ⁴³ sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

[20:6]  ⁴⁴ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “I will give my faces.”

[20:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and the two of them.”

[21:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “A wife harlot and profaned they shall not take.” The structure of the verse (e.g., “wife” at the beginning of the two main clauses) suggests that “harlot and profaned” constitutes a hendiadys, meaning “a wife defiled by harlotry” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 143, as opposed to that in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348; cf. v. 14 below). Cf. NASB “a woman who is profaned by harlotry.”

[21:7]  ⁴⁸ sn For a helpful discussion of divorce in general and as it relates to this passage see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 143-44.

[21:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:7]  ⁵⁰ tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.

[22:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “holy things,” which means the “holy offerings” in this context, as the following verses show. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and they shall not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me.” The latter (relative) clause applies to the “the holy things of the sons of Israel” (the first clause), not the Lord’s name (i.e., the immediately preceding clause). The clause order in the translation has been rearranged to indicate this.

[22:16]  ⁵³ tn Heb “iniquity of guilt”; NASB “cause them to bear punishment for guilt.” The Hebrew word עָוֹן (’avon, “iniquity”) can designate either acts of iniquity or the penalty (i.e., punishment) for such acts.

[22:16]  ⁵⁴ sn That is, when the lay people eat portions of offerings that should have been eaten only by priests and those who belonged to priestly households.

[25:14]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “sell a sale.”

[25:14]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.”

[25:14]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z).

[25:14]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.

[25:35]  ⁵⁹ tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”).

[25:35]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”

[25:35]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”

[25:35]  ⁶² tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5).

[25:35]  ⁶³ tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).

[25:53]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:53]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”

[25:53]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:41]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[27:9]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, a ms of the Targum, and the Vulgate all have the singular verb instead (cf. similarly v. 11).

[27:9]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of Smr, the LXX, and the Syriac have the feminine. The referent (this kind of animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.