Imamat 19:26--20:8
Konteks19:26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. 1 You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. 2 19:27 You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard. 3 19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person 4 or incise a tattoo on yourself. 5 I am the Lord. 19:29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, 6 so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness. 7
19:30 “‘You must keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 19:31 Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits 8 to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. 19:32 You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord. 19:33 When a foreigner resides 9 with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 19:34 The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so 10 you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 19:35 You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. 11 19:36 You must have honest balances, 12 honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt. 19:37 You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations. 14 I am the Lord.’”
20:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel 15 who gives any of his children 16 to Molech 17 must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. 18 20:3 I myself will set my face 19 against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, 20 because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. 21 20:4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes 22 to that man 23 when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 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, 24 to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. 25
20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits 27 to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face 28 against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
20:7 “‘You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 20:8 You must be sure to obey my statutes. 29 I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
[19:26] 1 tn Heb “You shall not eat on the blood.” See the extensive remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 319-20, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 132-33. The LXX has “on the mountains,” suggesting that this is a prohibition against illegitimate places and occasions of worship, not the eating of blood.
[19:26] 2 tn Heb “You shall not practice divination and you shall not practice soothsaying”; cf. NRSV “practice augury or witchcraft.” For suggestions regarding the practices involved see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 133, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 320.
[19:27] 3 tc Heb “and you [singular] shall not ruin the corner of your [singular] beard.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have the plural pronouns (i.e., “you” and “your” plural) rather than the singular of the MT.
[19:28] 4 tn Heb “And slash for the soul you shall not give.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 21:1, 5; 22:5). See J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 306, 320-21.
[19:28] 5 tn Heb “and a writing of incision you shall not give in you.”
[19:29] 6 tn Heb “to make her practice harlotry.” Some recent English versions regard this as religious or temple prostitution (cf. TEV, CEV).
[19:29] 7 tn Heb “and the land become full of lewdness.” Regarding the term “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.
[19:31] 8 sn The prohibition here concerns those who would seek special knowledge through the spirits of the dead, whether the dead in general or dead relatives in particular (i.e., familiar spirits; see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 321, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 134). Cf. Lev 20:6 below.
[19:33] 9 tn Heb “And when a sojourner sojourns.”
[19:34] 10 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[19:35] 11 tn That is, liquid capacity (HALOT 640 s.v. מְשׂוּרָה). Cf. ASV, NIV, NRSV, TEV “quantity”; NAB, NASB “capacity.”
[19:36] 12 tn Heb “balances of righteousness,” and so throughout this sentence.
[19:36] 13 sn An ephah is a dry measure which measures about four gallons, or perhaps one third of a bushel, while a hin is a liquid measure of about 3.6 liters (= approximately 1 quart).
[19:37] 14 tn Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31).
[20:2] 15 tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”
[20:2] 16 tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.
[20:2] 17 tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.
[20:2] 18 tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).
[20:3] 19 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”
[20:3] 20 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.
[20:3] 21 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”
[20:4] 22 tn Heb “And if shutting [infinitive absolute] they shut [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[20:4] 23 tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”
[20:5] 24 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] 25 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] 26 sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.
[20:6] 27 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.
[20:6] 28 tn Heb “I will give my faces.”
[20:8] 29 tn Heb “And you shall keep my statutes and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).
