Imamat 1:13

1:13 Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar – it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Imamat 2:3

2:3 The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and to his sons ¹  – it is ²  most holy ³  from the gifts of the Lord.

Imamat 4:2

4:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a person sins by straying unintentionally ⁴  from any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, and violates any ⁵  one of them ⁶  –

Imamat 4:27

For the Common Person

4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual ⁷  sins by straying unintentionally ⁸  when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, ⁹  and he pleads guilty

Imamat 5:3-4

5:3 or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, ¹⁰  even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty; 5:4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly ¹¹  with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths ¹²  –

Imamat 5:17

Unknown trespass

5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ¹³  (although he did not know it at the time, ¹⁴  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ¹⁵ 

Imamat 6:27

6:27 Anyone who touches its meat must be holy, and whoever spatters some of its blood on a garment, ¹⁶  you must wash ¹⁷  whatever he spatters it on in a holy place.

Imamat 7:17-18

7:17 but the leftovers from the meat of the sacrifice must be burned up in the fire ¹⁸  on the third day. 7:18 If some of the meat of his peace offering sacrifice is ever eaten on the third day it will not be accepted; it will not be accounted to the one who presented it, since it is spoiled, ¹⁹  and the person who eats from it will bear his punishment for iniquity. ²⁰ 

Imamat 7:20

7:20 The person who eats meat from the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord while his uncleanness persists ²¹  will be cut off from his people. ²² 

Imamat 7:36

7:36 This is what the Lord commanded to give to them from the Israelites on the day Moses ²³  anointed them ²⁴  – a perpetual allotted portion throughout their generations. ²⁵ 

Imamat 8:21

8:21 but the entrails and the legs he washed with water, ²⁶  and Moses offered the whole ram up in smoke on the altar – it was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma, a gift to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁷ 

Imamat 12:2

12:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring ²⁸  and bears a male child, ²⁹  she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. ³⁰ 

Imamat 12:4-5

12:4 Then she will remain ³¹  thirty-three days in blood purity. ³²  She must not touch anything holy and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. ³³  12:5 If she bears a female child, she will be impure fourteen days as during her menstrual flow, and she will remain sixty-six days in ³⁴  blood purity. ³⁵ 

Imamat 12:7

12:7 The priest ³⁶  is to present it before the Lord and make atonement ³⁷  on her behalf, and she will be clean ³⁸  from her flow of blood. ³⁹  This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child.

Imamat 13:13

13:13 the priest must then examine it, ⁴⁰  and if ⁴¹  the disease covers his whole body, he is to pronounce the person with the infection clean. ⁴²  He has turned all white, so he is clean. ⁴³ 

Imamat 14:4

14:4 then the priest will command that two live clean birds, a piece of cedar wood, a scrap of crimson fabric, ⁴⁴  and some twigs of hyssop ⁴⁵  be taken up ⁴⁶  for the one being cleansed. ⁴⁷ 

Imamat 14:18

14:18 and the remainder of the olive oil ⁴⁸  that is in his hand the priest is to put on the head of the one being cleansed. So the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord.

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 ⁴⁹  and died,

Imamat 16:10

16:10 but the goat which has been designated by lot for Azazel is to be stood alive ⁵⁰  before the Lord to make atonement on it by sending it away to Azazel into the wilderness. ⁵¹ 

Imamat 16:20

The Live Goat Ritual Procedures

16:20 “When he has finished purifying the holy place, ⁵²  the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat.

Imamat 17:3-4

17:3 “Blood guilt ⁵³  will be accounted to any man ⁵⁴  from the house of Israel ⁵⁵  who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, ⁵⁶  17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent ⁵⁷  to present it as ⁵⁸  an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. He has shed blood, so that man will be cut off from the midst of his people. ⁵⁹ 

Imamat 19:14

19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ⁶⁰  You must fear ⁶¹  your God; I am the Lord.

Imamat 19:23

The Produce of Fruit Trees

19:23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, ⁶²  you must consider its fruit to be forbidden. ⁶³  Three years it will be forbidden to you; ⁶⁴  it must not be eaten.

Imamat 20:12-14

20:12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion; ⁶⁵  their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, ⁶⁶  the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, ⁶⁷  it is lewdness. ⁶⁸  Both he and they must be burned to death, ⁶⁹  so there is no lewdness in your midst.

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 ⁷⁰  must be cut off from the midst of their people.

