Imamat 1:2

1:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When ¹  someone ²  among you presents an offering ³  to the Lord, ⁴  you ⁵  must present your offering from the domesticated animals, either from the herd or from the flock. ⁶ 

Imamat 3:9

3:9 Then he must present a gift to the Lord from the peace offering sacrifice: He must remove all the fatty tail up to the end of the spine, the fat covering the entrails, and all the fat on the entrails, ⁷ 

Imamat 7:21

7:21 When a person touches anything unclean (whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or an unclean detestable creature) ⁸  and eats some of the meat of the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord, that person will be cut off from his people.’” ⁹ 

Imamat 16:15

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, ¹⁰  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.

Imamat 16:29

Review of the Day of Atonement

16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹¹  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ¹²  and do no work of any kind, ¹³  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ¹⁴  in your midst,

Imamat 19:20

Lying with a Slave Woman

19:20 “‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, ¹⁵  although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. ¹⁶  They must not be put to death, because she was not free.

Imamat 20:2

20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel ¹⁷  who gives any of his children ¹⁸  to Molech ¹⁹  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ²⁰ 

Imamat 22:3

22:3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, ²¹  if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings which the Israelites consecrate ²²  to the Lord while he is impure, ²³  that person must be cut off from before me. ²⁴  I am the Lord.

Imamat 23:3

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ²⁵  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Imamat 23:13

23:13 along with its grain offering, two tenths of an ephah of ²⁶  choice wheat flour ²⁷  mixed with olive oil, as a gift to the Lord, a soothing aroma, ²⁸  and its drink offering, one fourth of a hin of wine. ²⁹ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn “When” here translates the MT’s כִּי (ki, “if, when”), which regularly introduces main clauses in legislative contexts (see, e.g., Lev 2:1, 4; 4:2, etc.) in contrast to אִם (’im, “if”), which usually introduces subordinate sections (see, e.g., Lev 1:3, 10, 14; 2:5, 7, 14; 4:3, 13, etc.; cf. כִּי in Exod 21:2 and 7 as opposed to אִם in vv. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11).

[1:2]  sn Lev 1:1-2 serves as a heading for Lev 1-3 (i.e., the basic regulations regarding the presentation of the burnt, grain, and peace offerings) and, at the same time, leads directly into the section on “burnt offerings” in Lev 1:3. In turn, Lev 1:3-17 divides into three subsections, all introduced by אִם “if” (Lev 1:3-9, 10-13, and 14-17, respectively). Similar patterns are discernible throughout Lev 1:2-6:7 [5:26 HT].

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ’adam), which in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female, since women could also bring such offerings (see, e.g., Lev 12:6-8; 15:29-30; cf. HALOT 14 s.v. I אָדָם); cf. NIV “any of you.”

[1:2]  ³ tn The verb “presents” is cognate to the noun “offering” in v. 2 and throughout the book of Leviticus (both from the root קרב [qrb]). One could translate the verb “offers,” but this becomes awkward and, in fact, inaccurate in some passages. For example, in Lev 9:9 this verb is used for the presenting or giving of the blood to Aaron so that he could offer it to the Lord. The blood is certainly not being “offered” as an offering to Aaron there.

[1:2]  ⁴ tn The whole clause reads more literally, “A human being (אָדָם, ’adam), if he brings from among you an offering to the Lord.”

[1:2]  ⁵ tn The shift to the second person plural verb here corresponds to the previous second person plural pronoun “among you.” It is distinct from the regular pattern of third person singular verbs throughout the rest of Lev 1-3. This too labels Lev 1:1-2 as an introduction to all of Lev 1-3, not just the burnt offering regulations in Lev 1 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:146; cf. note 3 above).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the domesticated animal, from the herd, and from the flock.” It is clear from the subsequent division between animals from the “herd” (בָּקָר, baqar, in Lev 1:3-9) and the “flock” (צֹאן, tso’n; see Lev 1:10-13) that the term for “domesticated animal” (בְּהֵמָה, bÿhemah) is a general term meant to introduce the category of pastoral quadrupeds. The stronger disjunctive accent over בְּהֵמָה in the MT as well as the lack of a vav (ו) between it and בָּקָר also suggest בְּהֵמָה is an overall category that includes both “herd” and “flock” quadrupeds.

[1:2]  sn The bird category (Lev 1:14-17) is not included in this introduction because bird offerings were, by and large, concessions to the poor (cf., e.g., Lev 5:7-10; 12:8; 14:21-32) and, therefore, not considered to be one of the primary categories of animal offerings.

[3:9]  ⁷ sn See the note on this phrase in 3:3.

[7:21]  ⁸ sn For these categories of unclean animals see Lev 11.

[7:21]  ⁹ sn For the interpretation of this last clause see the note on Lev 7:20.

[16:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the veil-canopy.”

[16:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And it [feminine] shall be for you a perpetual statute.” Verse 34 begins with the same clause except for the missing demonstrative pronoun “this” here in v. 29. The LXX has “this” in both places and it suits the sense of the passage, although both the verb and the pronoun are sometimes missing in this clause elsewhere in the book (see, e.g., Lev 3:17).

[16:29]  ¹² tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” The verb “to humble” here refers to various forms of self-denial, including but not limited to fasting (cf. Ps 35:13 and Isa 58:3, 10). The Mishnah (m. Yoma 8:1) lists abstentions from food and drink, bathing, using oil as an unguent to moisten the skin, wearing leather sandals, and sexual intercourse (cf. 2 Sam 12:16-17, 20; see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1054; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 109; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 242).

[16:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”

[16:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”

[19:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And a man when he lies with a woman the lying of seed.”

[19:20]  ¹⁶ sn That is, the woman had previously been assigned for marriage to another man but the marriage deal had not yet been consummated. In the meantime, the woman has lost her virginity and has, therefore, lost part of her value to the master in the sale to the man for whom she had been designated. Compensation was, therefore, required (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 130-31).

[20:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

[20:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.

[20:2]  ¹⁹ tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.

[20:2]  ²⁰ 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).

[22:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “To your generations.”

[22:3]  ²² tn The Piel (v. 2) and Hiphil (v. 3) forms of the verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) appear to be interchangeable in this context. Both mean “to consecrate” (Heb “make holy [or “sacred”]”).

[22:3]  ²³ tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”

[22:3]  ²⁴ sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20. Cf. the interpretive translation of TEV “he can never again serve at the altar.”

[23:3]  ²⁵ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[23:13]  ²⁶ sn See the note on Lev 5:11.

[23:13]  ²⁷ sn See the note on Lev 2:1.

[23:13]  ²⁸ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

[23:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “wine, one fourth of the hin.” A pre-exilic hin is about 3.6 liters (= ca. 1 quart), so one fourth of a hin would be about one cup.