Keluaran 29:33-37

29:33 They are to eat those things by which atonement was made ¹  to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else ²  may eat them, for they are holy. 29:34 If any of the meat from the consecration offerings ³  or any of the bread is left over ⁴  until morning, then you are to burn up ⁵  what is left over. It must not be eaten, ⁶  because it is holy.

29:35 “Thus you are to do for Aaron and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you are to consecrate them ⁷  for ⁸  seven days. 29:36 Every day you are to prepare a bull for a purification offering ⁹  for atonement. ¹⁰  You are to purge ¹¹  the altar by making atonement ¹²  for it, and you are to anoint it to set it apart as holy. 29:37 For seven days ¹³  you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. ¹⁴  Anything that touches the altar will be holy. ¹⁵ 

Keluaran 29:44

29:44 “So I will set apart as holy ¹⁶  the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me.

Keluaran 40:9-15

40:9 And take ¹⁷  the anointing oil, and anoint ¹⁸  the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctify ¹⁹  it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. 40:10 Then you are to anoint the altar for the burnt offering with ²⁰  all its utensils; you are to sanctify the altar, and it will be the most holy altar. 40:11 You must also anoint the large basin and its pedestal, and you are to sanctify it. ²¹ 

40:12 “You are to bring ²²  Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 40:13 Then you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments and anoint him and sanctify him so that he may minister as my priest. 40:14 You are to bring ²³  his sons and clothe them with tunics 40:15 and anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may minister as my priests; their anointing will make them a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”

Imamat 10:10

10:10 as well as ²⁴  to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ²⁵ 

Imamat 10:17-18

10:17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, ²⁶  to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord. 10:18 See here! ²⁷  Its blood was not brought into the holy place within! ²⁸  You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary just as I commanded!”

Imamat 16:11-19

The Sin Offering Sacrificial Procedures

16:11 “Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin offering bull which is for himself, 16:12 and take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord ²⁹  and a full double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, ³⁰  and bring them inside the veil-canopy. ³¹  16:13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement plate which is above the ark of the testimony, ³²  so that he will not die. ³³  16:14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement plate, ³⁴  and in front of the atonement plate he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. ³⁵ 

16:15 “He must then slaughter the sin offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the veil-canopy, ³⁶  and he is to do with its blood just as he did to the blood of the bull: He is to sprinkle it on the atonement plate and in front of the atonement plate. 16:16 So ³⁷  he is to make atonement for the holy place from the impurities of the Israelites and from their transgressions with regard to all their sins, ³⁸  and thus he is to do for the Meeting Tent which resides with them in the midst of their impurities. 16:17 Nobody is to be in the Meeting Tent ³⁹  when he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he goes out, and he has made atonement on his behalf, on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the whole assembly of Israel.

16:18 “Then ⁴⁰  he is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take ⁴¹  some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it all around on the horns of the altar. 16:19 Then he is to sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse and consecrate it ⁴²  from the impurities of the Israelites.

Imamat 16:32-33

16:32 “The priest who is anointed and ordained to act as high priest in place of his father ⁴³  is to make atonement. He is to put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 16:33 and he is to purify ⁴⁴  the Most Holy Place, ⁴⁵  he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar, ⁴⁶  and he is to make atonement for ⁴⁷  the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

Imamat 17:2-6

17:2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them: ‘This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 17:3 “Blood guilt ⁴⁸  will be accounted to any man ⁴⁹  from the house of Israel ⁵⁰  who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, ⁵¹  17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent ⁵²  to present it as ⁵³  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. ⁵⁴  17:5 This is so that ⁵⁵  the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field ⁵⁶  to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent to the priest and sacrifice them there as peace offering sacrifices to the Lord. 17:6 The priest is to splash ⁵⁷  the blood on the altar ⁵⁸  of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Bilangan 18:3-8

18:3 They must be responsible to care for you and to care for the entire tabernacle. However, they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 18:4 They must join ⁵⁹  with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person ⁶⁰  may approach you. 18:5 You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be ⁶¹  no more wrath on the Israelites. 18:6 I myself have chosen ⁶²  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ⁶³  of the tent of meeting. 18:7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

The Portion of the Priests

18:8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion ⁶⁴  and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

[29:33]  ¹ tn The clause is a relative clause modifying “those things,” the direct object of the verb “eat.” The relative clause has a resumptive pronoun: “which atonement was made by them” becomes “by which atonement was made.” The verb is a Pual perfect of כִּפֵּר (kipper, “to expiate, atone, pacify”).