Imamat 20:27

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums

20:27 “‘A man or woman who ⁷¹  has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit ⁷²  must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; ⁷³  their blood guilt is on themselves.’”

Imamat 21:14

21:14 He must not marry ⁷⁴  a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people ⁷⁵  as a wife.

Imamat 22:32

22:32 You must not profane my holy name, and I will be sanctified in the midst of the Israelites. I am the Lord who sanctifies you,

Imamat 24:10

A Case of Blaspheming the Name

24:10 Now ⁷⁶  an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man ⁷⁷  had a fight in the camp.

Imamat 25:5

25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned ⁷⁸  vines; the land must have a year of complete rest.

Imamat 25:14

25:14 If you make a sale ⁷⁹  to your fellow citizen ⁸⁰  or buy ⁸¹  from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. ⁸² 

Imamat 25:20

25:20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’

Imamat 26:13

26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, ⁸³  and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. ⁸⁴ 

Imamat 26:41

26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ⁸⁵  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ⁸⁶  their iniquity,

Imamat 27:26

Redemption of the Firstborn

27:26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. ⁸⁷ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “…is to Aaron and to his sons.” The preposition “to” (לְ, lamed) indicates ownership. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV and other English versions.

[2:3]  ² tn The words “it is” (הוּא, hu’) are not in the MT, but are supplied for the sake of translation into English. The Syriac also for translational reasons adds it between “most holy” and “from the gifts” (cf. 1:13, 17).

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “holy of holies”; KJV, NASB “a thing most holy.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “And a person, when he sins in straying.” The English translation of “by straying” (בִּשְׁגָגָה [bishgagah] literally, “in going astray; in making an error”) varies greatly, but almost all suggest that this term refers to sins that were committed by mistake or done not knowing that the particular act was sinful (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:228-29). See, e.g., LXX “involuntarily”; Tg. Onq. “by neglect”; KJV “through ignorance”; ASV, RSV, NJPS “unwittingly”; NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “unintentionally”; NAB, NEB “inadvertently”; NCV “by accident.” However, we know from Num 15:27-31 that committing a sin “by straying” is the opposite of committing a sin “defiantly” (i.e., בְּיַד רָמָה [bÿyad ramah] “with a raised hand,” v. 30). In the latter case the person, as it were, raises his fist in presumptuous defiance against the Lord. Thus, he “blasphemes” the Lord and has “despised” his word, for which he should be “cut off from among his people” (Num 15:30-31). One could not bring an offering for such a sin. The expression here in Lev 4:2 combines “by straying” with the preposition “from” which fits naturally with “straying” (i.e., “straying from” the Lord’s commandments). For sins committed “by straying” from the commandments (Lev 4 throughout) or other types of transgressions (Lev 5:1-6) there was indeed forgiveness available through the sin offering. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:94-95.

[4:2]  ⁵ tn This is an emphatic use of the preposition מִן (min; see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 56-57, §325).

[4:2]  ⁶ tn The “when” clause (כִּי, ki) breaks off here before its resolution, thus creating an open-ended introduction to the following subsections, which are introduced by “if” (אִם [’im] vv. 3, 13, 27, 32). Also, the last part of the verse reads literally, “which must not be done and does from one from them.”

[4:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “an individual from the people of the land”; cf. NASB “anyone of the common people” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “a private person.”

[4:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”

[4:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “or if he touches uncleanness of mankind to any of his uncleanness which he becomes unclean in it.”

[5:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to speak thoughtlessly”; cf. NAB “rashly utters an oath.”

[5:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and is guilty to one from these,” probably referring here to any of “these” things about which one might swear a thoughtless oath (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 45), with the word “oath” supplied in the translation for clarity. Another possibility is that “to one from these” is a dittography from v. 5 (cf. the note on v. 5a), and that v. 4 ends with “and is guilty” like vv. 2 and 3 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:300).

[5:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:17]  ¹⁴ tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he did not know, and he shall be guilty and he shall bear his iniquity” (for the rendering “bear his punishment [for iniquity]”) see the note on Lev 5:1.) This portion of v. 17 is especially difficult. The translation offered here suggests (as in many other English versions) that the offender did not originally know that he had violated the Lord’s commandments, but then came to know it and dealt with it accordingly (cf. the corresponding sin offering section in Lev 5:1-4). Another possibility is that it refers to a situation where a person suspects that he violated something although he does not recollect it. Thus, he brings a guilt offering for his suspected violation (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:331-34, 361-63). See also R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:561-62.

[6:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “on the garment”; NCV “on any clothes”; CEV “on the clothes of the priest.”

[6:27]  ¹⁷ tc The translation “you must wash” is based on the MT as it stands (cf. NASB, NIV). Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., and the Vulgate have a third person masculine singular passive form (Pual), “[the garment] must be washed” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This could also be supported from the verbs in the following verse, and it requires only a repointing of the Hebrew text with no change in consonants. See the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 90 and J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:404.

[7:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “burned with fire,” an expression which is sometimes redundant in English, but here means “burned up,” “burned up entirely” (likewise in v. 19).

[7:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “desecrated,” or “defiled,” or “forbidden.” For this difficult term see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:422. Cf. NIV “it is impure”; NCV “it will become unclean”; NLT “will be contaminated.”

[7:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his iniquity he shall bear” (cf. Lev 5:1); NIV “will be held responsible”; NRSV “shall incur guilt”; TEV “will suffer the consequences.”

[7:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “and his unclean condition is on him.”

[7:20]  ²² sn The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits (cf. TEV, CEV), or his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation), etc. See J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 100; J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:457-60; and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 241-42 for further discussion.

[7:36]  ²³ tn Heb “the day he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ²⁴ tn Heb “which the Lord commanded to give to them in the day he anointed them from the children of Israel.” Thus v. 36 is tied syntactically to v. 35 (see the note there).

[7:36]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for your generations”; cf. NIV “for the generations to come”; TEV “for all time to come.”

[8:21]  ²⁶ tn Again, Aaron probably did the washing (v. 21a), but Moses presented the portions on the altar (v. 21b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

[8:21]  ²⁷ tn See Lev 1:9, 13.

[12:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “produces seed” (Hiphil of זָרַע, zara’; used only elsewhere in Gen 1:11-12 for plants “producing” their own “seed”), referring to the process of childbearing as a whole, from conception to the time of birth (H. D. Preuss, TDOT 4:144; cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 164-65; and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:742-43). Smr and LXX have Niphal “be impregnated” (see, e.g., Num 5:28); note KJV “If a woman have conceived seed” (cf. ASV, NAB, NRSV; also NIV, NLT “becomes pregnant”).

[12:2]  ²⁹ sn The regulations for the “male child” in vv. 2-4 contrast with those for the “female child” in v. 5 (see the note there).

[12:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “as the days of the menstrual flow [nom.] of her menstruating [q. inf.] she shall be unclean” (R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-26; the verb appears only in this verse in the OT). Cf. NASB “as in the days of her menstruation”; NLT “during her menstrual period”; NIV “during her monthly period.”

[12:2]  sn See Lev 15:19-24 for the standard purity regulations for a woman’s menstrual period.

[12:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “sit, dwell” (יָשָׁב, yashav) normally means “to sit, to dwell”), but here it means “to remain, to stay” in the same condition for a period of time (cf., e.g., Gen 24:55).

[12:4]  ³² tn Heb “in bloods of purification” or “purifying” or “purity”; NASB “in the blood of her purification”; NRSV “her time of blood purification.” See the following note.

[12:4]  ³³ tn The initial seven days after the birth of a son were days of blood impurity for the woman as if she were having her menstrual period. Her impurity was contagious during this period, so no one should touch her or even furniture on which she has sat or reclined (Lev 15:19-23), lest they too become impure. Even her husband would become impure for seven days if he had sexual intercourse with her during this time (Lev 15:24; cf. 18:19). The next thirty-three days were either “days of purification, purifying” or “days of purity,” depending on how one understands the abstract noun טֹהֳרָה (toharah, “purification, purity”) in this context. During this time the woman could not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary, but she was no longer contagious like she had been during the first seven days. She could engage in normal everyday life, including sexual intercourse, without fear of contaminating anyone else (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 73-74; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:749-50). Thus, in a sense, the thirty-three days were a time of blood “purity” (cf. the present translation) as compared to the previous seven days of blood “impurity,” but they were also a time of blood “purification” (or “purifying”) as compared to the time after the thirty-three days, when the blood atonement had been made and she was pronounced “clean” by the priest (see vv. 6-8 below). In other words, the thirty-three day period was a time of “blood” (flow), but this was “pure blood,” as opposed to the blood of the first seven days.