[29:33]  ² tn The Hebrew word is “stranger, alien” (זָר, zar). But in this context it means anyone who is not a priest (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 324).

[29:34]  ³ tn Or “ordination offerings” (Heb “fillings”).

[29:34]  ⁴ tn The verb in the conditional clause is a Niphal imperfect of יָתַר (yatar); this verb is repeated in the next clause (as a Niphal participle) as the direct object of the verb “you will burn” (a Qal perfect with a vav [ו] consecutive to form the instruction).

[29:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “burn with fire.”

[29:34]  ⁶ tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect negated. It expresses the prohibition against eating this, but in the passive voice: “it will not be eaten,” or stronger, “it must not be eaten.”

[29:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “you will fill their hand.”

[29:35]  ⁸ tn The “seven days” is the adverbial accusative explaining that the ritual of the filling should continue daily for a week. Leviticus makes it clear that they are not to leave the sanctuary.

[29:36]  ⁹ tn The construction uses a genitive: “a bull of the sin offering,” which means, a bull that is designated for a sin (or better, purification) offering.

[29:36]  ¹⁰ sn It is difficult to understand how this verse is to be harmonized with the other passages. The ceremony in the earlier passages deals with atonement made for the priests, for people. But here it is the altar that is being sanctified. The “sin [purification] offering” seems to be for purification of the sanctuary and altar to receive people in their worship.

[29:36]  ¹¹ tn The verb is וְחִטֵּאתָ (vÿhitte’ta), a Piel perfect of the word usually translated “to sin.” Here it may be interpreted as a privative Piel (as in Ps 51:7 [9]), with the sense of “un-sin” or “remove sin.” It could also be interpreted as related to the word for “sin offering,” and so be a denominative verb. It means “to purify, cleanse.” The Hebrews understood that sin and contamination could corrupt and pollute even things, and so they had to be purged.

[29:36]  ¹² tn The construction is a Piel infinitive construct in an adverbial clause. The preposition bet (ב) that begins the clause could be taken as a temporal preposition, but in this context it seems to express the means by which the altar was purged of contamination – “in your making atonement” is “by [your] making atonement.”

[29:37]  ¹³ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

[29:37]  ¹⁴ tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”

[29:37]  ¹⁵ sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).

[29:44]  ¹⁶ tn This verse affirms the same point as the last, but now with an active verb: “I will set apart as holy” (or “I will sanctify”). This verse, then, probably introduces the conclusion of the chapter: “So I will….”

[40:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you will take” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and you will anoint” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and you will sanctify” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and.”

[40:11]  ²¹ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 480) notes that the items inside the tent did not need to be enumerated since they were already holy, but items in the courtyard needed special attention. People needed to know that items outside the tent were just as holy.

[40:12]  ²² tn The verb is “bring near,” or “present,” to Yahweh.

[40:14]  ²³ tn The verb is also “bring near” or “present.”

[10:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and,” but regarding the translation “as well as,” see the note at the end of v. 9.

[10:10]  ²⁵ sn The two pairs of categories in this verse refer to: (1) the status of a person, place, thing, or time – “holy” (קֹדֶשׁ, qodesh) versus “common” (חֹל, khol); as opposed to (2) the condition of a person, place, or thing – “unclean” (טָמֵא, tame’) versus “clean” (טָהוֹר, tahor). Someone or something could gain “holy” status by being “consecrated” (i.e., made holy; e.g., the Hebrew Piel קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) in Lev 8:15, 30), and to treat someone or something that was holy as if it were “common” would be to “profane” that person or thing (the Hebrew Piel הִלֵּל [hillel], e.g., in Lev 19:29 and 22:15). Similarly, on another level, someone or something could be in a “clean” condition, but one could “defile” (the Hebrew Piel טִמֵּא [timme’], e.g., in Gen 34:5 and Num 6:9) that person or thing and thereby make it “unclean.” To “purify” (the Hebrew Piel טִהֵר [tiher], e.g., in Lev 16:19 and Num 8:6, 15) that unclean person or thing would be to make it “clean” once again. With regard to the animals (Lev 11), some were by nature “unclean,” so they could never be eaten, but others were by nature “clean” and, therefore, edible (Lev 11:2, 46-47). The meat of clean animals could become inedible by too long of a delay in eating it, in which case the Hebrew term פִּגּוּל (pigul) “foul, spoiled” is used to describe it (Lev 7:18; 19:7; cf. also Ezek 4:14 and Isa 65:4), not the term for “unclean” (טָהוֹר, tahor). Strictly speaking, therefore, unclean meat never becomes clean, and clean meat never becomes unclean.

[10:17]  ²⁶ sn This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:622-25, 635-40). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 136). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12-15). Lev 10:16-18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:702-4).

[10:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “Behold!” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[10:18]  ²⁸ sn The term here rendered “within” refers to the bringing of the blood inside the holy place for application to the altar of incense rather than to the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle (cf. Lev 4:7, 16-18; 6:30 [23 HT]).

[16:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he shall take the fullness of the censer, coals of fire, from on the altar from to the faces of the Lord.”

[16:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and the fullness of the hollow of his two hands, finely ground fragrant incense.”

[16:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he shall bring from house to the veil-canopy.”

[16:13]  ³² tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).

[16:13]  ³³ tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).

[16:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement plate toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement plate, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).

[16:14]  ³⁵ sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement plate was mounted.

[16:15]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the veil-canopy.”

[16:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.

[16:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “to all their sins.”

[16:17]  ³⁹ tn Heb “And all man shall not be in the tent of meeting.” The term for “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ’adam; see the note on Lev 1:2) refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female.

[16:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates the sequence of events here.

[16:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “And he shall take.”

[16:19]  ⁴² tn Heb “and he shall purify it and he shall consecrate it.”

[16:32]  ⁴³ tn Heb “And the priest whom he shall anointed him and whom he shall fill his hand to act as priest under his father.” Imperfect active verbs are often used as passives (see, e.g., v. 27 above and the note on Lev 14:4).

[16:33]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “to atone” (also later in this verse); see the note on “purifying the holy place” in 16:20.

[16:33]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the sanctuary of the holy place.” Although this is the only place this expression occurs in the OT, it clearly refers to the innermost shrine behind the veil-canopy, where the ark of the covenant was located.

[16:33]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and the tent of meeting and the alter he shall atone.” The repetition of the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to atone”) at the beginning and end of the sequence appears to be strange, but the MT accents suggest that only “the Most Holy Place” goes with the verb at the beginning of the verse. Of course, the purging of “the Most Holy Place” has been the main emphasis of this chapter from the start (see vv. 2-3 and 11-17).

[16:33]  ⁴⁷ tn At this point in the verse the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to make atonement”) takes its object with the preposition עַל (’al, “for”; literally, “upon”; contrast the first part of the verse and cf. the notes on Lev 1:4 and 16:20 above).

[17:3]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

[17:4]  ⁵² 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]  ⁵³ tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.

[17:4]  ⁵⁴ 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.

[17:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “So that which.”

[17:5]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “on the faces of the field.”

[17:6]  ⁵⁷ tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.

[17:6]  ⁵⁸ tn The LXX adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).

[18:4]  ⁵⁹ tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah).

[18:4]  ⁶⁰ tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.

[18:5]  ⁶¹ tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.

[18:6]  ⁶² tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁶³ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

[18:8]  ⁶⁴ tn This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22; Exod 29:28; Lev 6:11 [HT]).