[12:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “on purity blood.” The preposition here is עַל (’al) rather than בְּ (bÿ, as it is in the middle of v. 4), but no doubt the same meaning is intended.

[12:5]  ³⁵ tn For clarification of the translation here, see the notes on vv. 2-4 above.

[12:5]  sn The doubling of the time after the birth of a female child is puzzling (see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:750-51; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 188). Some have argued, for example, that it derives from the relative status of the sexes, or a supposed longer blood flow for the birth of a woman, or even to compensate for the future menstrual periods of the female just born. Perhaps there is a better explanation. First, a male child must be circumcised on the eighth day, so the impurity of the mother could not last beyond the first seven days lest it interfere with the circumcision rite. A female child, of course, was not circumcised, so the impurity of the mother would not interfere and the length of the impure time could be extended further. Second, it would be natural to expect that the increased severity of the blood flow after childbirth, as compared to that of a woman’s menstrual period, would call for a longer period of impurity than the normal seven days of the menstrual period impurity (compare Lev 15:19 with 15:25-30). Third, this suggests that the fourteen day impurity period for the female child would have been more appropriate, and the impurity period for the birth of a male child had to be shortened. Fourth, not only the principle of multiples of seven but also multiples of forty applies to this reckoning. Since the woman’s blood discharge after bearing a child continues for more than seven days, her discharge keeps her from contact with sacred things for a longer period of time in order to avoid contaminating the tabernacle (note Lev 15:31). This ended up totaling forty days for the birth of a male child (seven plus thirty-three) and a corresponding doubling of the second set of days for the woman (fourteen plus sixty-six). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:368-70. The fact that the offerings were the same for either a male or a female infant (vv. 6-8) suggests that the other differences in the regulations are not due to the notion that a male child had greater intrinsic value than a female child (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 169).

[12:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he” (i.e., the priest mentioned at the end of v. 6). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:7]  ³⁷ sn See the note on Lev 1:4 “make atonement.” The purpose of sin offering “atonement,” in particular, was to purge impurities from the tabernacle (see Lev 15:31 and 16:5-19, 29-34), whether they were caused by physical uncleannesses or by sins and iniquities. In this case, the woman has not “sinned” morally by having a child. Even Mary brought such offerings for giving birth to Jesus (Luke 2:22-24), though she certainly did not “sin” in giving birth to him. Note that the result of bringing this “sin offering” was “she will be clean,” not “she will be forgiven” (cf. Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13). The impurity of the blood flow has caused the need for this “sin offering,” not some moral or relational infringement of the law (contrast Lev 4:2, “When a person sins by straying unintentionally from any of the commandments of the Lord”).

[12:7]  ³⁸ tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”

[12:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “from her source [i.e., spring] of blood,” possibly referring to the female genital area, not just the “flow of blood” itself (as suggested by J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:761). Cf. ASV “from the fountain of her blood.”

[13:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and the priest shall see.” The pronoun “it” is unexpressed, but it should be assumed and it refers to the infection (cf. the note on v. 8 above).

[13:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[13:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “he shall pronounce the infection clean,” but see v. 4 above. Also, this is another use of the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher; cf. the note on v. 6 above).

[13:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “all of him has turned white, and he is clean.”

[14:4]  ⁴⁴ tn The term rendered here “crimson fabric” consists of two Hebrew words and means literally, “crimson of worm” (in this order only in Lev 14:4, 6, 49, 51, 52 and Num 19:6; for the more common reverse order, “worm of crimson,” see, e.g., the colored fabrics used in making the tabernacle, Exod 25:4, etc.). This particular “worm” is an insect that lives on the leaves of palm trees, the eggs of which are the source for a “crimson” dye used to color various kinds of cloth (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 86). That a kind of dyed “fabric” is intended, not just the dye substance itself, is made certain by the dipping of it along with the other ritual materials listed here into the blood and water mixture for sprinkling on the person being cleansed (Lev 14:6; cf. also the burning of it in the fire of the red heifer in Num 19:6). Both the reddish color of cedar wood and the crimson colored fabric seem to correspond to the color of blood and may, therefore, symbolize either “life,” which is in the blood, or the use of blood to “make atonement” (see, e.g., Gen 9:4 and Lev 17:11). See further the note on v. 7 below.

[14:4]  ⁴⁵ sn Twigs of hyssop (probably one or several species of marjoram thymus), a spice and herb plant that grows out of walls in Palestine (see 1 Kgs 4:33 [5:13 HT], HALOT 27 s.v. אֵזוֹב, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 195), were particularly leafy and therefore especially useful for sprinkling the purifying liquid (cf. vv. 5-7). Many of the details of the ritual procedure are obscure. It has been proposed, for example, that the “cedar wood” was a stick to which the hyssop was bound with the crimson material to make a sort of sprinkling instrument (Hartley, 195). In light of the burning of these three materials as part of the preparation of the ashes of the red heifer in Num 19:5-6, however, this seems unlikely.

[14:4]  ⁴⁶ tn The MT reads literally, “And the priest shall command and he shall take.” Clearly, the second verb (“and he shall take”) contains the thrust of the priest’s command, which suggests the translation “that he take” (cf. also v. 5a). Since the priest issues the command here, he cannot be the subject of the second verb because he cannot be commanding himself to “take” up these ritual materials. Moreover, since the ritual is being performed “for the one being cleansed,” the antecedent of the pronoun “he” cannot refer to him. The LXX, Smr, and Syriac versions have the third person plural here and in v. 5a, which corresponds to other combinations with the verb וְצִוָּה (vÿtsivvah) “and he (the priest) shall command” in this context (see Lev 13:54; 14:36, 40). This suggests an impersonal (i.e., “someone shall take” and “someone shall slaughter,” respectively) or perhaps even passive rendering of the verbs in 14:4, 5 (i.e., “there shall be taken” and “there shall be slaughtered,” respectively). The latter option has been chosen here.

[14:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר, taher, “to be clean”).

[14:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and the remainder in the oil.”

[16:1]  ⁴⁹ 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.

[16:10]  ⁵⁰ tn The LXX has “he shall stand it” (cf. v. 7).

[16:10]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “to make atonement on it to send it away to Azazel toward the wilderness.”

[16:20]  ⁵² tn Heb “And he shall finish from atoning the holy place.” In this case, the “holy place” etc. are direct objects of the verb “to atone” (cf. v. 33a below). In this case, therefore, the basic meaning of the verb (i.e., “to purge” or “wipe clean”) comes to the forefront. When the prepositions עַל (’al) or בֲּעַד (ba’ad) occur with the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper) the purging is almost always being done “for” or “on behalf of” priests or people (see the note on Lev 1:4 as well as R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:698, the literature cited there, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 110, for more details).

[17:3]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ 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]  ⁵⁵ 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]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

[17:4]  ⁵⁷ tn Smr and LXX add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord for your acceptance as a soothing aroma, and slaughters it outside, and at the doorway of the tent of meeting has not brought it.”

[17:4]  ⁵⁸ tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.

[17:4]  ⁵⁹ sn The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean (1) that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, (2) that he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits, or (3) that his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation). See also the note on Lev 7:20.

[19:14]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

[19:14]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

[19:23]  ⁶² tn Heb “tree of food”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “trees for food.”

[19:23]  ⁶³ tn Heb “you shall circumcise its fruit [as] its foreskin,” taking the fruit to be that which is to be removed and, therefore, forbidden. Since the fruit is uncircumcised it is forbidden (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 306, and esp. B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 131-32).

[19:23]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “it shall be to you uncircumcised.”

[20:12]  ⁶⁵ tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).

[20:13]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.

[20:14]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

[20:14]  ⁶⁸ tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

[20:14]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.

[20:18]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “and the two of them.”

[20:27]  ⁷¹ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי (ki, “for, because, that”).

[20:27]  ⁷² tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:27]  ⁷³ tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning, but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (see the note on v. 2 above). Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”

[20:27]  sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21, with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26), and exhortations to obey the Lord’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21).

[21:14]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “take.” In context this means “take as wife,” i.e., “marry.”

[21:14]  ⁷⁵ tc The MT has literally, “from his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “from his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.

[24:10]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “And.”

[24:10]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “the Israelite man,” but Smr has no article, and the point is that there was a conflict between the man of mixed background and a man of full Israelite descent.

[25:5]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.

[25:14]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “sell a sale.”

[25:14]  ⁸⁰ tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.”

[25:14]  ⁸¹ 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]  ⁸² tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.

[26:13]  ⁸³ tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”

[26:13]  ⁸⁴ tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”

[26:41]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[27:26]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “to the Lord it is.”